Vickery and Coltro clash over whether Manchester City 'stole' the Premier League

Manchester City were found guilty at first instance of 114 of the 115 financial breaches under investigation, and the club can still appeal, according to the Trivela programme "Futebol em Contexto". The case framed a debate between columnist Tim Vickery and presenter Nelson Coltro over a question the source says divides English football: whether City stole the Premier League. The programme's discussion was reported by Trivela.

Coltro argued that the word is justified because of how the breaches were committed over nearly a decade. He said other clubs were following the rules, and that while Everton and Nottingham Forest were recently punished, they admitted spending more than they should have. City, by contrast, did not admit wrongdoing but manipulated its accounts, which he called very different and something that went on for many years. Among his examples, he cited Roberto Mancini: unable to pay the Italian coach's salary within the rules, City reportedly topped up his earnings through a consultancy role for Al Jazira, a club in the same group, which required only four days of work per season.

Vickery rejected the term. He said City did not buy referees or anything of the kind, but bought footballers, and that any City fan will remember the first title under that model, sealed by Agüero's goal in stoppage time. That moment, he argued, cannot be taken from people and was a legitimate moment of football. He said he does not see it as theft, though he believes one thing is very clear: how English football sleepwalked into the modern era, and how those controlling it were unprepared and unaware of the regulation's problems. He described a mindset suited to an older time, when a club owner was the local butcher with five shops, and said the modern game involves far more powerful forces. The tone coming from City, he said, is that they are too big to be regulated. He added that the money was invested in football.

Coltro countered with Liverpool's 2013/14 season, when they lost the title to City by two points. He recalled that Liverpool's key players then included Steven Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge, who had not succeeded at Chelsea or City, Philippe Coutinho, who had not succeeded at Inter, and Raheem Sterling, signed cheaply from Queens Park Rangers; the expensive one was Luis Suárez. He said City's project at the start was to weaken rivals, signing Adebayor and Nasri from Arsenal and Lescott, a great defender, from Everton, while Liverpool ran a more restrained project and kept its finances in check, yet lost by two points. That kind of injustice, he said, will never be repaired.

Vickery agreed that this is the most delicate point and warned about what may follow. He said that if City are definitively declared guilty, many other teams, in the Premier League and the cup, would have every right to feel harmed, and asked what happens then. He said it looks like the potential for a big party for lawyers and a big disaster for fans. The source does not establish any final ruling beyond the first-instance outcome, and the club retains the right to appeal.