One thing is for sure, positions are so entrenched that these so-called journalists are past the point of no return. By lowering the tone to such an extent, they simply have to win. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that their careers are on the line with this CAS judgement. Reputations would be in tatters if City win. By investing themselves so heavily against the club and its fans, their words would have no authority if it turns out that fans online have analysed and articulated the situation far more accurately. Don't think we won't remind them if we do win in Switzerland.
For me, this is the most ironic thing about the whole situation.
This description - "One thing is for sure, positions are so entrenched that these so-called journalists are past the point of no return. By lowering the tone to such an extent, they simply have to win." - is exactly what they think of City fans - that we're so tribal, so blinkered, that the club winning is the only outcome.
...but the same thing is true for them. Where do they go if City win?
What can you say when you've picked over every word of Soriano's interview and branded it a Trump/Putin style disinformation campaign designed to do nothing but spread lies, and then it turns out to be true, and just a bloke pleading innoncence before it is proven?
How do you celebrate that the Grubby Arabs have finally been punished, only for the punishment to disappear at the behest of a legal body respected world round and have to go back to work around the people you attacked?
Why is anyone going to take you seriously when you've called fans "Emirati propaganda bots", "Vicious rats", "Blinkered crackpots" only to find out they were right, and you, who filled columns with defences of the great European institution of UEFA were the one who drank the coolaid?
I don't know how you can professionally take a position like they have, without stopping to consider that City might win. Maybe it's an outside bet, but they might, and you've just spent 25 minutes of your podcast saying that the club are acting like the pravda for questioning the sanctity of an independent hearing so you definitely can't question the verdict either.
What is David Conn going to say to his editor if, in 3 months time everything gets dismissed, and he says, "For fuck sake David, someone literally gave you the evidence that ADUG didn't pay the Etihad deal and you never questioned the fact the whole case was based on emails which said explicitly that ADUG paid the sponsorship"?
Professionally, it seems obvious that's not a position you should ever put yourself in. Everything you write or say should be conditioned on the basis that even if it's just a 5% chance, you might be back-pedalling pretty rapidly in a few months. That doesn't mean City should get a pass until the appeal, but don't dig such a big hole that if the unlikely happens, you've blown your credibility as a journalist.