I really have no idea what you’re talking about and my response about facts referred to those being considered in the upcoming enquiry - in other words, did City break the rules or not? What think you?
That sounds all fine and rational, but it will not have escaped your notice, I hope, that in a disturbingly large section of the media and virtually all other sets of supporters (especially the two red clubs in the north west), there is a
prior judgement of guilty on us. And that means that we're
already being tarnished before the facts have even been established.
We in fact have a fine tradition in Anglo-American law of putting the burden of proof on the plaintiff or the prosecutor.
Not the defendant. That is by no means the case in the world at large. That is not being respected here, and nobody's going to tell that that sheer weight of public bile and prior judgement will have no effect on the commission of enquiry.
The PL
must feel they have a pretty good case. Although it is at least possible that this is as much a sideways manoeuvre, addressed as much to a government that is just about to bring out a White Paper about the running of the PL, as it is motivated by good faith and the will to do justice on a member club. My club must feel they have a pretty good case: they would not have put out the firm club statement they have done otherwise. This is a risky, potential zero sum game for both parties.
As for myself, I suspect I speak for the vast majority of supporters on here, and probably all, when I say that I was a City supporter when we were in the Third Division (renamed to spin it so that it sounds better by communications experts) and I will be a City supporter if we find ourselves in the National League North.
I would hope that all true Arsenal supporters would adopt the same position if Arsenal found themselves in the National League South. In fact, if they are true supporters, they won't even have to think about it.