Holloway demands City expelled from football entirely after 114-charge guilty verdict

Ian Holloway, now manager of League Two side Swindon Town, called for Manchester City to be expelled from professional football entirely after the club were found guilty of breaching 114 Premier League financial rules covering the period between 2009 and 2018.

Holloway, 63, was speaking ahead of Swindon’s home fixture against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday when he was asked whether he felt his Blackpool side had been robbed during the 2010-11 season — the one campaign in which his team competed in the Premier League during the nine years under scrutiny. City, who deny the charges and have lodged an appeal, lost to Blackpool twice that season by a single goal.

“To be honest with you, in that whole season, I felt robbed,” Holloway said. “My team played so well against Man City. We scored three perfectly good goals. We had one disallowed for being offside, and they scored two. One was not a foul, and the other one was offside. The referee sent me a letter saying we cost you nine points this year.”

Holloway widened his criticism beyond the specifics of that season, accusing City of “seriously denting football” and claiming the club were “still lying now” through their appeal process. He stopped short of implicating former manager Pep Guardiola, but reserved particular anger for the club’s ownership, saying he wanted them to “get lost” and City demoted to non-league football.

“The game worldwide is being ruined by people who are rich, who think they can do God knows what they want to it,” he said. “And it belongs to every one of us, whether we’re rich or poor. It’s a sport that is turned into a business that makes it ugly.”

Holloway’s remarks reflect a broader frustration among clubs who competed during the period in question and now face questions about whether results from those seasons were distorted by City’s financial conduct. The independent commission’s verdict is one of the most significant disciplinary rulings in Premier League history, though the appeals process means a final sanction has yet to be determined.