Paul Dickov breaks silence on Man City guilty verdicts: 'Got to believe'

Paul Dickov, the striker whose injury-time equaliser against Gillingham in 1999 rescued Manchester City from League One, has broken his silence on the independent panel’s ruling that found the club guilty on all serious Premier League charges — including disguising more than £900 million of equity as sponsorship and refusing to co-operate with the investigation.

Speaking during a visit to supporter club branches in the Bredbury area this week, Dickov acknowledged the weight of the situation while stopping short of a detailed verdict. “There’s a cloud [over the club],” he said. “I’ve had a lot of people want me to speak to them, and I don’t really know what to say. Until the verdicts are made and sanctions are made, nobody really knows what’s happening.”

The visit — organised alongside OSC general secretary Kevin Parker — had been planned before the ruling was published, with the club donating a squad-signed shirt to each of four local supporter branches as a gesture of appreciation following a summer of significant change at the Etihad. City chose to proceed regardless of the timing.

Manchester City are appealing the decision. Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano have both issued statements insisting the club will ultimately be exonerated on the basis of what they describe as “irrefutable evidence.” City point to the 2020 Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that overturned UEFA’s Champions League ban as a precedent for their confidence.

The three-man independent panel’s 40-page decision was described as damning, though it was heavily redacted and its full reasoning has not been published, leaving supporters with limited information about the specifics of the findings. That confidentiality has made the situation particularly difficult for the fanbase, who have faced pressure from rival supporters and sections of the media over how to respond.

Dickov, who Pep Guardiola once joked he would call if City were ever relegated back to the third tier, has largely stayed out of the public debate until now. His appearance at the supporter club events was as much about solidarity as ceremony — a reminder, in the club’s view, that the relationship between City and its grassroots supporters continues regardless of what is being decided in boardrooms and arbitration chambers.