Man City could be punished by Premier League clubs in eight rogue actions
As we all watched Manchester City dismantle Liverpool in the second half at Anfield on Sunday, the joy at seeing three dazzling goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki was overshadowed by gut-wrenching futility over a product that used to be the most important of the least important things, but is now almost entirely meaningless. The best-case scenario will lead City to be cast out of the Premier League soon after the turn of the year.
More likely they will appeal the sanction and continue on their merry way towards the end of the season. In any case, we've got months of this farce to endure.
That is unless the Premier League clubs take matters into their own hands. Here we run through the options of the virtuous 19 to punish City while the independent panel drag their feet.
Compensation Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool have allformally reserved the right to seek compensation from Manchester Cityover a loss of earnings amid reports suggesting City's nine years of cheating may have cost rivals a grand sum of £844m. Spurs finished one place out of the Champions League qualification spots in four of the doping seasons,accounting for the highest loss of £120m.
But there are arguably more significant compensation packages due to relegated teams. Hull City could claim close to £100m for being relegated twice in that period.
Wigan Athletic would dearly love £40m as they now sit bottom of League One. The statute of limitations has passed but clubs can still seek restitution thanks to the Premier League rules.
A precedent was set in the summer when Everton were forced to pay Burnley £35m after the Clarets successfully argued that Everton's breaches of financial fair play gave them an unfair sporting advantage that directly impacted their survival chances. Thirty-five teams played in the Premier League with City between 2009 and 2018.
If the embarrassment of a guilty verdict isn't enough to send the Abu Dhabi owners packing, 35 lawsuits might just do the trick. Vote for expulsion A report following the Anfield farce claimed Premier League executives have been messaging each other, presumably in a a big WhatsApp group now purged of Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Ferran Soriano,discussing whether they should vote for their expulsion from the Premier League.
It's more a 'they won't, will they' rather than a 'will they, won't they' scenario as the potential downsides far outweigh the unlikely upside. Some see it as a 'self-inflicted commercial disaster' as TV deals could be affected while the Premier League loses some of its star appeal.