Last Friday, we witnessed one of the most seismic events in Premier League history as Manchester City were found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them for breaching financial regulations.
At first, it was incredible to see, with everyone across the game gathering with their pitchforks, demanding City pay with blood, or at least points deductions, for their heinous crimes.
Even those recently bemoaning PSR and SCR and other financially-relevant initialisms football fans have to know these days were joining in, regardless of whether or not they actually believe those rules are helping their clubs, or hindering them.
No team should be in line for a free trophy parade
Nevertheless, City’s guilty verdict has brought with it insistence from supporters of pretty much every club in the country, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, that their team is now in line for some sort of free trophy parade. Heck, even Watford and Sunderland fans have got involved.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but handing out trophies to runners up is not only a dreadful idea, it’s also the gateway to a maddening, unending spiral of nonsense under which a line could never be drawn.
Let’s take the 2017/18 season as an example, in which Manchester United finished runners up behind their noisy, (and now naughty) neighbours. The gap was a massive 19 points, but there are still those from Old Trafford who claim that Jose Mourinho should now be handed another Premier League winner’s medal because of City’s rule bending.
Surely, if that is to happen, Swansea City have a far more compelling grievance, given that they were relegated that same season, only three points behind 17th place Southampton, having lost twice to the eventual champions during the campaign.
This is simply one of many examples, with repercussions stretching further than you could ever imagine.
For instance, fans of teams who have been defeated by Manchester City in cup finals are suggesting that, by default, they ought to now be the rightful owners of those trophies, ignoring the fact that City had to beat several other teams to reach those finals in the first place.
Surely all of those previously vanquished teams are just as entitled to consider themselves hard done by to have been beaten by a side financially doping. Who’s to say in 2018/19 Brighton wouldn’t have reached the FA Cup final instead, or Swansea City, or even Newport County, or any of the teams they faced en route to their crushing 6-0 victory over Watford in the final.
Opening this particular Pandora’s box would simply spark an endless slew of clubs trying to manufacture a way of gaining something more than they deserve from this, when the only thing they should be able to take is the moral high ground, and nothing more.
Hypotheticals and assumptions should simply never be the basis for which a trophy is awarded and, as a supporter, I’m not sure it’s how I’d want to get one either. I say that as a Newcastle fan, starved of success for years.
Generally speaking, I’d be happy to take any piece of silverware no matter how it comes. Even seeing Fabricio Coloccini sheepishly holding the Trofeu Internacional de Futebol do Guadiana after a successful pre-season tournament in Portugal used to be good enough for me.
But nothing could ever replicate the joy I felt while celebrating Dan Burn‘s goal against Liverpool in the final of the Carabao Cup in 2025. That was a special moment, one truly worthy of commemoration.
I wouldn’t attend a parade for a trophy won by barristers in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, no matter how hard it is to go to CAS and get a result. In fact, I think I’d find it a bit embarrassing and pathetic to see any supporter celebrate it in any meaningful way at all.
I just want to see City punished fairly, with a massive points deduction, a financial penalty that actually means something and, if you really must, whack an official asterisk next to their name in the record books.
But, for me at least, making Brendan Rodgers a Premier League winner will never be justice, no matter how you look at it, and in the end will only cause more trouble than it’s worth.
Manchester City deny the charges and are expected to lodge an appeal.
