Yeah, clubs have sponsors. Amazing isn’t it.

Haha, nice deflection.

Likewise, Arsenal fans never chose to have Thomas Partey play for us, and it hang over everything for several years, and still now he’s gone.

I don’t blame City fans, of course. They never chose any of this. Just like Newcastle fans never chose their owners. Juventus fans never chose the bribery. But it’s something that hangs over the success, and the fans’ denial of that reality is a coping strategy.

Right. But that success wasn’t properly earned. When this ultimately gets resolved, it’s like the world records that never were. You’re right in that these things happened, the joy at the time is real, but they’re now tinged with their illegitimacy. It’s why cheating is invariably unsatisfying.

I’m sure you can figure that out.

They're funny, these Man City fans. Very keen to profess their legal knowledge. The thing is, it's one thing to be anxious about not winning the league. It's another to be anxious about your club facing multiple relegations and the exodus of ownership, management and playing staff. Enjoy.

Manchester City have, rather than admitting guilt, tried to make the legal claim that the evidence of guilt was obtained illegally. Which is of course a very different type of response than to deny guilt. But it will hang over City, since the likely outcome is relegation, which would itself be mild.

It is what it is. Other clubs get points deductions after complying. Man City have done everything to avoid complying. The UAE have had meetings with the British Government to discuss the outcome, which is of course the natural thing to do when not guilty.

Manchester City were found guilty by UEFA. They avoided a European ban due to a statute of limitations. They won't be able to do that with the Premier League. They can kick the can down the road and countersue the league. But when their guilt is announced, the sentencing will be substantial.

That was underwhelming from West Ham. I don't think they're taking Spurs' relegation seriously enough.

European ban. They avoided a transfer ban for a previous breach of rules on player registration (they were fined for that). The UEFA ban was reversed by CAS on the basis of many of the incidents being too far in the past, despite guilt. The Premier League has no such time-barring on the 115 charges.

Another of those crafty Pep free hits.

Yeah, thanks for that.

I remember desperately wishing when Arteta took over that he could just make us competitive again. Now I feel like the guy who regrets not being more precise in his wording when speaking to the genie.

We beat Palace 10-0 to win the Premier League, clearly.

He had to say that in April, of all months.

That’s it.

The thing with ‘momentum’ in football is that it’s just an analogy. It doesn’t act according to Newton’s laws. Momentum is quite useless as a predictor, because it entirely depends on the contingent outcome of each game. City drop points, they lost momentum. Etc. If they beat Burnley, we’re level.

And City have been proven guilty previously by UEFA, and hit with a massive fine and transfer ban.

Chelsea’s most successful period preceded and largely precipitated the introduction of FFP and PSR. But yeah, their recent case should have resulted in point deductions. They won multiple trophies with illegally purchased players.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Still, it would be nice for it to have been a simple competitive rivalry.

Unless I’m mistaken, this is the first time we’ve had the title ‘in our hands’ with 5 games left since 2004. Weird.

I wish the 115 stuff wasn’t a thing. Guardiola’s an incredible coach, and Haaland, Bernardo, KDB, Gundogan, Rodri, all amazing players. I respected the Pep Bayern and Barca teams when they destroyed us, and when you’re fairly beaten it’s ok. These past few years just feel wrong, sadly.

His name was Mykhailo Mudryk and we didn’t get him.

Maybe, but he didn't seem like a great option at the time. He was really inconsistent at Sociedad. Did many expect him to do so well in the Premier League? Initially Jesus seemed like the ideal signing for us, up until his first big injury. Likewise Kai until his.

Spending big on a forward is always a risk, because so many just don't work out. We've generally gone for players who have been good in the Premier League, which is quite a safe way to approach these things. We could have blown our whole budget on Isak and been no better off. Who knows.

Not really. Dembele's an interesting one, because the talent has always clearly been there, but the mindset was off. Even last season he was dropped by PSG shortly before he went supernova.

For us, Havertz has been really excellent, even though he's obviously not an elite poacher.

I'm being glib. But they were players Chelsea wanted to cash-in on in order to manage their accounts. So they were opportunistic signings for us.

Hopefully!