Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 4hRecords are there to be broken. If Robbo reaches 103, it takes absolutely nothing away from Kenny. It simply gives Scotland another milestone worth celebrating. Our greatest legend set the mark. Forty years later, another proud Scotsman is about to chase it down. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 4hSome will point out that Scotland play more internationals now. Fair enough. It still takes remarkable durability and consistency to be selected 100 times, particularly when so many of those appearances have come carrying the captain’s armband. And now Dalglish’s 102 is within touching distance. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 4hThere have been more naturally gifted Scottish footballers, but precious few who squeezed more from their talent, professionalism, courage and sheer bloody determination. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 4hFrom Queen’s Park and Dundee United to the very summit of European football, then captain of our country, Robertson's journey has been extraordinary. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 4hFor me, he will probably always be the greatest footballer our small nation has ever produced. Now Andy Robertson stands alongside him. That deserves enormous respect. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 4hMention achievements like 102 Scotland caps to Kenny and he has that familiar habit of brushing them aside, as though he was simply another man fortunate enough to pull on the shirt and do his job. That humility is part of what makes him Kenny. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 4hWhen Kenny Dalglish became the first Scotsman to reach 100 caps, I watched every game I could. International football was different then. Kenny was my hero then and, having since been fortunate enough to speak to him at length about his career, my admiration has only grown. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7hBecause if nine seasons of serious financial wrongdoing can ultimately be overcome with one bad season and a large cheque, what deterrent is there? Make the punishment hurt. Make it last. Make sure nobody ever considers doing it again. 010
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7hI want the competitive advantage gained through years of rule breaking destroyed, and those responsible held accountable. One enormous points deduction followed by promotion and business as usual wouldn’t cut it. The consequences should follow City for years. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7hI don’t want Manchester City Football Club destroyed forever. City supporters, Liam Gallagher included, didn’t devise financial schemes or sit around boardroom tables constructing sham arrangements. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7h) should face the regulator’s suitability process and, where they fail it, be banned from English football. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7h- Pay compensation where rival clubs can demonstrate genuine financial loss. And finally, any owners, directors or senior executives implicated in the wrongdoing (potentially: Sheikh Mansour, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Ferran Soriano, Danny Wilson, Claire Catlin, Txiki Begiristain etc. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7h- 10 points the season after that. - Three years of severe transfer spending restrictions. - Strip the domestic honours directly affected, including those after the initial investigatory period, and leave them vacant. No retrospective champions. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7hFinish this Premier League season, but impose a points deduction sufficient to guarantee relegation and, subject to acceptance, allow the EFL to place them wherever they see fit. Then: - No parachute payments. - 30 point deduction the following season. - 20 points the season after that. 200
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 7h‼️ City Are Guilty. Now Make the Punishment Fit the Crime I’ve written a lot about the Manchester City case over the years and people have often asked me the same question: What punishment would you impose if the findings survive appeal? Well, here it is. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9hBut if these findings ultimately stand and English football responds with a slap on the wrist, we will have learned something devastating. The deepest pockets really do win. And the rules were only ever rules for everyone else. 120
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9hThat matters. Football spent years demanding an independent regulator because we were repeatedly told the game could not govern itself. Well, here is the test. The biggest one imaginable. City have every right to appeal. Let that process run properly. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9hThe new Independent Football Regulator has the power to assess the suitability of owners, directors and executives. If the findings survive the remaining process, it could therefore face profound questions about whether individuals involved should continue to hold positions within English football. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9hIf the findings survive City's appeal, the punishment has to hurt. And this now goes beyond Manchester City Football Club. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9hNo technical escape can make the underlying findings disappear. No fine that disappears into the accounts of one of the wealthiest ownership groups in sport will suffice. No token points deduction followed by business as usual will restore confidence. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9hThe #PremierLeague has already dragged its own reputation through the mud by allowing this saga to define an era of English football. Now comes the moment that decides whether its rules ever really meant anything. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9hThe findings are simply too serious. Nine years of wrongdoing, a “disguised funding scheme”, around £930m involved, “sham” arrangements and findings that individuals acted dishonestly or other than in good faith. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 9h⚖️ If City Escape With a Slap on the Wrist, What Was the Point? I’ve said for a long time that I feared Man City’s financial might, legal firepower and the wider relationship between the UAE and UK would eventually prove too powerful for football’s regulators. I’m no longer so sure. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 03/10/2026Richard Hughes, you can take the plaudits on this one. A star is being born before our eyes. 000
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 03/10/2026He's 21. He'd made only 54 league appearances before this season. Now he looks completely at home playing for Liverpool and France. There will be mistakes. There will be difficult games. That's the education of every young centre half. But Liverpool have something here. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 03/10/2026I hate international football. Usually, watching it feels like an obligation when 'real football' is unavailable. Yet I sat down to watch France because I wanted to watch Jeremy Jacquet. He's that good. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 03/10/2026Against Italy, Jacquet completed 79 of his 80 passes, won all 4 of his duels and repeatedly stepped high up the pitch to kill attacks before they developed. Zinedine Zidane's assessment tells its own story. “Very good. Very, very good.” Then he praised him twice more for good measure. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 03/10/2026A couple of months later, he is doing it for #LFC and France as though somebody forgot to tell him that this level of football is supposed to be difficult. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 03/10/2026We saw the first glimpse during that pre-season friendly at Anfield in August. There was something immediately arresting about him, the composure, the authority, the willingness to defend forwards rather than retreat towards his own goal. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 03/10/2026🇫🇷 A STAR IS BORN ⭐ I was scathing about Richard Hughes and FSG after the summer transfer window, so when they get something spectacularly right, the flowers have to be delivered. Jeremy Jacquet looks an extraordinary piece of recruitment. 130
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 02/10/2026If you enjoy my work, please subscribe and support 👇 www.itwasalwaysfootball.com/p/gibbs-gam...itwasalwaysfootball.comGibbs’ Game: Guardiola’s Legacy Will Never Look the Same AgainManchester City face the consequences of a guilty verdict, Ronaldo’s online cult comes calling and Saudi money has turned boxing into a circus. 000
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 02/10/2026Man City's guilt is a 'verdict' not an 'opinion'. Now the uncomfortable questions begin. ⁉️ Pep Guardiola’s legacy ⚖️ City’s response 🇵🇹 Ronaldo’s cultish defenders 🥊 Saudi Arabia’s boxing vanity project Plenty to get stuck into in this week’s Gibbs’ Game. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 02/10/2026🙏 If you enjoy my Liverpool analysis, please consider subscribing to my Substack. It genuinely helps me keep producing pieces like this. www.itwasalwaysliverpool.com/p/liverpool...itwasalwaysliverpool.comLiverpool’s Injury Crisis Could Open the Door for Prolific Will WrightWith Liverpool’s forward options depleted, 18-year-old Will Wright’s remarkable numbers suggest his opportunity may be closer than ever. 000
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 02/10/2026He’s 18, 6ft 3in, technically excellent in tight spaces and already producing some outrageous individual goals. I’ve taken a closer look at Wright, his movement, finishing, underlying numbers and why Andoni Iraola may soon have little choice but to give him a first-team opportunity. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 02/10/2026Remember the name: Will Wright 🔴 #LFC's injury problems could open the door for one of the most exciting young strikers at the club. ⚽ 12 goals 🎯 6 assists ⏱️ A goal contribution every 81.7 minutes 🔥 Six goals in his last six U21 games 📈 35% shot conversion 170
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026Maybe, just maybe, sovereign state-linked ownership of sporting institutions was never the best idea. 052
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026Money brings influence. Influence brings powerful friends. And when an independent commission finally says the rules were broken, suddenly an extraordinary number of influential people seem desperately interested in reminding everyone how valuable the accused have been. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026That is a peculiar interpretation of keeping your distance. I’ll be charitable and call it ignorance rather than stupidity. By attempting to say nothing about the process, Burnham managed to say something rather revealing about the wider problem. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026The PM says he must “keep my distance” because this is an independent legal process. Yet in almost the same breath he publicly thanked City’s ownership for its investment in Manchester and said he would be “really concerned” to lose them. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026At some point the impression of entirely separate actors becomes increasingly difficult to sustain. Then we have Andy Burnham. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026City have spent years promising “irrefutable evidence”. Their chief executive Ferran Soriano has now described the case as a “conspiracy theory”. Etihad has entered the argument. Sheikh Mansour’s brother, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, chairs the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund which owns Etihad. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026There's an obvious question. If Etihad possessed evidence capable of demolishing the Premier League’s case, why did Manchester City’s formidable legal team apparently not call them as witnesses during the 12-week hearing? 240
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026Those are findings of FACT, however furiously City dispute them. Now Etihad complains they were never approached, never represented and never given the opportunity to provide information, while considering their legal options. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026Manchester City were found guilty of serious breaches after a lengthy process. The commission concluded that City arranged “sham” contracts with commercial partners, filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of their finances. 110
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026🇦🇪 Etihad’s Intervention Raises More Questions Than It Answers Etihad Airways is perfectly entitled to defend its reputation. What it cannot do is make the findings of an independent commission disappear simply by objecting loudly enough. 175
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026Someone finally had the balls to treat Cristiano Ronaldo like another member of the squad. So Ronaldo took his ball and went home like an unhappy child at the play park. Pathetic. 031
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026The same ferocious self belief that helped create the footballer has seemingly left the man incapable of accepting what every athlete eventually must. Father Time doesn't negotiate. He doesn't care about your medals, your records, your Instagram followers or your private jet. 100
Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs.co.uk · 01/10/2026Perhaps Ronaldo would recognise the moment himself, bow out gracefully and allow Portuguese football to move forward without forcing anybody to push its greatest player through the exit door. They badly misjudged him. 110