Manchester City fans divided over charges as some fear fanbase split

Manchester CityManchester CityPremier League · England2nd POS23–9–6 W-D-L supporters have given sharply divided reactions to the charges facing the club, with one long-standing fan warning the case could split the fanbase and a season-ticket holder saying he has not yet processed the news. The views were made public on 8 October.

Nicola Schofield, who has followed Manchester City for more than four decades, says her central worry is not the case itself but what it could do to the club's support. Angry with the owners, she fears their strategy will divide a fanbase that has usually pulled in the same direction. Some supporters, she suggests, may want the owners out, while others will back them all the way.

She contrasts that prospect with the relegations of the 1990s, when supporters shared the experience and stayed with the club down to League One and back up again. A quarrel over ownership, in her view, would be messier than a fight against relegation and harder to heal. She believes all fans ultimately want the same thing: a club that still exists.

2025/26

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POS

2nd

W-D-L

23–9–6

GF

77

GA

35

Season 2025/26

The season-ticket holder's view

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Ben, a season-ticket holder, says he trusted the club completely and believed what it said in response to the charges, which is why the news has landed hard. He describes himself as confused rather than angry.

His view of the rules has not moved. He argues that financial fair play has never been fair, and accepts that the position will not win him much sympathy from supporters of other clubs, many of whom, he says, have waited for this moment for years.

He also sets out what he believes nobody can take away: 15 years of memories, from Agüero in 2012 through the centurions season to the treble and Istanbul. Those moments, he says, belong to the fans, and no verdict changes them. On one point he is certain — he will keep supporting the team.

Neither supporter describes an organised campaign, a protest or a specific demand. The disagreement they sketch is about ownership and about how to respond to it. For a club whose recent history has been one of sustained success, a dispute of that kind is harder to settle than a poor run of results, because there is no league table to resolve it.

Ben's answer to the situation is personal: he intends to carry on following the team whatever comes. Schofield's is about the aftermath, and whether a fanbase that shared the long climb back from League One can hold together through an argument with the owners.

What is not yet known

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No date has been given for a verdict, and it is not known what it will say. Manchester City have not commented on the concerns raised by supporters about a possible split. Whether the division Schofield fears becomes visible in the stands, or remains a difference of opinion among people who keep turning up together, will only become clear over time.