FEBRUARY NOW FEELS like a more caustic time for Manchester City.
Today they are on the cusp of their latest step in attempts to break through European football’s glass ceiling as they prepare to face Real
Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Yet the roof could have easily begun to cave in three months ago. Instead, Pep Guardiola’s ability to insulate his players from a potentially ruinous scandal that still hangs over the club adds another element to his allure.
It’s proven to be a different form of his skill as a manager.
The day before the Premier League levelled 115 charges of financial rule breaches against the champions, dating over a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018, which included falsely reporting some income and salaries of players and managers, as well as failing to cooperate with the league’s four-year investigation, a 1-0 defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur seemed to be the eye of the storm.
A single goal from Harry Kane was enough to secure all three points on 5 February.
Erling Haaland didn’t have a shot in the 90 minutes, and such was City’s lack of creativity he was also unable to muster a touch of the ball in the opposition penalty box.
The Norwegian striker was already on 25 goals for the season but that blank in north London meant he had found the net in just two of the previous seven games – albeit one of those fixtures saw him net a hat-trick against Wolves.
“He may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him. You’re laughing, but we’re not seeing everything of Erling Haaland, and Manchester City now,” Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports after the Spurs defeat.
“It’s far easier to counter attack them as well, so they’re a different team, and a lesser team with Erling Haaland in the team. We’re not seeing the full package of what this player can do because of the team he’s actually gone to.”
Guardiola’s adaptation and Haaland’s phenomenal ability have made a mockery of all who made similar arguments around this time.
Yet 24 hours after this loss such discourse seemed quaint. Far more seismic events unfolded when the Premier League confirmed unprecedented allegations against a club which had come to dominate its competition over the previous decade.
Guardiola’s City have come to redefine so many of the basic premises of how the game was played in England, and what needed to be done to win.
In an instant, the Premier League’s charge sheet, compiled over four years, laid bare how it was allegedly built on the strength of a lie.
City responded to the allegations stating their “surprise”, adding a reminder about “the extensive engagement and vast amounts of detailed materials the EPL has been provided with.”
The Premier League champions then hired £10,000-an-hour barrister Lord Pannick KC to represent them at the independent commission which will rule on the charges – a process that may only be concluded closer to the end of this decade.
“I don’t talk with the Premier League, we are accused by them. No referees, no Premier League, no care,” Guardiola said on 3 March, when discussing his belief his players were being harshly treated by match officials.
“Now we can’t talk about the Premier League or whatever – we are busy defending with our lawyers our defence.”
After City lost to Spurs, missing the chance to close a five-point gap on leaders Arsenal, who themselves were beaten by Everton the previous day, there was no sense of panic gripping the club.
The following month they even revealed plans to extend the capacity of the Etihad Stadium by a further 7,000 as part of a £300 million investment.
A run of 11 wins and one draw from the 12 Premier League games which followed the financial doping charges becoming public has seen them overhaul the Gunners in the title race.
They ran amok against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter final and will face United at Wembley in the FA Cup final on 2 June.
With City now on the verge of a third league title in a row, matching the feats (1999-2001 and 2007-09) of city neighbours United under Alex
Ferguson, another more significant Treble milestone beckons should they triumph against Madrid.
Guardiola has already helped guide them through one storm, and now they can almost see the light.
