Never Really About Football

#1054 | Ed and Paul pick through the fall out from City’s guilty verdict and conclude this is a geopolitical story more than football. The outcome might well owe more to diplomacy than to Premier League rules. Andy Burnham's situation and UK ties to Abu Dhabi suggest where the pressure is coming from.

There’s a long look at the City fanbase: why will so few will engage with the evidence or a reasonable discussion about what’s happened? How did a club that was once the punchline become the vehicle of a state?

There’s the damages bill that could run into billions and whether the other 19 clubs would really vote to expel. Could the only clean exit be a settlement fund and a forced change of ownership?

0:00 The guilty verdict

2:54 A geopolitical story

9:42 CAS 2020, six emails and the redactions

15:03 Financial doping

27:18 Why City fans won't engage

30:40 Who's who in Abu Dhabi

39:31 Was FFP ever a fair rule?

47:00 Lawsuits, damages and expulsion

55:36 Can titles be reassigned?