Man City sent ‘utterly terrifying’ message as Liverpool awaits verdict

Liverpool MP Ian Byrne has labeled the legal case involving Manchester City as ‘utterly terrifying’ with the Premier League side set to battle the top flight in an unprecedented fight beginning next week.

Earlier this week, The Times broke the news that Manchester City was set to argue the rules around spending were unfair, and suggesting that Associated Party Transactions are anti-competitive — despite Pep Guardiola’s side celebrating a fourth consecutive league title victory and the Citizens coming out on top in six out of the last seven seasons.

“I think it is utterly terrifying what we’re seeing with Man City,” Byrne told the ECHO. “What they are actually doing is an existential threat to football itself because if they get away with what they want to do, they have the ability for sponsors to put unregulated amounts of money into the game then it gives carte blanche for a certain number of clubs to carry on doing what they’re doing.

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“And then the 115 charges being faced suddenly become irrelevant, so it is all around that sort of thing. It’s extremely worrying and for me, it shows that unfortunately football hasn’t got the ability to regulate itself and now you have nation-states coming into play and global politics.

“That is why I have been so passionate about defending a regulator, sitting on the bill committee, before Parliament was put on hold before the election, and we have fallen at the very last hurdle because the election was called, so it never got over the line. That was so disappointing for so many people.”

Byrne insists that the club colors do not come into the equation at all either. If the situation was involving the owners of Liverpool, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), then they would be being fought against too.

“If Liverpool’s owners were acting like this I’d be the first to call them out,” he said. “Spirit of Shankly would and I am sure every single fan who has got the love of the game in their heart, sees past that and looks at it in a holistic way.

“You know that the game is toast then. It is sportswashing in effect, absolutely. All in all, this harms and undermines the Premier League model. They have let the foxes into the chicken coop.”

Liverpool.com says: What Manchester City wants simply cannot be allowed to happen. If the Etihad side can do as it pleases, that only ends one way: with even more dominance in a league that is already heading down that pathway. It is no exaggeration to suggest that the future of the game as we know it is at stake.