Mike

I remember you graciously coming into talksport and doing a Monday night show with Mark Saggers and I. You were candid, friendly and a very good guest. I asked you about diving and cheating, something that if players in England did pre 2000, your own dressing room would scold you. So you didn't do it, it wasn't "English sportsmanship". You replied. "In Spain, young players, coaches and managers don't see it as cheating, they see it as pushing the boundaries ", said with a smile! I didn't get it then and I don't get it now. Diving and cheating are a cancer on the sport and the sport is worse for it, and yes plenty of English players do it, I know. It's like corners. We used to put the ball in the hole, solidly within the lines, as the laws meant. Now the ball is almost placed at the near post such is the ridiculous rule bending. As players, it's hard enough to compete in this sport ( and I know your experience with Biggleswade would confirm that) without knowing rules are being broken to the point where we can't compete anymore. That's what City are guilty of Guillem, industrial scale financial doping that made it impossible for competition to thrive. Look no more at 4 in a row to prove that. In Europe, financial cheating in sport and in life is the norm. I've travelled extensively in Spain, Greece and Italy and those 3 places you could buy a house tomorrow and the seller will ask " how much cash will you pay so I can lower the official price". This simply can't happen in England because despite not being perfect, there are some rules that guarantee a punishment. Financial doping in football is one. I speak for myself but foreign investment and players since 1992 has added the cherry on the top of a 120 year old cake that mostly was incorruptable, mostly. But with that influx we've seen on and off the pitch things that long standing watchers never thought they would. City's financial doping is a last straw for many because we've grown up being used to, in theory at least, a competitive arena for all. 4 divisions of it unsurpassed anywhere. I know you're not justifying City's verdict, merely asking a question, but you also must expect that different countries have different standards. The standards in England are now tainted, because habits and cultural norms elsewhere have tainted an almost unimpeachable sport in this country. It's one thing to play devil's advocate and another to advocate pushing those boundaries into something that fundementally changes the sport. For the worse.