Andy Gray believes Manchester City deserve a “massive” points deduction and sees no other outcome than a guilty verdict in the upcoming trial against the Premier League. The reigning champions and winners of five of the last six top-flight titles will head to court later this year for a highly anticipated legal battle.
City are now in their second full season since the Premier League accused the club of over 100 cases of breaching financial rules during a ten-year period in which they began to dominate English football. Although further and very different cases relating to financial issues have been opened and closed in the 2023/24 season alone, City’s own monstrous situation is still not fully resolved.
However, ahead of Saturday’s home game against Ipswich, Pep Guardiola shared his thoughts on the matter. “I’m glad it’s starting soon and hopefully it’s over soon too, for the good of all of us, especially the club but also other Premier League clubs and all the people who are not waiting for the verdict,” he said.
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“I wish from the bottom of my heart that there will be a trial, before an independent body – and I say again, an independent body – and that what happened will be made known as soon as possible and that we will accept it, as we have always done.” Guardiola has been regularly questioned about the allegations and their potential impact, but continues to downplay the impact on his players.
“No, we’ve been talking about it for three or four years,” he added. “We know it’s going to happen, we accept it and focus on our games.”
City are now closer than ever to getting clarity, however, and former Manchester United and Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre can only see one outcome. “He knows what’s coming,” the Frenchman said on beIN Sport. “The points deduction. ‘As soon as we get the points deduction, we can start the season,’ that was my feeling.”
Gray and beIN host Richard Keys discussed the topic again and then spoke at length about their feelings on the subject. Here: MEN Sports has everything the couple said.
Andy Gray: They’re starting soon. Do we have a date yet?
Richard Keys: It is coming.
AG: Beginning of next year.
RK: Next year is January.
AG: That’s what I mean, so it will be in January next year, then we will get some kind of response from the independent tribunal. Yeah, it’s a very different time. They’ve pretty much ignored it.
Guardiola has not told us that we have to find a solution that everyone is happy with and it is high time we did that. This is the first time I have heard him say such words about it.
What’s going to happen? I imagine – and I don’t know – I imagine there’s going to be something like a point deduction, a massive one.
RK: This applies if guilt is established.
AG: They will be found guilty. There are not 115 charges and they will be innocent of all counts.
RK: Well, they may be guilty of some minor offenses rather than the more serious ones.
AG: I think we both know that without the independent tribunal, they would not have brought charges against them unless there was evidence there to suggest that they might be guilty. OK, they might be innocent of all 115 counts, but we should have found that out years ago.
RK: So why do we think they’ve been on the run for so long? They’ve been hiding and now they’re happy to reveal themselves.
I have said on behalf of Manchester City fans that this should have been done a long time ago because until this case is resolved, any winnings made during this period will be marked with an asterisk.
AG: But will that affect them? Whatever the verdict, and in this case, Richard, you know more about the legal aspects of this than I do, will anything happen in that verdict that changes what they’ve already won?
RK: If there is a judgment that casts doubt on the way the football club was run during a successful period, then I think it is clear. Everything they gained during that period needs to be questioned, it must.
I think I agree with you, the realist in me. I don’t believe in these sceptics. I think we are more realists or cynics. Realism is the word. I’m watching this and I think that someone, somewhere, might have given him a little push.
Better to get things sorted sooner rather than later, that’s for sure. Don’t you think what would be gained if they were found guilty of not running the club properly during this time…
AG: Yes, but only if it can be assumed that what they are or could be found guilty of had an impact on a title they have won in the last seven years.
RK: That must have been the case.
AG: Well, I don’t know. I think this is a big deal for the Premier League and an independent tribunal needs to look at it and say…
RK: I don’t understand your reasoning. How can you come out of this and think it isn’t so?
AG: I told you that. If they find her guilty, who knows, on 115 counts…
RK: Financial irregularities.
AG: It would be easy for everyone, the Premier League and the court, to solve the problem if they said, “Okay, we’ve finally caught you on a certain number of charges and we’re going to take 40 points off you this season. They’re still going to stay up even if they get 40 points off this season, right, they’re still going to stay up even if they get 40 points off.”
I guess they won’t win the league, but they would avoid relegation because they are good enough to accept that and stay in the league.
RK: True. If that is the case and they were found guilty of irregularities dating back to the period of unprecedented success, then surely we must conclude that this may not have happened had the club not been so poorly managed during that period.
AG: I think that would prove that, yes. Do you really think that knowing what you know, you know that the people who are doing this and judging…
RK: It’s an independent body, Andy.
AG: Yeah, okay. Do you really think they’re going to turn around and say, “We’re going to take away three or four titles.”
RK: No, no, no. I understand. I agree with you now. I don’t think they’re going to take away their championship titles, but I think those of us who watch football would view their successes very differently if they had committed irregularities during that period.
AG: So that’s what I’m saying. I don’t think they’re going to take the title away from them, so what can they do? They can take points away from them now, they can punish them. Punish them? Who cares. They can punish them as much as they want, Manchester City don’t care, they can pay for it out of their own pocket.
The only thing I can think of is a massive point deduction and a massive fine.
RK: Well, bring it on, as Guardiola says, because then we can stop talking about it.
