Shamball! Shamchester! Sham FC! All have been used about Manchester City after their guilty verdict.
But for English football, a more appropriate label may be a Crying Sham that it has come to this.
Today (Friday) is the deadline for City to lodge their appeal, and with sponsor Etihad Airways already threatening to counter-sue the English Premier League (EPL), the story still has a long way to run.
The independent commission’s use of terms such as “sham contracts” and “disguised funding scheme” has caused hackles to rise in Abu Dhabi.
But hopefully, it will not be as long as City chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak once threatened, when the club faced a fine from UEFA.
