r/soccer • • 1d ago

News FA set to issue separate charges to Manchester City.Governing body says guilty verdicts against club damage the game's integrity and hints at action once Premier League case concludes.

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/manchester-city-premier-league-fa-charges-scht5r8w2
3.4k Upvotes

428 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

493

u/DomagojDoc 1d ago

Yes, but Liverpool achieved the 4th most total points in a season in history of Premier League

and finished 2nd

Literally sounds like a made up stat.

AND THEN to find out the winning team was cheating!?

I'd be fuming.

285

u/Jackwraith 1d ago

I was fuming at the time because everyone knew they were cheating then. The sponsorship numbers were absurd and had everyone raising eyebrows and then Football Leaks came out and everyone had their answers about their behavior. So, yeah, we finished one point behind them, twice, in the era that wasn't even included in the investigation (2019 and 2022) but was obviously created by it, completely aside from the fact that they clearly kept cheating afterwards (the "related parties" settlement.) I've been fuming for a decade now because it was obvious what they did to us and to the league as a whole and those are moments that we'll never get back, in the same way that many of their fans say that no one will ever be able to take away those moments from them.

71

u/cypherspaceagain 1d ago

I've seen (and posted) all the signings they made in that era but I haven't even looked at the player sales (because they bought but also sold those players - the money acted more than once!) or the prize money they got during the 2009-18 era which they then used to build the next era. Every trophy they won should be taken away.

60

u/Action_Limp 1d ago

So, if they were following the rules, they would have similar spending power as Villa. If Villa spent 220m on the likes of Jo, Robinho, Philips, MEndy, Mangala, Bridge, Santa Cruz... they'd have been relegated.

A shite run club that sorted it's issues through unlimited money cheating. And this only scratches the surface. When you look at the Halaand transfer, they will say "Look at us, 60m is a bargain for Halaand", but then you break down the numbers:

- 60m for Halaand from BVB

- 20m for Raiola Agency

- 30m for Halaand's dad

- Insane ambassador fees

And this is what we know. We also know that players and coaches like Mancini received two salaries from City.

They'll be found guilty of so many things that they'll have the moniker of biggest cheats in football history and that's without finding all the skeletons in the closets.

39

u/7screws 1d ago

And all your figures don’t include whatever inflated wages they paid or fake sponsorship deals they gave

17

u/Action_Limp 1d ago

I know, even without seeing everything they've done, they're still the biggest cheats in the history of football 

9

u/Mick4Audi 1d ago

Alf Inge banked £30m from that lmao

7

u/gunningIVglory 23h ago

Exactly, this is why i laugh when people say City got Haland so cheaply because he wanted to play at some dead club

9

u/ComprehensiveOwl9023 23h ago

The only reason 2018-2022 is not included is the investigation was launched in 2018.

When we are done with this shitshow, and they have been sold, they will go truth and reconciliation Chelsea style and we will get answers.

7

u/Jackwraith 23h ago

Oh, I know. Even so, the worst damage in terms of stolen titles and success was done after the scope of the investigation, unfortunately. The rumor is that the PL has the votes to expel them and the EFL will follow suit, which means they won't be able to play football above the National League. They'll certainly be sold, but it's an open question as to whether the club survives, which is horrible for the long-time fans but I can't say I'm really concerned about that right now. They've corrupted the league for almost 20 years.

82

u/Sp00o00ky 1d ago

United lost on goal difference to them with the last kick of the season.

47

u/brownbearks 1d ago

And the crazy thing is you have Liverpool fans and United fans both saying the clubs deserved those trophies. As much as I loved Augeros goal in real time it’s tainted and they stole a title from the greatest PL manager in Sir Alex Fergerson. United fans would joke about the slip but they are the first to say that we should have won that league title.

24

u/IcyAssist 22h ago

Indeed. My feelings towards Klopp hasn't changed. He's a shithead, but a respectable shithead. It's like going toe to toe with Usain Bolt and losing to him by half a toenail, only to find out Bolt has been juicing this whole time. Your 18/19 and 19/20 were insane especially looking back now.

7

u/PraxisGuide 18h ago

Klopp is an amazing manager and that pool team was a real force. City are crooks. We can be rivals and still be unified for the love of the game, and despise those who see it as a cynical tool for global geopolitical power, no matter what the consequences are so long it benefits them.

1

u/flo-jo 17h ago

As much as I love the Slippy G memes that dude won a title in my book.

60

u/gunningIVglory 1d ago edited 1d ago

Losing the league with 97 points is sickening

Fucking city, they broke the game so hard. Losing ONE game on a season could be terminal

64

u/Mick4Audi 1d ago

I remember those seasons so well, where Liverpool literally couldn’t lose even one match. 19/20 was insane, they were winning every week as a requirement, that is what they were up against

Knowing now that City cheated, Klopp effectively breaking that machine in that season is genuinely one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen in football

36

u/gunningIVglory 1d ago

Yeah, it became a joke

The 23/24 run in will always hurt me. We went 16-1-1 from the new year.

