The story is moving. Rewrite the era.Status checked 25 Sep 2026 · Sanctions and appeals may still change · No official reallocation of honours is stated.
115THE EFFECT
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ALTERNATIVE HISTORY
May 2018The Parallel GazetteFictional front page
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CHELSEA STAY IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The champions’ collapse still hurts — but it no longer costs them fourth.

Not a real headline. Imagined from the No-City model and alleged-breach era; no honours are officially reassigned.

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THE COUNTEREXAMPLE

Chelsea’s 115 Effect

The champions’ collapse still hurts — but it no longer costs them fourth.

The front page above is imagined; the recorded story starts here.
01
Recorded history

What really happened

Chelsea are the counterexample: their actual titles remain theirs. This model is not engineered to make every big club a victim.

02
Recorded encounters and transfers

The City effect

They beat City home and away in the league in 2013/14, including the 1–0 win at the Etihad that ended City’s perfect home league record. They did the double again in 2016/17, but lost both league meetings in 2017/18.

03
Direct effect · audited No-City model

What changes?

Their three recorded titles stay recorded titles; they remain first in those hypothetical tables. But the end of 2017/18 looks different.

2017/18 · hypothetical No-City tableInto the top four in the model+1 LEAGUE PLACE

Actual: 5th · 70 pts
No-City: 4th · 70 pts

Impact: +1 league place · no points removed

These are recalculated league positions, not official honours, qualification decisions or a proposed remedy.

04
ALTERNATIVE HISTORY · the imagined branch

The butterfly effect 🦋

What if Chelsea enter the summer of 2018 as a Champions-League-position club? The difficult year still happened; a different backdrop does not tell us Conte would have stayed.

  1. Summer 2018
    Alternative history

    What if Chelsea enter the summer as a Champions-League-position club?

  2. After Conte
    Alternative history

    Could the transition have started from a different place?

05
Questions, not predictions

The legacy

That changes the backdrop to the summer of 2018 and the transition after Antonio Conte. A Champions-League-position finish may alter how a difficult year is remembered. Does it change decisions behind the scenes? Possibly — but it cannot tell us Conte would have stayed.

Alternative history · trophy reassignment

+2 rewritten honours

A storytelling convention, not an official award or a prediction of who would win without City.

2018/19 · League Cup ChelseaFinalist — defeated by City
2025/26 · FA Cup ChelseaFinalist — defeated by City
Explore the trophy ledger
06
The complete audited record

The data / show me the receipts

Every Chelsea Premier League season in the charged-era model, including the ones where nothing changes.

9PL seasons in model
18League matches vs City
6 / 3 / 9W / D / L vs City
21Points earned vs City · removed in model
4Seasons with a place change

Season-by-season league impact

SeasonActualNo-CityImpactPts vs City
2009/101st · 86 pts1st · 86 ptsno position change · no points removed0
2010/112nd · 71 pts2nd · 68 ptsno position change · -3 points3
2011/126th · 64 pts5th · 61 pts+1 league place · -3 points3
2012/133rd · 75 pts2nd · 74 pts+1 league place · -1 point1
2013/143rd · 82 pts3rd · 76 ptsno position change · -6 points6
2014/151st · 87 pts1st · 85 ptsno position change · -2 points2
2015/1610th · 50 pts8th · 50 pts+2 league places · no points removed0
2016/171st · 93 pts1st · 87 ptsno position change · -6 points6
2017/185th · 70 pts4th · 70 pts+1 league place · no points removed0

Every league match against City

SeasonDateHomeScoreAwayResultClub pts
2009/102009-12-05Manchester City2–1ChelseaL0
2009/102010-02-27Chelsea2–4Manchester CityL0
2010/112010-09-25Manchester City1–0ChelseaL0
2010/112011-03-20Chelsea2–0Manchester CityW3
2011/122011-12-12Chelsea2–1Manchester CityW3
2011/122012-03-21Manchester City2–1ChelseaL0
2012/132012-11-25Chelsea0–0Manchester CityD1
2012/132013-02-24Manchester City2–0ChelseaL0
2013/142013-10-27Chelsea2–1Manchester CityW3
2013/142014-02-03Manchester City0–1ChelseaW3
2014/152014-09-21Manchester City1–1ChelseaD1
2014/152015-01-31Chelsea1–1Manchester CityD1
2015/162015-08-16Manchester City3–0ChelseaL0
2015/162016-04-16Chelsea0–3Manchester CityL0
2016/172016-12-03Manchester City1–3ChelseaW3
2016/172017-04-05Chelsea2–1Manchester CityW3
2017/182017-09-30Chelsea0–1Manchester CityL0
2017/182018-03-04Manchester City1–0ChelseaL0
Explore all No-City tables →
07
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Where does this story go next?

See the receipts · editorial notes

2017/18: actual fifth, 70 points; hypothetical No-City fourth, 70 points. Both City league games were losses.

A league position in this model is not itself a ruling on official European qualification.