No Fans, 115 Charges and just won the Treble - Why would anyone support Manchester City?

There are many ridiculous accusations aimed at Manchester City and their fans every single day from virtually every other team in the world. It would appear that these extremely bitter and jealous rivals are the experts on FFP (Financial Fair Play), and not the highly-paid lawyers employed by the club and the Premier League.

What on earth will the media devote their sports pages to when they discover City have done nothing wrong? It is actually their precious clubs, Yoonited, Chelsea, Wolves, Everton, Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona that have all been found guilty, with more in the pipeline, while City have been found guilty of nothing.

City fans, renowned for their sense of humour, have developed a game excuses/charges bingo because, no matter what happens in football, somehow and someway, it will be blamed on City. For example, if a player costs too much, it’s because City have inflated prices. The fact that the blues set a price limit on what they think a player is worth and never deviate from it goes deliberately unnoticed (They have walked away from many deals when the price had been excessively inflated. Maguire, Cucurella and more recently Rice for example).

The worst culprit in this blame game is Jurgen Klopp, the LiVARpool Manager, who seems to blame City for every mistake his team makes. And, of course, they cannot compete with City because we are owned by a state. (Really Jurgen? Don’t let true facts get in the way of your narrative will you?)

It’s so tiresome for everybody connected with Manchester City Football Club. We all know that, even when we clear our name, and you can trust me on this, City WILL be completely exonerated, it will no doubt continue and we’ll still have mud thrown at us. Sadly though no one will listen to the verdict. The damage to our Club has already been done thanks to the hysterical cartel-loving media.

So with very little effort and research on my part, *Journalists please note,* I decide to debunk a few of the most ‘popular’ myths that have grown around my club. Rival fans, you all know the ones, (hint: for the most part they play in red, constantly talk about their history, haven’t won anything of significance in any of the past ten years, think they have a divine right to win all the trophies), you might want to stop reading here. They really did not like Manchester City breaking their stranglehold on winning trophies and quickly changed the rules so no one else could follow (see Newcastle United as an example).

Here are some of the popular accusations that have been levelled at my Club:

1. Emptyhad - Manchester City sell out every single one of their home league games (This can be verified if journalists bother to check actual facts) but, like every other Premier League club some of our season ticket holders cannot attend the odd game for a variety of reasons, hence you will see empty seats. For perspective, this also occurs at Anfield, where statistics show they sell 99.6% of their capacity but only fill around 94% of their seats.

Meanwhile, our excitable neighbours, for example, have been previously identified as exaggerating their figures by an average of 10,000. Yes, you read that right, their attendance was reported to be up to 10,000 less than they admit to. Not exactly good for their image is it? This happens to ALL Premier League clubs as empty seats occur because season ticket holders cannot always get to the games. Manchester City, along with other clubs are currently working on ways to address this so these tickets can be sold to other fans who couldn’t otherwise attend the games.

The clamour for tickets by those who are desperate to see our amazing treble winners is unprecedented already for this upcoming season. City have sold out most of their league home games right up to Christmas (Not all are on sale yet). Statistics also show that City are currently the fourth-best supported club in the Premier League and that the blues have the fastest growing fan base both at home and across the world. The contemptuous photographs that are quickly thrown onto social media sites proclaiming the Etihad is deserted are without question taken well before kick-off, when most fans are on the concourse. Those taken when the teams come out onto the pitch show a very different story, but that doesn’t suit the media narrative.

2. Pep - Manchester City Football Club loves Pep Guardiola. What he has done for our club is miraculous, or in his own words in-cred-ible. But Pep is only human. He makes mistakes and in September 2021 he made a very big one. He called out the most loyal supporters in the Premier League. We understood his frustration; everything Pep does he does with intense passion. He did not like seeing the empty seats at our European game against Leipzig and he told reporters he wanted the fans to come to the game against Southampton. He wanted the stadium ‘rocking’ he said.

Did he know what he was saying? Did he fully understand the powerful ammunition he had given to our bitterest rivals? Yes, of course he did. This is Pep. He is a genius and knew exactly what he was saying. Did he understand how much his words hurt and humiliated the very supporters he was calling to the ground? No, I don’t believe for one minute Pep wanted to hurt the fans, it was a call to arms nothing more. Pep has a fantastic rapport with the City supporters; he really gets what City means to all of us. A near-capacity crowd responded to Pep’s call for that Southampton game and we sang our hearts out to him showing him we understood. Granted the game was an abysmal 0-0 draw after all the hype, but it made no difference - Pep knows he has the full support of City fans everywhere.

