The Premier League appear to have taken some satisfaction in Manchester City's guilt being found by an independent three-man panel, and who could blame them? The reputation of the whole organisation is on the line, and there are 19 other clubs who they have to answer to while racking up enormous legal bills for bringing the case.
Rivals' Delight and City's Defiance
A result of overwhelming guilt for City will delight a number of the club's rivals, again for obvious reasons, who will have made it clear to the league what they want to see happen. Not only have they had to deal with Pep Guardiola's side hoovering up trophy after trophy for the last 10 years, but the City hierarchy have also not been quiet in celebrating their success.
Stating that he would not accept City "being used as a diversionary tactic on poor investment decisions" when speaking in 2019, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak added: "People make decisions, they've got to live by them. This is a well-run club."
Ferran Soriano has rubbed a number of executives at other Premier League clubs up the wrong way at boardroom meetings as City have insisted that they know best, and running battles with Liverpool and Arsenal in recent times have spilled out into the media.
Key Critics Have Departed
There will be no shortage of people who will take delight at seeing City facing the strictest punishments if the guilty verdicts are held up after appeal, but it is also worth pointing out how many of those people are still in positions of power at rival clubs. In short, it is not as many as there used to be given the length of time that has been taken to produce a decision on the charges.
Guardiola namechecked Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in the week after City were charged when asked who he thought was driving the process: "You have to ask the CEOs, Daniel Levy, these kind of people," he said. Spurs were one of the clubs that could argue they were most hard done to by City cheating and there was a feeling inside the Etihad that Levy would relish the club being charged and convicted.
He left his role in September 2025 though when he was effectively replaced by the club's owners, and in that same month Tim Lewis stepped down from his position as Arsenal executive vice-chair. Lewis was strongly on the opposite side to City on a number of Premier League financial issues at the same time that the rivalry between the teams stepped up as they battled each other for the title, and the Arsenal chief was seen leaving his seat at the Etihad in a September 2024 game without shaking hands with his counterparts.
Shifting Attitudes at Liverpool and United
Liverpool owner John W. Henry has been a longstanding skeptic of City's financial behaviour, posting on social media in 2011 that Arsene Wenger "says boldly what everyone else thinks" when the Arsenal manager accused City of bending UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules.
The rivalry between the two clubs grew toxic for several years, but has calmed since Jurgen Klopp left and not only is Andoni Iraola less likely to provoke in press conferences but even Klopp himself has been restrained in his comments after being asked about the guilty verdicts during a Germany press conference.
Over the road from City, United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe has been gushing about his neighbours since taking control of football operations and appointing City's COO Omar Berrada to be his new CEO back in 2024. Even when invited to welcome a guilty verdict for City, Ratcliffe replied: "I would not wish that upon them. I just want to smash them on the football field."
Potential Impact of the Verdict
All of which may not mean much when it comes to what punishments City's main rivals will be gunning for the Premier League to deliver, and Guardiola can be considered a loss given how passionately he defended the club. It will be interesting to see how Enzo Maresca approaches it, starting with a press conference on Friday.
However, it is notable that most of the individuals that would have most reason to be vindictive in their thoughts are now no longer officially part of the picture. City still believe their innocence and will look for an appeal to exonerate them, but if they are to be punished it may not sting for as hard or as long as it might have done if this verdict had come earlier.
