Gunners Could Win League On Goal Difference?

[Dave Blue]

I just think it’s great that a third division team can get to the top like they have, it’s what football dreams are made of. The league doesn’t half seem to be dragging their feet over the accusations. 115 charges yet it doesn’t seem that one of them is 100% certain & cut and dried to result in punishment, just one out of 115. All a bit strange to me. Fans of some clubs are kicking up a stink yet the clubs themselves seem to be keeping their powder dry. Perhaps they’ve looked at the allegations and thought ‘f*ck me, we’ve done that as well’. 115 allegations!! Even the most inept accuser could make one stick should they be true? It’s all a bit weird.

You have called them a ‘third division team’ twice in this thread. It’s stretching it a bit to compare them to say, Exeter. Man City have been a top tier club for most of their existence. They are now on a par with watching Steve Davis in the 80s, utterly boring.

[The Lone Gunman]

Do you think it’s a good look for the Premier League that two teams have been deducted points this season for financial irregularities and one of them would have been playing for their Premier League lives today if Luton hadn’t have run out of steam? Yet, at the top, you’ve got a team winning their fourth straight title who have over a hundred charges against them that have been left on hold for at least a year with the suspicion being that their financial muscle makes them untouchable.

Aren’t the nature of the cases and the alleged misdemeanours entirely different? Didn’t both Everton and Forest quickly admit to their charges, which were basic breaches of the profit and loss rules?

I don’t for one minute claim to know the ins and outs of the situation, but everything I’ve read has suggested that the Man City case is complex, whereas both Everton and Forest’s breaches were beyond question. I think I’m right in saying that both of those clubs offered mitigating circumstances and appealed against the severity of their punishments rather than denying they had broken the rules in the first place.

[fugsyphil]

Aren’t the nature of the cases and the alleged misdemeanours entirely different? Didn’t both Everton and Forest quickly admit to their charges, which were basic breaches of the profit and loss rules?

I don’t for one minute claim to know the ins and outs of the situation, but everything I’ve read has suggested that the Man City case is complex, whereas both Everton and Forest’s breaches were beyond question. I think I’m right in saying that both of those clubs offered mitigating circumstances and appealed against the severity of their punishments rather than denying they had broken the rules in the first place.

I live in Stockport and most man city fans round here are convinced they'll be found not guilty in the vast majority if not all the charges. The majority of the press are historically united Liverpool or arsenal biased and are desperate to make it look like they've been cheated.

They tried closing the drawbridge but were too late to stop the invaders breaking into the closed shop money fountain

[splott parker]

You have called them a ‘third division team’ twice in this thread. It’s stretching it a bit to compare them to say, Exeter. Man City have been a top tier club for most of their existence. They are now on a par with watching Steve Davis in the 80s, utterly boring.

25 years ago they were a third tier side, the leagues don’t lie. Are you saying they weren’t?

[Dave Blue]

25 years ago they were a third tier side, the leagues don’t lie. Are you saying they weren’t?

You are painting it out as a rags to riches story of a lowly team hitting the heights. It’s nonsense, they spent one season in division 3 in their history, the vast majority of that time as a major club in the top tier.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

I live in Stockport and most man city fans round here are convinced they'll be found not guilty in the vast majority if not all the charges. The majority of the press are historically united Liverpool or arsenal biased and are desperate to make it look like they've been cheated.

They tried closing the drawbridge but were too late to stop the invaders breaking into the closed shop money fountain

City fans might be convinced they will be cleared

And if they are not guilty that's the right verdict

But what if they are found guilty and are innocent ?

Or found innocent but holding a load of smoking guns ?

I think the last scenario is most likely as all of them are bent

[the other bob wilson]

Aren’t the nature of the cases and the alleged misdemeanours entirely different? Didn’t both Everton and Forest quickly admit to their charges, which were basic breaches of the profit and loss rules?

I don’t for one minute claim to know the ins and outs of the situation, but everything I’ve read has suggested that the Man City case is complex, whereas both Everton and Forest’s breaches were beyond question. I think I’m right in saying that both of those clubs offered mitigating circumstances and appealed against the severity of their punishments rather than denying they had broken the rules in the first place.

That doesn’t answer my question though, is it a good look for the Premier League that there is a perceived difference in standards whereby Everton or, especially, Forest could have been relegated with an asterisk against their name signifying a points deduction and at least two of Man City’s four consecutive titles have been won with twenty times plus more charges hanging over them? Im a firm believer in innocent before being found guilty, but the charges have been laid and, for the good of the competition, the case against Man City should have been heard by now.

[splott parker]

You are painting it out as a rags to riches story of a lowly team hitting the heights. It’s nonsense, they’ll spent one season in division 3 in their history, the vast majority of that time as a major club in the top tier.

