As rival fans celebrate the potential humiliation of Manchester City, and the Premier League slaps itself on the back for standing up to one of its strongest clubs, be careful what you wish for. The real winners may be the sports lawyers.
City are clearly in a defiant mood and they have some of the best lawyers available. I am not a lawyer, but I can see one way in which the whole governance structure of the Premier League and indeed football more generally could be challenged in the domestic courts.
The Premier League, it is at risk of full-blown warfare. If City are guilty of systematic cheating, their rivals will argue they have been denied hundreds of millions in earning potential through unfair means.
Already, the _New York Times_ has reported that Manchester United have conducted internal analyses to assess the extent of the losses they incurred due to Manchester City’s success, including three second-placed Premier League finishes behind City and one occasion in 2015-16 when United missed out to City for a place in the Champions League.
Consider the case that Tottenham Hotspur, for example, might hypothetically bring. During a period when they were preparing to construct a new stadium, the London club exercised restraint in its spending. But between 2011 and 2015, they finished fifth in the Premier League three times while City resided in the top four, during a period when City are accused of accelerating their success through unfair means.
How different might Spurs’ following years have been with the substantial income of those three extra years in the Champions League?
Every club and its legal departments could go down cul-de-sacs, arguing hypotheticals in courtrooms in the coming years.
In the meantime, the Premier League, which is one of Britain’s few successful products, could be damaged. Relations between the UK and the UAE could be jeopardised. One possibility is that Sheikh Mansour could decide to sell the club.
Something of the tall poppy syndrome is at work here, cutting down something that is successful. And while we are talking about cheating, we see it on the pitch every week at all levels of the game.
I haven’t read the judgment. What is clear is that the appeal process could go on for some time. Sanctions may well eventually be applied, but they need to be placed in the context of the wider damage they could cause.