Manchester United fans will bring back the Stretford End 'ticker' banner to mock Manchester City for this weekend's game against Tottenham. The banner, which counts the years since City last won a trophy, will return to Old Trafford after City were found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League.
Banner history and return
The banner was first used in 2000 with '24 YEARS', but it was taken down when City won the FA Cup in 2011 a few years after their Abu Dhabi takeover. United fans last unfurled the banner in 2010 when the two sides met in a League Cup semi-final second-leg clash at Old Trafford, when it read '35 YEARS'.
The Athletic reports that the Red Army (TRA) group has paid £114 to have a new banner made, which will read '51 YEARS', erasing the 20 major honours City have won since they were taken over in 2009.
Impact on past seasons
United finished as runners-up to City twice in the years they have been found guilty, in 2011/12 when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge, and in 2017/18 when Jose Mourinho was at the helm. Experts have predicted that a points deduction, at the minimum, feels inevitable for City, who have continued to insist they have done nothing wrong.
On Friday morning, City manager Enzo Maresca spoke to the media for the first time since it emerged City had been found guilty of 114 charges, and he denied that City's trophies are tainted.
Maresca's response
"Absolutely not," he said. "I know the effort from the players and the club, so I know what they did for that target. Absolutely not [tainted]. For me and the players, we can control the pitch side, we can focus on that. We cannot control something different."
Michael Carrick will speak to the press at Carrington on Friday afternoon and face questions about City's charges. Carrick was part of the United squad that finished second to City in 2011/12 when Sergio Aguero scored a last-minute goal against QPR to clinch the title.
