Man City are having a field day – and it’s our fault

Manchester City are having a field day entirely created by the decision Liverpool took to furlough staff in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s nothing worse than being let down by Liverpool and then seeing your biggest rivals take it and use your failings to score brownie points.

But that’s exactly what is happening.

Just one day after FSG announced that it would be placing all non-playing staff on furlough, which means the government will pay 80% of their wages while the club will top up the rest of the 20%, Man City have said they will be doing the opposite.

The Daily Mail reported that City told all employees over the weekend that they would continue to pay their full wage, saving the government and the rest of us hundreds of thousands.

Cue the gloating.

After being able to hold it over the rest of the Premier League as an example of how clubs should be run, Liverpool have now been put back in their place by the worst possible side: Man City. This is a team who are being investigated for financial fair play breach of regulations and were in need of some positive PR.

FSG have handed them the chance to do so on a plate.

We’ve shot ourselves fully in the foot and the worst thing about it is that we loaded the gun and handed it straight to City.

How can we expect to ask football clubs to hold themselves to a higher standard when Liverpool have failed to meet those standards themselves? And it makes them seem more in touch with their roots, more in touch with the public and more in touch with the idea that this isn’t a business it’s a social institution.

Do yourselves a favour, Reds, and stay off Twitter for a bit because it isn’t a friendly place to be right now – and you can be sure the public won’t forget this.