From fears for Man City's existence to unwavering support, fans are conflicted by ruling

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City fans are still processing Tuesday's landmark ruling that the most dominant Premier League team in recent times had, in fact, been found guilty of systematic financial breaches for nearly a decade to help boost its unprecedented era of success.

Kevin Parker, a fan for more than 50 years, has faith the club's Emirati ownership, which has turned City into a soccer powerhouse , will successfully clear its name.

“Everything that this ownership has said that they’re going to deliver, they delivered for me,” Parker told The Associated Press. “It would be the wrong time for me to suddenly lose faith.”

David Mooney, another longtime City fan, who runs popular podcasts about the club, describes himself as angry and conflicted. He is worried about what happens should the findings be upheld on appeal.

“This is probably setting the bar really low now, but whatever the outcome is, I just want City to still exist,” he said.

City was a storied club even before it was bought out by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the United Arab Emirates’ ruling family in 2008. It was one of the best supported teams in England, but had gone decades without winning a major trophy and lived in the shadow of its cross-city rival Manchester United.

The takeover transformed the landscape of the world’s most popular league with City going on to win eight titles, the Champions League and a slew of other trophies.

The possible sanctions for what amounts to the biggest scandal in Premier League history are wide ranging, up to and including expulsion from England's top flight .

An independent panel found City had set up complex schemes to disguise that it was unfairly being bankrolled by its owner , the Abu Dhabi United Group to the tune of more than $1 billion over a period of nine years from 2009-18. During that time it won three league titles, spent exorbitant sums to sign some of the best players in the world and appointed top-class coaches like Pep Guardiola.

In 2012 City was responsible for what is widely considered the most iconic Premier league moment when Sergio Aguero scored with virtually the last kick of the season to clinch the title from the then-dominant Man United.

A shadow now hangs over that achievement and many more following Tuesday's ruling, which City said it would appeal having consistently denied wrongdoing.

Some players, like United great Rio Ferdinand, have called for titles to be rescinded.

Defiant City fans have hit back at the very rules the club has been found in breach of.

“The biggest sham is that an owner putting his own money into his club to win titles is a crime,” prominent fan account PrestwichBlue posted on X.

There is, however, a sense of unease among some who were there for the moments of triumph over more than a decade of success that has now been called into question.

“It feels quite raw. I was there for the Aguero moment and I was there for the title in 2014 and the 100 points (title winning campaign in 2018),” said Mooney, who hosts the Bluemoon and Let Me Talk City podcasts. "I feel really sorry for the players because they had to still go out there and do it and achieve it."

But he accepts that because of the sheer amount of money that was found to have been pumped into the club “you can’t deny that there is a sporting advantage.”

A hearing into what sanctions should be placed on City is still to come. Potential punishments include huge fines and points deductions, as well as being booted out of the Premier League.

Mooney said there was a “sense that a lot of the football world wants blood.”

“At this stage the scale at which the verdict is guilty is damning and it’s huge. We’re way beyond slap-on-the-wrist territory here. But at the same time, we can’t have a punishment that effectively removes the club from from existence," he said.

The transformation since the takeover by Sheikh Mansour has not been limited to the team either, with huge investment going into the surrounding area including the construction of a state-of-the-art training academy, the biggest arena in the U.K. and a new hotel complex as well as the expansion of the soccer stadium.

“It’s unrecognizable that part of Manchester,” Parker said, pointing to the employment and money that has been generated as a result of the development driven by City's ownership. “All of those things are the things that make me think, why would they want to spoil that?”

In 2020 City successfully overturned a two-year ban from European competitions by UEFA for allegedly disguising funds, after appealing its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Although an appeal on this occasion cannot go before CAS, Parker is confident City's ownership will prevail again because he says it has always delivered on its promises.

“Whether that be the case in CAS, or whether that be increasing the capacity of the stadium, whether that be signing the best players in the world, whether that be winning titles, winning the Champions League, bringing in the best coach in the world. They’ve never lied to us,” he said.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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