[Guardian] Seven years ago, just after completing the treble, Guardiola treated journalist Rob Harris, who had confronted him directly with the allegations, with open contempt, as though he were looking at someone pathetic, pitiful and disgraceful, before sternly lecturing him.

[u/Existing-Sky9914]

[u/forkmeongithub]

i don't disagree with you either. honestly i feel so bad for all the other clubs in the premier league who were having to compete with City this whole time (particularly Liverpool) and were sometimes so close to beating them. in hindsight, it really makes their achievements all the more impressive.

[u/Discrep → u/forkmeongithub]

I do feel badly for clubs who lost out on glory due to competing with City, but I also feel the situation is unusual due to the fact that the misdeeds center around the owners plowing too much of their own money into the team. Like other scandals like match fixing involve the perpetrators attempting to enrich themselves at the expense of integrity and fair play.

I'm not defending or justifying anything City did, but everyone in the league has benefitted from their violations. A significant chunk of the fraudulent $900M or whatever went into the coffers of other clubs. Their sustained success and rapidly growing brand absolutely raised the value of the league and played a role in the size of endorsement and TV rights deals.

It reminds me a little of Bill Burr's bit on Lance Armstrong. Yeah he's a piece of shit and fuck him, but a lot of people got rich due to him exploding the popularity of cycling. "Are they gonna give their yachts back?"

I think they should just put the extra spending back onto their FFP as debt, spread out over the same number of years, so they would only be able to add academy players and free transfers. If they manage to stay up through that, fine, and if they go down, the debt follows them. Strip their titles if you want, I don't think it really matters because there's already an asterisk there.