City’s Euro ban won’t see any repeat of Souness’s Revolution
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
to Celtic Park on a short-term deal from Southampton.
Norwegian internationalist Mohamed Elyounnoussi is also up on loan from the Saints.
Rangers, meanwhile, have Jermaine Defoe in from Bournemouth – though he has agreed to sign for them on a permanent deal in the summer.
Sheyi Ojo is the latest loanee from Liverpool to take advantage of Steven Gerrard’s links with the club.
Forster and Defoe, in particular, came north because the move offered the chance of regular first-team football they could not get with their clubs.
There have been plenty of players who have taken that step.
Craig Bellamy, for example, starred for Celtic in the second half of the 2005-06 season after burning his bridges at Newcastle United.
It is also true Manchester City have a decent relationship with Scottish clubs.
Daniel Arzani is currently with Celtic on loan, and Brandon Barker, now with Rangers, was sent to Hibs for a season in 2017-18.
Despite that, their willingness to put players up to the Scottish Premiership will not extend to their first-team players.
That’s despite the fact it could mean their players getting plenty of involvement in European competition, with both Celtic and Rangers both still involved in this season’s Europa League. It is understood Manchester City’s Board and owner are livid at the ban, and fully expect it to be overturned on appeal.
Even if that was not to happen, however, there will be no change in their view of the opportunities available to their players in Scotland.
Put simply, that is likely to mean untried teenagers being sent north to gain experience. Think Arzani. First-team regulars will be retained for City’s domestic campaigns.
And if any of a higher-level are to be farmed out, they will be to other European clubs they have close links with, such as Girona in Spain or Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon.