So, Manchester City fans unfurled a banner about Lord Pannick, the KC they hired to defend them against those 115 charges. And then they got found guilty of all charges anyway. You couldn't script it. The banner was meant to be a defiant flex, but now it's just a meme. And the reaction from their fanbase? Pure victim complex.
Let's be real: a lot of City fans loved the cheating. They sang about it, they made banners, they revelled in the 'us against the world' narrative. Now that the walls are closing in, they're crying foul. Spare me.
Why the 'salt of the earth' act doesn't wash
I keep hearing this idea that the real City fans – the ones who were there when they were in the third tier – are somehow innocent in all this. That it's just the plastic foreign fans or the club hierarchy. Bollocks. The core matchgoing fanbase, the ones who sing about cheating, who put up banners like the Pannick one, they're just as complicit. They lapped it up. They enjoyed the success, no questions asked. Now they want sympathy? Nah.
This isn't Leeds or Wimbledon, where fans suffered through financial mismanagement and still turned up. City fans were happy to take the oil money and the trophies. They didn't protest. They didn't demand transparency. They celebrated. So if the club gets expelled or relegated, they deserve everything that comes their way. Harsh? Maybe. But it's true.
The £5k an hour joke that writes itself
Lord Pannick charges £5000 an hour, allegedly. And yet, on City's books, he's apparently only being paid minimum wage. That's the joke, right? Because City's lawyers are so good, they got him for a steal. Or maybe it's just that even at £5k an hour, he couldn't save them. Either way, it's funny.
And for that kind of money, I'd defend anyone. Dahmer? Sure. Just give me the brief and I'll argue he was misunderstood. So Pannick taking on City's case? Easy money. Except he lost. All charges. So maybe he should give some of that hourly rate back.
Blaming Liverpool fans for Hillsborough? Really?
This is the part that really gets me. Scroll down City's Daily Discussion and you'll see people blaming Liverpool fans for Hillsborough. That's not just whataboutism; that's scum behaviour. It shows the depths some fans will sink to deflect from their own club's wrongdoing. It's disgusting and it has no place in football.
And before anyone says it's just a few idiots, it's not. It's a pattern. When your club is accused of cheating, you don't point at other tragedies to distract. You face the music. But City fans would rather play the victim than admit their club might have bent the rules.
Full of bots? Maybe that's the point
Someone in the thread asked if City's fanbase is full of bots. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. The way some of them defend the club, it's like they're programmed. No nuance, no acceptance of wrongdoing, just blind loyalty. But here's the thing: even if they're not bots, they're acting like it. And that's just sad.
Real fans question their club. They hold them accountable. They don't wave banners celebrating a lawyer and then cry when the lawyer loses. That's not support; that's delusion.
So yeah, City fans, enjoy the Championship. Or whatever league you end up in. You earned it.
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