It's been quite a week to be a Manchester City supporter, writes Tameside Radio presenter Ian Cheeseman in his latest column.

As many of City’s rivals seemed to assume the Blues are guilty of the charges that have been made by the Premier League, I was sat in the media centre when manager Pep Guardiola gave a robust defence of the club’s position. He called out the nine clubs who previously asked for City’s expulsion from the Champions League when UEFA made similar accusations against his employers, which were overthrown by CAS (the Court for Arbitration of Sport). 

I sat there very impressed by the way the Blues boss handled the situation and I left there feeling very proud of my club.

As I walked to the car park, a fan informed me that while he had waited outside, lots of passing cars had honked their horns and shouted through wound down windows that City were cheats. Whether these latest accusations are proven or not there seems an awful lot of hypocrisy and jealousy at the root of all this.

Arsenal are sponsored by Emirates, and yet they accuse City of being supported by oil revenue, Newcastle United, another of the accusing nine, are owned by Saudis and Manchester United could yet be taken over by Qataris. That’s just to name three of the jealous nine. It feels like the Premier League charges are just a smokescreen for a different agenda. 

The fact is that football is big business. Personally, I’m really pleased that Newcastle have their new wealthy owners and that they might have the chance to compete for the major trophies in the future. Without that sort of major investment how could anyone have competed with Liverpool and United when they were winning trophy after trophy. 

Chelsea’s recent successes were built on Russian oil money and now their latest influx has come from a wealthy US owner. It you accept that money is the way to the top of professional football, just like it is with Bayern in Germany, Real and Barcelona in Spain and others, then surely you have to accept new investment for everyone who’s lucky enough to get their chance. 

City’s management have been outstanding in recent seasons, but the likelihood is that their era will come to an end too. Nothing lasts forever. This latest attempt to besmirch the name of Manchester City, by throwing as much mud as possible, is transparently motivated by the failings of their accusers. 

On the pitch, City’s fans thumbed their noses at the Premier League by booing their pre-match anthem, in the way they have been showing scorn at the UEFA tune. During the match the fans showed their contempt for the way the club is being treated in their humorous chants and banners. 

The team took the lead against Aston Villa within five minutes. They were clearly stung by the accusations and Pep Guardiola's words had motivated their high-energy start. By half time the game was over with the Blues leading 3-0. Now the big questions need to be answered. Labour MP Mark Kendrick spoke to me before the game about the timing of these charges and is adamant that they were an attempt to head off the white paper the Government intended to use to bring in more control of the domestic game as a result of the threatened breakaway into a European Superleague. 

Pep Guardiola’s team are right on the heels of Arsenal and (at the time of writing) they would go to the top of the Premier League table by winning at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening. Whatever the result City, their manager and players and the fans have never been more motivated to retain the Premier League’s big trophy.

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