By Tony Attwood
It has just been pointed out to me that Arsenal has become the first team in history to go a whole Premier League season WITHOUT receiving a red card or conceding a penalty. I’ve not checked that – although quite possibly it is all over the internet by now – but I think it is most likely to be true. And it shows the depth of transformation that the club has undergone this year.
It was of course, inevitable that Arsenal’s achievement and Arteta’s achievement in winning the league would be overshadowed by talk of something else – in this case, giving the plaudits to the ManC manager – while generally ignoring the level of financial support that he had during his tenure.
And there is also the question of what role he played in the multiple breaches of the financial rules that occurred during his reign. Somehow, we are being asked to think that it was all nothing to do with him, whereas it can also be argued that a reasonable manager who was even interested in the rule book might have said, “Hang on a moment, are we allowed to spend all this money under the rules?” Or starting from the other end, “where did this money come from?” As a club manager I think that is quite an interesting and reasonable question to ask.
But no, seemingly I am a bit out on a limb here. Apparently, that is not a question to be asked, and the fact is that by resigning now from the club there is a chance that he will not have any issues to face in relation to why all those rules were broken, and what thinking was going on that led the ManC board to believe they could get away with such wholesale breaches.
Of course, the media give him endless plaudits – but it strikes me it is all rather like celebrating a great collection of jewellery which was plundered and stolen in days gone by from a foreign country that the British invaded and plundered. Except there is one difference. Most colonial countries did it, and few had the guts to give back what they stole or even apologise. ManC and their manager don’t seem to have even admitted they did anything wrong. Their response was rather similar to saying, “Say that we are thieves and we’ll send in the gunboats”. And maybe you believe that, indeed, they did nothing wrong financially. I can’t argue with that because none of us has the facts.
More than anything, I would like to know why the cases against ManC have been paused for a year or more. We know they have been found guilty, and as far as I can work out, they have not put in a viable defence – merely threatened the rest of the League with financial destruction and hence extinction if anything is done about these charges.
All I can imagine is that one of these scenarios noted below, is working its way through the mysterious world of football regulations.
- The whole situation is being forgotten by the footballing authorities, as it was a long time ago. Now the manager has moved on, and seemingly the media has agreed not to mention it anymore in return for… well, of course I don’t know, and can’t make any allegation, for exactly that reason. I don’t know and can only speculate on something that seems a bit odd to me.
- The threat to bring down the whole of English football, which the owners of ManC allegedly made, still stands, and the Football League is rather frightened of having to face that prospect. Again I don’t know.
- The League notices that the mainstream media has left the issue alone, and even when the manager leaves, they have decided to let bygones be bygones. So they just let it all go. Maybe “sweep it under the carpet” is a good expression to use.
- The League has told ManC and their ex-manager that the court cases start this summer, and the manager has left the sinking ship. ManC know they will lose on almost every charge and so have a points deduction. They have agreed not to fight the case now their manager has left, and instead of the points deduction they are offering to pay an enormous fine, which will then be distributed among the clubs.
I suspect (but of course can’t prove it) that all of these options have been discussed, and the league have settled on point four, but then another thought came to my mind. What happens if Guardiola wants to come back to English football and manage here again? Of course, he might not, but the near deification that he has received upon his departure this weekend makes me think that lurking somewhere is a promise from the League, the FA, Uefa and Fifa that he won’t ever be questioned about any of the financial events of recent years. Or perhaps that the authorities have looked at the history of the club and reached the conclusion that he had nothing to do with any expenditure issues.
I think he might well now have no accusations against his name at all and be free to manage anywhere he wants in the future, as long as he gets out now. And so that’s what has happened.
My prediction thus is that it is now all going to be forgotten about, there will be no examination of the ManC financial past, the 110+ proven charges will be set aside, the board of ManC will remain the same, and Guardiola will be free to manage elsewhere as and when he wishes.
