Man City Found Guilty. Two Weeks Later: "94% of Clubs Are Losing Money." Coincidence?

Manchester City were found guilty of almost all of the 115 charges just two weeks ago. Now English football is told that 94% of clubs are loss-making. Convenient?

Ask yourself who gains from the headline "the whole game is broken." It isn't Burnley or Wrexham. It's the club that needs the public to see its guilty verdict as one more symptom of a rotten system.

We're not saying City arranged this. We have no evidence of that, and the regulator is independent. But you don't need a conspiracy for a story to help someone. Expect City-friendly voices to run with it within hours.

Man City Tried to BLOCK the Verdict From Leaking. Here's Why.

Here's the difference they hope you'll miss. Every club in that 94% reports its losses openly. City were found guilty of breaching financial rules over nine seasons, and of failing to co-operate with the league's investigation. Nobody else in that 94% faces that.

So when someone tells you "everyone loses money," ask them one question: how many of those clubs were found guilty of hiding where it came from?

To keep it safe and still hard-hitting:

• Keep it as questions and "who benefits," not "City did this." • Use "found guilty," which is accurate, and mention the appeal so it's balanced. • Don't call the report a distraction as a statement of fact. Say it will be used as one.