Rio Ferdinand fears a cloud will continue to hover over Manchester City until they are proven innocent of the 115 charges of financial wrongdoing that remain levelled against them.
On the pitch, City have no equals with their dominance of the English domestic scene underpinned by an unprecedented fourth Premier League title win in succession.
A routine 3-1 victory overWest Ham on Sunday rendered Arsenal’s win over Everton irrelevant and condemned the Gunners to a second consecutive season of playing the bridesmaid.
Off the pitch, however, a level of suspicion remains with questions still unanswered as to how City went about building a squad capable of sweeping all before it.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters was absent from today’s coronation and Ferdinand admits it is a disgrace that the situation is yet to be resolved some two years after it was brought forward.
‘It puts a cloud over everybody,’ Ferdinand told TNT Sport. ‘Over the players, the people who run the football club, over anyone who has a connection with Man City.
‘The broadcasters, ourselves and media entities. Everyone is under a cloud and saying what is going on?
Man City's 115 alleged breaches explained
54 alleged breaches for failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information from 2009-10 to, and including, 2017-18.
14 alleged breaches for failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation from 2009-10 to, and including, 2017-18.
5 alleged breaches for failure to comply with UEFA’s regulations, including UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations.
7 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations from 2015-16 to, and including, 2017-18.
35 alleged breaches for failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to present.
‘We need it sorted and finalised ASAP because it doesn’t help anyone within the framework of the game. We want it sorted out because people within the game are asking questions.
‘If I was a Man City player in that changing room I’d want that ironed out I don’t want anyone to have a way to discredit what I’m doing right now and tarnish what I’m doing.
‘The powers that be need to sort this out. We are seeing other teams get points deducted.
‘It’s been two years since the charges have been put out and I think it’s a disgrace.’
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown agreed and added: ‘The players just want to win trophies and detach themselves from that. I suppose for clarity and for thier good name we need an outcome.
‘We’ve seen Forest and other teams suffering badly. They’re talking about it being quick so let’s see.’
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