Who Has Suffered The Most From Man City's Rule Breaking?

Who are the biggest victims of Man City's cheating? Before going into specifics, I'd like to make one thing clear, that it's somehow being disputed by City fans and non-City fans alike. We are all victims of Man City's cheating. It doesn't matter if you support Liverpool, United, Palace, Accrington Stanley or Real Betis. If you are a fan of elite football, you have suffered from this. Modern football has been changed irreversibly. Titles won, hearts broken, prices inflated, all at the hands of Manchester City. Anyway, enough doom and gloom. Who has suffered the most? Who are the biggest victims of Man City's cheating? Let's go back to the very start. Number five, Stoke City. It's only one game that they will point to, but it possibly would have meant more to them than any of the others combined. The 14th of May, 2011. Man City won Stoke nil in the FA Cup final at Wembley. Days like this don't come around very often for clubs like Stoke. Incredibly, City have lost two finals to teams of a similar size, Wigan in 2013 and Palace in 2025, since the financial cheating began, but Stoke were unable to get over the line. They last won a major trophy 39 years prior to that, the League Cup in 1972, and that was in fact their only major trophy. It was their first FA Cup final too, and they lost by one goal to a team of City superstars. There are some teams who lost to City in this period, like Man United in 2021 or 2018's title races, where you can say, yeah, but man, Man City were so much better than them. Can they really feel that hard done by? Stoke were as close as you can get. Just a couple of years into City's controversial reign as kings of English football. That extra few million quid could have made all. the difference. Number four, Arsenal. Now, before you say it, yes, I'm aware that Arsenal's title races came four years after the final season included in the investigation, although their fans will point out that a farewell League Cup trophy in Arsene Wenger's last season would have been nice. They lost to City in the final in 2018. But City's years of financial book cooking set up the Pep Guardiola era, which in turn took two historic Arsenal title wins out of their hands. Their 2022-23 season was exceptional and they were pipped to the title by City's treble winners, They were even better the following year, taking City to the final day, only to lose again. Without the initial growth from City, Pep Guardiola doesn't take the job. Who knows where he would have ended up? And perhaps his second choice, whoever they may be, belongs somewhere on his list too. Alas, we will never know. Arsenal, thankfully for them and for the justice of football, won the league in 2026. Their golden era have got their hands on the Premier League trophy, in spite of... Pep's best efforts, and they can say they beat City fair and square in a title race before they were found guilty. That will mean a lot to them. Number three, Italian football in general. Inter Milan are the face of this victim, losing the Champions League final in 2023 to City as they completed the treble. But just how different could Italian football look if Inter had won Europe's premium prize? That summer, after losing the final, Inter Milan lost Handanovic, Skriniar, Dzeko, Brozovic, Lukaku, Onana. and Gerson's. They went through a big rebuild, which, yes, still resulted in a Serie A title, but saw them get dumped out of the last 16 of the Champions League the following year, then losing another final the year after that to PSG. But what if they had won the 2023 UEFA Champions League? Would their core have still looked to leave, Inter beat their rivals AC Milan in the semi-finals that year too? Would fans and players alike have sensed a shift in the momentum of European football? The Champions League has been dominated by the biggest teams, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, And the richest teams, Man City. TPSG Chelsea. Since about 2013, Inter Milan winning it would have been the official awakening of a sleeping giant. The San Siro becomes one of the hottest tickets in Europe again, and Inter's strength encourages Milan and Juve to seize the moment too. International fans tune into Serie A again to watch the European champions battle it out against their resurgent rivals. Alas, that did not happen. Other than Inter under Inzaghi, we've only had one Italian team in the semi-finals of the Champions League since 2020. The Italian national team hasn't played in a World Cup since This is ignor- the financial impact of Man City and the financial struggles of Italian football too. What was once a great footballing nation is floundering. And the purists of a certain demographic will feel genuine sadness at the downward trajectory of Italy's footballing legacy, as modern football has outgrown and outspent the country. Inter winning a Champions League from nowhere would not have done Italy any harm at all. As it happened, City completed a tainted treble, and Inter are left to wonder what might have happened on a more level playing field. Before we carry on, a quick word from today's sponsor, Norton VPN. Whether you're working from a coffee shop, travelling, or just browsing at home, You're constantly