Neville warns Man City risk joining Juventus and Marseille as clubs tainted by scandal

Gary Neville has warned that Manchester City risk being permanently tainted in the same way as Juventus and Marseille, after the Premier League leaders were found guilty of breaching 114 financial rules by an independent commission.

City continue to appeal the verdict, but Neville — speaking on his podcast — said the reputational shadow cast over the club is already visible. The first Premier League fixture following the ruling saw City travel to Anfield, where they secured a win over Liverpool, yet the hostility from the home support underlined the scale of the fallout.

“Marseille and Juventus are still to this day thought of in that negative way, and it is a problem for the Premier League right now,” Neville said. “That’s the first Man City game I’ve done since the verdict came out, and it does feel different. There is a but, there is a shadow, there is a cloud with a load of rain and a massive storm. You just don’t know when it’s going to burst, but you know it’s coming and it’s just waiting.”

The charges against City span the period from 2009 to 2018. While the club maintain their innocence and await the outcome of their appeal, the potential punishments remain severe — including, in the most extreme scenario, relegation from the top flight.

City currently sit top of the Premier League with a perfect record of six wins from six, but that on-pitch success has done little to quieten the controversy surrounding them.

Jamie Carragher echoed Neville’s concerns, warning that the integrity of the entire division is now under scrutiny. “Every headline tomorrow will be this is a sham league,” the former Liverpool defender said. “This is why it’s imperative Man City and the Premier League get this sorted ASAP. We can’t have this.”

Carragher also stressed what is at stake for English football’s global standing. “We should be really proud with what we have in the Premier League. We’ve got these eyes on us with people asking ‘is this real, is this fake?’ You know we look at the Italian league, maybe other leagues, and think ‘I’m not too sure about that’ — that’s never been the case here.”

For Marseille and Juventus, the scandals that engulfed them — match-fixing in Italy and financial irregularities in France — have left marks that endure decades later. Neville’s warning suggests City, regardless of the appeal’s outcome, may already be on a similar trajectory.