This situation is becoming a farce. The Premier League is really getting exposed for its ineptitude with the Man City financial fraud case as they punished yet ANOTHER club before dealing with City in Nottingham Forest.
How can one team evade just A TRIAL (forget punishment) for their alleged misdeeds while the others all get hit near instantaneously?
Even though they have had 115 financial breach charges levied against the club for nearly five years, Manchester City have still yet to face a trial for their alleged misdeeds despite other clubs with breaches, which have been revealed AFTER City’s, already inspected and punished. And Nottingham Forest is the latest club to be punished for financial misdeeds before Man City.
What a shambles this process has become.
So, as I said, Nottingham Forest have become the latest Premier League club to breach and be punished for breaking financial sustainability rules. And, just like with Everton’s record-breaking 10-point deduction (which was later reduced to 6 points), Forest have been levied with a point reduction of their own with the Premier League taking away 4 points from their tally.
“4 points? That doesn’t seem too bad,” you may be thinking to yourself. And, if Forest were having a season like they had last year, then you would be right. But they’re not for losing 4 points not only brought their tally down to 20 points from 24 points the day prior to the punishment, but it also knocked them out of 17th place and into 18th place.
Or, in other words, it pushed them into the relegation zone and made their dog fight to stay in the Premier League all the harder with them now being one point BEHIND Luton Town instead of three points ahead.
And, if you are wondering about Everton, they are not doing too rosy either for they are in 16th place on 25 points.
Anyway, the plights and punishments of Everton and Nottingham Forest are not why I am writing this article. To be honest, I fully support the financial punishments levied against these clubs for if they DID break the rules, then they should be disciplined for it.
No, my issue with this whole situation is how a club with not only FAR GREATER stature, standing, and relevancy than Forest and Everton, but also far more breaches in the Premier League can continue to evade any serious legal investigations into their alleged wrongdoings as others are tried and punished around them. Obviously, I’m talking about Manchester City.
Now, I know there are some serious nuances to these cases: 1. Forest had SIGNIFICANTLY lesser charges than Manchester City over a FAR SMALLER time period, 2. Forest ADMITTED their guilt, while City proclaim their innocence to the 115 charges over nine seasons starting in 2009/10 and through the 2017/18 season.
But isn’t that an issue in of itself? Why does it take YEARS to adjudicate an issue as massive and vital to the credibility of the Premier League as Manchester City’s, the team that has won 4 Premier League titles, 1 FA Cup, 3 EFL Cups, and 1 Community Shield in that timeframe of charges, alleged misconduct?
I get it: scale. The scale of the charges is massive and unprecedented, but should that not demand an even heightened focus on this case to bring the truth to light and resolve all matters in as quick as time as possible? I mean, it should at least have been resolved by the end of one of the last five Premier League seasons (including this one) as Man City’s status in the Premier League is under serious question.
How can you damage the ability for clubs like Everton and Forest, both of whom are fighting for their lives to stay in the Premier League, with huge point deductions (and unprecedented in Everton’s case) in a matter of months yet take at least five years to adjudicate the status of a team with 20X the charges and importance to the Premier League and prize placements?!?!
Like I said, I know these investigations take a long time, but 5+ years? Really? This couldn’t have been resolved in 2 years? Maybe even 3 years?
We’ll have to wait and see how all of these point deductions and investigations play out, but I’m not holding my breath for the REAL TRUTH to come out about Man City.
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