I mean let’s be fair to UEFA (and I don’t say that often), it’s very possible that they could’ve had some success with the allegations ultimately deemed time barred - UEFA and their very experienced and respected lawyers argued that time barring was not appropriate and CAS ultimately ruled against them.
That UEFA couldn’t uphold their case doesn’t by default mean there wasn’t at least at some level a case to answer.
Similarly, we all want to believe that the PL just threw this all out to stop the leaked imminent announcement of an Independent Regulator, and are just continuing the process and committing tens of millions of £££ in legal fees as a cheeky punt to appease the American owners but it doesn’t pass a ‘balance of probabilities’ smell test.
Clearly the PL and its legal team believe they have something convincing. Clearly the external team taking it on believe they have enough to land the charges - even with the millions of £££ on offer, these are super respected guys who won’t want to make themselves or their chambers a laughing stock by pushing a high profile case with nothing supporting it.
City will I’m sure be cautiously optimistic that they can show that the charges are if not completely disproved, then immaterial (ie £1m to Mancini when the club was already making insane losses), but clearly the claims that City are extremely bullish and believe the whole thing is a done deal are bollocks. No lawyer ever underestimates the lottery of a court case even with what they believe to be irrefutable evidence.