The accused doesn't have to do a damn thing. It's for the accuser to put up or shut up.
They either don't know this and they're incompetant fools or they do know this and they're encouraging everyone to pile on City falsely in which case they are snide twats.
It should be the PL/the independant commission they should be directing their anger at.
This is what annoys me with City. They should be going after this and putting out briefs to journalists over it. Very admirable keeping quiet and not caring about the opinions of sheep, etc, etc. However City are losing in the court of public opinion and it does matter if you want to grow the fanbase.