Alex Fynn, who helped formulate the Premier League, discusses the Manchester City case, how it has affected Arsenal and his new book on the north London club.
Integrity appears to be the watchword in much of the discourse around Manchester City and the biggest scandal in the history of the Premier League.
Only one, at best, of the club and the league can emerge with reputational integrity intact, while the wait for City’s appeal and punishment has led to questions about the competitive integrity of this season, underlined by the pariahs brushing off the boos to make it six wins from six against Liverpool on Sunday.
Alex Fynn, widely acknowledged as one of the architects of the Premier League, believes that – unless City’s appeal against more than 100 guilty verdicts prevails – there is only one way to marry justice with protecting the product which underpins the finances of all English clubs.
Just as City were found guilty by an independent commission of hiding owner funding of more than £900m between 2009 and 2018, Fynn says, so should their sanction by levied over a nine-year spell.
“The integrity of the Premier League has to be protected, and the only way they can really do that is to ensure that City are penalised, but not at the expense of the league,” he tells City AM.
“Over the course of those nine years there are different degrees of guilt. So, if they were deducted points according to the amount that they abused the funding regulations, then they would have points deductions over nine years, but not to the extent that they would be immediately relegated.
“You can’t immediately relegate them because that destroys the integrity of the Premier League. Any game with City will be an artificial one.”
Man City finances allowed them to weaken Arsenal
Liverpool have perhaps been most affected by City’s artificially inflated resources, which led to them being consistently pipped to titles over the last decade, but they are not alone. Though not a supporter, Fynn has written extensively on Arsenal and makes the point that City’s strengthening was often at the direct expense of rivals.
“They were able to buy from Arsenal all of their stars: [Emmanuel] Adebayor, [Samir] Nasri, [Bacary] Sagna, [Gael] Clichy. They actually deprived Arsenal first of all of their talents, so that they were a force to be reckoned with,” he says.
“Arsenal still finished, until the last couple of [Arsene] Wenger years, in the top four, so they qualified for Europe. But they didn’t get any further than the last 16 because key elements from their squad had been taken away from them by City.”
Fynn’s latest book – So Near… – co-authored with Arsenal writer Kevin Whitcher, chronicles last season’s run to the Champions League final, where they lost on penalties to the star-studded holders, Paris Saint-Germain. They resume their latest tilt at a trophy they are yet to lift when Lille visit Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
While the north Londoners ended their 22-year Premier League title drought in May, Fynn believes the current squad lacks a game-changing talent needed to deliver the top European prize. Furthermore, he says Arsenal may need to bridge that gap in individual quality if manager Mikel Arteta is to capitalise on any clipping of City’s wings and create a dynasty.
“You’ve got to have that je ne sais quoi which only a truly world star will give you, and they are missing that,” he says. “For example, Real Madrid have [Kylian] Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain have [Ousmane] Dembele and Arsenal have [Viktor] Gyokeres. He’s a good footballer, but Arsenal need someone with that extra magic.
“People will see what Arsenal have done and how they built their success on the defence and set pieces, so they’ll find it more difficult this year to just adopt those tactics. The squad might be sufficient, with the experience of winning last year, to repeat that exercise domestically, but I think that in Europe, to go that one stage further, they are missing the man who can change the game. The dynasty will only be done if they can incorporate this extra dimension.”
So Near… The dramatic story of Arsenal’s historic Champions League campaign 2025-26 is out now and available from Amazon here.