What the charges also show is the top flight clubs are at war. City sources believe the Premier League has acted under huge pressure from other clubs and point to the fact nine of them – Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Newcastle United and Burnley – wrote to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March 2020 to argue that City should be excluded from Europe while their successful appeal was heard. Wolves later pulled out.

In the early Roman Abramovich years, Chelsea acted in a similar spending manner to City, provoking Arsene Wenger’s famous “financial doping” comment. They then worked to change the rules to stop others following them.

That is true but it is not a good argument. After all, if the speed limit is lowered on a road, it is no defence for a driver to claim he should not be prosecuted for speeding because his neighbour drove past his house at 40km/h and not 30km/h the year before.

Even so, the next meeting of the Premier League clubs promises to be spicy. City will feel they have been ganged up on. The gloves are off. Simultaneously, this is the ultimate test for the Premier League to show how strong it is, whether it can prove there is no need for an independent football regulator (timely given the government white paper was due out this week) as it has decided to take on City and the legal might its owners have threatened to call on.

The sheer scale of the charges suggests the endgame is not just a fine and a rap over the knuckles, while City will fight every point. This will take months, maybe even years. In English football, this is unprecedented and potentially seismic.

There is so much going on here. So much potential whataboutery and politicking – and geo-politicking – but it needs to be stripped down to the facts: if City have been caught out, if they have broken the rules, they should be punished. And punished severely. Other clubs are sailing close to the wind on Financial Fair Play and this will serve as a warning.

City should not have their titles taken away from them, though. What purpose would that serve? It may delight rival fans but would not only feel vindictive but, as already stated, it is hard to directly prove the title was won because of financial irregularities. Even so, those titles will be spoilt as they will forever be associated with wrongdoing.

If guilty, City need to be severely punished in a meaningful way that affects their future. The sheer volume of charges is shocking and, if true, warrant sanctions such as a very large points deduction and being restricted in the way they can operate in a number of subsequent transfer windows.

The bigger question is whether they should face immediate relegation from the Premier League. The answer clearly depends on what is proven and the scale of it.

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Instinctively, it feels a step too far given the grievous damage it would do to the club and the people it employs, but it is something that City might have to face up to.

After all, other clubs could argue they have been damaged, and had to make cuts, because of City’s behaviour.

If the charges stick and the book is thrown at them, City can have no complaint. They will also have spoiled their own history.

Telegraph, London