Couldn't agree more.
Let the "banter" merchants dredge up the charges as much as they like because their answer is ready-made. The reality will inevitably be that soon City will have faced CAS, APT hearings plus the 115 case and we will still be standing. Three different cases, yet City are still in a position to thrive. How many more do they want to prove it has all been a game of smoke and mirrors?
You are right though: the smears, as you say, will linger - but, I believe that over time, their importance will dwindle.
We shouldn't forget the Old Cartel have a proprietary sense of the Premier League. Not surprisingly so when we remember it was their blackmailing, arm-twisting, railroading and double-dealing that manifested the competition. The arrival of new money (Chelsea, ourselves, Newcastle inevitably) has already weakened their command of the narrative (not to mention the remuneration) and the seemingly ineluctable appointment of government oversight threatens to remove much of their considerable influence.
I say much of their influence because inevitably they will adapt and evolve. They are astute at playing political shenanigans so I wouldn't dismiss them as a force in the future. What I will say, is they will never wield the same degree of power again. Their frantic efforts at establishing the ESL, Project Big Picture, apparently ilegal PSR rules and the constant harassment of City (and others) might be offered as proof that they know how much power they will lose too. They'll still have a great deal of course but they are desperately fighting to remain untouchable.
The tide of change has already begun to lap around their ankles. City's emergence from these 115 charges will only expose them further.
(Edited because a combination of my fat fingers and ducking autocarrot made it almost illegible)
