I have two issues with neutral cities that are not clear to me.

1. Can Manage Troops tactical card's ability be used to cross an unclaimed region and enter a neutral city, provided I have enough troops to capture it?

2. If I am deceived by another player during a march on a neutral city, and he refuses to provide support needed to capture it, do my troops return to their starting position, or can they march freely through the city but not claim it's benefits?

Thank you for your pearls of wisdom

As for 2, you would not march into the city and would be allowed to use the march order to move into another terrirtoy (maybe the territory of the player the refused to help). Since you would lack the strength it would be an illigal move and therefore could not consume your march order or take up your turn. If you are using the march order and they agree, the couldn't change their mind after you use the order, they already added their strength and it would be too late.

It seems that the most basic rules are sometimes easily overlooked

FAQ states that:

"Q: In the event of an unsuccessful “attack” on a neutral
city (for example, if a neighboring house did not support
the attacking house), are the units routed?
A: Moving into a neutral city does not start a battle.
Therefore, units cannot be routed if they fail to exceed the
strength of the neutral force.

Therefore I can declare my march on the neutral city, move troops to claim, get backstabbed by another house denying me support, and my troops would simply retreat to its original region without being routed.

Spike1382 said:

Actually...They can... First the order is issued, troops are moved and checked for battle. After that there's a call for support when all adjacent allies can give or deny You their support...