Sam, can you just give us a little primer on the, the state of these charges?

Yeah, um, absolutely, and thank you, uh, for having me.

It's a pleasure to be with you, and I think the name of your, uh, podcast is quite apt because Manchester City can be described as a club who would burn it all down unless, um, they get their way.

But it seems now that following the guilty verdict, uh, by the independent commission, um, a few weeks a- confirmed a few weeks ago, um, that that attitude and strategy predominantly devised by their backers from Abu Dhabi, that that kind of attitude might now backfire.

I think we have to go back in time to kind of try and explain this.

Um, so back in twen- 2008 when there were only two, I would say, big foreign owners in the English Premier League, the elite division, uh, in English football.

Two big foreign owners, namely Roman Abramovich at Chelsea and, uh, the Glazer family at Manchester United.

Was there, at the time, a critique of, of that happening, that this was somehow different than what Abramovich had done?

What exactly is happening today?

Yeah, I don't think Gianni Infantino is doing all that well, which is not surprising.

But it is strange, first of all, that he's organizing this meeting in Rabat.

Why not stage this crisis meeting, which it is, in Zurich, back home in Switzerland? Also, maybe take the opportunity to talk to your staff.

Perhaps try and reassure them.

But no, instead he's organizing this crisis meeting in Morocco.

And it is understood that some of the internal FIFA critics will also be present.

know, surely anyone else who might challenge him for this position could also make those types of promises.

What exactly is happening today?

Yeah, I don't think Gianni Infantino is doing, um, all that well, which is, uh, not surprising.

But it is strange, first of all, that he's organizing this meeting in Rabat.

Why not stage this crisis meeting, which it is, uh, in Zurich back home in Switzerland? Also, maybe take the opportunity to talk to your staff, perhaps try and reassure them.

But no, instead, he's organizing this crisis meeting in Morocco, and it is understood that some of the internal FIFA critics will also be present.

But it does show you, I think, that Infantino is isolated.

I don't think he had a good day yesterday as well with Matthias Grafstrom, basically his number two, and then Arsene Wenger coming out with statements and distancing themselves from him.

Although, you know, surely anyone else who might challenge him for this position could also make those types of promises.