Money Corrupts & The Corrupt Have The Money
October 2, 2026
In a week that you would have expected football to have been dominated by the international games and results, they’ve hardly had a mention compared to the news that came out of the independent Manchester City inquiry. It gave every hack in the sporting world the chance to give their thoughts not only on the verdicts, but on what should happen next. Equally so, just about every football fan in this country and others from across the universe have had their say which is fair enough. It seems as if everyone who could do so came up with what was probably an AI inspired cartoon sketch or video mocking the oil rich club and raising the odd chuckle or two.
Of course, Manchester City are already pleading their innocence and can prove the charges laid against their name are false and they can clearly explain where the money came from and/or went to. They were never going to sit back and let their fate be decided without calling on their money laden backers to explain it all away. This probably means it could take another long period of time before the powers that be can finally pass sentence and then the argument could be whether the punishment fits the crime.
Football, or in this case, the Premier League should never have got itself into this mess because that’s what it is. The league allowed Chelsea to flaunt the rules and didn’t do much about it until they had the chance to go after Roman Abramovich when Russia became the enemy of half the world. When they should have hit Chelsea hard, they hadn’t got the bottle and administered a meaningless fine and Chelsea carried on. The other club in Manchester are £1b in debt but nobody in authority seems to care. Other clubs rarely make ends meet but that’s allowed in the modern game. This is what money has done to football.
People tell me that it’s only because of the money generated by the TV deals Liverpool can go out and buy world class players, but I would disagree. Liverpool had world class players in the 1970’s and 80’s. In fact, three of them, Dalglish, Souness and Hansen were Scottish. Back then, all clubs had to manage their finances, and their business was simply football. Of course, things changed with the advent of Sky, followed by others and the game that belonged mainly to the fans went where the money was and that’s where we find ourselves today.
By a strange coincidence [or was it] Manchester City’s first game after the announcement happens to be at Anfield, home of the club possibly most affected by the riches of the accused. The TV boffins will be rubbing their hands. One of the more vociferous crowds in the country welcoming the guilty. When it was Jürgen v Pep, it was seen as more than a game of football so how Sky and Co will be building this one up the mind can only boggle. Personally, I’m only interested in the three points and I’m sure that will be the thought of the manager.
When they get back to the Etihad, Manchester City will no doubt put on a stage-managed show claiming their innocence and their fans will buy into it. A chance for them to tell the world that they are in fact, the victims in all of this. That too, is the modern game. A game run by money in a world where money corrupts and the corrupt have the money.
