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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 15h

They're desperate to muddy the waters, aren't they? But "what about them?" doesn't work when you've just been labelled the biggest cheats football has ever seen. None of the city fans seem able to understand that.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 15h

Yes. Been mates for 45 years now.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

They figured it out years ago. Old saying; give them the razor, sell them the blades.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'd take $5,000 over a dead unicorn, but that ain't the choice. There is no socialism and there is no $5,000 check. Not sure what the OP has been drinking.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I read a story that the men were out siphoning petrol. Not good neighbours, but hardly terrorists.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Right, so what the UAE says is, let us cheat or we'll blackmail you? Not really the good guys, are ya?

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

He's my friend. For 45 years now.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Don't care. This is blackmail right out in the open. I never react well to that, and neither should the UK. Kick Man City out.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I agree, but how? If a State sets up an 'independent' body, run by a member of the government, using government funds, then OK. But if the funds are channelled through front companies, or other tricks, then it's hard to pin down whether a group is State-owned or independent.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yeah, early on I said the same, I felt sorry for the fans. Trouble is, I've yet to hear an MCI fan say anything except excuses and denials. Not one has admitted to the cheating and accepted the club needs punishment. In my hearing, not one.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Also their keeper must have his bootlaces tied together.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

That's right. If MCI get away with this fraud, or are seen to get away with it, then the taint will be impossible to wash off. If that happens, then for me, I hope the likes of Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, Spurs etc quit to form a breakaway league.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Yes it is. If City escape, or are leniently punished, then other clubs with rich owners will know the rules mean nothing. Villa, Newcastle, soon Liverpool perhaps, will all be able to spend whatever they want. I'm a Liverpool fan, but the thought horrifies me.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Oh, no. Ideas are gold, everything good that writers do come form them - but it all has to be done well. Execution matters. So do ideas.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Good for you, I wish you the best.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Hmm. As a Liverpool fan, the part of this that most upsets me is that Stoke City lost the 2011 FA Cup final to MCI, 1-0. Stoke have won one trophy, ever, and they were denied a generational, legendary dream by the cheaters. All those kids who'll never hear grandpa's stories of 'that' day. Tragic.

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Reposted by Ben Blake

Rob Kenton @robkenton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Premier League have to take the nuclear option and expel them. Everything they've achieved is based on huge financial fraud.

Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It'll be worse for City if they're relegated. I can't see Haaland et al being keen on a Wednesday game in Watford.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There are never guarantees. But you finished, so well done, you've done it.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Man City HAVE to be expelled from the Premier League. HAVE to be. 15 years ago these cheats beat Stoke City 1-0 in the FA Cup final. Stoke fans never got to see their side life the trophy. The MCI board is full of dishonest, corrupt b*st*rds.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If City are deducted points and so relegated (at a minimum), this doesn't matter. No way the club can afford these players' wages in the Championship. Most would be sold.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

As a Liverpool fan, I probably feel sorriest for Stoke fans, whose club lost the 2011 FA Cup final to Man City. No fan under 60 remembers when they last won a trophy. A whole generation had that moment stolen from them, cheated away, and that breaks my heart.

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Reposted by Ben Blake

DOJO News @dojonews.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Hey Bluesky family, one repost is all we need. Go show some love to DOJO Sports. For FREE live sports coverage on NFL, NCAAF and more. Let us know what you think! Have a blessed Sunday! dojonewsnetwork.com

dojonewsnetwork.com

DOJO News Network: Sports News, Scores, Results and Athlete Coverage | DOJO Sports

Get the latest sports news from DOJO News Network, covering MMA, NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB and soccer, including scores, results, schedules, athlete profiles and breaking updates.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I won't argue. If they do go for a points deduction, it should be allied with a long ban from Europe, and also the City Football Group and all its board members should be declared unfit to run an EPL club. In other words, they'd have to sell MCI before being promoted back to the Prem.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I agree that's necessary, but it's not the first thing. The PL needs to punish them so severely that some/all of the clubs will drop their expected legal action against MCI. That means, in main, either a points deduction big enough to ensure relegation, or outright expulsion from the league.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Good question. Expulsion from the EPL should be a serious option. We already know the EFL doesn't want them either, and there's the point - all of English football is so disgusted by this brazen, repeated cheating, that they want nothing to do with MCI anymore.

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Reposted by Ben Blake

smtm_LFC1975 @smtmlfc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A legal suit on Sky Sports just said: "Man City retained an army of some of the best lawyers in the world, who allegedly obstructed this process from start to finish. Yet they have seemingly been found comprehensively guilty. They can kick & scream, but there's very little scope for manoeuvre now."

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Reposted by Ben Blake

ET Heisenberg @utdheisenberg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Not enough love that on the timeline for the man who leaked the Man City breaches. Thank you Rui Pinto. Respect.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I've been saying this. Everyone on the board of City Football Group should be named as not a fit and proper person to run a club in the Premier League. Ever.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This is why punishment - stripped titles etc - should include everything up to the present day. They built that club by cheating. Without it, they'd never have been in a position to win anything. The club should lose everything, including its EPL status.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Got to disagree I'm afraid, Doc. The fans didn't do this, and I expect their outrage will come later, after an appeal etc. Right now they're just desperate for a bright side to look on, and I can't blame them. Horrible thing to go through. The club, though... expulsion from the PL is not too much.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

And it should be, so horrible that no other club ever risks it. Otherwise the clubs owned by the super-rich, like Newcastle, Villa, and maybe soon Liverpool, may all decide that cheating is worth a trivial punishment.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I'd tend to go with relegation, ban from Europe, and huge fine. But let MCI know that if they waste time and money with a useless appeal, and lose, then expulsion comes onto the table.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

If true, MANC need to be punished severely - to stop Newcastle, Villa, soon Liverpool, and other super-rich clubs from cheating as well. A trivial fine will tell them it's worth the risk. MANC should be hurt by the punishment, and badly. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

bbc.co.uk

Man City charges latest: City found guilty of majority of 115 financial rule breaches

The club, which denies all wrongdoing, was accused of breaching the Premier League's financial rules between 2009 and 2018.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

True. Remember also that Netanyahu is a product of the Israeli state, i.e. someone shaped by paranoia, fear and hatred. So was Golda Meir; so was Menachem Begin, a Prime Minister who had formerly led the terrorist group Irgun. Netanyahu is the heir to a long tradition of horror.

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Reposted by Ben Blake

BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Israel has been found guilty today in Geneva of war crimes including extermination, forcible transfer, starvation, torture and false imprisonment, sexual violence including rape... and many more If it was any other country than Israel all of Europe would boycott them. Instead there will be silence

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

You're entirely right. The art is its own reward, and its own justification.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

When he banned CNN et al, I said that the wider press either walked out, or they would be colluding. Guess they made their choice.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Probably true. Still, when people imply that previous generations lived in some kind of twee paradise, I think that should be challenged.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Far right took power in Italy. It's got a hell of a good chance in France next year. It took it in Hungary, and Poland. Germany is not immune.

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Ben Blake @benblakeauthor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Could be lasers. Could be Thor, a kinetic-energy weapon that basically uses gravity to drop missiles. Could be microwave beams, intended to disable other satellites. Lots of things, really.

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