The list of speakers for the Financial Times Business of Football Summit made it inevitable Manchester City were going to make the news.
Not only was Premier League chief executive Richard Masters giving a keynote speech but La Liga president and longtime City critic Javier Tebas was airing his views as well. If Masters was never going to say very much on the issue, Tebas could be counted on to give his opinion.
And he did - but it didn't quite turn out as even he probably thinks it turns out. A man who has been threatened with legal action from City for his outlandish comments in the past this week seemed to be focusing more on the Premier League.
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"This is linked to the reputation and credibility of the Premier League," he said on Thursday. "Things like this have a big impact on sponsors, because reputation is paramount."
Obviously, there is no doubt in Tebas's mind that City are in the wrong and that he is right. He believes, therefore, that the Premier League have already lost credibility by spending four years on an investigation to bring charges against the club when he accused them in 2017.
Even if Tebas gets what he wants, football finance expert Kieran Maguire is among those to have pointed out that any proof of City wrongdoing would hardly make the Premier League look competent. Better late than never, but to have missed almost a decade of financial misrepresentation serious enough to overshadow all those years of competition given the domination the Blues have enjoyed is hardly a boost to the reputation of an organisation.
Then we get to the other option of if there is no wrongdoing to be found. Pep Guardiola summed all of this up in his staunch defence of the club but if the Premier League have made allegations of the most serious nature without being able to back them up against not only one of their members but one of their biggest assets in promoting themselves across the globe then it is hard to see how they can have any credibility left without all senior figures involved in the decision being shown the exit door.
Should Guardiola and City be vindicated at the end of the process, there will no doubt be Tebas and the same old people who refuse to accept the verdict just as they never really accepted the views of the legal professionals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. But the Premier League will not be able to hide behind the court of public opinion.
As Tebas inadvertently alluded to, there are a lot of important eyes on the Premier League over this and plenty for them to lose in the process.
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