Why bother?

On Sunday, Manchester City, aka Citeh, beat Liverpool 3-0 in the much anticipated "Super Sunday" game live on TV and radio.

Citeh are no top of the table having won all of their league games so far, and indeed the team performance was really strong, making the most of a man advantage almost straight away.

Citeh could go all the way and win the Premier League title again.

Or they might suffer a massive points deduction, or even expulsion from the PL into League 2.

Listening to the so-called pundits on TV and radio these last few days, not to mention Citeh fans, you would think that its all a bit too much, and due process is just annoying.

Without proper due process in the original hearing and consideration, as well as any appeals and the sanctioning, would leave Citeh room to appeal once again. The process will take as long as it takes.

Sadly.

The PL and other clubs would like this to be over by the end of the season, so to know who has won the league, and who will be relegated. Therefore it is in Citeh's interest to frustrate this.

And for clarification, let me restate that the appeal by Citeh cannot include any new evidence, and will be on matters of law or points of procedure. A cahallenge to either of those requires a very high bar to overtun one or more of the guilty charges.

I heard a Citeh fan state on the radio last night that the challenge to the High Court stands more chance of Citeh winning. This shows how little is understood, in that a challenge to the High Court on matters of law and/or procedure, requires an even higher bar to be cleared.

Not only that, in the High Court, statements made by witnesses for Citeh could be read out and the person(s) making those statement(s) be asked if they spoke truthfully, as the were at the orignal hearing. The difference here would be that they would be on oath, and making false statements to the court would be perjury, and likely to result in those making such false statements in prison. Very quickly.

These are very serious verdicts, and because the appendices are redacted thus far, we don't know the evidence or who said what, or who has been accused of making false statements.

For now until the process ends, the results and PL table are uncertain, and so whether this will affect the integrity of the competition, and worry commercial and broadcasting partners. What is certain, an unpunished Citeh, or a punishment that does not meet the seriousness of the findings, would cause more severe damage to the League's interity.