Jose Mourinho jokes over Man City verdict as 2018 title adds personal twist

Jose Mourinho has joked that he could be 80 years old by the time Manchester City's financial case finally reaches its conclusion, but one particular Premier League title gives the Real Madrid boss a personal reason to follow the saga closely.

City have already been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League, but the legal battle is far from finished.

The club formally lodged its appeal on October 1, arguing that the independent commission's findings contained material errors of fact, law and principle.

Speaking to Corriere dello Sport, Mourinho used his familiar dry humour to sum up how long he believes the dispute could continue.

The 63-year-old joked that he and the interviewer would need to be "lucky" still to be around for the final verdict, adding: "I'll be 80."

His prediction is clearly an exaggeration rather than a realistic legal timetable, but the point behind it is valid: City's appeal represents only the next stage of a process that began publicly when the Premier League announced its charges in February 2023.

For Mourinho, however, there is another layer to the story.

Mourinho's Man United side finished second in City's 2017-18 title season

The most serious financial breaches established by the original commission relate to the period between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

That final campaign is particularly significant because it was Pep Guardiola's first Premier League title-winning season at Manchester City.

It is also the only one of Guardiola's six league titles that falls directly within the nine-season period covered by those breaches.

City produced one of the greatest domestic campaigns in English football history in 2017-18, becoming the first Premier League side to reach 100 points.

The team that finished second? Mourinho's Manchester United.

United collected 81 points, ending the campaign 19 behind their neighbours but still recording their best Premier League finish since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement.

That connection has not been lost on Mourinho.

Back in 2024, when the City case remained unresolved, the Portuguese jokingly suggested that United might one day be awarded the 2017-18 title if their rivals were punished retrospectively.

He even said the club would then owe him his championship medal and the bonus attached to winning the league.

His latest comments therefore come with more personal history attached than another general Mourinho dig at Guardiola or City.

Could Manchester United actually inherit the 2017-18 title?

At this stage, there is no basis for saying that Mourinho will become a four-time Premier League-winning manager.

City have appealed the guilty verdict, no final sanctions have yet been determined and there has been no decision to remove any of the club's trophies.

The appeal will be heard by a new three-person independent commission.

Premier League rules indicate that an appeal decision should ideally be delivered within 12 weeks of the hearing, although that timetable can be waived if necessary.

There could also be further legal arguments once sanctions are determined, depending on the outcome of the first appeal.

Even a severe sporting punishment would not automatically mean that previous titles are stripped or retrospectively awarded to runners-up.

Sports Mole has already examined how the case could affect the English football record books, but no retrospective redistribution of titles has been decided.

There is therefore a substantial distance between City's current legal position and the hypothetical scenario Mourinho joked about two years ago.

Nevertheless, the overlap remains striking.

Five of Guardiola's six Premier League titles were won after the period covered by City's most serious breaches had ended.

The exception is 2017-18 - the record-breaking 100-point season that denied Mourinho what would have been his fourth English league championship.

That explains why a case Mourinho jokes may still be alive when he turns 80 carries an unusual personal footnote.

He is no longer at Manchester United and now has Real Madrid's present to worry about, but one of the most celebrated seasons in City's history also happens to be the season in which his own side came closest to the crown.