I have to say that the contributions on here over the last few hours have brought to the debate a degree of knowledge, reflection and consideration of context which is entirely absent from discussion of the matter elsewhere. Bluemoon is considering the evidence available to all but those on the inside of the matter: therest (especially the media) are prey to hysteria. An example is Bajkowski's latest offering in the MEN. He claims to be sharing with us the "prediction" made by prof Rob Wilson, " a football finance expert", on the outcome of the IC's proceedings. And City are in for "a significant sanction in terms of a financial penalty, a fairly big apology from City for not disclosing information when they should have done." This will be "a bit of an egg on the face from their perspective" but he " can't imagine how they would be relegated out of the division." All this is because City have "probably sailed very, very close to the wind."
The difficulty is that Wilson appears to have no evidence at all for what he says and he doesn't appeat to think he needs any! This is not a rational view based on dispassionate consideration but "a gut feeling". City have denied all the charges, denied any wrong doing and actually say they have irrefutable evidence to support these claims, but the well educated gut of the professor knows better. Can Lord Pannick possibly triumph over a professorial gut?!
The forces lined up against us are the most formidable since a domestic pet predicted German victory at the world cup of 2006.