Head of Football Operations @isfafootball, UEFA B coach, fan of @Official_NFFC & national hunt horse racing
Wickford, East
Joined October 2010
- Tweets8.5K
- Following535
- Followers494
- Likes7.2K
Ian Bent retweeted
Why did the linesman flag so quickly & not let it play out & he’s onside , different rules for cartel clubs FACT !!!
Ian Bent retweeted
🔥 WATCH THIS: Paul Merson RAGING at Manchester City over their industrial-scale cheating, and the moments they’ve denied other teams, players and fans.
Merse is saying what a lot of fans have been feeling since the guilty verdicts. The cheating didn’t just help City. It won them the Premier League. He says there’s “absolutely no chance” they would have done it without it.
Without the ability to ignore PSR the way everyone else had to, they would have been miles off the top teams. They simply wouldn’t have been able to compete with the legitimate revenue streams the others were generating.
The players didn’t win those leagues, “them upstairs” did, by buying all the best players and building a squad no one else was allowed to match.
When Clinton Morrison tried to defend them (“they still have to go out and play, Merse”), Merson nearly exploded:
“OH COME ON! They had all the best players! They had two best players in every position and they dominated!”
Then he went further. Medals and trophies are almost irrelevant next to what actually matters. Life is about moments, and City’s ownership have taken those moments away from other people.
He pointed to Manchester United at Sunderland in 2012 — the day Aguero scored in the last seconds against QPR to clinch City’s first title, while United were left standing on the pitch at the Stadium of Light. That was at the height of the cheating.
“Life is all about moments and you’ve taken it away from other people. Them upstairs at Man City have nicked other people’s moments in life.”
Well put, @PaulMerse 👏
Ian Bent retweeted
Stuart Pearce compares Morgan Gibbs-White to Peter Beardsley after 8/10 performance talksport.com/football/46146…
Ian Bent retweeted
In other news, Portugal won an important game against a tough opponent without Cristiano Ronaldo, and he's absolutely furious about it.
Ian Bent retweeted
Manchester City spent about £1.2bn on new players in the transfer windows between summer 2009 and January 2018.
During this time over £830m in extra sponsorship was paid by their owners, they won seven major trophies and signed a number of significant players.
Read more: bbc.in/4yiB0YI
Ian Bent retweeted
Premier League commission accuses some witnesses of giving false evidence and being dishonest
Ian Bent retweeted
Manchester City’s reiteration of their “confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence” given their “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” is incredibly at odds with their own behaviour and the intensity in which they blocked the Premier League’s process of investigation at every step since December 2018.
The scale of their obstructing was revealed in a July 2021 British court judgment. City simply refused to supply information and documents requested by the league, which then issued a disciplinary complaint in August 2019. The club challenged the disciplinary process and the commission that was set up.
The league proposed an ad hoc procedure of appointing a new commission, but City objected to that too. The PL were forced to bring legal arbitration against the club, to be decided by a tribunal of three senior lawyers.
City countered the PL had no power to do that, and challenged the impartiality of the tribunal. That was rejected and the club were again ordered to submit all the documentation and info.
City then appealed to the high court to strike the tribunal down. In March 2021, a judge ruled against the club and that her findings should be published.
City unsuccessfully fought against it being made public knowledge; the judgement published in July illustrated just how hard and long they resisted providing information.
With all that confidence, intent and irrefutable evidence, why the YEARS of non-cooperation and active, intensive blocking?
Ian Bent retweeted
I hate the idea of asterisks or spaces where winners’ names should be. It feels like a desecration of football’s history. But after the guilty verdicts, I don’t see any other way - City should be relegated from the PL and stripped of titles won since 2009 dailymail.com/sport/football…
Ian Bent retweeted
Opinion.
If City's appeal fails then every trophy should be expunged from the records, removal from Premier League and EFL, a crippling fine and denial of fit and proper ownership.
Biggest football story arguably in English football history.
Ian Bent retweeted
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Manchester City found guilty on virtually all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations. #MCFC expected to appeal against verdict issued by independent commission. Sanctions undecided, process ongoing @TheAthleticFC nytimes.com/athletic/7049721…
Ian Bent retweeted
Morgan Gibbs-White's grades among his position group so far in the Premier League...
83.7 Overall (2nd)
81.9 Crossing (1st)
79.3 Passing (1st)
86.5 Pressured Passing (1st)
85.0 Ball Distribution (1st)
81.8 Tackling (1st)
#NFFC
Ian Bent retweeted
Morgan Gibbs-White has scored more goals in 2026 than any midfielder in Europe's top-five leagues.
Since the start of last season, he has created more chances per game than Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer.
With 18 league goals/assists, he is six clear of his nearest English midfield contemporary (Palmer) for goal contributions in that same period.
So why has it taken Thomas Tuchel so long to pick him for England?
📝 @NickMiller79 & @Anantaajith
🔗 nyti.ms/3TdfUfd
Ian Bent retweeted
Thomas Tuchel says the fault is in ourselves that we are underlings. It's not on him. So not really a surprise that a clutch of his best players aren't turning up for the next four England games. dailymail.com/sport/football…
