In response to the Manchester City verdict, where the club was found guilty on 114 of 115 charges related to Premier League financial regulations breaches, various memes and trolls have been flooding social media.
Other than the memes of Pep Guardiola compared to Saul Goodman, fans have also started comparing the Arsenal manager and Manchester City ex-assistant coach Mikel Arteta to Dr. David L. Hill, the character played by Rami Malek in Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film, Oppenheimer.
In the segment of the film where Dr. Hill is asked to give his statement, he begins by acknowledging Strauss’s long years of government service and calls him earnest, hardworking, and intelligent. Strauss is clearly impressed by his statement and satisfied.
It is then that Dr. Hill says that Strauss is someone the scientists of the country would like to see out of the government. When the chairman questions further, Hill explains that it is because of the personal vindictiveness he displayed against Dr. Oppenheimer and also against all those who disagreed with his official positions.
Finally, Hill expressed that in his ten years of working with Strauss, he has seen that the man is incapable of changing position and has an obsessive quest for political and professional approval. Nobody expected Dr. Hill to give a bold testimony against Strauss, but he delivered a really powerful confession in front of the Senate. This caused the Senate to vote down Strauss’s nomination for Secretary of Commerce.
In fact, Dr. Hill actually gave a statement against Lewis Strauss in the 1959 hearing, as per the U.S. Capitol’s historical record.
Football fans have jokingly stated that Mikel Arteta might testify against Manchester City in a future appeal in the case, as Dr. Hill did in Oppenheimer, since Arteta served as an assistant coach to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in 2016.
They speculate that, like how Dr. Hill started to support Strauss at the start, Arteta might have supported Guardiola or Manchester City till now, but he might actually deliver something crucial if he is investigated and comes forward with the actual involvement of Guardiola in the 115 charges and alleged cheating.
Arteta spent three years as Pep Guardiola’s assistant manager at City from 2016 to 2019, after which he joined Arsenal as manager in 2019. Guardiola was the one who suggested Arteta as his staff after Arteta’s retirement from Arsenal as a player. From 2016-19, the duo won 2 Premier League titles, 1 FA Cup, 2 Carabao Cups and 2 FA Community Shields.
Serving as an assistant to Guardiola gave Arteta hands-on experience in Positional Play, which was Pep’s iconic tool. Guardiola often handed over the design of the tactical game plan for specific opponents to Arteta, and he would analyze the opposition’s weaknesses and provide solutions. He also used his own experience as a midfielder to train Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho.
They also achieved the feat of guiding Man City to become the first English team to win a domestic treble. Arteta said that Guardiola was happy for him when he left for Arsenal in 2019 as head coach and told him that he had to go.
The assistant and master dynamics shifted once Arsenal under Arteta became a major competition for Man City in the Premier League, but both of them always treated each other with mutual respect.
Manchester City was found guilty on 114 of 115 charges for breaching the Premier League’s financial regulations. The club was accused of breaching UEFA’s financial fair play regulations and the Premier League’s own profitability and sustainability rules.
Fans have flooded X and other social media with speculation that Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta might be held responsible later. Various memes have been circulating with the context that Arteta will expose Manchester City to the independent commission.
A previous clip of Arteta’s press conference from 2024 has gone viral. It was ahead of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup third-round tie against Bolton Wanderers, which occurred just two days after the intense 2-2 draw with Manchester City. He responded to the criticism from Man City players regarding time-wasting and dark tactics, saying that
“ No comment. I’ve been there for four years (at Man City). I have all the information. Believe me…”
Fans now speculate that he meant the cheating and violation of rules by Man City during the period he was there, which matches the timeline.
Football users on X have dropped several memes stating that Arteta will avenge against Manchester City if he gets the chance to reveal what happened during his time.
Meanwhile, when the first time the charges related to Man City came into the spotlight in 2023, Arteta refused to respond saying that
“I’m not going to make any comment on that. I’m sorry.”
Once more, when he was asked about the same thing a year later, he responded that
“That’s something for the authorities to manage. It’s not for us; if they’re playing, that means they can play, and they are entitled to play. That’s it.”
Mikel Arteta may now have no connection with Man City or Pep Guardiola, but the fact that he was active in the club during the said period of the alleged breach of rules was not lost on some fans.
The Arsenal manager has not yet responded to the news regarding Manchester City. His club sits 2nd in the Premier League with 12 points from 5 matches (4 wins, 1 loss) in the 2026–27 season. They have also won their first match in the UEFA Champions League. The Gunners will face Leeds United on October 10th in the Premier League.
Whether Mikel Arteta was aware of the club’s doings or whether he wished to stay away from it still remains an open question. Fans are hoping that, with the increasing popularity of news about Manchester City, there will be some kind of response from Arteta’s side.
But it is a long shot that Arteta will testify against Man City in front of the commission, and, so far, it can only be considered a fan theory.
