The cacophony of boos that greet the Premier League and Champions League anthems before kick-off have now become a fixture at the Etihad Stadium. The jeers from Manchester City fans were turned up a notch against Ipswich last Saturday when the side played their first home game since being found guilty of breaching the Premier League's financial rules. "I can't remember a Premier League or Champions League home game where the anthems haven't been booed," City season-ticket holder Dave Wilson told BBC Sport.
The pre-match dissatisfaction towards top-flight chiefs can likely be traced back to February 2023, when the 115 charges for breaching the rules were first announced. Later that same year, Everton had 10 points - reduced to six on appeal - deducted after being found to have broken profit and sustainability rules. In their first game back after the sanction, Toffees fans displayed their ire at Goodison Park by loudly booing the league's pre-match anthem as well as holding up red cards with the word 'corrupt' printed underneath the Premier League logo.
Though City supporters did not organise a similar display, their anger was clear. "The Premier League anthem has been booed by City fans for many years," said Wilson. "It was probably heightened on Saturday because it was the first home game since the [guilty verdict] announcement.
"There hasn't been much love lost between City and the Premier League for a long time. For certain games it will be louder than others, it definitely wasn't co-ordinated for that [Ipswich] game but a symptom of everything coming together." There was audible booing before Tuesday's Champions League fixture against AEK Athens too. No Haaland, no problem - can Foden be Man City's alternative goalscorer?
City fans' displeasure towards Uefa goes back even further, there being a litany of disputes with Europe's top brass. In 2012, Porto were handed a fine, external of around £17,000 by Uefa after City made a complaint of racial abuse towards striker Mario Balotelli to the organising body. In that same season, City were given a fine, external of around £24,000 for being one minute late back on to the pitch for the second half of a game against Sporting.
In 2014, Uefa fined City £49m and capped their squad size for the Champions League after they failed Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. Six years later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned City's two-year ban from European club competitions after clearing them of "disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions" - Uefa initially ruled City had committed "serious breaches" of FFP regulations between 2012 and 2016. Wilson adds: "City fans generally feel there is a conspiracy against them, like the booing of the Uefa anthem too.
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