Valentines Day Massacre at Manchester City

The fact that every Manchester City fan could see this day coming does not make it anymore palatable.

I have been a Manchester City fan for over 50 years and want to start this by saying, I don’t think I have done anything wrong. However, that is not how it feels this morning as I read the papers and scan the websites for tiny clues as to what is happening.

At the outset, it is the fans who are the lifeblood of the beautiful game. It is our idolisation that is craved by the playing staff and our money that the Clubs chase. The biggest shame in the whole debacle with UEFA is ultimately it is the fans who are punished and that no one really cares.

In terms of the UEFA action itself, the whole sorry mess stinks. Fetid and putrid. On all sides.

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Whether you follow the belief that Manchester City have been deliberately targeted in a takedown sting and that there is a grand conspiracy underpinning the matter is largely irrelevant at this point. There is no righteous side as far as I can see.

City have been caught cooking the books in a bid to over state oncome to keep within the strict confines of FFP. Whether that is a misinterpretation or not will ultimately come out in the laborious appeals which will no doubt follow. None of that really matters now though because the damage is done.

The City brand is damaged. The players have decisions to make. The reductions in income may make the playing squad impossible to maintain just at the point a major rebuild is needed. Ahead lies difficulty- more so as the mire of further investigations loom heavy on the horizon. It is hurricane season and one after another the storms will appear with regularity until an eventual spring.

It will be 6 to 8 months before a full appeal verdict is heard and in the interim all we can look forward to is the sorry spectacle of this being played out in the media, blow by blow. Even if City emerge triumphant from CAS it will be death by a thousand tiny cuts.

So what of us City fans? What should we do? Does anyone other than City fans actually care?

In all of this it is important to remember a couple of things. Firstly, the Club do not need me to fight their corner. They employ lots of people who should be doing that. Although I have to say the passive media approach by City has felt cowardly, leaving it to fans to defend themselves.

Secondly, I was a fan before and will be still. Changing your colours is not an option. Its City till I die as far as I know.

However, there needs to be a time of reflection for us all as we come to terms with the betrayal we have suffered. Whether that betrayal is by the people in charge of the Club who have failed us fans, or by some elite clubs in UEFA is all unclear.

The difficulty we have is how to pick ourselves up and keep going as all the background noise tries to suck the remaining enjoyment out of the game.

We have to start a game at a time, by following our team. By cheering as loud as we can. We need to ensure Pep and the players hear us above the rest of the noise. We start again at the Etihad next week, let us make that an evening to remember.