‘Those memories are ours and no verdict changes that’: Manchester City fans’ views

Nicola Schofield, City fan for more than 40 years: One of my (million) concerns, as someone who feels angry with the owners, is if the owners’ strategy causes a split in the fanbase. I think everyone wants to get behind the club and team, but this is different to the experience of a relegation of the type I experienced in the 90s. We all shared that, and we stood by the club down to League One and as we came back up. This threatens to be messier, with those who may want the owners out (which is its own minefield) to those who will back them all the way. I think ultimately all fans want to ensure our club still exists, but I do worry at divisions this could cause and that might be hard to heal.

Ben, season-ticket holder: I don’t think I have fully processed the news yet. I trusted the club completely and believed every word they said in response to the charges, so this has hit hard. I still think the FFP [financial fair play] rules aren’t fair and never have been. I know that won’t get much sympathy from other fans, and I understand why. Most of them have been waiting for this day for years. Whatever happens, nobody can take the last 15 years away from us. We lived every moment: [Sergio] Agüero in 2012, the centurions, the treble, Istanbul. Those memories are ours and no verdict changes that. Right now I just feel confused. One thing won’t change, though: whatever happens, I’ll still support the team. This is character-building, as my parents used to say to me.

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James Blakey, lifelong fan: I was 13 in 1999 when Paul Dickov scored a 95th-minute equaliser at Wembley to take the Second Division playoff final to extra time and Nicky Weaver’s heroics in the shootout saw us promoted. That was the first year I had a season ticket at Maine Road. When Agüero scored in the 93rd minute against QPR – 13 years later – I was in a pub in Manchester that was split 50-50 between us City fans and the United fans who seconds earlier believed they had won the title. The Dickov and Agüero goals are very alike: the elation, the sweetness, the togetherness and the pride in my club; the club that would always be there no matter what else changed in my life.

Now I know that the second of these moments, and so many more moments that followed, Istanbul included, would not have happened without my club cheating on a systemic, industrial scale. And I don’t know what to do with that. I can’t give those memories back. But I do know that the richest people in the world thinking that the rules don’t apply to them, that they can cheat and then arrogantly chuck endless money at the situation, has nothing to do with what I love about football, nothing to do with what I love about Manchester, nothing to do with what I love about my club and the glorious fans doing the conga in the aisles and the Poznan in the stands. I’m really sad.

David Mayor, season-ticket holder and attender of York away in 1998: I keep wondering, when (if) the dust finally settles, how it will feel as a fan. But we’ve gone through many changes in my 40 years supporting the club – relegations, stadium move, ownership, etc – and it ultimately reverts to the norm. You see the same faces and my dad’s still moaning about a wayward pass regardless of how the team’s playing. This last week has felt a serious danger to this. For a long time I’ve thought the game at the highest level was morally bankrupt so the actions of the club haven’t particularly bothered me. When they stated they were going to join a super league I thought I could walk away, but for whatever reason, maybe defiance in the face of what opposition fans are telling me I should do/feel, I can’t foresee that I will regardless of how it all ends.

Jon Ashley, Washington DC-based fan: Being outside Manchester – and the UK – definitely has a numbing effect when it comes to bad things happening to your football team. Part of me does feel betrayed by and angry at the City higher-ups who have clearly misled the fans for a long time, particularly when you look at the extent of the “sham”. But there remains a part of me that remembers the abject misery of being a City fan at school during the 1990s and 2000s and the seemingly impossible dream of one day seeing them compete for trophies. The severity and duration of City’s offences warrant significant punishment, but the verdict that it took this much sustained rule-breaking and money to prevent United, Arsenal and Liverpool adding to their own trophy cabinets is an indictment on the Premier League.

Chris Stalker, chair of New York Sky Blues, speaking in a personal capacity: At the New York Sky Blues we have close to 400 members and its caused a lot of discussion and debate. First around FFP, and the consensus is it needs challenging, not just by City but other clubs, too, such as Newcastle, Aston Villa and Everton, because the aim seems to be to maintain the status quo. We accept rules have been broken but there are legitimate concerns about why they exist. Second, the ownership maintains a lot of credit because when we travel to home matches, we see the transformation they have made in east Manchester. It is not just the stadium but the whole area has changed with the investment. They have also given many fans the best days of their lives. Never did I expect to see a better player than Colin Bell but I’ve got to witness David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.

There is, however, a growing uneasiness with how we feel about the ownership. We have as a fan group invested a lot of trust in them and that looks unwarranted. A relationship with fans should be built on honesty and integrity and could be lost. We try to align our support for the club with our principles and values, carrying out charity work in New York, raising $25,000 (£19,000) last year for New York Common Pantry, which is a food bank. It reflects the work done by City supporters outside the Etihad Stadium and strengthens the links through values and ethics. As Manchester City we won’t be defined by the owners. Owners come and go but we’re City till we die. So let’s act in solidarity and stand together.