Johnny Phillips: If City are guilty - it’ll be a black day for all football

When the Premier League announced they had brought more than 100 charges against Manchester City, for alleged financial irregularities between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons there was no reason to celebrate, regardless of any club allegiances.

Schadenfreude from rival supporters should be quickly tempered by the question that, if found guilty, what does this mean for the integrity of all that has gone before?

This isn’t entirely new territory. City were the subject of a Uefa investigation into alleged financial fair play irregularities almost four years ago.

On that occasion they had to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to be cleared and allowed to play in the Champions League.

Speculation over what punishment might be meted out should the club be found guilty of these charges is just that at the moment: speculation.

Talk of points deductions, a league expulsion or the stripping of titles is in the air although it is clear that nothing will be happening any time soon.

Rival fans might love the thought of all City’s recent success being retrospectively taken away but, while any punishment should fit a crime, it would leave a huge and unsatisfactory void. What have we all been doing for the last 15 years if it was all a fraud?

Six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and six League Cups represent an astonishing return over the period under investigation by the Premier League.

In recent years Pep Guardiola has built one of the greatest club sides the world has ever seen, with the help of a seemingly bottomless pit of transfer funds. Money that other teams could only dream of spending.

There are many iconic moments that are now under question, falling within the time scale of that Premier League charge sheet. Sergio Aguero’s title-winning goal in May 2012, scored with 93 minutes and 20 seconds on the clock, was not just a moment in time.

There is a present-day reminder of this because City have a 93:20 hospitality lounge at the Etihad Stadium and the imagery of the digital clock can be found all around the stadium. This is how clubs build their history and folklore.

Then there is the 100 points season, when the seemingly impossible was achieved.

What about the late turnaround against Villa last May in the final game of the season? City came from two goals down to win the match in the last 15 minutes and pip Liverpool again, the most recent of many dramatic moments.

On the face of it, none of this matters a jot to those who don’t support City but it really should. City’s successes have come at the expense of other clubs, that’s how competition works and that’s what makes English football, in particular, so seductive. The playing field, while never level, is hugely competitive.

Sunderland and Watford were among a number of teams to lose out against Manchester City in cup finals over this period. They were huge underdogs but shocks happen, as Wigan Athletic fans will confirm. All these moments now come under a cloud of uncertainty.

Whatever happens, the most important thing is that justice is served but the problem with this alleged crime is that it is impossible to redress the balance.

Would Liverpool and Manchester United fans really celebrate three retrospective Premier League title wins each over the period under investigation if City were stripped of their honours?

It is hard to imagine head coach Javi Gracia returning to Watford for an open top bus parade to celebrate a retrospective FA Cup triumph in 2019. After all, his team were trounced 6-0 in a match that many observers suggest was the beginning of the end of his spell in charge of the club.

Fabio Borini, now plying his trade with Turkish club Fatih Karagumruk, hasn’t won a thing in his 14-year career so it might have been nice to collect a League Cup winner’s medal for his role in the 2014 League Cup final when Sunderland lost out to City. But it probably feels a little hollow were it to come almost a decade later.

Calciopoli, Italy’s great football scandal, was uncovered in 2006 when telephone tapping revealed relationships between club executives and the refereeing bodies over the previous two years.

It led to Juventus losing their 2004/05 Serie A title, which was left unassigned. Their 2005/06 scudetto was removed too, with the Turin club relegated to Serie B.

As second-placed AC Milan received a points deduction, the title was ultimately handed to third-placed Inter, who had finished 15 points adrift of Juventus.

It led to the phrase ‘Scudetto degli onesti’ – title of the honests – being coined amongst Inter’s support.

But the decision was condemned in many quarters, with allegations of corruption surfacing beyond those clubs who had originally been punished. Calciopoli was a scandal that was never satisfactorily resolved.

Which brings us back to Manchester City in 2023.

The club remains innocent until anything is otherwise proven.

But if they are ultimately found guilty of these charges and punished then it is only the future that matters, because there can be no satisfactory redress for all that has gone before.