It is a rags to riches story, Man City, regardless of previous history, were a basket case of a club. You can see, even now, how much they thank Paul Dickov for that equaliser. They were in a hell of a mess, who knows what would have become of them had they not prevailed against Gillingham.
Do you regard the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford etc as Premier League clubs? Or as lower division clubs because their history tells you that. I’d say clubs are described as a whatever division club they are in at that particular time. Did you regard us as 2nd tier club when we were resident in the third and fourth tiers because our history suggested we were? Nah, we were fourth division and deservedly so.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

It is a rags to riches story, Man City, regardless of previous history, were a basket case of a club. You can see, even now, how much they thank Paul Dickov for that equaliser. They were in a hell of a mess, who knows what would have become of them had they not prevailed against Gillingham.
Do you regard the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford etc as Premier League clubs? Or as lower division clubs because their history tells you that. I’d say clubs are described as a whatever division club they are in at that particular time. Did you regard us as 2nd tier club when we were resident in the third and fourth tiers because our history suggested we were? Nah, we were fourth division and deservedly so.

I think that the difference between Man City and some clubs is that they......and Wolves ....and Leeds ....and Sunderland ......are huge and if they do end up in the equivalent of the old Division 3 it isn't for long

The size of their support and general interest in the club means they don't stay out of the big time for more than a few seasons

That time around 84 when we were hanging on to our championship ...or division 2 if you like status sides like Man City , Leeds , Wednesday and Newcastle were so much bigger than us

I think it's obvious that Man City are being left alone because they are so big though

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Aren’t the nature of the cases and the alleged misdemeanours entirely different? Didn’t both Everton and Forest quickly admit to their charges, which were basic breaches of the profit and loss rules?

I don’t for one minute claim to know the ins and outs of the situation, but everything I’ve read has suggested that the Man City case is complex, whereas both Everton and Forest’s breaches were beyond question. I think I’m right in saying that both of those clubs offered mitigating circumstances and appealed against the severity of their punishments rather than denying they had broken the rules in the first place.

I think it's an indication of how well Man City and their lawyers/advisors have covered their tracks.

[North Cardiff Blue]

I live in Stockport and most man city fans round here are convinced they'll be found not guilty in the vast majority if not all the charges. The majority of the press are historically united Liverpool or arsenal biased and are desperate to make it look like they've been cheated.

They tried closing the drawbridge but were too late to stop the invaders breaking into the closed shop money fountain

Thats true, the big clubs getting smashed is the best thing to come of their money advantage, innocent until proven guilty, which they probably will be eventually.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

I think it's an indication of how well Man City and their lawyers/advisors have covered their tracks.

Aye

It would be great if the whole edifice of man City came down

Followed by the rest of them

[Eric the Half a Bee]

It is a rags to riches story, Man City, regardless of previous history, were a basket case of a club. You can see, even now, how much they thank Paul Dickov for that equaliser. They were in a hell of a mess, who knows what would have become of them had they not prevailed against Gillingham.
Do you regard the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford etc as Premier League clubs? Or as lower division clubs because their history tells you that. I’d say clubs are described as a whatever division club they are in at that particular time. Did you regard us as 2nd tier club when we were resident in the third and fourth tiers because our history suggested we were? Nah, we were fourth division and deservedly so.

Sorry, but I agree with Dave Blue here.

Man City have spent 95 of their 120 league seasons in the top division. They have won the title 10 times, finished 2nd or 3rd another 11 times and been a top half side in 58 of their 95 seasons in the top flight.

Since winning promotion back to the first division in the first season following the 2nd world war City have spent 13 out of 77 seasons outside the top division. Apart from a 3 season absence in the 1960s, between 1982 and 2002, they spent half of their time outside the top flight in the worst run in their history, which included a season in the third tier.

Leicester spent a solitary season in the third tier more recently. Was their title winning season a "rags to riches"? Villa were in the third tier in 1970/71 but won the league 10 years later and European cup a year after that? Another "rags to riches"?

[HiVis]

Tainted? It’s a great football story, a third division club, getting to the top flight and eventually dominating it, all in less than 20 years. What are the league going to do, erase their fans memories, knock the doors of all players involved and demand the medals back? Those seasons are done and dusted and offering titles to runners up from years gone by would be laughable. The wailing and gnashing of teeth from from the fans of clubs who assumed they were untouchable is deafening.

with all due respect the Blues were not a third division club, they were a yoyo club between the top two divisions that had one season in the third tier. After back to back promotions they were relegated in 2000/1 back to the second tier. Since finishing third in 2010 they've never been out of top 4.

1, 2, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1

NB The Gills match was in 1999, 25 years ago. time flies.

[splott parker]

with all due respect the Blues were not a third division club, they were a yoyo club between the top two divisions that had one season in the third tier. After back to back promotions they were relegated in 2000/1 back to the second tier. Since finishing third in 2010 they've never been out of top 4.

1, 2, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1

NB The Gills match was in 1999, 25 years ago. time flies.

Bloody ‘at it’ 25 years ago as well then, playing in the third tier play off final at Wembley while not even being a third tier club