The Liverpool Brief

Liverpool writer.
Founder of The Liverpool Brief.
Opinion and history from a Liverpool supporter.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

Manchester City’s owners should be made to sell the club.

The Times reports that City have been found guilty of almost all the charges against them. City maintain their innocence and are expected to appeal. My view is that the scale of those findings demands more than a punishment for the club.

Anyone at ownership, board or executive level shown to have knowingly participated in the breaches or deliberately obstructed the investigation should be banned from football. For life.

Roman Abramovich’s departure from Chelsea involved government sanctions, not football rules. The legal circumstances were different. But why should systematic breaches of the competition’s own rules not raise the question of whether an owner should be allowed to remain?

The compensation claims could be enormous. The Times has reported that rival clubs could each seek £100 million.

And this goes beyond Liverpool and lost titles. What about clubs who missed Champions League or Europa League qualification? What about those who finished 18th and lost their Premier League income?

Any club that can demonstrate City’s breaches cost it a place and the income attached to it deserves compensation. Those losses do not matter less because they happened further down the table.

But paying compensation would not settle the ownership question. Nor would relegation if the same people remained in control, free to rebuild and return.

My objection is not just to what happened. It is to allowing those responsible to carry on running the club afterwards.

These owners cannot be trusted. They should be made to sell.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@piersmorgan They will win the premier league if there is no points deduction beforehand.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@JanAageFjortoft So sorry for your loss mate.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@Corballyred They certainly do. It is set up perfectly for him time to deliver now.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

Five Premier League games in, Jérémy Jacquet is already the best centre back in the league.

No real pre-season, played every league game from week 1, and Emmanuel Petit says he’s the one bringing out the best in Van Dijk, not the other way around.

Full piece 👇

https://t.co/XVtoUCOhNc

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@FergiesRightRef How do you think Rice compares to Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@mrdaniel989 Half a decade of punishment would be fair considering you was cheating for 9 years. Probably longer.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@city_exclusives What do you think is a fair punishment ?

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@CFCforxile Kaka

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@curtiswoodhous8 I do feel Usyk is underrated. He’s an all time great no doubt about that. So is Lennox Lewis by the way.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@Markom1974 @jaybothroyd Depends how far you’re going back really and if you’re only using players you’ve seen. What’s your list ?

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

Florian Wirtz's Liverpool career is on a knife-edge.

Some of us are still defending him. That defence can't go on forever.

The criticism has gone too far, but the output still isn't there. He's a six or seven out of ten most weeks. Given the money Liverpool paid and the talent he's got, he needs to start giving us eights.

Klopp has backed him. Wirtz has just delivered for Germany.

Now he comes back to Manchester City at Anfield.

There couldn't be a better stage.

Go and put in a man-of-the-match performance. Silence the critics.

Full piece:
https://t.co/z2oweCH8mO

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@Dom_Szoboszlai1 @QofAnfield A for me

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@ivegotSowell It was allowed then.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@Dragonfly293 So sorry for your loss.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@Gandalf_LFC I saw this YouTube short of Paul Gascoigne saying he was better than Messi. It was only a short clip. You're not getting the full context, but seriously.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@CounterPressers Do you think Bellingham will be talked about as one of the best players of all time once he’s finished. He will probably be one of England's. He's already done more than most at his age.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

@eddiegibbs The best in the league already in my opinion.

[The Liverpool Brief @LFCBrief]

Everything this guy says is spot on. Great job.

[Colin MUFC🇮🇪🇵🇸 @colinmufc2]

Don’t think he has x to tag him but honestly could not have put this better myself 👏

Husam on @TFTerraceMedia @terryflewers

Full video:

https://t.co/RH4rG0QcRZ