Manchester City heads into Sunday’s Premier League match against Liverpool under intense scrutiny, marking their first fixture since being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of financial regulations. The atmosphere at Anfield is expected to be exceptionally hostile, with former Manchester United captain Gary Neville warning on The Overlap podcast: “If they want an understanding of how angry the game is going to be, then Anfield will tell them like you would never believe.” Neville anticipates a brutal reception, complete with banners and vocal protests throughout the encounter. When the guilty verdict was delivered, is at Anfield is something that a scriptwriter may even pause to think is outlandish, the fact that their opening match after the international window.
City continues to maintain its innocence, having officially appealed the independent panel’s verdict. The charges relate to financial activities spanning from 2009 to 2018. Despite the club’s legal challenge, the scandal stands as the most significant in the history of the Premier League, and observers expect the backlash to persist well beyond the immediate fallout of the match, regardless of future sanctions. Still, the scandal remains the biggest in the history of club football’s richest, most competitive and most popular league, and the backlash from the stands is likely to linger long after any appeal outcome or potential punishments are finalised.
For Liverpool supporters, the animosity stems from a belief that the club was unfairly disadvantaged by City’s long-term financial rule-breaking. While Liverpool triumphed in the 2020 Premier League season under Jurgen Klopp, they suffered narrow runner-up finishes to Pep Guardiola’s side in the 2018-19 and 2021-22 campaigns, losing out by just a single point on both occasions. Fans argue that City’s sustained dominance was bolstered by the very financial irregularities now confirmed by the commission. However, their two closest calls with City came after 2018, for Liverpool.
Liverpool also maintains a historical claim to the 2013-14 title race. Under manager Brendan Rodgers, the Reds finished two points behind City. That season remains defined in Anfield lore by Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip against Chelsea, a moment that stalled their pursuit of a first top-flight trophy since 1990. Only weeks prior to that game, Gerrard had starred in a 3-2 victory over City, a win that had placed the title firmly within Liverpool’s reach. There is a growing sentiment among supporters that if the league opts to strip City of honors earned during the investigation period, those titles should be retroactively awarded to the runners-up. Both were memorable title races that raised the bar in terms of points earned and the standard of football played. Neither will see Liverpool retrospectively awarded the title if the Premier League does indeed choose to go down that path regarding honours won in the seasons that were under investigation. The Reds, under Brendan Rodgers, finished runners-up by two points to City in 2013-2014 – Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip in a match against Chelsea the moment etched on everyone’s memory from that campaign.
Despite the gravity of the situation, the current Manchester City squad remains largely removed from the period under investigation. With the exception of Phil Foden—who is unavailable for Sunday’s match due to suspension—none of the players in the current roster were at the club between 2009 and 2018. The current manager, Enzo Maresca, who joined the first-team coaching staff under Guardiola in 2022 and moved into the top job this June, was previously a youth-team coach during the 2020-21 season. The current crop of players and staff are quite simply going to have to face the music for charges that stretch from 2009 to 2018.
Nevertheless, the current staff and players are expected to bear the brunt of public discontent. The looming threat of severe penalties, including potential points deductions or expulsion from the Premier League, has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the club. City enters the weekend leading the league with a perfect record of five wins from five matches, all of which occurred while the club was formally accused of these financial breaches.
As the kickoff approaches, significant questions remain regarding who from City’s ownership and board will choose to attend. The match represents a critical test not just for the team on the pitch, but for the league’s ability to manage the fallout of its most significant financial crisis to date. For both the club and its rivals, Sunday at Anfield serves as the first major public barometer for the consequences of the damning commission findings.