We know it will not last forever. All good things must come to an end. Pep will leave us one day. It is the day we are all dreading BUT we must trust the process. City are without a shadow of a doubt, the best run club in the World. They will have a plan. Pep will not leave us high and dry, and already plans will be in motion. Remember how we waited patiently for him to leave Bayern? Whenever that terrible farewell day arrives, City will survive. Our fans are incredibly loyal and we will support the blues through the good times and the bad. We always have and we always will!

3. Plastic Fans - The Manchester City name is the fastest-growing brand in football. In the last ten years, City have won 17 trophies, (6 x Premier League, 2 x FA Cup, 6 x League Cup, 2 x Community Shield and 1 x European Cup), and it’s always been the aim of the City Football Group to grow the club internationally. The club have a large core of home supporters, over 35,000, who have followed them through relegation after relegation (I count myself as one of them having supported this team since 1970), and I seriously doubt the cartel clubs would be able to boast about something like that. During our most recent tour of Japan and Korea, all three games sold out within half an hour of going on sale. With attendances of more than 65,000 for each game and around 90% of the people in the grounds supporting City, it’s clear the club’s fan base is expanding. I mean, 3,000 turned up just to watch them training. Who knew that winning trophies made teams popular? (especially when you do the domestic and European treble!!)

4. No History - In 1894 Ardwick FC reformed and changed their name to Manchester City Football Club. In 1899 they finished champions of Division Two becoming the first team to win automatic promotion, and in 1904, they beat Bolton Wanderers to become the first Manchester side to win the FA Cup (5 years before our rivals who won it in 1909). In 1937, they became First Division Champions for the first time. In 1966, they were Division Two Champions, two years later Division One Champions and in 1969, they won the FA Cup. 1970 saw them lift the European Cup Winners Cup and the League Cup, while they lifted the League Cup again in 1976.

And all this before the takeover in 2008. So to say we have no history is incredibly poor reporting, but it gets the clickbait those ‘journalists’ love. Check the actual facts guys, it’s really not very difficult to do!

5. When the oil money runs out - The Abu Dhabi United Group bought the club in 2008 and has since developed it into a huge global brand under the City Football Group umbrella. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan set up the group and it owns 13 clubs worldwide, with Manchester City being its flagship club. CFG are also about to invest a further £300 million in developing The Etihad Stadium, which is not the behaviour of a company planning on pulling the plug and walking away. CFG have been with Manchester City for fifteen years and every year our Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, gives a statement updating the fans on our future and how they feel the club is doing on and off the pitch.

It is eagerly awaited by City fans and then discussed in great detail on social media. I have yet to see ANY other clubs doing anything similar, or any other chairmen for that matter. Their aim is to make us the best in the World and we are not far off achieving it. So to all our rivals, don’t cry in your beer too much as they’re here for the long term.

6. Finances - Since 2013, City’s net spent has decreased and they currently sit 8^th in that table below Arsenal, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Spurs. At the same time our profits have increased, taking the club out of debt (Unlike our pathetic rivals who are now in debt to the tune of £494.8 million).

Herein lies the paradox of FFP. You see, UEFA, the FA and Premier League can see no wrong in a club having half a billion pounds worth of debt (See also Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus), yet they wish to punish a club that has invested wisely, is now debt free and are fast becoming the wealthiest club in the world. City can boast the best academy in the world; our young players have also done their own 3peat - the EDS and the under-18’s both emulating the first team. Is it any wonder those young players attract attention and are sold for more than most club’s first team players? (Fred - Brazilian international sold for £13m, Carlos Borges, who never played in City’s first team, sold to Ajax for £17 million is just one example).

7 - 115 Charges - Finally, the millstone hanging around City’s neck. In February 2023, the Premier League accused Manchester City of 115 FFP charges. This is what Pep had to say at his press conference that week:

‘We are lucky we live in a marvellous country that have a society where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. We didn’t have this opportunity. We are already sentenced. What’s going to happen I don’t know. In the other side.

“Personally I’m happy that we are here because like UEFA happened we have the chance to defend our position. We have good lawyers but we cannot say UEFA had bad lawyers and the Premier League, supported by 19 teams, are going to take good lawyers’.

The whole club from the Chairman to the Supporters was incensed by this injustice and the slur on our name. Like Pep, I trust in my club to prove their innocence. I believe 100% that we will be vindicated but the damage to our name has been done. The jealousy from fans of other clubs means they don’t care if we’re proved innocent - the media has already tried and convicted us. How did we respond to these scurrilous lies?

We won the treble.

That’s right when you try to hurt Manchester City we fight back and we win. The whole club was galvanised and never gave up. Even a thunderstorm and torrential rain could prevent our celebrations.

We are City, one club, one team, one love.