Noel Gallagher says the reported Manchester City verdict left him “a little surprised” and “quite sad”, after reports claimed the club were found guilty of 114 of 115 Premier League charges. He was asked about what it meant for Aguero’s 2012 title-winning goal against QPR, but his answer stayed where most supporters would want it, on the pitch rather than the boardroom.

Gallagher's reaction

Speaking to the Independent, Gallagher said: “So it was a bit of a shock to find out that we’ve been found guilty of all but one. But really overall just quite sad really. Sad for the fans and for the players.”

He also said: “Our focus as fans is always on the pitch and we know what we saw, they won it on the pitch.” That is the line City fans will lean on if the saga drags on. Gallagher did allow that some people outside the club may see things differently, saying: “Does it taint it? I suppose in the eyes of everybody else in England it would, but I know what I saw and I know what I felt.”

The reaction is not detached. Gallagher is not pretending the story is irrelevant, but he is also refusing to let a reported off-field ruling rewrite the memory of the football itself.

The verdict and what comes next

There is still a complication here. The Standard reported that the ruling had not yet been publicly confirmed, while the Independent treated the finding as news. Those two versions do not sit neatly together, so the safest reading is that the club remains in the middle of a live legal and disciplinary mess rather than the end of one.

David Bernstein, the former City chairman, said the appeal has to be done quickly because the club are playing “with this cloud over its head”, and warned that any punishment would need to be “more drastic” than money. City’s immediate on-pitch form gives the whole thing a strange backdrop. They are top of the Premier League with 15 points from five wins in five, and their next league match is away to Liverpool on 11 October.

Gallagher’s point is narrow but clear enough. However this case develops, he is not moving off the view that the 2012 title was won on the pitch, and the club’s next major game is still Liverpool away on 11 October.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →