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The stage is set for the new Premier League season. Manchester City has a title to defend on the pitch and a reputation to defend off it.
Soon:
Man City vs Premier League
(Getty; Sebastian Frej/MB Media, Naomi Baker, Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA; Design: Dan Goldfarb)
The season could change everything
Between the lines of Manchester City’s new fixture list lies their biggest competition of the season. Sometime between now and the end of the calendar year, the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League will be judged. A cause celebre is finally coming to a head.
That’s not a romantic way to sell the 2024-25 season, but the potential ramifications of this case, or the strength of feelings about it, cannot be overstated. In terms of the season’s place in history, the endgame could be decisive.
The Premier League’s investigation into City began six years ago, and a judge involved in it said it was a “reason for legitimate concern” that a resolution had taken so long – and those comments came in 2021. We won’t have to wait long for an outcome.
To recap, City are accused of breaching Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018, which includes the first two years of Pep Guardiola’s tenure as manager. City, which is also accused of not fully cooperating with the investigation, will vehemently deny all 115 allegations.
We are talking about the most successful English club of the last decade; a team that has won 18 trophies under Guardiola, including six league titles. The first of these Premier League trophies was won in 2018.
The alleged violations are enormous. Adam Crafton has done an excellent job of explaining the details and stances on the allegations made here.
If City are found guilty, the Premier League handbook provides for every form of punishment, including expulsion from the league.
The calls for a verdict have been deafening for some time now and even Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says enough is enough.
For confidentiality reasons, we do not yet have an exact date for the hearing, but we know that an independent panel will meet before 2025.
So on the pitch, it’s City versus Arsenal for the title. Off the pitch, City’s legacy and reputation are at stake. Did they cheat their way through financially from 2009 to 2018, as the Premier League believes? Or was City’s runaway success legitimate and objective? An answer will come, and not too soon.
Is INEOS good for Man Utd?
(Getty Images; Design: Dan Goldfarb)
A harrowing summer at Old Trafford
Today marks the start of the season at Old Trafford, with Manchester United at home to Fulham (you can follow the build-up and live updates here). Not only is it the first day of the season, but it’s also ground zero for United’s minority shareholder INEOS.
Competitive football will show whether INEOS knows what it is doing. Since the company bought a stake in United, there has been a halt to change and key decisions are now being stress-tested – the biggest of which is the unconvincing retention of Erik ten Hag as manager.
The extent to which INEOS is banking on itself is underlined by this little clue in Laurie Whitwell’s article today: United signed Leny Yoro from Lille for £60 million ($77 million) despite knowing he had a metatarsal problem. Yoro has since undergone surgery and will be out for three months. In the long term, however, INEOS executives believe the transfer will pay off.
Yoro was not United’s only investment and later, against Fulham, their fans should get their first look at Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee. We will wait and see if they make a positive difference. For Ten Hag’s sake, they have to.
Too many goals?
(Topical Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Goals, salaries and other complaints
Here’s a novel concept from The Athletic’s Michael Cox: he uses former Arsenal boss Herbert Chapman’s musings from a book published in 1934 to show that complaints about modern football are not so different from Chapman’s moaning about the sport.
Taking away the players’ individuality, like Guardiola did with Jack Grealish? Chapman was already complaining about this trend in England in the 1930s. And he criticised the excessive salaries of young talents, long before academy footballers were earning £20,000 a week. A man who was ahead of his time.
Another throwback to old school football was the increasing number of goals in the Premier League last season – a really sharp increase as can be seen in the graph above. Michael has also written about this, pointing out that more goals don’t necessarily make football more entertaining. I tend to think they don’t do any harm.
One thing football didn’t have to argue about in 1934 was the VAR system. Breathe deeply as video replays prepare to be on our doorstep again. However, the authorities have at least rejected a suggestion to publish the club affiliations of individual referees in the interests of transparency. What a terrible idea that would have been.
News overview
Poch + USMNT = perfect match?
(GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
Right step at the right time?
Oli Kay has dug up a prescient quote from Mauricio Pochettino that he gave to Spanish radio station Marca in 2022: “Football is about timing. It’s about the moments that come together and then making that connection.”
Two years later, those comments are perfectly apt for his impending appointment as the next head coach of the USMNT; the right move at the right time for him and U.S. Soccer.
Oli has been thinking about whether it will work out if Pochettino takes the job. He is right when he says that the 52-year-old chose the wrong moments to commit to Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. But Poch and the USMNT? I think it is bearing fruit.
All about sports
Quiz time
Brighton’s James Milner will be playing in his record-breaking 23rd Premier League season. Ten other players have played in 19 or more seasons – you name them.
You will find the answer here later today and in Monday’s newsletter.
Catch a match
Today:
Manchester United vs Fulham (3pm ET/8pm BST)
Premier League. USA Network, Fubo, Sky Sports
Morning:
Ipswich Town vs Liverpool (7.30am/12.30pm)
Premier League. USA Network, Fubo, TNT Sports
West Ham United – Aston Villa (12.30pm/5.30pm)
Premier League. NBC, Peacock Premium, Sky Sports
Valencia – Barcelona (3.30pm/8.30pm)
LaLiga. ESPN+, Premier Sports 2
Sunday:
Chelsea – Manchester City (11.30am/4.30pm)
Premier League. NBC, Fubo, Sky Sports
Mallorca – Real Madrid (3.30/8.30 p.m.)
LaLiga. ESPN+, ITV4, Premier Sports 1
And finally …
The decisive penalty from Anton Gaaei.
Turn on the sound and take it all in! 🫨😍#UEL #onejapan pic.twitter.com/5ryMZFdWTN
— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) 15 August 2024
Ajax beat Panathinaikos in the Europa League qualifiers last night. The penalty shootout lasted 28 minutes and 34 shots. Brian Brobbey missed twice. Ajax won 13:12 and celebrated vigorously.
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
