Manchester City might decry the 'Red Cartel' of Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United, but is it real?

Manchester City supporters frame their club as a bulwark against the Premier League As two of their number face off at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, this would seem to be a good time to find yourself one of the so-called Red Cartel. Manchester City are facing the prospect of sanctions that would cast them out from the Premier League's inner circle, while those other big-six clubs that play in white and blue have spent half a decade retreating from the title race (as, it should be noted, have Manchester United). If City's sanctions land this season, it could be that Liverpool are the nearest rivals to Arsenal in the title race, another domestic crown carved up by the grand old dukes of the English game.

Believe City's defenders and this triopoly is just what Abu Dhabi protected the Premier League from. "A conspiracy by the Red Cartel to keep clubs like Manchester City out of sitting at the top table," was how one supporter described the finding that City had breached 114 of the Premier League's rules over a nine-season period. When their chief executive Ferran Soriano talks about a "Premier League conspiracy theory," well, no one thinks the shadowy cabal is being led by Brentford and Bournemouth. A version of this framing has gathered pace beyond the realms of