“It’s clear we have some regulatory challenges,” competition chief executive Richard Masters said. “But I’m confident we can navigate all of that and, by the time we sit down again in 12 months, a lot of that stuff will be clearer and we can have the way we always want it, which is the football front and centre.”
It’s quite a hopeful spin that is perhaps natural from the world’s most bombastic league, especially since this season could involve a storm like no other. This could well be the most controversial and consequential campaign in the English game’s history, that reaches both Bosman and Italy’s Calciopoli in terms of its effects. It could change the face of the table, the future, the past, as well as the Premier League’s very image. An outcome of the City case is expected by April, but any time that late is almost even worse for the Premier League.
There is a striking thought, that feels like it hasn’t been fully grasped as pundits talk about whether Pep Guardiola must sign another forward. If the repeat champions are found guilty, it could mean the main title challengers suddenly drop right down the table or are even expelled.
It’s why this really has to be discussed before any other football this season, as the English game faces a truly unprecedented situation. If it does get to that, it will bring doubt on all of their titles going back to the start of the period covered by these 100plus charges. Even if City are found not guilty, or any sanction is deemed too soft, the fervent feeling among rivals could lead to civil war. Aside from the upheaval of financial rules, there is the possibility of open revolt from clubs who believe they can’t compete with a state-owned project.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 17, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 17, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
It's the unmade Rocky film with a twist... roll up, folks
There is no hate, no love, the gloves are big and the rounds will be short when Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight on Friday night.
While rivals hit the buffers, Liverpool deserve their lead
Alexis Mac Allister can have a footballing eloquence. His job involves reading the game.
United's ship steadied, now Amorim hits deeper waters
It may be the way all Manchester United managers imagine their reign ending.
Supermarket shoppers will soon find ‘every little hurts'
Is chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to hike employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) about to hit us all – and right in the supermarket baskets?
Barclays warns tax rise will hit workers' living standards
Business leaders accuse government of betraying the nation’
How Gary Barlow became accidental king of memes
The singer is currently enjoying a load of nice days out’ on his new travel show. It’s the latest step in his reinvention as an inadvertent icon of hun culture’, says Katie Rosseinsky
Brothers grim: on the dark world of Nineties boybands
As anew documentary series reveals what it was really like to ride the pop train to stardom, Jessie Thompson remembers her own youthful obsession and looks behind the curtain
Cast iron catnip for Gen Z's aspirations of adulthood
Police had to be called after hundreds of frenzied shoppers descended on a cookware sale this weekend. Helen Coffey dons oven gloves to tackle the LeCreuSlay phenomenon
'Some boys wet themselves, some wanted their mothers'
Reckless exposure to atomic weapons tests left young men and later, their children suffering from debilitating illness and disability. Zoé Beaty reports on the long fight for justice
Why India's trainee doctors are hoping for more bodies
Logistical hurdles and cultural sensitivities are affecting the donation of cadavers, so medical students are forced to train on anatomical models or simulations, reports Namita Singh