And I’d have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for that pesky Man City
Tuesday, 6th Oct 2026 10:58 by Tim Whelan
Our fondly remembered former head coach Jesse Marsch has become the latest talking head to have his say about Manchester City, now that they have been found guilty on all but one of the 115 charges that they were facing over financial misdemeanours.
Marsch’s time at Leeds United didn’t coincide with the period covered by those 155 charges. Which was from 2009 to 2018, but that was only because the tranche of emails uncovered by hacker Rui Pinto related to those years. The more cynical of us might think that City’s dubious behaviour continued, bearing in mind the huge sums they continued to spend right up to this summer.
Marsch’s Leeds suffered two home defeats to Man City, which contributed to the dismal run of results we suffered during his time in charge, ultimately leading to our relegation in 2022/3. And he told the Guardian “I think Man City should be punished severely. I think they should have to go down, and by the way, everyone knew about it. Everyone knew.”
“That summer \[2022\], us and Man City were the only teams that said we made money. For us, we did make money, because we sold Raphinha, we sold Kalvin Phillips. We had a lot left over from what we bought. At the time, we weren’t in a position financially to not save. Our ownership didn’t have deep pockets. Whereas when Man City says this, I was literally like, ‘Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke?’
“When I was still the Leeds United manager we tried to sign Erling Haaland but they said we have to pay £150m, then Manchester City signed him for £52m, it’s like: ‘Yeah, OK, sure!’ So, I knew there were inconsistencies in it, but what can you do? You just put your arms in the air and go, ‘This is football’.”
In the same interview Marsch also complained about Everton and Nottingham Forest, who had points deducted because of their excessive losses in the same season that Leeds were relegated. Just not enough for them to finish below Leeds.
But of course, it’s a bit of a stretch to blame Man City for all the problems Leeds suffered during that period. It’s true that Leeds were abiding by the rules and had to sell our best players from time to time to stick within the permitted limits, but so did most other clubs. Our problem was that Victor Orta didn’t buy better players when he was spending the proceeds our two big outgoing transfers in 2022.
And as for Marsch’s comments on Erling Haaland, the reason City were able to sign him from Dortmund for a relatively low fee in 2022 was that a release clause in his contract had come into effect by then. So that one can’t be put down to dodgy dealings, and in any case, Leeds weren’t realistic contenders for his signature by then. We did try to get him when he was 18 (and we might have had a chance), but were outbid by Red Bull Salzburg.
So what effect did the Man City shenanigans have on Leeds? My assumption is that if they had never been taken over by the UAE mob they would still be somewhere around mid-table in the Premier League, as they were in the years leading up to 2008. On this basis, the only season we were disadvantaged was 2020/1, when we finished 9th under Bielsa, and might have been one place higher.
But ironically, after been outside the Premier League for most of the period of time that Man City were up to no good, so hardly effected by their transgressions, we could be in line to benefit from their demise. They have been found guilty just as we are showing signs of heading back to the big time, so if they do get the kind of severe punishment that Marsch calling for, that will remove one competitor in the race for European places, etc.
So here’s hoping that this is one occasion that Marsch gets what he’s asking for.
_Photo: Action Images via Reuters_