Taproom Network

The Premier League has failed us.

Manchester City have won seven from seven and sit top of the table. Normally, I’d be looking at who might take points off them and how Arsenal could catch them. Instead, I’m wondering how many of those points will still be there when this is finally sorted.

It makes the league table feel artificial. We’re seven games into a season and already discussing whether the team at the top could be relegated by a punishment nobody has yet announced.

The investigation began in December 2018. City were charged in February 2023. The hearing finished in December 2024, and the commission’s verdict was published in September 2026. Nearly eight years to reach a first ruling, with the punishment still to be decided.

City dispute the findings and have appealed, as they are entitled to. The commission is independent, and its findings also include City’s failure to co-operate with the investigation. The Premier League plainly hasn’t controlled every delay.

But it is responsible for the competition and the system used to enforce its rules. I understand that a case this big takes time. Supporters have watched season after season finish while it works its way through that system. At what point are we allowed to say it isn’t good enough?

The timing matters to everyone

A points deduction could change far more than who wins the title. European places, relegation and the way City approach their remaining fixtures could all be affected.

If a punishment effectively settles City’s league position while they are still in the Champions League or domestic cups, why wouldn’t they prioritise those competitions? Resting players would make sense. But a club facing them afterwards could meet a very different side from one that played them earlier.

That could matter enormously to teams fighting to stay up or qualify for Europe. The timing of a punishment could end up influencing results across the league, long before anyone gets to the final table.

I’m an Arsenal fan, so of course I’d love us to win it. Arsenal, or whoever finishes top, may deserve the title completely. If they would have won it regardless of any deduction, there needn’t be any doubt. But if a late decision changes the champions, there could be doubt around that title for years. That wouldn’t be the winners’ fault. They would have played the competition in front of them. The Premier League would have left them with the argument.

You can’t give those years back

And all of this comes after the years already affected. The commission found serious financial breaches covering nine seasons. The advantages gained during that period don’t simply disappear when it ends.

Winning helps pay for the next season. It helps attract players who want to win things. A squad built with an advantage can keep winning after the period covered by a case is over. You can’t neatly separate those years from everything that follows.

Other clubs may have missed out on European football or been relegated. Managers may have lost jobs they would otherwise have kept. Even if a manager could eventually show that his team had been competing on an unfair basis, he wouldn’t get those seasons back to build something with them.

We can’t identify every result or career that would have been different. But that uncertainty is part of the damage. So much football has been played that we’ll never be able to untangle it all.

A punishment can change a table. It can’t give those years back.

We should know what breaking the rules costs

I also want clubs and supporters to have a much clearer understanding of the consequences before a case reaches this point.

The rules already allow fines, points deductions and other sporting sanctions. But knowing what is available is very different from knowing what a particular breach is likely to cost.

There should be a starting penalty for each breach, with defined increases for its seriousness and for repeated offences. If a commission departs from that, it should have to explain why. An administrative error and deliberate concealment clearly shouldn’t be treated the same.

That wouldn’t remove the need to investigate or hear an appeal. It would mean everyone understood the consequences better, rather than spending years guessing at them.

The Premier League has pursued this case, and it was right to do so. But getting to a verdict cannot be the whole measure of whether its system works. It also has to protect a competition that keeps being played while the lawyers are working.

I want to look at the league table and know what I’m looking at. After nearly eight years of this case, I don’t think that is too much to ask.