Manchester City Should Be Punished, Or Not?
"A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats"
Manchester City was officially caught with their hand in the cookie jar this week. According to the Premier League, City have broken certain rules relating to finances and how they are reported on; see the official statement on this link for the details.
Hypothetically, let’s say Manchester City broke these alleged rules. Let’s assume that certain transfer fees as well as player and managers’ wages were underreported. For a minute, let’s disregard whether or not these rules make sense or are fair. Should Manchester City be punished for financial doping? If so, what should be the punishment?
For a punishment to make sense we need to understand the scale of the crime. Since 2009/2010, Manchester City have won 6 Premier League titles with the most recent 4 titles coming in the last 5 years.
Who lost out? - Oddly enough, it was either Liverpool or Manchester United who finished in second place in each of these titles challenges. But did only the teams that finished in 2nd place lose out?
Can a player transfer lost out to a team who was overpaying for fees and wages be considered a damage worth punishment? Let’s look at a few examples.
Did Arsenal lose out when Manchester City outbid them for striker Stevan Jovetic in 13/14? Could Jovetic have been for Arsenal what Gabriel Jesus is today?
Eliaquim Mangala, a center-back, one of the most sneaky difficult positions to recruit for, was heavily linked with Chelsea & Manchester United who have since signed many bad center-backs, but ended up at Manchester City in 14/15 as their fifth signing of the Summer. Who lost out?
In 15/16 the very young and highly rated Raheem Sterling forced his way out of a Liverpool team on the rise. Would there have been other suitors if not City? Should Liverpool have matched the wages offered by City? Would Liverpool have won more leagues had they kept Sterling and City didn’t have him in their squad?
We’re Tottenham forced to sell Kyle Walker because they couldn’t afford to match his City-wages and the transfer fee was too high to refuse? Would keeping Kyle Walker, and forcing City to continue to play Pablo Zabaleta & Bacary Sagna, have given Spurs the advantage needed to overtake City in a period where they were on the rise under Mauricio Pochettino?
Manchester City captain Ilkay Gündogan could have joined Manchester United ahead of Paul Pogba, what could’ve happened there!?
Some of the players mentioned above could be categorized as a bullet dodged but there are of course many examples of players who could have made a significant impact elsewhere; Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne, Rúben Dias, Ederson, Rodri, João Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte etc. Does City even win a single league title if they are stuck and unable to move off the signings of Wilfried Bony, Gaël Clichy, Claudio Bravo, Negredo, Nolito etc. to make room for the replacement elite players.
Devil’s Advocate - Does Manchester City deserve any credit for improving the state of the Premier League? Have no other clubs benefitted from their generous spending and football development?
Arsenal - Current league leaders Arsenal are led by a former Manchester City assistant coach and they currently have 2 significant starting level players on their roster that were developed by Manchester City.
Aston Villa - Many teams across the Premier League have been huge beneficiaries of City’s generous transfer strategy. Would any other club have paid €117.50m for Jack Grealish if not for City? Would Villa have been able to afford signing starting-level midfielder Douglas Luiz from Manchester City if they were a more cash-strapped club?
Leicester City - Riyad Mahrez was sold for €67.80m to Manchester City in the Summer of 2018, two years after Leicester’s 15/16 title win. Two years you could argue is a long enough runaway that Mahrez was not stolen away from another Leicester title challenge but rather the club capitalized on its asset.
If we punish players for using unauthorized performance enhancing substances we should probably punish Manchester City for using unrecognized streams of revenue and illegitimate financial tools to enhance the status of their team, allegedly.
Do we think Manchester City’s players also bare the weight of said punishment?
Manchester City could argue a rising tide lifts all boats and for that the punishment should be minor. Rival clubs can counter that argument as its clear that only Manchester City came prepared with a boat and this rising tide has created a flood.
Flooding land that if nurtured properly under the known established rules could’ve yielded a tasteful return for many other clubs in the league.