Erling Haaland‘s father has spoken about the 114 charges, and his message is that the coverage has been one-sided and that his son is concentrating on football.
Alfie Haaland told ViaPlay that Erling is focused on playing as much football as he can for Man City, with the worrying left to those of us off the pitch. He also said it would feel unfair for the current squad to take punishment for something done years ago.
It is a family view on a subject the striker himself has kept well away from. TV 2 turned down an exclusive with Erling rather than accept that the case was off limits, so this is as close as we have come to hearing how the Haaland camp see it.
What did Alfie Haaland say about the Man City charges?
The former Leeds United man began with his son, whose mind he says is on the football. “Erling thinks about playing as much football as he can and concentrates on that. I think it’s more those of us outside the pitch who think a bit more about it,” he said.
On the verdict itself, he accepted how heavy it is, but pointed straight to the appeal. “Well, it has been circulating for quite a while, hasn’t it? So finally something came that was concrete, which it is possible to fight against for City as a club,” he said.
“Obviously, these are serious allegations, but now there is an appeal case pending to be heard, so I think we have to stay calm, keep our cool, and wait to see how it turns out.”
Asked if he knew any more about the case, he said he didn’t, and that is where he took aim at the coverage. “Nothing more than what’s in the media. And there is an awful lot written there, and very one-sided, I would say, right? Because it’s hard for Manchester City to come out right now, with an ongoing appeal, and defend themselves,” he said.
“So we hope they get a fair hearing, and then we’ll see if they manage to prove that they are innocent, eventually. Now we just have to wait and see.”
Should today’s players pay for it?
This is the part City fans will latch on to. An independent commission found the club guilty of 114 of the 115 financial charges, covering nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18, and concluded that revenue was artificially inflated by £900million, with money channelled through “sham” sponsorship deals to hide where it came from. City have lodged a formal appeal.
The talk about punishment runs from a big fine and a heavy points deduction to losing Premier League titles or even relegation. Any sporting sanction would land on a squad that wasn’t there for the seasons in question, and Alfie admitted that sits badly with him. “Yes, in a way, one might feel that having to potentially take punishment for something done many years ago… yes, I would say so,” he said.
He came back to the squad later on. “I think they’ve done more than well to stand tall through this, because of course they have faced plenty of accusations. So I feel the player group has handled it very well,” he said. “We also have to remember that these are things that allegedly happened quite a few years ago. The players today had nothing to do with it.”
Not everyone connected to City sees it so gently. Gareth Barry, who played through part of that era, has already said the club “have to get punished” if they have broken the rules.
Has the verdict affected Erling Haaland on the pitch?
Not that you would notice from the numbers. He has nine goals in nine Premier League appearances this season and 13 in 12 across all competitions, which backs up his dad’s point about where his mind is.
The team have been wobblier. Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Brighton was a second straight Premier League loss, and Haaland couldn’t add to his tally in a game where Enzo Maresca’s new-look midfield lasted just 55 minutes. Alfie knows it too. “So they’ve played well. They lost their last match, so it’s time to get back to winning ways,” he said.
Arsenal, who kick off at Anfield at 4.30pm on Sunday, can move three points clear of City by beating Liverpool.
Alfie Haaland has a point, but only half of one
He is a dad defending his boy’s dressing room, so nobody should expect balance, and “one-sided” sounds a little odd straight after admitting he knows only what he has read. A commission has ruled on this. Until the appeal says otherwise, “allegedly” is doing a lot of work.
On the players, though, he’s right. Nothing in those nine seasons has anything to do with this squad, yet a points deduction would hit them first and hardest, while the people who made those decisions don’t have to go out and play on Saturday. That won’t stop a punishment if the appeal fails, and it shouldn’t. But it does explain why Erling’s best answer is the one he’s giving, nine goals in nine, and saying nothing at all.
