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 |
