You Tell One Lie, It Leads to Another

The international break has been consumed with controversy that puts the entire Premier League landscape in jeopardy. On Tuesday, September 9th, Manchester City was confirmed guilty of 114 of the 115 financial charges against them in an official statement from the Premier League. The ruling included inaccurate reporting of revenue, payment of players through third parties, and failure to cooperate with the investigation. In summary, City “cooked the books” for a decade, with the ruling finding the gap between reported finances and reality to be the astronomical sum of £920 million. Manchester City’s condemnation is about the only thing you can find in the media right now, and you can expect it to remain that way for quite a while.

City’s dark deeds date back to the 2009-10 season, before they had won any of their 20 major trophies under Emirati owner Sheikh Mansour. These circumstances beg the question of how those achievements should be viewed and dealt with. The findings are too damning to let the club keep the honors they’ve won, none of which were obtained on an equal playing field. All signs point to their titles being stripped and awarded to the runners-up; such a delayed honor will be received with mixed emotions. For teams that lost the joy of a Premier League title due to fraud, retroactive applause won’t really heal wounds. On the flip side, Stoke will be rocking for a month if they’re awarded the 2010-11 FA Cup title.

Along with the threat of stripping their trophies, everything is on the table for City’s punishment; they could be relegated as far as League Two, given massive points deductions, transfer bans, fines, and more. Ultimately, though, no punishment will make up for the revenue and success that other clubs lost because of fraud. Justice will be served against the Blues, but the hurt for teams that lost titles, European qualification, Champions League success, and maybe even top-flight status won’t just go away. The financial ripples of those losses have changed the entire course of those clubs, just as the accounting loopholes of Manchester City slowly built an empire.

Now, a note in defense of City’s players. The reflex from the media and fans is to wash all this sky-blue history away, to put it to bed. Many believe that none of it should count for anything because none of it was fair. It wasn’t fair, that’s true; but at the end of the day, Manchester City players put out game-winning performances week after week against eleven other human beings. Not only were they a well-oiled machine, but they played beautiful football and often won comprehensively. The squad never should have been allowed to be assembled the way it was, but I refuse to denounce the football they produced. Legends like Yaya Toure, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart, Sergio Agüero, and countless others shouldn’t be tainted by dealings in the shadows. They won on the pitch and gave us years of entertainment.

This whole case is so hard to tackle. How do you punish a decade of walking all over the rules? How do you make it right for the losers in the story? I hope somebody has the answer because I don’t. All I know is that as we tear down the great kingdom Manchester City made, we should recognize that the laborers on the pitch were not the architects of the fraud. For a decade, their players and coaches have set the standard for professionalism and the pursuit for perfection. Most people in and around the Etihad never knew the lies they stood on, and now they’ll hear about it every day. I find it deeply moving to consider what it’s like to watch your pride, joy, and accomplishments crumble at your feet. No matter how much you might hate the club, it’s okay to be melancholy about the controversy and fallout at Manchester City; if you love football, you should be. The scandal hurts everyone: supporters, players, coaches, staff, and the credibility of the Premier League. A poison given too much time to fester is nearly impossible to reverse; we can only hope that the Premier League will find new life in the aftermath.

For more breakdown of the scandal, check out the BBC’s article here.