If City’s Crowns Slip, Who Picks Them Up?
It’s the longest VAR check in Premier League history, only it’s happening in a tribunal room. Manchester City await the outcome of an independent commission after a 12-week hearing wrapped up in December 2024. The verdict on those 115 alleged rule breaches still hasn’t dropped, and City continue to deny any wrongdoing. Until we hear otherwise, everything is hypothetical — but it hasn’t stopped the debates from roaring like a derby day crowd.
What’s at stake? Potential punishments floated by pundits range from a seismic points deduction — whispers of 60 have done the rounds — to the nuclear option: stripping titles from the period under investigation (2009–2018). If, and it’s a colossal if, City are stripped of titles from 2009–2018, the Premier League’s runners-up from those seasons would inherit the crowns. For a fan’s-eye on the odds and market moves, have a look at our best betting sites hub.
Why Arsenal won’t be polishing a trophy
Arsenal have pushed City to the brink in recent years, finishing runners-up in 2022/23 and 2023/24. But those seasons sit outside the 2009–2018 window that’s under the microscope. During that earlier span, the Gunners weren’t second behind City — meaning no retroactive title is heading to north London on this scenario.
2011/12: Manchester United would reclaim the Aguero-o’clock season
The most cinematic finale in Premier League history — Sergio Aguero’s stoppage-time winner — could be rewritten in the record books. If that title were vacated, the runners-up were Manchester United. The irony is thick enough to spread on toast: the crown snatched at the death a decade ago could end up back at Old Trafford by legal decree.
2013/14: Liverpool would finally close the loop
City edged Liverpool by two points in a campaign remembered for blistering football and one infamous slip. Strip away City’s triumph and Liverpool become champions for that season. It wouldn’t change the anguish of the spring run-in, but it would add a retro ring to the Reds’ honours list.
2017/18: Manchester United inherit the ‘Centurions’ season
City stormed to 100 points; United trailed in second on 81. However harsh it feels, inheritance doesn’t ask how big the gap was — it asks who finished next. On this hypothetical, United would be credited with their first league title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s farewell year, taking their all-time tally from 20 to 22.
What City likely keep
Anything outside 2009–2018 should remain untouched on this premise. That means the titles in 2018/19, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 would stay in the Etihad trophy cabinet.
Final whistle
Let’s be crystal clear: nothing changes until the commission publishes its findings, and City’s firm stance is that they’ve done nothing wrong. But if titles were stripped from the relevant window, the big winners look straightforward: Manchester United in 2011/12 and 2017/18, Liverpool in 2013/14. Arsenal, for all their modern excellence, would watch this one from the outside looking in. Until the verdict lands, the table is set, the speculation simmers — and the Premier League holds its breath.
