Since September 29, the day Manchester City was officially found guilty by the Premier League of 114 financial offenses, the Cityzens’ matches have had a special flavor on the other side of the Channel. Ironically, the first meeting played by Enzo Maresca’s men since the announcement of the verdict was the clash against Liverpool, an opponent who was often in the fight with the Cityzens for the title of champion. On the Anfield pitch, Rayan Cherki’s partners did not seem affected by all the media hype surrounding their club as they calmly won 3 goals to 0.
Very critical consultants
Tomorrow evening, the Skyblues face Paris Saint-Germain on the second day of the Champions League and it is a safe bet that the Maresca players will once again do their job without giving anything away. However, the scandal that rocks Manchester City has a repercussion that no one mentioned at first glance. If the links between the club and Andy Burnham are talked about due to the current British Prime Minister’s status as former mayor of Manchester, The Athletic looked into the case of one of the broadcasters of the English championship, the Sky channel. The reason? The media must today face a serious dilemma. sky has a large army of XXL consultants such as Roy Keane, Daniel Sturridge, Micah Richards, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. So many former Premier League legends, some of whom clearly say what they think, like Keane, who has not hesitated for a second to criticize Manchester City since the affair broke out.
“It has nothing to do with the players. Micah spoke about his journey and playing for City. This has nothing to do with the players or the fans, it only concerns the management of the club. If you want to win titles, you have to do it honestly. We want to be able, looking back on our career, to say to ourselves: “yes, we gave everything, we won some matches and we lost others.” But we can’t look back and see what City did, and what the club was found guilty of. I know there is an appeal, but for years there has been constant praise for Manchester City, saying that they are signing incredible players and that Pep (Guardiola) is turning very good players into superstars. It’s the way they went about it that’s the problem, it has nothing to do with the players.”the former Manchester United midfielder recently declared.
But a broadcaster who pays a fortune
Last weekend, after the brilliant victory of the Cityzens against the Reds, it was Gary Neville who stood out by responding honestly to the presenter of the Super SundayMark Chapman, who asked him to dissociate City’s success from the surrounding context. “It’s quite difficult. This is Manchester City’s first match since the guilty verdicts were handed down a few weeks ago. We were just recording the podcast at the time, and I was saying that if I could be excused from covering Manchester City games for the next few months, until the verdict is in, I would be absolutely delighted. It’s not good for the Premier League, it’s really bad for the Premier League. This will last a few more months. » Seeing a consultant ask his employer to no longer make him comment on the matches of a championship leader is something to be concerned about. As a reminder, the TV rights to the Premier League for the period 2025-2029 were awarded in exchange for 6.7 billion pounds sterling, or approximately 7.8 billion euros.
The amount paid by sky is not officially known, but the channel won 4 of the 5 lots put up for auction. Suffice to say that it therefore paid a very large part of the 7.8 billion euros. This is the heart of the problem. When the consultants of sky shoot Manchester City on sight and call into question the integrity of the Premier League, they devalue the “product” for which their channel pays a fortune. You will have understood it, sky faces quite a dilemma. The media cannot sabotage itself, but it cannot minimize the scandal either, under penalty of being accused of being at the mercy of the Premier League. And that’s not all. “The viewers of sky expects its journalists to investigate Manchester City’s misconduct with unfailing objectivity, while another arm of the same company negotiates with the club, as rights holder, to obtain an interview with Erling Haaland, broadcast on the channel last week before the Liverpool match. This is, by any standard, a near impossible task.”writing The Athletic. At a time when the announcement of sanctions is not expected immediately, this new perception of the affair demonstrates to what extent the entire Premier League hopes that the ax falls before the end of the season. In order to prevent the ambient unease from dragging on.
