**The results of the 115 charges against Manchester City have been a long time coming, but the outcome now brings more urgent to east London.**
The thinking was simple. A big enough points deduction could drag City into trouble, and maybe keep us up.
It never came in time. We went down. Now, with us in the Championship, the verdict has finally landed.
Sky Sports report the case is moving to the appeal stage. The Premier League won’t comment. City still deny any wrongdoing and say the process has “significant elements to be completed”.
Punishment hasn’t been decided. Under Premier League rules, it could be a fine, a points deduction or even expulsion from the league.
So nothing is settled. Anyone telling you City are definitely coming down is getting ahead of themselves.
However , if City are hit with the most serious sanction, the Championship could have a new arrival next season. Imagine that. A squad and budget built for Champions League nights, dropped into the second tier.
That’s not a league we want to be in.
This isn’t a reason to panic. It’s a reason to make sure it never becomes our problem.
We’ve had to go through the play-offs before. Nobody fancies that again. The top two go up automatically, and that’s where we need to be.
Nuno has us in a decent position after a promising start. But decent won’t do. Every dropped point this season could matter more than usual, because next season could be a lot harder.
Our fate is in our own hands. We don’t need a tribunal or an appeal to go our way. We just need to win enough games.
Get us up first time, and whatever happens to City becomes somebody else’s headache.