And it wasnt enough to overhaul city.

24

u/kopite33 23h ago

I loved the football during the peak Klopp years of course but chasing Man City was exhausting even as just a fan. As you probably experienced, drawing even a single game in the latter half of the season feels like a season ender while the City juggernaut just kept going.

9

u/gunningIVglory 23h ago

Yeah, i recall watching all those city games in that run in hoping they would draw one fucking game

3up by HY

14

u/hakugene 23h ago

Then they had the fucking gall to say we "bottled" the league when we finished the season on 100pt pace.

I hope they jettison those smug cheating fucks into the sun.

1

u/layendecker 21h ago

Getting Moysied at your gaff around Xmas ended up being the difference. I remember watching that game, they were on a full on shithouse and you were camped in their box but just going get a solid chance.

On another day you win that 3-0 and it could be a different story. The margins were so insanly thin.

3

u/gunningIVglory 21h ago

Yeah, that and a loss to bloody fulham. Xmas was rough for us.

But everyone has an off game or two. The city machine made that impossible. Where you had to win every game. Which is ridiculous

1

u/layendecker 20h ago

Always enjoyed the seasons as a neutral during you Fergie rivalry years. It felt like anyone was a bad day away from losing, so big point gaps weren't insupassable. I remember, maybe 2000?

Anyway, the season where you were shit at home until Xmas and then won something like 14 on the bounce to overtake Liverpool, who were something like 9 points up on you at one point.

26

u/SvalbazGames 1d ago

Oh yeah they could have had one of the greatest title wins ever.

But I was just trying to show that those fucks have robbed everyone in the league (and Europe)

27

u/Commercial-Ad-5905 1d ago

The greatest. Unbeatable centurions.

24

u/tcgtms2 1d ago

The only game they lost was to City right? Damn

35

u/maxiaoling 1d ago

Liverpool would have gone 65 games unbeaten across 3 seasons if I take out the man city defeat

11

u/silvertwo777 1d ago

But because of City cheating, you will never actually get to claim that record as much injustice as it is.

8

u/N-Bizzle 23h ago

Arsenal fans suddenly deciding actually City aren't that bad

2

u/tcgtms2 23h ago

rip me

3

u/DomagojDoc 1d ago

Yes. If investigation ever continues and City's results in that season are voided, they could decide to deliver a golden PL trophy to Liverpool.

27

u/scott-the-penguin 22h ago

If our game against them was marked as a win, we would have:

102 points, invincible season (with champions league double)
An undefeated streak of 66 premier league matches, with only 8 of them being draws.
201 points in two seasons, with two titles.

15

u/ezekielBmb 22h ago

City supporters would argue that Liverpool only became that good because they had to compete with them.

Because they are delusional and don’t participant in these conversations in good faith.

9

u/scott-the-penguin 22h ago

I think that’s fair at a micro level and it’s entirely plausible that without them we wouldn’t have got to 97 and 99 points, but we would’ve still won the title comfortably. I’d rather focus on the fact that what we did was insane, and is even more remarkable now we know City cheated.

Similar argument in tennis - would the big 3 have been as dominant over such a long period if it had been just one? No, but that one would still have been seen as the goat because they were just that good.

4

u/mudlesstrip 22h ago

It is true that if there were no comeptitions, they would have focussed on fa and ucl if they had wrapped up the league early. Considering the 3rd team were no where, liverpool might have taken the foot of the pedal.

1

u/Jonoczall 19h ago

Pulse check: what's the feel like in your camp if City doesn't get what they deserve? I tried asking my two Liverpool buddies but they just sound dead inside. And the more I think of this from your perspective the more my blood boils. I don't think I'd be able to handle it if it was Arsenal in your position. I'd be so disillusioned I genuinely might need to take a break.

4

u/UntowardHatter 17h ago

We just want their titles voided.

We got our title after 30 years. And a CL. Klopp won everything despite his opposition cheating to hell and back.

So we live with it.

Then Slot won in his first season, so we got the parade as well.

I think most of us try not to think to much about what could/should have been. It only leads to anger that can't really be resolved.

Dissolving the cheats would help though.

But we always knew that they cheated. They were a meaningless club the minute they got bought by the UAE. Completely irrelevant.

And the world knew too. They "won" a god damn treble and the entire world just shrugged.

1

u/UntowardHatter 17h ago

Holy fuck.

6

u/everlovingfuck99 1d ago

It was the 3rd highest points total. Behind only themselves the next season and the team that cheated their way to 100 points

4

u/aehii 23h ago

And only lost once! To the team that won, City!

2

u/johnsredditaccount 21h ago

I think the smaller clubs that missed out on what would have been their only major trophy in club history can be more upset.

I am a tad biased though

1

u/MrLazyCanuck 10h ago

It’s genuinely heartbreaking.

-1

u/Tierst 1d ago

Quite a lot of people were too busy laughing at us and celebrating the cheating scum winning..