Manchester City managed to ‘lose’ this week – without even playing.

Two days after the treble winners boosted their chances of a fourth successive EPL title with a win at Newcastle, an own goal was ‘scored’.

No, not by one of Pep’s boys but on their behalf by EPL boss Richard Masters.

Asked about the 115 charges hanging over the club, the hitherto little-known Masters sensed his 15 minutes of fame had arrived – and wasn’t going to let it pass quietly.

Raising his foot to his mouth, he announced: “We have a date.”

Wow, a date at long last. And after the case had been put back until 2025. Football waited with bated breath.

Then he mumbled: “But I can’t reveal when.”

Talk about anti-climax. But it was much worse than that: he only fuelled football’s worst suspicions about City which already amount to a near-unanimous presumption of guilt.

When the allegations were announced almost a year ago, a YouGov poll of fans in the UK showed that 76% believed City were guilty.

That figure is said to have risen this season and certainly would not have decreased after Masters’ performance.

In what was supposed to be a grilling by the UK government’s culture, media and sport committee but turned into a light toasting, Masters still managed to get burnt.

In that moment, he confirmed the worst fears of the game: that there’s something to hide.

Indeed, as the Daily Mail put it, “He always looks as if he’s trying to conceal something.”

It was an announcement that would shame a banana republic.

The Mail then accused him of ‘tip-toeing’ around City. Following a mine-detector might be more accurate.

Fourth choice for the job, Masters is way out of his depth yet managed to dig himself into a deeper hole.

He was asked why the book was thrown at Everton and Nottingham Forest for relatively minor infractions while City, accused of industrial scale cheating since 2009, are still free to plunder.

He said: “I have standard directions for everybody and not just the small clubs.”

Small clubs! He refers to some of his very own members of the 20-strong cabal that he is supposed to represent as ‘small’.

Not something that would have gone down well outside the Big Six, you feel.

The touchpaper was predictably lit among Everton and Forest fans many of whom demanded his head.

Everton are founder members of the football league, were bigger than Liverpool until Bill Shankly turned things around, and were second in the table on Boxing Day, 2020 under Carlo Ancelotti.

Forest meanwhile have been champions of Europe twice as many times as City. And they did it without oil money.

One Everton fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Regardless of your stance on Everton/Forest, the head of the Premier League shouldn’t be labelling any club ‘small’ especially after emphasising ‘fairness’ in the league for the past 30 minutes.

“This only adds more evidence showing there is inconsistency between how teams are treated.”

Another wrote: “That’s it in a nutshell. Big Six and the rest is their approach across everything, it seems.

“Co-founders of the original leagues and the Premier League most certainly are not small clubs.”

It’s not just the predictable anger of fans of victim clubs who are saying there’s a divide in the EPL as well as the wider game.

The UK government has noticed it, too, which is why it’s appointing an independent regulator.

Even at this hearing, Masters and EFL boss Rick Parry were squabbling over a fairer share of the spoils.

For a government of the upper and middle classes to be outraged by wealth distribution tells you all you need to know about the greed of the EPL elite.

Yes, we are talking about the so-called Big Six whose loyalty to the EPL was such that two years ago they were prepared to destroy it for even more loot.

Only a fan revolt averted the creation of the European Super League back then. And what was the punishment for this blatant act of insurrection?

A combined fine of £22 million and a telling off.

That was not only a sick joke but an insult to the clubs who stayed loyal.

The figure is only a tad more than the amount Everton overspent and for which they’ve been docked 10 points.

The Big Six didn’t lose any points at all because the deduction for treachery would have seen them relegated several divisions.

Of course, they wouldn’t have accepted it just as City won’t accept any similar penalty. Hence the kid-glove treatment.

It is worth remembering that City have been in football’s bad books before and were banned from European competition for two years by UEFA.

It could have been worse but they escaped many of the charges because they were time-barred. In other words, they got off several charges on a technicality.

But they still took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and got off on a 2-1 verdict as UEFA “failed to provide sufficient proof of guilt.”

Another reason that fans are sceptical of justice ever being done, is City’s defiant attitude unlike Everton and Forest who are cooperating.

One of their many lawyers, Simon Cliff, responded to the UEFA charges by saying: “We’ll spend £30m on the best 50 lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years.”

Last weekend, Kevin de Bruyne came back after injury with a brilliant cameo.

Just one example of how brilliant City’s football has been, especially since 2016 under Pep Guardiola. There’s no question they have entertained us royally.

But the triumphs are tainted and that is football’s tragedy.

And the club and the EPL have only themselves to blame for their lack of transparency, their bullishness and the widespread feeling that they are guilty until proven innocent.

And even if they are, it will probably feel like a whitewash.

This season they may make more history but whatever the outcome, the history will be hollow.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.