Man City strongly refute LaLiga allegations | Leicester drop another three points | Who will Arsenal sell to fund summer rebuild?
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido and joining me are The Guardian sports writer Jonathan Yu and the chief football writer for The Telegraph, Sam Wallace. Welcome along to you both. All right, so welcome once again to Jonathan and to Sam. Let's start off with Manchester City. We're going to go to The Telegraph first. Man City accused of

Enron-style scandal. Our league ahead, Tebas reveals European Commission probe Premier League club strongly deny financial improprieties. I wonder, Sam, for those who perhaps didn't follow the Enron scandal at the time or maybe don't know about it, I wonder if you can just unpack that reference and give us your take on this story. Well, David, I certainly wouldn't claim to be an expert on the Enron scandal, but from what I understand it, it's the...

It's the moving around of money to different parts of the corporation and concealment. So it's a very, very strong allegation from Tevas. I mean, he is a very outspoken football executive. What he's talking about, I think...

is in reference to the case that City actually won in the end. Well, they certainly overturned a large part of it, which was the UEFA case against them. That was heard in 2020, both the original, the verdict, and then the appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Tebas is referring, in terms of his complaint, to something he says was submitted by Liga in 2023. So that's completely separate to any other cases that are running at the moment. But...

But from the point of view of, obviously, Real Madrid and Barcelona, who themselves were at loggerheads with Tebas, and that's far too complicated to go into now. Clearly, they're the two remaining Super League rebels. They're very unhappy that Manchester City, who were going to be banned from the Champions League for two years when they originally lost that UEFA case, they were going to be fined 30 million euros. The ban...

was wiped out on appeal. The fine went from 30 million to 10 million and a lot of those, a lot of the original verdict was struck out. I don't think the Spanish clubs have ever quite got over that. What Tevez is talking about here in very colourful terms is a completely separate complaint, I presume under European law. It's not quite clear how the progress of that case, but as

As is his way, he is very outspoken. We've got a lot of football executives in this country who tend to err on the side of discretion. That's not Tebas's approach. He goes for it and he's certainly grabbed the headlines today. Yeah, and for context on... I mean, thank you for that, Sam.

Also for context on Javier Tebas, I mean, I've interviewed him myself in these kind of settings before, especially when I presented Spanish football here at Sky. And he always takes the opportunity when he has a stage like that and he shoots from the hip. And, you know, he's had a go at Manchester City before, he's had a go at PSG before, what he considers state-owned clubs. Let me go to the quote as we have it in the Telegraph piece, sort of midway through Tom Morgan's piece, Jonathan, says...

Talking about Manchester City, they have a group of companies outside of City Football Group. They saddle all their expenses to these companies. For example, they have scouting or marketing companies who accrue high expenses. They invoice Manchester City for low amounts. It allows Manchester City to have a structure that circumvents the rules. We've reported Manchester City to the EU. Even though they are an English team and not part of the EU, they still have commercial activities in Europe. So first thing to say again here is that City refute these allegations completely, but

But what do you make of the tone of Javier Tebas on this occasion? And just again, as I mentioned, that sort of, it's not that much it's outspoken, it's just spoken. It's what we're used to from Tebas, isn't it? Yeah, and also like a long history of being outspoken against City. I think go back as far as 2017, 2018, he was talking about the City-Gerona deal and, you know, he quotes,

cooking the books or something like that in terms of what Citi were doing with the Girona deal, which suggests that certainly he's got much more expensive lawyers than any of us have got. I don't have a copy of EU competition law to hand, so I can't really speak to the legality or otherwise of this complaint. Obviously, what he's doing is opening up a new conversation about state ownership,

and multi-club ownership. My first reaction to that would be if a multi-club ownership model is not there to save overheads in certain areas, then why are you even doing it? So in terms of what he's trying to do with this, I think he's obviously, as Sam mentioned, at loggerheads with the two big La Liga clubs. He's been kind of a bone to pick with City for many years.

But he's not actually really managed to get anywhere with any of his entreaties. He is very outspoken in the media. Whenever there was a microphone, he is kind of making incendiary statements. But I think the fact that he's kind of giving juicy quotes to UK newspaper journalists is actually a sign of how little he's been able to achieve in this matter and quite the opposite of the power and the influence that he would like to portray. Yeah.

