Man City charges date set, Wada cleared in China case, what happened overnight in world of sport
Independent commission into Premier League financial rules case to begin, Wada investigator clears agency, McIlroy in Irish Open contention
If there’s one certainty in life, aside from the two obvious ones, it’s that people in entrenched positions rarely change their minds.
On a day when most of the action happened off the pitch, two pieces of news overnight involving Manchester City, and world doping chiefs, are likely to provide more evidence of that.
Meanwhile, those of you with fond memories of the 2005 Ashes series are about to get a reminder of how old you now are. Here’s what happened, while you were sleeping.
Guilty until proven innocent?
At this point, unless you’re Manchester City fan, is there anyone who doesn’t think the club broke the Premier League’s financial rules on multiple occasions.
We may, finally, be about to get a decision, or at least the start of a process that could have huge ramifications for the league champions. A long-awaited hearing into the 115 charges is expected to begin on Monday.
Since a 2008 takeover from Sheikh Mansour, a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family, City have won eight of the last 13 Premier League titles, including a record four consecutive league crowns in the past four seasons. They also lifted the Champions League for the first time in 2023.
The club have always protested their innocence and vowed to clear their name. Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said accusations of cheating were “always frustrating”.
Wada clears itself
In a surprise to absolutely no one, the independent investigator appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency to see whether it had erred in clearing 23 Chinese swimmers who failed drug tests said, it had not.
