Fabrizio Romano is best known for two words: “Here we go.” This week, it was a very different sentence from him that ended up on the wrong end of X’s Community Notes.
The trigger was one of the biggest stories in English football in years. On September 25, David Ornstein of The Athletic reported that Manchester City had been found guilty on 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League over breaches of its financial rules. Sanctions have not been decided yet, and City are expected to appeal.
Romano’s timeline, meanwhile, stayed quiet on the story. Fans noticed. One widely shared post listed what it said he had “never reported on”: the Negreira case, AFA and FIFA scandals, Infantino, and Man City’s 114 charges. It signed off with the line, “Journalist by face, PR machine by work.”
Amid a barrage of such tweets, Romano chose one to replied and provide his stance:
“I’m not into breaking news that are not about transfers on players/managers/owners mate, never been. This is completely different area. Not difficult to understand, only tweeting when it’s official statement. Have a nice day 😃”
The answer didn’t land well. Readers proposed context under the reply, and the version that spread fastest was short and blunt: “So Fabrizio here is straight up lying.”
In the screenshots the note was still gathering ratings, and notes only appear publicly once enough users rate them helpful, but that didn’t stop it from going viral. Another proposed note was more detailed.
It pointed out that Romano has previously tweeted breaking news unrelated to transfers, including Everton’s two-point deduction for breaching Premier League financial rules and UEFA fines for financial fair play violations. The Everton post is the one people kept coming back to. On April 8, 2024, Romano tweeted:
“🚨🔵 Everton have been given a 2 point deduction due to breach of Premier League financial rules. #EFC are now just 2 points above relegation zone, as @David_Ornstein @_pauljoyce reported.”
The post has racked up around 6.7 million views. It’s exactly the kind of non-transfer news he had just said he doesn’t do.
Football meme account Out of Context Football Manager put together a set of his earlier posts like this.
Really? https://t.co/YS42QoX2sG pic.twitter.com/PJSFxsgrLM
— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) September 25, 2026
Romano did respond to the backlash. He said his rule was “only tweeting when it’s an official statement,” and that the Everton post, like Nottingham Forest’s points deduction, came from an official statement.
“As will be for Man City for sure as soon as there’s the official statement,” he added. He also said the City story had been shared on his other platforms, including Instagram, crediting The Athletic.
There is some nuance in the Everton example. The post credited Ornstein and Paul Joyce for the report, and Romano’s defence rests on the fact that it followed official confirmation. But the note’s point still stood: it wasn’t a transfer story, and he did tweet it.
For a journalist whose brand is built on being the first name fans trust for football news, that’s why the silence over City’s verdict landed so hard. City’s sanctions are still to be decided. When the official statement does arrive, plenty of people will be watching to see whether Romano posts it.
