City’s Euro ban won’t see any
Celtic and Rangers fans hoping Manchester City’s Champions League ban could lead to marquee stars coming north from the Etihad Stadium on loan in search of European action are in for disappointment.
UEFA have ruled City – who are in their ninth successive Champions League campaign – can’t take part in their club competitions for the next two seasons.
The decision came after independent financial control body, the CFCB, said the club had broken rules by overstating sponsorship revenue in accounts submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.
It is subject to an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and Manchester City have already said they will challenge the suspension. For some fans, the news was a throwback to the mid1980s and the European body’s ban on all England’s clubs taken part in any of their competitions in the wake of the Heysel Disaster. That allowed Graeme Souness to snap up a succession of big names from south of the border as part of his Rangers Revolution.
International stars Chris Woods and Terry Butcher were the trailblazers, with the likes of Trevor Francis, Trevor Steven, Ray Wilkins, Gary Stevens and Mark Hateley following them north.
Other slightly-less illustrious players such as Graham Roberts, Terry Hurlock and Mark Falco were also signed up.
Times change, and the disparity between pay levels between the two countries make such a scenario impossible to imagine in the current climate.
What is thriving, though, is the loan market.
League leaders and Treblechasers Celtic owe their success in the Betfred Cup Final last year in no small part to the heroics of keeper Fraser Forster, who returned