When we think about the overall context, and again, it's worth just stating, this is a very separate situation to the other case which is active involving Manchester City against the Premier League. And again, in that scenario, also Manchester City claim they've done nothing wrong. But

But this is yet another case of Manchester City and accusations and wanting sanctions and filing complaints. This is just the ongoing narrative, isn't it, Sam? And we already know that they're sort of underperforming on the pitch this season. This is just their leitmotif, isn't it? It's the thing that they're now being more readily associated with than any other club.

Oh, there's no doubt that if we refer to the separate legal battles, of which there are a couple of fronts opened with the Premier League, there's obviously the

which is colloquially referred to as the 115 charges, it's actually more than that. And then there's the arbitration hearings that have come recently on the associated party transaction rules, which are separate, certainly in legal terms, but one doesn't have to look too far to see the connections between the two. I think this is the most monumental legal battle in the history of British law. I mean, I would...

I would hesitate to say it's just English football. I mean, there's never been anything like it in terms of the stakes. The stakes are so high. Um, I mean, we occasionally refer to City as a nation state club, the club themselves say, no, they're privately owned by Sheikh Mansour. Um, others have disagreed with that. They say that the two are indivisible, but, um,

Those are the two sides of that argument. But clearly, this has huge implications for Abu Dhabi, for its relationship with the British government, I would say, too, and clearly the shape of the Premier League. So, yes, there's a great deal at stake here. We're talking about the rules. When we talk about APTs, we're talking about the rules that underpin the Premier League's financial controls. It's so-called financial fair play. If they're removed...

Do we even have a financial fair play PSR system in existence? So it's enormous. And Citi are clearly, as has been many times, they are not going to stop in this legal battle. They feel, as you said, David, they deny all the charges and they are...

They are sort of pushing on another front now with the APTs. We're awaiting another judgment on whether the current rules, which were amended in November, whether the panel that oversaw, and I realise that there may be some people drifting off to sleep at this point, but the panel that oversaw that original tribunal hearing have got to decide whether the current amended rules are enforceable. So that's the next chapter. That will be soon. And it just goes on and on.

Listen, I appreciate, you know, the little sort of footnote there, but it's important to set these things out. These are complex legal cases, Sam. And listen, you know, it's important to have the full context there. Don't worry about sending our viewers off to sleep. Let's talk football, shall we? Yes, let's do that. There was a gay one tonight.

At the London Stadium, West Ham beating Leicester by two goals to nil. Is there any way back for Leicester City, Jonathan Liu? You know, we can see here Thomas Suchet scoring the opening goal, Jarrett Bowen scoring the second. And, you know, they are, what is it now, five points adrift of safety with 11 games to play. Well, I mean, mathematically, you would say,

They still have to play, I think, most of the teams around them. And five points in 16 games is not an unassailable margin by any means. But I think the evidence of what we've seen from them, certainly in the last two or three games, certainly tonight, suggests that there's a kind of deathness behind the eyes there. I think we've talked about Leicester's problems previously.

in a lot of depth on this show. I think they go back to decisions made, like not just this season, but going back four or five years in terms of recruitment, in terms of finances. And, you know, Ruud van Isselbooy is not responsible for any of that stuff. But what he is responsible is for the attitude and the application of the team

the players that he sends out. And I didn't see that from them tonight. I didn't see a team that were five points off 17th place and fighting to stay in the league. I just didn't see that kind of effort or desire or hunger. People talk about the product, the Premier League being a product. Did the Leicester fans, like thousands of them who travelled down to London on a Thursday night, what kind of product did they get from their team tonight? And yeah, it's quite a sass.

Conversely, Sam, for West Ham, obviously they've got that big win for, as far as they can say, the Graham Potter at Arsenal, backed it up with this result here. Is that corner turned? Now we can see them start to build properly under Graham Potter?

I think Potter's done the hard early stages, hasn't he? He's won games. He's, I think, I mean, I can't say for sure, but it seems that he's got the West Ham fans behind him, which is so crucial for managers when they come in early. And West Ham will no doubt look back on his appointment with a great degree of satisfaction, certainly from this viewpoint. I mean,

I can't believe Leicester will say the same about Van Nistel. I thought the players were dreadful, especially in the first half, but they weren't actually in the relegation zone when Steve Cooper was sacked. So if you look at managerial appointments, David Moyes has been sensational at Everton. Ruman Amarum has been much worse at Manchester United. So if you look at the fortunes of changing managers...

