Liverpool vs. Arsenal is one of the Premier League's greatest fixtures and involves two of its most successful clubs. But when the sides meet at Anfield on Sunday, the chat in the boardroom might just be as compelling as the action on the pitch between two members of the so-called "Red Cartel" battling to crush Manchester City.
The two teams are the most recent Premier League champions, with Arsenal dethroning Liverpool last season to claim their first title since 2004. Together with Manchester United, the third member of this alleged group trying to undermine City, the trio have won 54 league titles and finished runners-up another 44 times, making them the dominant forces in English football history.
Yet all of them would have won more titles during the past decade but for the might of City. And as the eight-time Premier League champions continue to fight to overturn last month's verdict from an independent panel that the club was guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period, anger is growing among City fans about the perceived part played by Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United -- all of whom play in red home kits, giving the group its name -- in their downfall.
City were found guilty of producing "sham contracts" and artificially inflating commercial revenue by over £830 million, with Premier League CEO Richard Masters saying the club "systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade." Is the "Red Cartel" accusation -- whereby those big clubs have an allegiance designed to keep them in power and prevent other clubs from catching up -- merely paranoia and an attempt to deflect blame, or do City and their fans have a justified sense of persecution?
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For those City supporters who believe their club has been the victim of a "Red Cartel" of rivals colluding to bring their team down, a photograph taken by a diner at a New York restaurant co-owned by Robert de Niro is Exhibit A in their argument.
It was taken in October 2017, which predates the Premier League hitting City with 115 charges of breaking the league's financial rules in February 2023, but lands during the 2009-18 time frame covered by the investigation that led to City being found guilty on 114 counts last month. City supporters, and many who have worked for the club, have long maintained that an unholy alliance of rival teams has fought to destabilize City by pushing the Premier League and UEFA for tough financial regulations and their implementation. To them, a dinner at the Locanda Verde restaurant in Tribeca in 2017 is the smoking gun.
At the same table, United owners Joel and Avram Glazer and the club's then-executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward sat alongside Liverpool owner John W. Henry and Ivan Gazidis, Arsenal's chief executive at the time.
The meeting took place seven days before a Premier League vote on the distribution of future global broadcast revenue, with the Big Six -- United, Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Tottenham and Chelsea -- all wanting a greater share of the revenue, which they secured in a further vote in June 2018.
The absence of City, Chelsea and Spurs at that dinner meeting could be explained away by the fact that, at the time, the "Red" clubs were American-owned while City (Abu Dhabi), Chelsea (Russian), Spurs (British) were not. But sources told ESPN that the explanation has never been accepted by the City hierarchy, and when CEO Ferran Soriano rejected the independent commission's verdict last month and spoke of the "Premier League's conspiracy theory," his comments were directed as much toward the boardrooms at Anfield, Old Trafford and the Emirates as the Premier League HQ.
City declined to comment when contacted by ESPN about the so-called "cartel," but sources have said that ultimately, those at the highest level at the club have no doubts about the desire of their red-shirted rivals to create an environment in which it is more difficult for the club, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, to succeed.
"From day one, United, Arsenal and Liverpool have been terrified of losing their ability to dominate everything from the Premier League to the transfer market," a source with links to City told ESPN. "Chelsea was already a problem for them under Roman Abramovich, but Sheikh Mansour came along [in 2008] and changed everything again, and the red clubs have been in a battle against City ever since."
A timeline of anti-City comments and criticisms from senior figures at United, Arsenal and Liverpool since 2009 certainly supports the theory that the club's most vocal and persistent detractors have been from the red corner.
In January 2009, then-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger called for financial restrictions due to City providing "unfair competition in a different financial world from the real economy." Two years later, after City announced a 10-year, £400 million shirt sponsorship and stadium naming rights deal with Etihad, Liverpool owner Henry tweeted, "How much was the losing bid?"
In October 2012, then-United CEO David Gill said support would be found from "a lot of clubs" to lobby against City for the introduction of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations in the Premier League. Gill joined delegations from Liverpool and Arsenal at a Premier League shareholder meeting in voicing support for FFP rules. Two months later, Arsenal wrote to then-Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore thanking him for his "continued work on the vital subject of FFP," before adding that the "proposals don't go far enough to curb inflationary spending" and that the owners of "Arsenal, Liverpool, United and Tottenham" would continue to support "strict adoption" of FFP rules.
Sources have told ESPN that City were angered in February 2020 when senior figures at United and Liverpool were given special access to candidates vying to succeed Scudamore as Premier League CEO. None of the candidates they met were hired for the role.
Sources have also said that City believe there is a disproportionate number of former United, Liverpool and Arsenal players working in the media and taking aim at City. Micah Richards, Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott and ESPN analyst Nedum Onuoha are former City players in the media, but their rivals outnumber them across several platforms. Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and Nicky Butt lead an array of United greats; Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, ESPN's Steve Nicol and Steve McManaman all enjoy legendary status at Liverpool; Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Martin Keown, Lee Dixon, Paul Merson and Alan Smith are former Arsenal title winners regularly working in television.
Between them, Liverpool, Arsenal and United have won 54 English titles. They are the English teams with the biggest global fanbases, and it can't be ignored that they are also the clubs with most to gain from City being discredited and sanctioned for breaching financial rules.
If City's eight title wins between 2012 and 2024 were to be taken away and reallocated -- it's worth noting that at this stage, the Premier League investigation only covers the 2009-18 period -- three would go to United, three to Liverpool and two to Arsenal. The sense among City fans of a Red Cartel pursuing lost riches is understandable.
"I think most City fans are angered by a Premier League which has been run like a private members club, with the three clubs [United, Liverpool and Arsenal] and Spurs having a massive sense of entitlement and divine right to control how it's run," Phil Hardman, a City season-ticket holder since the 1990s, told ESPN. "The owners of the Red Cartel clubs have driven the 'rules' agenda to protect their status and position.
"There needs to be a fairer and more competitive solution that rewards clubs that are managed well both on and off the pitch. The 'Red Cartel' by its very nature creates a monopoly where a lazy and arrogant approach can he allowed to succeed to the detriment of English football."
Mark Gardner, another City season-ticket holder, told ESPN that the club has been a victim of Arsenal, Liverpool and United's pursuit of self-preservation. "FFP was brought in to maintain the status quo: Arsenal, Liverpool and United wanting to keep their slice of the pie," Gardner said. "City threatened that, so they brought the rules in.
"But it isn't just City who have been affected. Aston Villa and Newcastle haven't been able to break into the so-called 'Big Six' because they have had to sell their best players to comply with the financial rules. It's all about the 'cartel' protecting their own interest, just as they did with the Super League plans they tried to drive through. They want a closed shop. They don't want teams like City taking their place at the top table, like we have done."
However, there are less sinister reasons for those teams to find common ground. Viewed another way, the so-called "Red Cartel" is simply a natural alliance of like-minded organizations determined to safeguard their own interests.
"I think there is some truth in the idea," Chris Brady, chief intelligence officer of sports advisory group Sportsology, told ESPN. "But I don't think there's anything to add other than cartels, notwithstanding that this appears to be informal, act like cartels. That is to say that they are protecting their own best interests against anyone who might rock the boat.
"Their interest lies in the continued health of the Premier League, and this saga [City 115 charges] threatens that."
There is hope that, by the end of the 2026-27 season, there will be a resolution to case that will see all parties move on and deal with the ramifications. City are joint-top with Arsenal on 21 points from eight games so far, winning seven of eight games while their fate remains in the balance.
However it ends, there will be plenty with connections to City that believe that the Red Cartel is real and a continuing challenge to City, on and off the pitch.