Manchester City Chief Executive Ferran Soriano released a video to staff shortly after the Premier League's bombshell and explosive ruling - maintaining their innocence
Ferran Soriano must have thought the club he's knee deep in were smarter than the rest. Ahead of the game.
So it feels fitting he's released a 'video nasty' a few weeks before Halloween. As the chief executive officer of Manchester City, Soriano must have felt obligated to record a message to all staff, insisting their club had done nothing wrong.
That the guilty verdicts against the club for serious breaches of Premier League spending rules are based on a "single false accusation". That there has been a "Premier League conspiracy theory" at play.
You'd have to be some sort of halfwit to believe the Premier League would risk its entire reputation, not to mention spend fortunes on legal fees, on the back of a "conspiracy".
City were never going to hold their hands up to this. And never will.
So Soriano's insistence of innocence - and that his club will appeal the verdict - was about as predictable as Pep Guardiola winning trophies. But as we now know, some of those trophies were a result of cheating.
The first three years of Guardiola's decade of dominance overlapped the 2009-2018 period investigated. He was in charge of the team during the entirety of the four-year investigation.
The Spaniard, who left before City's house was burnt down, has not commented on events which have sent shockwaves throughout the game. Only he knows what he knew.
But what we all know now, however, is that thanks to Soriano & Co, the legacy Guardiola left behind will be forever stained with an asterisk.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 19: MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 19: Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of Manchester City, and Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, poses for a photo with the Premier League title trophy following the team's victory in the Premier League match between Manchester City and West Ham United at Etihad Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola is yet to comment on the ruling handed down by the Premier League(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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Soriano's transparent attempts at pleading innocence might make him feel noble and empowered. But he's missing a crucial point.
Which is that no-one will continue to believe a single word that comes out of his mouth. Posting a video claiming innocence, without providing substantial evidence to back up said innocence, is laughable.
But this isn't funny.
Because the treacherous project of deception Soriano has been complicit in has turned City from champions to 'SHAMpions'.
And believing they could get away with it, suggests Soriano and his fellow Etihad rulers had egos even more inflated than the club's revenue.
Instead of digging a deeper hole to lead City further into the footballing abyss, Soriano would be better served keeping quiet. Soriano needs to accept both himself, his senior colleagues and his club have been unmasked.
Ferran Soriano
Ferran Soriano maintains City's innocence - despite the weight of evidence against them(Image: Getty Images)
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The repetitive wrongdoing has been laid bare, in all its ugly and damaging detail. The shame of such subterfuge has left his reputation in tatters.
Yet the language used in Soriano's response is devoid of contrition. It smacks of threats and reprisals instead.
An attitude which remains in the DNA of a club which got drunk on power and success, but is now supping in the last chance saloon which their appeal represents.