The song started in 2008, set to the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine," and it was aimed squarely at Manchester City themselves: "City's going down with a billion in the bank." It was born the moment Thai businessman Thaksin Shinawatra's turbulent fifteen-month ownership collapsed and more than £1 billion of his assets were frozen. Sheikh Mansour rode in from Abu Dhabi to rescue the club, yet by December City were still sinking toward the relegation zone. The fans sang louder.

That, in a single anecdote, is Cityitis — the club's almost ceremonial talent for self-destruction at precisely the wrong moment. The financial fair play investigation opened in 2018, and the chant grew accordingly. Then came 2023, when over 100 charges were formally laid against the club, covering the period from roughly 2009 to 2018. The song became a roar.

City, meanwhile, kept winning: Premier League titles, domestic cups, a historic 100-point season in 2017-18. The trophies piled up even as the legal storm gathered directly overhead, which is a very City thing to have happen. Now the verdict is in, and the reckoning is real. Wayne Rooney, speaking recently, suggested City could face a deduction of 60 points — a figure that would make relegation from the Premier League nearly inevitable.

The eight trophies won during the contested period, including three league titles, could theoretically be stripped.