Neville: City Owners Face a Reckoning if Verdict Sticks

So, Manchester City, right? They confirmed Friday they're appealing the 'guilty' verdict. 'Comprehensive' appeal, they called it. Against what? An independent commission ruling on financial breaches over *nine* years. The Premier League's decision, dropped Tuesday, slapped City with guilt on every single charge of serious rule-breaking. We're talking fines, points deductions, maybe even a boot out of the league.

Neville, who's got skin in the game as a Salford City co-owner, isn't focused on trophy counting. For him, it's about ownership. The real issue, he argued on Sky Sports, isn't just a slap on the wrist for the team, but whether the people running the show pass muster. That 'owners' and 'directors' test? That's the hammer. Running a club, he says, isn't a plaything; it's a 'community asset.' Big responsibility. He's right.

If this guilty verdict holds up on appeal, Neville thinks City's current owners simply won't clear the regulatory bar. Full stop. And why are those bars higher now? Because elsewhere in English football, he pointed out, we've seen plenty of ownership disasters. Common sense, really.

Let's be clear: the panel claimed City cooked the books. Inflated revenue by more than £900m. 'Sham' deals, they called 'em. All to dodge financial fair play and splurge on big names during their domestic run. If that guilty verdict stands, Neville's grim assessment rings true: every single trophy from that era? 'Tainted forever.' Hard to argue with that.