{
  "id": 9860344,
  "title": "We Manchester City fans fear relegation and losing trophies … but club are bang to rights",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/we-manchester-city-fans-fear-relegation-and-losing-trophies-but-club",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-25T17:51:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/25/manchester-city-fans-fear-relegation-losing-trophies"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Manchester City fans have long harbored fears of relegation and losing trophies, even as the club achieved success. In 2008, fans began singing \"City's going down with a billion in the bank,\" a reference to the freezing of 15 months of former Thailand president Thaksin Shinawatra's assets. Despite Sheikh Mansour of the UAE stepping in to save the club, City found themselves in the relegation zone by December 2008. This phenomenon, known as \"Cityitis,\" refers to the team's tendency to self-destruct when things seem to be going well. The financial fair play investigation launched in 2018 only fueled the fans' fears, with more than 100 charges later surfacing. The chant grew louder, and in 2023, the club learned of the charges, leading to an ominous sense that the singing will only intensify in the future.",
  "summary": "Despite attempts to legally filibuster the charges out of existence for the past three years, we’ve rightfully failed It couldn’t have been more prophetic. In 2008, 15 years before Manchester City were charged with financial fraud, fans started singing “City’s going down with a billion in the bank” to the tune of Yellow Submarine. This was because the former Thailand president Thaksin…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}