I might well be wrong, of course, since that explanation seems a bit odd, but that is how it seems to me, looking at English football today. But I stress once again, I don’t know, simply because those 100+ cases have never been resolved in the open. It is a bit like a referee disallowing a goal and then saying, “Yes, that goal is disallowed, but I am not going to tell you why.” And that I guess, is the sort of league Arsenal now plays in.
Still, at least we won it this time. But I just wonder what tricks someone is going to come up with next time. Anyway, here’s the table… that hasn’t been changed. Yet.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 38 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 71 | 27 | 44 | 85 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 77 | 35 | 42 | 78 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 38 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 69 | 50 | 19 | 71 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 56 | 49 | 7 | 65 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 63 | 53 | 10 | 60 |
What a lovely end of the season table. Most points (obviously), most matches won, least matches lost, second highest goals scored, fewest goals conceded, best goal difference…. yep this seems like the well deserved champions!
Also the final 7 points margin over MC115!
I keep reading that whatever happens, nothing will affect Guardiolas legacy. Why? Because he wasn’t there at the time the breaches (alleged at the moment) took place.
But that isn’t the point. The point is he was managing a football club that had attained such a strangle hold over the transfer market that they could buy who they bwanted, when they wanted, and pay the player and his agent whatever he demanded.
If Man City are found guilty as charged that will mean that that privileged position was achieved through cheating.
Guardiola is of course a great manager but would he of won all/any of those trophies without the privileged financial advantage that he had?
Nobody knows.
My analogy is this.
If a weight lifter takes steroids for 4 years in the build up to the Olympics but then stops a week before, does that make it okay? Of course not, because he only achieved the power he has through cheating.
And even if he claimed he didn’t know because his trainer was spiking his diet he would still be disqualified and any medals he won on the back of that cheating would be removed and he would still almost certainly be banned, or at least the trainer would.
The medias fawning and reluctance to even mention it is a disgrace.
They may ignore it, but almost every fan I speak to believes EVERY Man City trophy is tainted. Same with Chelsea.
Both there fan bases are utterly deluded.
And one more thing. Can you imagine the outcry if ||Arsenal had these charges hanging over them? We score a lot of set pieces and there’s more outrage than City are getting.
The entire situation is a farce.
Hayters actually asked Pep about the 115 charges and Pep responded if they are charged then to come and find him.
It would be the greatest magic show ever if all those charges disappear , just like that ! That it would then trigger the other clause , that basically says , ” There is a sucker born every minute !” PT Barnum and Bailey must be smiling somewhere !
Or would the EPL say enough is enough , and give City a sizable point deduction ? Would that mean West Ham remain in the Premier League !
No credit whatsoever for the no penalties and no redcards achievement. In fact many (sad) people are actually using these facts to boosts their absurd claims about a PGMO conspiracy to help us win the league. It’s utterly pathetic.
On the Man City issue. I believe if found guilty they should be stripped of all the titles they won during that period and they should be awarded to the teams finishing second. i don’t see that happening for two reasons. Firstly, it didn’t happen to Chelsea despite the fact that they actually admitted cheating. In fact they were fined far less money than the financial benefits they gained from cheating. It was like robbing a Post Office of £100,000 and the court fining you £500.
Seconly, and I suspect this is one of the biggest problems within this whole sorry situation. If, as many suspect, Man City are guilty there is the huge conundrum of how this impacted on many other clubs. Those who finished fifth were denied access to the Champions League and the financial benefits; sveral would have been denied access to Europe by one place and, quite possibly, some clubs could argue they would not have been relegated if City had been found guilty and given a large points deduction earlier. And then, of course, there are those clubs who have been docked points for comparitively minor offences. The ramifications are enourmous.
I’m glad I’m not one of the people whose job it is to have to sort this all out but something should be done if City are guilty of some or all of the charges. If it is the latter, my favourite solution is just to fold the Premier League and form another league without Man City transfering all the contractual rights to that new league. Of course, the TV companies might not like that and this would all take quite some time. Come to think about it……. up to now, it’s all taken quite some time!