Manchester City Guilty! The 1904/05 Scandal
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 24 September 2024
⏱️ 56 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Welcome to the latest episode of The Overlap’s football history podcast, It Was What It Was.
On this week's episode we travel back to one of the biggest financial scandals in early English football—the 1904-05 Manchester City scandal.
Journalists Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper unravel the events that saw Manchester City, fresh off their FA Cup win, embroiled in controversy over illegal player payments.
It Was What It Was explores how the Football Association’s wage cap led to the club’s downfall, forcing manager Tom Maley and 17 players—including star winger Billy Meredith—banned.
You’ll hear how this scandal not only rocked Manchester City but also paved the way for Manchester United's rise, reshaping the footballing landscape in ways that still echo today with City currently facing 115 charges as of September 2024.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I am entirely innocent and suffering for others. |
| 0:10.0 | Such an allegation as that a bribery is preposterous. |
| 0:13.3 | I could never risk my reputation in future by such an action, |
| 0:16.3 | and I repeat that I never made such an offer. |
| 0:18.7 | It's totally unjustified and grossly unfair. This sort of thing |
| 0:22.0 | will demoralise association football. Manchester has not many friends among the association officials, |
| 0:28.3 | and I doubt if the decision will be reversed or the suspension lessened if the whole case is |
| 0:33.0 | reopened and inquired into. Had I been anyone but a Welshman, I would have been better dealt with. |
| 0:39.8 | Well, I'm Rob Draper. Welcome to It Was What It Was. And I'm here with Jonathan Wilson. And I'm bringing |
| 0:44.6 | you the incredible news that Manchester City are guilty of financial chicanery. All the |
| 0:51.2 | allegations proven. This is going to have huge implications for the game. I can see |
| 0:57.2 | Manchester United are going to benefit from this corruption allegations, bribery allegations, |
| 1:04.7 | and basically financial mispayments that have not been registered. Jonathan, why don't you pick up the story from here? |
| 1:14.1 | Yeah, I think we probably should stress. We are talking about the allegations and the FAA inquiry that |
| 1:18.3 | reached the conclusion in August 905. Oh, 905, okay. Yeah, but this was huge. I mean, this was |
| 1:26.6 | an absolutely enormous scandal in the game. |
| 1:30.1 | I mean, that Billy Meredith, he's speaking from his wife's home in Cherk in North Wales, |
| 1:35.0 | which is where he's from as well. |
| 1:36.7 | And he's just been banned for a year, for a season. |
| 1:40.0 | So this happens beginning of August 905. |
| 1:43.4 | He's banned to April 906, which as the seasons were then, is a full season. |
| 1:50.2 | Now, this is actually only the tip of the iceberg. |
... |
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