adminLeeds United and other Premier League clubs will be waiting for a verdict on Manchester City’s staggering 114 charges confirmed this week.
Arguably the biggest story in Premier League history emerged during this international break. Manchester City have been found guilty on virtually all charges relating to financial doping from 2009 to 2018.
The question now is how the league decides to deliver punishment to Man City, with every club in the division and even in the EFL waiting patiently.
“Mid-table” – Gary Lineker takes remarkable Manchester City punishment stance
The potential punishments that the Citizens could face are unprecedented. No club has ever been found in breach with such extraordinary cheating in the history of the game.
As a result, speculation is already mounting over how the Premier League and other relevant bodies could deal with the guilty party.
Gary Lineker has been relatively lenient on the matter, though, suggesting a rolling points deduction for five seasons would be sufficient, but only enough of a deduction to push them out of Europe.
“Some interesting ones, do you give them a big point reduction and make sure they get relegated and then they’re in the Championship?” Lineker said on The Rest is Football. “Then, what do the Championship do with Manchester City? So, obviously we have different governing bodies in our game. We’ve got the Premier League then we’ve got the Football League, which is totally different and how do they handle it?
“I saw an interesting one that I think, you know, is possibly viable that you could maybe give them a 20-25 point reduction for the next five seasons. So, they decelerate and they stay in the mid-table, which is an interesting one.
“Obviously, probably a transfer ban for quite some time and a huge fine, obviously that won’t make any difference to Manchester City in reality. So, watch this space really, isn’t it?
Leeds United would dislike Gary Lineker’s Man City points deduction proposal
If you were to deduct 25 points from Man City’s last five seasons, they would have recorded these finishes instead:
25/26: 8th on 53 points (qualify for Conference League)
24/25: 14th on 46 points
23/24: 5th on 66 points (qualify for Europa League)
22/23: 6th on 64 points (qualify for Europa League)
21/22: 6th on 68 points (qualify for Europa League)
Therefore, if Lineker’s proposal were implemented, Man City would still have a strong chance of remaining in Europe during a period when they need serious, stringent sporting sanctions to dismantle their current stature. This position was only granted to them due to £900million worth of doping.
Any punishment handed down to them has to completely remove them from this league. If they receive a modest 25-point deduction, they suddenly become Leeds’ and other clubs’ direct competitors instead.
Why should we effectively suffer because of Man City’s cheating by having them become our problem? That isn’t fair, and they need the full force of the rules thrown at them.
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