Perspective, Priorities and the Premier League (PL)
City, Palace, Liverpool and Everton, amongst others, have all been fined for `late` arrivals on the pitch. It would seem that Pep`s pep talks sometimes over run. The club has apologised,. The fines have been totalled up and the PL can now use £2m towards their legal fees against City !
How many games actually start exactly on time and end `on time` ? Clearly the end point can never be defined due to stoppages throughout the game. TV somehow manages to cope with this uncertainty !
Bizarrely, as far as I am aware, there was no fine for the worst example of Man u v Liverpool in May 2021 which caused absolute havoc with the TV schedules. The match was delayed for over 65 minutes before being postponed. A huge delay and no game. Yet no fine !
The "organisation of the competition was not set at the highest possible professional standard" (a phrase used by the PL in their statement about City) because united, who were responsible for the aforementioned, were fully aware, well in advance, of the probable, planned protests and trouble this could cause, but still failed to prepare and act adequately for the high profile competition. The effect of united`s health and safety failings at Old Trafford and the impact of organised united `fan` groups, was illegal disorder, violence towards staff and police, trespass and criminal damage.
All concerned at united, as a club, fell well short of the "highest possible professional standard". United v Liverpool still remains the only PL match ever to be postponed.
It seems that the Premier League`s priorities and punishments are very mixed up.