sending information. Norton VPN helps add an extra layer of privacy by encrypting your internet connection and helping keep your online activity more private. It's simple to use, works across all your everyday devices, and you can connect to VPN servers in locations around the world, whether you're at home or on the move. So, if you want to add another layer of privacy and security to your everyday browsing, click the link in the description to find out more and see the latest Norton VPN offer. Right, back to the video. Number two, Man City fans. Now, Now, this may seem a weird inclusion. Of course, City's fans are defensive for their club right now. They will say they don't care, that those memories still happened, that nothing can take away the feeling of those moments from them. And I hear it. City are the centre of the footballing world right now, and we would all do anything and everything to defend our team. I would do the same. They will cling to the chances of a successful appeal, believe their owners when they insist they're innocent, and may never publicly accept this verdict. But deep down, this will change things. Of course it will. They may not know or feel that right now, but in 10 years time, when looking back at what should have been a golden era of City, the cloud will be there. The knowledge of that, in reality, it wasn't quite what it was. They will never live this down as a fanbase. This will be brought up every time City do anything good for the rest of their life. Because this period built the foundations. This period has and will define City forever. It may turn some fans off. some players off and it will definitely turn neutrals off. Caring in football is viewed as uncool, obsessed, rattled. Of course no football fan would ever admit that they care what others think about their team but they do. We do. We all do. It's human nature and Manchester City fans will have the caveat of but you cheated but what about the charges but it all means nothing repeated to them every single weekend for the rest of their lives. It is not their fault. That is one thing to make clear. They are not complicit. They may be in denial, but they are nearly the biggest victims of anyone here. But of course, no one has suffered more than number one, Liverpool. This is actually a two-parter, both of which are possibly as sad as each other. Firstly, 13-14, a season slap bang in the middle of City's financial terrors. What if Liverpool had won the league that year? Their swashbuckling front three, Brendan Rodgers and most importantly, Steven Gerrard would have been Premier League winners. Would Luis Suarez have left to go to Barcelona? Would Raheem Sterling be a Liverpool legend? Would Gerrard be in any different all-time Premier League conversations? Would his slip versus Chelsea even have mattered if happened at all? As a neutral, there was a special feeling around Liverpool that year. It came from nowhere, it was exciting, it was attacking and it was organic. They deserved a Premier League title and it was sad enough when they lost out to City Even before we discovered it was to use the premise. Premier League's favourite word, a sham. Then came part two, Jurgen Klopp. In 18-19, Liverpool came second on 97 points. They lost one game that season to Man City. They lost the league that season. What if they won the league on 102 points and went invincible? It would be the undisputed greatest season in Premier League history. It probably goes down as the best Premier League team ever and Jurgen Klopp as the mastermind. They get to lift their first league title in front of a packed out Anfield as opposed to behind closed doors. They had another title in 21-22, again with 90 plus points, making it a nearly unprecedented period of complete and utter dominance. Jurgen Klopp replaces Pep in all-time Premier League manager conversations, finally getting the credit he deserves. Does he even leave Liverpool in 2024 if Pep is not City manager? I imagine he would have been a lot less tired fighting against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Frank Lampard and Mikel Arteta for a few years instead. Liverpool have been starved of Premier League success and despite breaking that curse in 2020, they could have had their golden era of Klopp ball with a trophy cabinet to match. Instead, the team is something of a what-if and certainly doesn't get the respect it deserves today. A word on the City players who, despite this backdrop of cheating, should and will still go down as legends. De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Aguero, David Silva, these guys all still had to do it on the pitch and having unlimited money does not necessarily mean success. City's footballing decisions were a big factor in their dominance and that will not be forgotten, but having an unfairly big margin for error certainly helps. Whatever punishment will befall City will not be enough. They are an established international giant. Those leagues are gone. The Champions League is gone. The memories and moments cannot retrospectively be shared around. Manchester City robbed millions of people of some of the best days of their lives. And they did so while simultaneously disrespecting the game and pulling the wool over our eyes.