This season, clearly United believe that in the long term, Amarim has, once his system is implemented properly, that he will be a successful manager. I don't know how Leicester are justifying the decision at the moment with Van Nistelrooy. I think it's been very, very poor and it looks like they're going down.

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Those teams that you mention, Everton in 16th place, 32 points, and then the three teams above them, West Ham, Manchester United, Tottenham, all on 33 points, and those all bunched up in this part of the table. It just...

looks odd, doesn't it? You know, a couple of seasons ago, they would all have been in the, you know, well, maybe not Everton, but, you know, West Ham certainly had that run to seventh, didn't they, under David Moyes? You know, they'd all be in, you know, the top half of the table. But, you know, things have changed. At least, you know, Everton have righted their wrongs. It looks like West Ham are starting to go in the right direction. I just sort of wonder, if you are Graham Potter, Jonathan, and you, what...

is the reasonable expectation from here on in can can is it top 10 finish thinking the thinking here that could could get something as high as that or is it just simply let's stay up and just change the way that our football is played to then move in the next seasons well obviously they're going to stay up i don't you know i don't think they're in that kind of trouble anymore uh and given the way that the table is kind of you know weirdly bunched around that sort of ninth to ninth to sixteenth kind of area

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that they could put a run together. They could sneak into the top half. I don't know if... I think probably a European challenge is going to be beyond them at this point. But I think, yeah, what you mentioned about having his ideas, Potter's ideas, take some kind of route. He's already... I think it's eight games he's been in charge. You see a vision of how Graham Potter's West Ham wants to play.

the end of this season, next season, you know, with possession, with aggression, playing attractive football as well, working hard for each other. The way that he's got, he's unlocked, you know, levels in players like Aaron Wan-Bissaka or Tadebo or even Sochek tonight, a player that I think a lot of West Ham fans would have thought, you know, if he'd moved on in the summer, they might not have, you know, they might not have mourned him too lightly. He's managed to,

to gel this group of players quite quickly, I think. And that has always been his strength. He gets...

players to coalesce around a certain idea. He sort of, he works out what makes them tick and he can do that quite quickly. So, yeah, I mean, it's looking quite good. I don't know if there's a specific target for him this season. I think he just wants to carry on making the progress that they've been making. OK, Manchester United, the gift that keeps on giving. We're heading to the Mirror and once again, comments from one of their former players.

in Roy Keane laying into Manchester United, it says in David McDonald's piece, and into his star, Bruno Fernandes, and his Old Trafford teammates labelling them imposters. Right, Sam, where are we at with this? Because, you know, we've seen this completely inconsistent form with Manchester United, and yet Bruno Fernandes has been, you know, behind a lot of assists and a lot of goals for Manchester United in the recent past, even though their form has been up and down. So how do you see it?

Well, I don't think it matters how I see it. I think it's all about how Roy Keane sees it. He's definitely not having that argument that Bruno Fernandes has saved United. I mean, it was a pretty astonishing debate, and I suppose it's the kind of...

football content that every podcast is reaching for but Keane is kind of like the protector of the flame at United he stands I think amongst the supporters for everything that was good about that era he

you know, he joined in 93, didn't he? After the first Premier League title and he's such a, he's such a famous player because not just because of what he did on the pitch, because of his, his personality as well. And it was just, it was such a kind of impassioned debate with Ian Wright. And I could, I could see where Ian Wright was coming from because when you watch United, I was at Goodison on Saturday, Fernandes is clearly their most talented player. He is the best signing by a long way of the post Ferguson era. And,

And I think he probably would have got in a few of those Ferguson teams. He's certainly the only one at the moment that would have done. And so Ian Wright was forming a pretty reasonable argument there.

But I'm afraid that the years have passed and Keane has just seen enough of this team and of Bruno in particular. It's funny because years ago they used to say about the Liverpool teams of the 90s and the noughties that there were far too many famous ex-Liverpool players working in punditry, people like Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson who were talking about the old days. But that's nothing compared to the number of former Manchester United players who won Premier League titles now talking about the current generation.

