The second that Chris Kavanagh produced the second yellow card from Gravenberch to effectively end the contest (even though it was still 0-0 at the time), I switched the football off and watched the remainder of Kung Fu Panda 3. There was no point in continuing to watch that farce that was on display. Playing against 10-men in the Premier League is hard and nigh-on impossible, but when it’s one of the elite teams and away from home like that, it’s always going to end up like that. Liverpool couldn’t just sit compact on the edge of the box and gut out a 0-0 – they just aren’t built like that.
But aside from that, the way it all panned out, what we witnessed, how it all unfolded, it just rendered the result completely meaningless by the end. Even at this early stage in the season, Manchester City, #114 FC, aka Cheaters FC, have been gifted six points thanks to newly re-branded, historically terrible, ProRef. We all remember the damage Kavanagh did to us when we played Brighton at home two seasons ago; well, now he’s done it to Liverpool.
And I’ll bet if you asked Richard Masters privately, he’d probably admit to this being the _las__t_ thing he’d want to see, because this only undermines the Premier League as a product further. The team that has just been found guilty of cheating on an industrial scale, find themselves undefeated and top of the division, not through being amazing, but by having two slices of incredibly questionable officiating at both Old Trafford and Anfield. Two of the hardest grounds to go on. Yet they have navigated them with maximum points, despite not being the better side in either game, which was what the match was yesterday until that second yellow card was offered out from what looked like a reminder from Erling Haaland.
It’s all incredibly murky. And what hasn’t helped is that we now appear to have City fans who are doubling down on the ‘Cheater’s labelling. I get it, you back your club to the hilt, but it appears they’re going way beyond this. They’re going to actively play up to the fact that they’ve been caught cheating. Apparently, the bananas that were on display yesterday were a throwback from when they were a couple of divisions down. Perhaps they are engaging in a bit of Gallows Humour there; the chanting is one thing, but the unwavering support for the regime that has cheated them as well and potentially caused massive damage to the club is the bit that I think muddies the waters.
And this defiance from City and their fans yesterday, their (the owners’) refusal to acknowledge their guilt and take their medicine, means that we’re in a weird No Man’s Land, for which we don’t even know if all of yesterday’s pantomime even matters or not. Will we find that every victory they got was ultimately in vain and hollow? Or will they be allowed to prosper in broad daylight in front of everyone who watches the game?
I tweeted about this, but I do think that it needs to be re-said on here, because everyone who loves football has a duty now to not let the media just fizzle out what has happened since the guilty verdict was announced. The challenge in things like football, very much like in politics, is that you get the old adage of:
> Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper.
That is what City are trying to do by dragging all of this out. They have spent billions on sportswashing, on seeding out their tentacles through the media, through ex-players, people who are on their payroll, people who they can buy to get them to peddle whatever narrative they want. Then they think [that can be leveraged](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c6y93qq5175wo) to ‘wash away’ any potential wrongdoings. And so I think it is incumbent on the football community to not let this situation become a non-story by the time 2027 rolls around. At every ground, in every interview, with every set of away travelling fans at the Emptihad, in every pre- and post-match, there needs to be talk and a reminder of this. We cannot allow this situation to disappear quietly into the night. It does nobody any good other than the Manchester City owners. We cannot normalise the situation to the point in which apathy takes hold. This outrage needs to stay in the public’s viewpoint for a long time, and certainly until justice is done. Remember when the Super League was brought up? Remember how the football community united as one to stop it? Remember how the pressure was so intense that the clubs had no choice but to back down? That’s what we need to have in this situation. The football world needs to unite to get to the outcome. When the Super League came out, I remember saying to my brother that I would have to give up my season ticket. I could not put my money into the hands of a collective like that. It would not be right. The same energy needs to be put into ensuring justice for the game now. And if City fans want to double down, then that’sfine, unfortunately they’ll have to be the sacrifical lambs when their club is served up the punishment it deserves. It won’t be their fault, but for those fans holding up masks of the owners yesterday, flags of defiance and support, I’m afraid you do not have my sympathy (not that any of them would want it, mind).
Arteta talks to the press today, and we can get back to talking about The Arsenal for the game tomorrow against Lille. That will at least be the bad taste in my mouth and mind, left by this grubby situation we’ve all just witnessed in the last 24 hours.
Catch you all tomorrow.