Was there ever any transparency in football?

So all that sound and fury about Manchester City’s sins signified precisely nothing. Well, a €10 million fine isn’t nothing, but City would need just a couple of minutes looking down the back of the sofa to lay their hands on that. What was heralded by Uefa all those months ago as unspeakable financial jiggery-pokery that warranted a two-year ban from European football turns out on appeal to be a minor misdemeanour, a parking ticket at best. Nothing to see here. Move along please.

Fair enough. I love Pep’s City and what his team has brought to the Premier League, but I could never understand, if they were going to be banned, why not Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus as well? See how that plays with the viewing figures for the Champions League.

Isn’t the root of the problem that no one has the slightest clue about, or really very much interest in, Uefa’s financial fair play regulations? The Gulf states are keen on their soft power and elite football is a crucial part of that.