Manchester City fans have every right to be fuming.
Having woken up on Monday trying to put a disappointing defeat at Tottenham behind them, before lunchtime they were being told they could soon be travelling to play Torquay as punishment for being the biggest cheats English football has ever seen. Once more, the club is at war with a major governing body and the fans have had nothing to do with it.
Either City bosses have committed grave financial offences to dupe the Premier League for almost a decade and gain an unfair sporting advantage, or the Premier League have David Brented it - hopelessly overreached in an attempt to prove they could be both a friend and a boss and accused one of their most high-profile members of rule breaches that will stain their reputation for years without having the evidence to prove it. Someone, somewhere has fundamentally cast a serious cloud over the club without thinking at all about the supporters.
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Fortunately, City fans have been here before. Expect to hear more at games about City going down with a billion in the bank as the supporters take to the situation with the same gallows humour that they did when UEFA tried to ban them from the Champions League.
The next step of the Premier League, albeit one expected years to take, is for an independent commission to weigh up the evidence from both sides before reaching a decision. That is a similar set-up to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled in the club's favour over UEFA, and the commission has been welcomed by City as a way to set the record straight.
Whoever it is that fans are angry with - and they do fall into both camps, whatever you personally may feel - all they can do is trust that an independent panel will come to the right decision. Until then, there is little point thinking about it.
That includes conspiracy theories about the chair of the panel being an Arsenal fan and more legitimate concerns about the potential political nature of the Premier League's decision. As leading sports lawyer Gregory Ioannidis makes clear: "Sports law is a very niche discipline of law, and the stakeholders are all known to each other, and they have some sort of relationship with the parties, one way or another.
"This does not mean, however, that bias will be present and be applied, especially when well-established and respected people oversee decision-making. I must stress, however, that procedural economy and justice, both dictate that any perceived or actual conflict of interest must be declared at the outset.
"I am sure the commission will look at all issues pertinent to the matter and will afford all parties the audi alteram partem principle (no men should be condemned unheard). It is difficult to pinpoint as to who is behind this and for what reason. The commission, I believe, will take a pragmatic view and focus solely on whether the allegations are real and relevant and whether they can be supported with evidence, within the meaning of the current regulations."
City fans will have to put up with the day-to-day consequences of the allegations - the teasing Whatsapps from friends who support rival clubs and slurs all over social media - until the day when the club have had their hearing. They know from CAS, at least, that it is better to ride it out and wait for a definitive verdict rather than instantly throw toys out of the pram.
In the meantime, there is a squad of players that has rarely needed their support more.
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