And it just goes on and on and on. And there's plenty of them on Sky as well. So I think for the United players, the weight of history is pretty heavy indeed. Yeah, we heard from Keane not so long ago, Wayne Rooney as well, weighing in with his views on his former club. Imposters, Jonathan, what do you make of that particular term?

Yeah, I guess it's implication of fraudulence, the fact that he's almost stealing a wage, he's cheating the club. Of all the players, of all the United players, I'm playing the game now because this is the cycle of opinions and whatever, a man says thing on podcasts and then newspaper prints thing that man said and then TV show debates thing that newspaper said and now I'm...

But of all the players at United to pick on, somebody like Bruno Fernandes who has, I think, carried this club at times, certainly carried certain of his teammates when things have been really down in the doldrums for them, who has adapted, who has shifted, who has adapted his game to a litany of new coaches coming through like a revolving door. And yeah, I think this is the part of the job that certainly Amarim underestimated. I think a lot of

United managers do when they come in. The fact that, like in my email inbox, usually it's more the Spaniard inbox these days. It's like some email from a betting website. Louis Saha says this. Philip Moore-Ryan has some opinion about Diogo Dalo. Like, you know, David Bellion had...

thinks that the current team wouldn't play with his kids' team today. It's just this constant economy of opinions and opinions and opinions on Manchester United, which then have to be dissected like they're serious opinions. They are worthy of our time. Sorry, I've taken up about two minutes of your time with all this, but it's a game that we all play, right? But does it help Manchester United win football matches? I don't think so.

That's the point of the entire ramble there. So if you'd like to comment on social media about what Jonathan New has said, about what a newspaper has said, about what's said in my podcast, please feel free to and continue the cycle. Let's move on to Arsenal, shall we? Back page of the Express, let me just quickly find that. There we are. Someone's going to go. There it is.

Martinelli or Trossard facing exit to fund Arteta shake-up? John Cross writing, friend of the show, Mikel Arteta could have to sacrifice one of his big guns to fund a summer rebuild at Arsenal. Right players to go, Sam, if this is true? Well, I'm sure if Crossy thinks this is happening, then I would put my hat on it. I think in terms of those two...

But they, let's see, I mean, they've both been starters at different times this season. And clearly in the brave new world of PSR, where even the biggest clubs have to trade and Arsenal have made losses. I mean, nothing like on the scale of Manchester United, but they have made losses over the last couple of years. Then that PSR compliance is a little bit and you can't spend money

You can't spend as freely as perhaps clubs would have done in the past. Actually, look, I mean, clearly there's certain players that there's absolutely no way Arsenal would sell. I mean, they would never wish to sell Saka. They would never wish to sell Odegaard. But I think it's having to think creatively about who you can do without and sometimes having to grit your teeth and sell a player that you'd rather keep because you've got to sign someone else and you feel that that's

It's a close decision. I think that's quite a good thing for football in many respects. I think it encourages clubs not to hoard players. As for these two themselves, they're clearly very good players and they would be useful to another club. And clubs have to marshal their assets like that now. That's the way it works in football. So I think 10 years ago, you would have been surprised to hear that two players who have been starters for Arsenal might be considered players

at a relatively young age, dispensable, but the game's changed. Jonathan, you have exactly 45 seconds to give me your next answer, having spent two minutes talking about people making comments. Back page of the mirror. Title won, no chance, says Virgil. Now, does Virgil van Dijk really think they haven't won the title? Or is he being a little bit cute with that and just being a statesman-like captain, saying, look, they might sing that, we don't think that?

No, I really think that he doesn't think they've won the title. And I think you can't. You can't let that thinking creep in. I think part of being a successful sports team, and actually quite a lot of unsuccessful sports teams, is that the capability to almost self-delude, to convince yourself that nothing is ever won until the final game,

kick of the final blow of the referees. And we know that that's not true because we see things won before the end all the time. But I think when you're in an elite sports team, you almost kind of have to have that mentality. You have to nurture that. Nothing is... We fight for everything. And Liverpool this season have been incredibly good, especially in periods where...

it seemed like a little bit of complacency might set in. They've won a lot of the games where you might not have expected them to. We're going to have to call it a day there, guys, I'm afraid. Jonathan and Sam, thank you very much indeed.