The cacophony of boos that greet the Premier League and Champions League anthems before kick-off have now become a fixture at Etihad Stadium.

The jeers from Manchester City fans were turned up a notch against Ipswich last Saturday when the side played their first home game since being found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules.

“I can’t remember a Premier League or Champions League home game where the anthems haven’t been booed,” City season-ticket holder Dave Wilson told BBC Sport.

The pre-match dissatisfaction towards top-flight chiefs can likely be traced back to February 2023, when the 115 charges for breaching the rules were first announced.

Later that same year, Everton had 10 points – reduced to six on appeal – deducted after being found to have broken profit and sustainability rules.

In their first game back after the sanction, Toffees fans displayed their ire at Goodison Park by loudly booing the league’s pre-match anthem as well as holding up red cards with the word ‘corrupt’ printed underneath the Premier League logo.

Though City supporters did not organise a similar display, their anger was clear.

“The Premier League anthem has been booed by City fans for many years,” said Wilson. “It was probably heightened on Saturday because it was the first home game since the [guilty verdict] announcement.

“There hasn’t been much love lost between City and the Premier League for a long time. For certain games it will be louder than others, it definitely wasn’t co-ordinated for that [Ipswich] game but a symptom of everything coming together.”

There was audible booing before Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against AEK Athens too.

City fans’ displeasure towards Uefa goes back even further, there being a litany of disputes with Europe’s top brass.

In 2012, Porto were handed a fine, external of around £17,000 by Uefa after City made a complaint of racial abuse towards striker Mario Balotelli to the organising body.

In that same season, City were given a fine, external of around £24,000 for being one minute late back on to the pitch for the second half of a game against Sporting.

In 2014, Uefa fined City £49m and capped their squad size for the Champions League after they failed Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

Six years later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned City’s two-year ban from European club competitions after clearing them of “disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions” – Uefa initially ruled City had committed “serious breaches” of FFP regulations between 2012 and 2016.

Wilson adds: “City fans generally feel there is a conspiracy against them, like the booing of the Uefa anthem too. There is a feeling of being targeted, rightly or wrongly.

“City fans just don’t seem to like the competitions we play in!”

City and their supporters are currently in limbo as they await the outcome of the appeal and any potential sanctions.

The side are currently top of the table having won all seven league games so far and that 100% record will be given a stern examination with a difficult trip to Aston Villa on Saturday (kick-off 12:30 BST).

Nick Clarke is interim chair of The Citizens Trust – Manchester City supporters’ union, a member-led trust that was set up earlier this year at a time when the “potential biggest issue affecting City fans in the club’s history” had transpired.

Though it has been a “difficult time”, fans are “completely behind the team” and he says his job is to ensure their views are heard amid the external noise.

“The booing of the anthem on Saturday was totally organic,” says Clarke. “Whereas the bananas at Liverpool was a fan-led initiative co-ordinated by the 1894 atmosphere group and they did great work handing those out before the game.

“Even though there are fans who are conflicted about what has happened with the club, there is still a general feeling among the majority [of City fans] that the Premier League is not fit for purpose in regulating itself and how it is ran.”

Whatever the outcome of the appeal, City fans are likely to continue making their feelings clear before kick-off.