On 1 October, The Athletic’s Amy Lawrence argued that Manchester City’s financial fair play case raises serious questions about the Premier League’s competitive integrity and football’s appeal to supporters.
Lawrence’s central point is that the sport’s enduring attraction comes from its uncertainty. Results are not supposed to follow a simple formula in which the strongest always defeat the weakest or the richest always prevail over the poorest. Upsets, unlikely heroes and extraordinary moments are what make football emotionally compelling.
Quoting Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, she refers to the familiar idea that “nothing matters but football”. The phrase does not literally describe how people live, she says, but it captures the hold the sport has over supporters. Football can be ordinary or miraculous, and fans are drawn to it because they cannot know which version they will see.
That unpredictability, Lawrence argues, is threatened when clubs systematically breach the rules. If competition is manipulated, the foundations of sporting fairness are weakened and supporters’ trust in the game is damaged.
It is significant, she writes, that Fever Pitch was published in 1992, the year the Premier League was formed. The new competition separated from the existing English football pyramid and pursued greater wealth, improved marketing, lucrative broadcasting agreements and commercial partnerships. It also considered football’s potential global expansion.
The Premier League’s creation followed the tragedies at Bradford, Heysel and Hillsborough in the latter part of the 1980s, with the stated aim of improving the product and modernising the game. But the rapid growth of football’s commercial appeal meant governing bodies had little time or capacity to understand the consequences or create effective safeguards.
Manchester City’s own history illustrates the contrast between football’s traditional unpredictability and the modern financial landscape. In 1992, the club was a historic and popular side. They finished fifth in the final season before the Premier League began and ninth in its inaugural campaign.
Seven years later, City finished third in England’s third tier, between Walsall and Gillingham. In the promotion play-off final against Gillingham, they were 2-0 down with two minutes remaining before scoring twice to force extra time and then winning on penalties. Paul Dickov’s knee-slide celebration after the equaliser remains an example of the raw, unscripted emotion that draws people to football.
Lawrence questions whether Manchester City would have attracted overseas investment without that promotion. The Premier League became increasingly attractive to international capital, particularly after Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea and the Abu Dhabi United Group acquired Manchester City. Both clubs had enormous spending power and were prepared to test the limits of rules they opposed.
Arsene Wenger was among the early prominent critics of “financial doping”. He had seen rule-breaking while managing Monaco, when rivals Marseille were investigated and punished, and warned about the effect of Abramovich’s arrival at Chelsea. Jurgen Klopp also repeatedly raised concerns about sporting integrity while competing with Manchester City’s “enhanced” model at Liverpool.
Lawrence concludes that clubs need stronger protection through a new regulatory system. They are vital parts of communities and should not be controlled or manipulated by owners wealthy enough to impose their own rules.
“Nothing matters but football,” she writes. “But if football itself is a ‘charade’, then football cannot truly matter.”
