I agree that cheating made them the better side. But they were still the better side.
I am not saying I will be joining the celebration police, but I won't be joining you all on the open top bus parade either.
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Slightly different, although I take the point. Ben Johnson artificially enhanced his performance. He ran faster because of it.
City haven't done that. The players themselves won everything fair and square. They are not better players because they cost more or they earn more and nothing has been done to enhance their actual performance. Pound for pound (pardon the pun) they were the best side and deservedly won the league.
The cheating is in how that squad was put together and specifically how much it cost. It sits outside the sphere of actual performance.
That said, think about the guy who came second to Ben Johnson. Yeah, he gets the medal, and he does deserve it. But Johnson ruined the occasion for him. It's a win, but a pretty hollow one.
I'm not saying City don't deserve to be stripped of the titles (I don't know if they do or they don't). I am just saying it would mean littler or nothing to me. I'm never going to count last season as a title win, under any circumstances. Still, it was a ****ing great season anyway and I thoroughly enjoyed it :-)
Ben Johnson was a very silly case indeed, especially the aftermath. A condition of his punishment was to undertake a sort of piety and forgiveness tour; going to schools and colleges. So he'd roll up in the ghetto in his Lamborghini, dripping in gold and jewels and Gucci and wag the finger and warn kids about the dangers and consequences of doing drugs :homer: