The news that Man City wish to sue the Premier League has sent shockwaves through football, but shouldn’t really come as a surprise from a club that still has 115 charges for financial impropriety hanging over them.

Serial winners they may be, but the way that the club have changed the footballing landscape off the pitch has often left a sour taste.

Clearly, they feel they’re above the law with their latest gambit, but former Premier League ace, Stan Collymore is having none of it.

Fabric of the game at risk if Man City take EPL to court

“Let’s detach Man City as an old historic football club, with supporters that support a team they would all support, whether they’re in the National League or wherever, from the ownership, who have acted disgracefully to work within rules that they’ve been wildly successful under,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“They’ve won trophies including four out of the last five Premier Leagues, so by NO measure whatsoever, have the ownership of Manchester City Football Club, in their attempt to make Manchester City successful, had their job hampered by the rules and regulations.

“That’s the first thing.

“Other clubs such as Aston Villa, Liverpool and Newcastle all agree to operate within the rules, despite, in the Magpies case, they could spend as much as City or arguably more.

“You don’t then turn around and go, ‘we’re going to blow the doors off the whole place, and we’re going to sue you.’ The inference from Man City was that they would have to spend less on the academy and less on youth teams and less on youth development but that’s what every other club has to do.

“I think that we’re at the time and the place where the red button, the nuclear button may well need to be pressed. And I would say this if it related to any club, such as Aston Villa, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United, Bournemouth…

“If any club is trying to change the material structure of the Premier League to be able to make it a space race ‘free for all,’ then they should be expelled from the league and not come back until they accept the rules as they are.

“It’s called a meritocracy and what we all hope and pray for is that when our teams line up on match day one, that we’ve just got a chance of doing something. And this would take away any single remote, lingering hope of any club being able to do what Leicester City did, any club being able to win an FA Cup, any club being able to win a League Cup.

“We would have a situation with 40/50 man squads of the best players in the world, whereby one squad plays in the FA Cup, one squad plays in the League Cup, one squad plays in the Premier League, one plays in the Champions League, and you would get quadruples every year.

“The reason why these records are breaking is not because these teams are better. It’s because the teams are deeper and better.

“And so from my perspective, it’s really simple, the ownership of Manchester City Football Club has to be taken on.

“If this was the club I support, Aston Villa, doing what Man City had done over the last 10/12 years, and were now arguing that they will sue the Premier League, I would genuinely, and it’s important to say this, advocate for my own football club to be temporarily kicked out the league until they saw sense.

“That’s how serious the situation is.”

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As Collymore rightly notes, the very fabric of the beautiful game in this country is at risk if City are allowed to ride roughshod over the governing body in the court of law.

Most will surely identify this with being a delaying tactic regarding the hearing for their charges, which it’s believed will take place in November of this year.

Given City’s argument, which puts them completely at odds with the Premier League, is unlikely to be shared by any of the other 19 clubs in the English top-flight, there’s a cogent argument for them all collectively to say ‘enough is enough.’

Whilst their strong arm tactics are perfectly legal, it’s never nice to see a bully be able to walk around with their chest puffed out and feeling invincible.

Unless City are quickly brought down a peg or two, that’s exactly how they’ll be feeling.