'Elliot, you sure?' Man City players already know what rival fans will do amid charges fallout

Manchester City were walking to their dressing room at Selhurst Park in August when Elliot Anderson was heckled. The £116m midfielder might have expected some kind of jibe about his price tag but, given the club he joined, it instead related to the charges.

"Elliot," came the male (and it's always a male) voice. "One-one-five: are you sure?" It took Anderson a second to register but he turned back to clock who had said it and laughed in their direction before heading on his way.

That may have been a new experience for Anderson but it is part and parcel of being a City player. For more than three years, similar comments have been made to individuals and the team have often been serenaded by opposition fans with chants about them being cheating b*******'; that one usually comes shortly after asking City supporters where they were when they weren't very good.

There may be new developments then, but City players won't necessarily be walking into anything new when they resume their club duties this weekend. Anfield is probably the worst ground they could have asked for first up after the news that the club have been found guilty of nearly all of the counts in the 115 case, yet there are plenty of Liverpool fans who are already playing down expectations.

It will be far more hostile for City at the ground than it likely would have been without the news, but this is still a fanbase who are trying to get to grips with the football of a new coach who is yet to win at Anfield in the Premier League with the team. Andoni Iraola will welcome the extra noise from the fans, yet visions of a repeat of the chaotic 2017 Champions League quarter-final at Anfield when the City bus was attacked on the way in seem fanciful.

That night really did shake the City players, who were 3-0 down after half an hour, but the anger and passion of that rivalry has fizzled. Even Jurgen Klopp couldn't bring himself to be delighted with the guilty verdicts when asked recently, having once talked about holding parties and parades to mark City's guilt.

There will be more comments made to the players, and former defender Nedum Onuoha was right to bring up that this has already started with the women's team. "News broke as the women’s team were on the way to London," he said. "I know this from people who travelled - they were shocked, they weren’t expecting it. They got to Euston and there was a bus with a Man City badge on. When they arrived at the hotel, some of the stuff being said, to call it inappropriate would be an understatement."

The men's team can expect similar, even if it remains the case that many people in this country feel more confident shouting at women. It will flare up at away games in particular, where for tens of thousands of fans it will be their only opportunity of the season to get their feelings across in person.

Supporters have been calling City cheats for the last three years though, as Anderson found out in his first away game for the club since his big-money move. It is not going to be pretty, but it will be a surprise if it catches the players off guard given how used to the abuse they are.

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