Billionaire Sheiks and ‘sham’ contracts: the Manchester City scandal
Today in Focus

Billionaire Sheiks and ‘sham’ contracts: the Manchester City scandal

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 1, 202630 min
  • Sport

Jonathan Liew explains the accusations against Manchester City – and Simon Hattenstone explains how it feels to be a fan. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

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This is The Guardian. Today, the not so beautiful game. How the Manchester City scandal could change football. I have been a Man City fan for 54 years

0:25

and my relationship with the club is ambivalent, but incredibly close. This is Simon Hadstam, a features writer for The Guardian. He was very young and recovering from a childhood illness that had nearly killed him when he started going to matches in his hometown.

0:46

So I started going with my dad, who'd never been to a football match in his life, and hated footy, but that was like the sacrifice he made for me because I'd got better and he thought I'd probably die. For a long time it was a relationship built on occasional highs.

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