The long-running investigation into Manchester City’s finances is far from breaking news, but before the weekend it was reported that it is likely that the Etihad outfit will be found guilty of most of the 115 charges levied against them. The news had been leaked and then last night confirmed, but as yet there is still no decision on what the punishment will be for the mega-rich Blues for the period in question, 2009-18.
For all the time that the investigation has gone on – and we are talking years
here – like most other Sunderland fans, I only followed the story with a passing interest. That is until I was reading a report on Friday which listed the clubs that would benefit if City were to be stripped of the trophies they won in that period of 2009-18.
The clubs who have been mainly concerned with it all this time are the two clubs that finished as runners-up to City when they won the Premier League three times in the above-mentioned period – Manchester United, who would win two more titles to add to their collection, and Liverpool, who would gain one.
The report then listed, for our continuing passive interest, the following beneficiaries:
F.A. Cup
2011 Stoke City
EFL Cup
2014 Sunderland
2016 Liverpool
2018 Arsenal
Which is where I, for one, stopped and did a double take.
2014 Sunderland
It’s not a thought that most of our fan base had ever really considered in this long-running saga. That somehow we could go back to that moment and be awarded the trophy?
There is nothing definite as yet. The only fact is that City have been found guilty, with no word as to what form the punishment will take. Stripping them of all the trophies they won in the offending period is only one possibility among many.
The same leaked sources also mentioned that there seems to be little appetite among the Premiership to strip City of their titles, but it should be pointed out that, first of all, the punishment will be decided by an independent panel and not the Premier League, and second, the EFL Cup isn’t run by the Premier League, it’s a Football League competition.
But in regard to the question of being awarded the 2014 EFL Cup, how do we feel about it as a fan base?
Memories of the day and game itself are a match in which our (then struggling) team came up against one of the top teams in the country and gave it a real go against them. Fabio Borini’s fabulous first-half strike took us into dream world for a while, before we were undone by an even better strike from Yaya Touré, and what you have to say was a superior team overturned us. But despite being beaten, many hold good memories of the day and of the cup run.
That was then, and twelve years later, it would seem strange to celebrate it now.
There are parallels here between this case and our promotion to the top flight following Swindon’s demotion after the 1990 League Play-Off Final at Wembley – again for financial irregularities. But on that occasion, Swindon were already being measured for a noose around their neck before the game kicked off. We were notified within a short time and we did celebrate our promotion, albeit with Dennis Smith and his staff popping champagne corks on the Roker pitch.
This time, everyone from 2014, from the chairman down to the kit man, have long since departed. For the most part, the only people left at the Stadium of Light of any note are us. The fans.
We will take adding a trophy to our cabinet – and one which we have never won before. If anything, it would mean we had won it before the Visitors!
There are many that will take it because the team that beat us did it by what is perceived as cheating and an unfair means. You can say we were not beaten fair and square, and just as Swindon were stripped of their right to play in (the then) Division One, then City should hand any trophies they won over to the teams that they beat. Yet, if this happens, the opinion among our own fan base is likely to be split.
Who would take it and who would rather we won it on the pitch?
