The decision to ban Manchester City could change football – and the way we cover it

The decision to stop the team playing in the Champions League for the next two seasons brings with it more questions than answers, writes Ben Burrows

The club are expected to appeal the decision made by Uefa – hard (Getty)

There is an argument that Manchester City being banned from the Champions League is the biggest story to hit football in a decade.

Take a step back and the two-time reigning Premier League champions being disqualified from competing in football’s premier club competition – a competition they are favourites to win – for what authorities have said amounts to cheating, really is a landmark moment for the game.

Clubs have been banned before, yes, but not on this scale and certainly not in such high profile a fashion.

Such is its seismic impact this really could be a ‘where were you’ moment for those who play, love and work in and outside of the beautiful game.

For those uninitiated in the nuances of football governance, Financial Fair Play, or FFP as it’s known, was introduced by Uefa at the start of the 2011-12 season as an attempt to prevent clubs falling into serious financial difficulty by overspending.

All clubs competing in Uefa competitions are expected to operate within these rules, working within their means to meet break-even targets.

With Friday’s judgement, Uefa now claims that City overstated sponsorship revenue in the club’s efforts to comply with FFP amounting to a “serious breach” of the regulations.

City will appeal – and hard – given they have denied any wrongdoing. But this genuinely could be a decision and event that changes the landscape of the world game forever.

What now for Pep Guardiola, the managerial genius, whose own future is now being called into question by these events? What too of the players, with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling having lucrative bonus payments tied to playing Champions League football?

What about City’s Premier League rivals, who all stand to benefit from their fall from grace? Could Tottenham, Manchester United or even newly-promoted Sheffield United make it to football’s Promised Land as a result?

And, most importantly, what of Uefa, whose own stature as the keepers and guardians of the game is at stake with this judgement and subsequent reaction to it? Should City win their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport – and what does that say about just how much power the game’s powerbrokers really have?

And what of the game itself and how we cover it? Do we now believe everything we see? How will City’s record-breaking achievements of the last decade ever be viewed in the same light?

As journalists we must always endeavour to work out what is and isn’t true, balance facts with opinion and tell stories as we see them. This story, above all, has told us once again that there are always more questions than answers.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor