Man City are no different to an Olympic athlete found guilty of doping, according to Hull City owner Acun Ilicali.In referring to City’s charges, of which the club have been found guilty of the vast majority of the 115, Ilicali became the first Premier League owner to break his silence on the story engulfing football. While City maintain their innocence and are expected to appeal, Ilicali categorised the charges as ‘financial doping’. He told the 1904 Club podcast: ‘I don’t say they are guilty or not because they are saying they are innocent… and I think the Premier League says they are not innocent.’If they are not innocent and they did something… I think [it is] not different than having doping and [winning] the Olympic medal. ‘This is financial doping at the end of the day. Bringing top four or five players with huge money, breaking the rules. From that side, it doesn’t look very positive.’ Hull owner Acun Ilicali (left), pictured this season with wife Ayca Cagla Altunkaya, compared Man City’s charges with an athlete doping Ilicali has owned Hull since 2022 but the Tigers were relegated from the Premier League in 2014-15 and 2016-17 – two seasons in which City are accused of breaking the rules. He said there are ‘crazy advantages’ for richer clubs, adding: ‘As an owner, I shouldn’t speak too much about it, I think, because I’m not inside it to know everything about it in detail. From my side, I will make a general speech, which is if something involved in football is unfair… it should be punished.’If you give a small punishment, then everybody will do it. For the future of football, and a clean future, this kind of thing, if it happens, should be punished and not let people do something like that.’I like natural money in football. For us, we will not have the budget of the top six or maybe top 10 teams in England, but we respect that.’We have enough distance because of this income they have naturally. Please don’t add more distance. If there is a mistake like this, these kind of mistakes give crazy advantages to some teams and this is not fair.’Despite news of the independent commission siding with the Premier League, Man City chief executive Ferran Soriano has warned their fight will still take ‘a lot more time’ to conclude. Soriano was at a private meeting with the executive board of European Football Clubs’ body along with other bosses of top clubs and, according to sources, was quick to address the elephant in the room.‘It’s taken eight years to get here,’ Soriano told the assembled club chiefs, ‘and it’s going to take a lot more time’.City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said in a statement on Saturday: ‘The process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began.’ City were found to have broken 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League, having profited from an era of sustained success between 2009 and 2018There has been a huge amount of discussion in the football community over potential sanctions for City, which could include expulsion and being stripped of their titles. They lifted three Premier League titles as part of an eight-trophy haul during the years the charges cover. JOE HART – I BELIEVE CITY ARE INNOCENT ‘I’ve heard everyone else go down every single rabbit hole, every single wormhole, every single discussion.’My honest opinion is I’ve got no reason not to trust Khaldoon. What he said is enough for me. ‘I loved how he spoke. I loved the letterbecause that was from someone who cared about the club.’If Man City are found guilty, which I don’t think they are because of what Khaldoon said, then there’s conversations to be had.’But right now I’m very confident and very, very calm. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved and what I did with Man City and what we achieved as a team. And that doesn’t change. That doesn’t change until you tell me. ‘I did what I did. I lined up 11 v 11 and had it out on the pitch. I won some games, lost some games, drew some games, and I shook hands and I walked off.’I know what I did, I know what we did, and I know how it happened. It didn’t feel like we were scheming or plotting.’ <!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/sport/football/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->
Graeme Souness told Track Radio: ‘If it goes the wrong way for them they’ll be consigned to history that they were cheats and whatever they did, whatever they won in that period, should not count.’There’s an argument for Liverpool to have a couple of Premier Leagues given to them. For them [City] to be stripped of whatever they’ve won in that period of time, for them… money’s not an issue.’Piers Morgan, speaking to Simon Jordan and Daily Mail Sport’s Oliver Holt on Football Uncensored, said: ‘They (Man City) 100 per cent have to be relegated. 100 per cent. This idea they get away with a fine and a transfer ban – no, no, no, no. ‘I think they should be relegated, I think there should be a points deduction for the next four seasons. There’s got to be a proper punishment. The fine is irrelevant, Abu Dhabi have gazillions pumping out of their oil barrels every day. It’s got to hurt them.’Holt, who urged in his Daily Mail column that City should be stripped of their titles as a deterrent, agreed with Morgan’s suggested sanction – while Jordan insisted that the punishment cannot ‘scorch’ the Premier League.The former Crystal Palace chairman also claimed that the guilty verdict should spell the end of the Abu Dhabi United Group’s ‘doomed’ project at Manchester City.But former City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart still believes in the club’s innocence. He told the BBC: ‘I’ve heard everyone else go down every single rabbit hole, every single wormhole, every single discussion.’My honest opinion is I’ve got no reason not to trust Khaldoon. What he said is enough for me. ‘I loved how he spoke. I loved the letter because that was from someone who cared about the club.’Hart added: ‘If Man City are found guilty, which I don’t think they are because of what Khaldoon said, then there’s conversations to be had.’But right now I’m very confident and very, very calm. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved and what I did with Manchester City and what we achieved as a team. And that doesn’t change. That doesn’t change until you tell me.’