Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has said that Manchester City’s rivals are pushing hard for them to be punished for alleged financial rule breaches because they are envious of City’s recent success.
The Manchester United legend was speaking on the Overlap Fan Debate when he gave his comments. Neville discussed the financial structures of England’s top-flight and believes the current system will only keep the same few clubs with enormously rich owners placed at the top and does not allow for smaller clubs to enter the arena of success.
The Premier League charged Manchester City with numerous financial rule breaches over a nine-year period earlier in the week. The case has now been referred to an independent commission.
‘There’s been massive respect towards Manchester City over the last seven or eight years, in terms of what we’ve seen on the pitch,’ Neville said during the fan debate.
‘They are determined that they’ve not done anything wrong, and I feel as if they don’t like the idea of the established elite not liking what they are doing.
Neville then points towards Manchester City’s upsetting of the established order of ‘big clubs’ in the late 2000’s as a reason for those clubs now campaigning heavily for City to be punished for their alleged breaches.
‘Clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal – the historic, traditional big clubs, don’t like this idea of the newcomer coming on the block and doing what they’re doing.
‘They may use it in their favour as a siege mentality in the next few months. I’m a bit worried about what’s happening inside the club from a football perspective, and how they’re playing. Something isn’t quite right.’
Neville then went on to discuss the wider Financial Fair Play structure in English football and criticized it as a means of gatekeeping. He also discusses the injection of capital that helped to launch the Premier League in the early 90’s.
‘On the financial side, I do have some sympathy for Manchester City. If you look at what Jack Walker (former Blackburn owner) did in 1992, 1993, 1994, that was financial doping but, it was deemed to be something completely different because he was a local businessman who pumped money into his club.
‘I’m not a fan of the Financial Fair Play Regulations. It means you’ll always have the same clubs at the very top, because their revenues are higher and you’ll always have the lower clubs lower down, because they can’t compete with the revenue.’
The Overlap Fan Debate is back and a big one ! In Part 1 we get the thoughts of @Carra23 , myself and the fans , hosted by @JoshDenzel on the huge Man City story and Chelsea’s spending . Have a watch if you like ! https://t.co/RN00GFqJGB ❤️⚽️ @WeAreTheOverlap pic.twitter.com/2s6EmDFKMb
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) February 8, 2023
