Calm amid the chaos - Inside Man City's first week of 115 charges hearing

Manchester City are in the eye of the storm this week, but as the winds batter the doors down outside, it turns out the calmest place to be is inside the confines of the City Football Academy.

Trial? What trial? If this week was the biggest of the season so far on the pitch, there was an even bigger battle taking place 200 miles away in a court room in London. Not that you'd know about it from inside the City bubble.

Unless you have avoided all forms of media this week, you have probably heard about City's 'Trial of the Century' that began on Monday. City's lawyers have spent 19 months preparing their case and finally got the chance to start presenting it this week. The hearing will last a few weeks longer, and it will be 2025 before a verdict is given.

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As much as everything changed this week, absolutely nothing changed - apart from the relentless volume of articles and TV packages about the trial. For a news item where there is ultimately no new news, it carries a remarkable interest among fans of all persuasions- because it's the biggest sports story in years.

On the Manchester Evening News, our best-read City stories have almost all been '115' updates - whether that punishment possibilities over punishments, opinion from financial experts or explainers of how the trial will unfold. But only a select few know what is actually happening in that courtroom.

The most revealing 'leaks' have been City's lawyers arriving for work at the court. Those leaks have been contained at the door and rightly so.

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak made a semi-public appearance on Wednesday, briefly emerging pitchside before kick-off against Inter Milan to show some guests around, catching the lenses of nearby cameras waiting for the teams to emerge for their warm-ups. Significant? Almost certainly not, he's done the same before and will do it again. Nothing to see here.

So once again we have Pep Guardiola as the only spokesperson for the club on the matter, yet there have been three press conferences with since the first day of the trial on Monday morning and not one question on the subject. Because what would it achieve?

Guardiola sent a pointed message to City's Premier League rivals over any rush to brand the club guilty before they have a chance to prove their innocence, but that was last week when news of the trial date leaked. He couldn't resist a dig at long-time adversary Javier Tebas, but on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday there was no talk of the charges.

Instead, Guardiola has contended with two performances that have truly tested his side. Brentford punished them like no other side in Guardiola's tenure, he said, before similar praise for Inter's ability to combine a deep defence with incisive counter-attacks and transitions. You get the feeling he absolutely loved seeing his players questioned, and how they have put his years of coaching into practice to take four points.

He may have been given an update or two about the hearing, but equally he probably hasn't had time to think about it with the fixtures, injuries and tactical issues to battle. He knows he can only control what happens on the pitch, and the three games this week will have a big say on their fortunes however much he denies it.

In Arsenal , City face a game that could have a serious say in where the Premier League title ends up. Supporters, pundits and the media will analyse every aspect of Sunday's showdown for any clue over the title credentials of either side. However, City know that even a five point gap is nothing at this stage of the season and Guardiola has made it clear it is just another game.

And the same can be said of City's behind-closed-doors hearing. For all the analysis and speculation around the trial, the process won't rock City one bit.

In a world where everybody externally is competing to shout the loudest about 115 and relegations and expulsions, the calmest place in the world to be right now is the City Football Academy.

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