Could the Man City controversy affect Australian Football? | 28/09/26

So in case you weren't across it over the weekend, the fallout has taken on a familiar path.

So generally when news like this comes out, i.e. seismic news such as Manchester City have apparently busted all the financial regulations or pretty much all of them that they were accused of doing so in the eyes of an independent regulator, They're going to appeal.

That appeal gets to be heard.

Then it goes back.

The outcome of that.

C and then sanctions will be handed down.

It's all up in the air.

No one really knows where this is going to fall.

But across the course of the weekend, then comes the detailed journalism about how this happened and how it was able to unfold and the key players behind it.

And one of them is actually closely linked to the APL and we'll yet to hear anything of substance.

And I'm not sure what the APL can actually say about it as well, because this is the mob that run the A-League.

Simon Pearce is heavily involved behind the scenes in Australian football about how it's run, how the competitions are put on, how the relationships happen between Football Australia and the A-League's clubs.

He's on the board of the APL.

So he's been named extensively in this.

He's in the report.

He is a board member of City Football Group in Manchester City.

So he is alleged to have been at the centre of all these... financially, if you want to put it that way, in the eyes of the regulator or the independent commission that has found them guilty at this stage of 114 of 115 charges.

Now, it must be pointed out, the city are vehemently denying all of this and they're saying that there is irrefutable evidence to say that they are actually innocent of this.

So I don't think we're going to hear from Simon Pearce or indeed the APL.

They won't have much to add.

But it will be interesting, the fallout.

The fallout is a close watch for Australian football going forward with Manchester City and what happens to them as a club And whether or not their ownership go, we don't want any part of this anymore, that's on the table.

They double down and they're owners for the next three millennia, that's on the table as well.

It's just an incredible story because of all the sides to it.

There are so many sides to it and so many flow-on effects to this entire story.