HOW DO YOU PUNISH YEARS OF ALLEGED ADVANTAGE WITH ONE BAD SEASON?
If the serious charges against City are upheld, which is expected. My question goes beyond how many points they lose. How many SEASONS should the punishment last?
My take? 50 points a season for four seasons, plus a full transfer ban across eight windows.
Harsh? Consider everyone else potentially affected.
The clubs fighting relegation who faced them in the final gameweeks. The teams knocked out in cup semi-finals. The managers who lost jobs. The players who never got another shot at a final. What about Jurgen Klopp? That man deserves some serious respect on his name.
You can deduct points. How do you give those opportunities back?
For me, findings that serious would cast a shadow over an entire era. Trophies, records, accolades; the entire lot. Even later success gets dragged into the debate about what helped build it.
And fans will inevitably ask who knew what. Pep? The players? Those questions need evidence, but you can see why they’d follow.
Whatever happens, rival fans have enough ammunition to sing about Citeh for the next 50 years. And could they become this generation’s MK Dons in terms of lasting football resentment, on a far bigger scale?
What would meaningful punishment actually look like? Because one points deduction and “right, we’re square” wouldn’t cut it for me, so many clubs, and so so many fans.