UEFA FFP investigation - CAS decision to be announced Monday, 13th July 9.30am BST

[bobbyowenquiff]

I posted earlier today that I thought UEFA would be far better letting sleeping dogs lie but it appears that they no longer have that option. The NYT story has certainly taken all attention off City's achievements this season in a week in which they have won the title and go for the FA cup. The issue now is whether this story is totally without foundation and concocted by a reporter from motives which are distinctly malicious. If this is the case his career could be nearing its end or his paper could face serious problems. Or the issue could be that of the competence of UEFA to act as the governing body of European football and in particular of the CFCBIC to carry out its responsibilities in enforcing the very controversial FFP regulations. The suspicion that a member of the IC is informing a reporter of its decisions/recommendations while investigations are in process and confidential is a potentially terminal blow to the integrity of a body already vulnerable at the very least on questions of conflict of interest. UEFA may have no alternative but to say they have investigated, found no evidence of any wrongdoing and pray that the NYT cannot provide the name of a mole.

If i was a betting man I would put the money on someone on the UEFA investigating team talking to someone in the Liverpool ownership camp (You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess who this might be) and then the message being passed on to the New York Times. That would explain the phrase "sources close to Uefa." The story has been held a few days to provide maxiumum impact after our title triumph. It's a huge own goal and our lawyers will be rubbing their hands.

 

[squirtyflower]

His Location is shown as "En Why? See".

Hmmm. Wonder where that is?

Having said that (sorry @oakiecokie ), I must admit to not being as supportive of my local paper, the MUEN, as he is of his.

Excellent spot, I believe he’s the tea-lady, or in American terms, the gofer

 

[Postman Pep]

“We are not selling tickets - if we have fans there would not be a problem”

Yeah we have no fans not worthy of sponsors and presumably we won't be receiving 300M plus TV money either. Whining gooner **** was introduced as a football finance expert aswell.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Guilty until proven innocent

That's the standard European Legal System for you. You are only Innocent till proven guilty in the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia.

 

[I'm no cynic but...]

Ha ha, I love the way they attribute wishes to City fans which they couldn't possibly know. For the record, if it wasn't for the cash, I wouldn't be remotely interested in the CL unless it reverted back to its previous format i.e it was for champions only and not the also-rans.

Yep, the old European Cup was all about maintaining the format of football's G14 clubs but it had it's failings in that not all G14 clubs would qualify for it, especially when clubs like Aston Villa could win it. So the Champions League was born of it with no other aim than of having the same old, same old in the format and having no other purpose than that of generating TV money. Having us in it and booing the UEFA anthem obviously rankles with the officials but they have given themselves a huge problem. Retain the tired old current format or ban us from the CL and with it goes the huge TV revenues that we generate for them.

 

[squirtyflower]

1st he said city ignored him...lol

The more you read form him, the more he sounds like a kid been found with the sweets

 

[Jacko1956]

Did anyone take a screenshot of the original NYT article? Other journos are now claiming the article was not edited!

This bloke knows nothing apart from cosying up to the old cartel of the G17 clubs ask him to contact the club to see the devious change of rules implemented when City met the previous ffp rules to ensure they failed half way through the process, let's me honest UEFA dont give a shit about clubs overspending and going bust otherwise ffp would have been brought in years ago not just when City and PSG suddenly got huge finances it's just to protect the supposed historically seen bigger clubs from having competition.

 

[paulchapo]

Great article from PB.

https://boltfromtheblue.live/2019/05/14/are-city-really-facing-a-potential-champions-league-ban/

 

[paulchapo]

The comments on that have a video posted by a Liverpool fan claiming it's City players singing about Kompany injuring Salah, and other worse things. Is it known if it's genuine?

Fuck them.

 

[bumbleblue]

How soon do those with a greater understanding of these things imagine we will get an outcome?

 

[Young Blue]

There is a comment on the NY Times article suggesting "New York Times" maybe the second biggest shareholder of Liverpool FC. A google search said this was true in 2011, does anyone know if this is still the case?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/f...t-shareholder-in-Liverpool-football-club.html

 

[TheThirdDeano]

I tried to get a hold of the first released thing, since he and other journalists are pretending it’s not edited, I found this from yesterday but it’s trying to get me to subscribe to New York Times any differences?

https://web.archive.org/web/2019051...ts/manchester-city-champions-league-uefa.html

 

[SWP's back]

I think you live in Qatar, though, so I know you are closer to the ground there. Is it possible that ex-pats are more aggressive in their stances than those at home?

Genuinely curious to hear your thoughts.

I don’t know any Qatari expats (living in Qatar makes it difficult obviously) but it’s certainly true of British expats towards the UK.

In terms of my view on Qatar and the UAE and whether Qatar would try and screw with the UAE via City, as I say, it’s never gonna happen. I’ve got fairly close links with QSI. Qatar still sees the UAE as a football ally and PSG still receive the cold shoulder.

 

[Machiavelli]

This Tariq Panja fellow’s wiki is interesting

Tariq Panja is a British journalist who is a global sports reporter for The New York Times based in London.[1]

Panja began his journalism career as a general news reporter at the Manchester Evening News in 2004 before joining the Associated Press as a news reporter in 2005. He also had a short stint at the pan-European broadcaster Eurosport.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_Panja

 

[tweety]

I hope our lawyers are listening to talksport

That was a total disgrace from their so called expert, he was literally frothing at the mouth implying that we are the anti Christ of football. Let's see if any blues ring in!

 

[mat]

No he's not. Did you ever read the Sunday Sport.

Are you supposed to "read" it?

 

[mat]

Oh God, please make it stop with people posting about the NYT owning Liverpool...

You've asked for it now. Monty Python parody replies in....

 

[SWP's back]

Why are PSG not up for the same scrutiny? Well here you go:

"P.S.G. and UEFA have a tangled relationship. The team’s owners also run beIN Sports, the broadcaster that is UEFA’s biggest media rights buyer. Both the club and beIN Sports are run by Nasser al-Khelaifi, a Qatari national who was elected to a position on UEFA’s executive board earlier this year."

So there you have a major competitor chairman on the board of the organisation that is implementing the rules and handing out the punishments.

This is all a smear attempt in the wave of a transfer window where we will spend.

PSG didn’t really try and hide anything. They signed a £200m per year deal with the Qatar tourist authority (yeah I know) and UEFA revalued it at £100m (still well over market but there you go).

They are complaining not that we inflated ours, but we lied about it. I’m not remotely worried.

 

[Corky]

So it seems like due to missing out the middle man City could be in trouble, and basically done on a technicality, however the evidence will probably be black and white.

What is more annoying is people using the word "narrative" just because it is fashionable, it is like people using minutiae last decade. Parrots.

 

[SWP's back]

Just heard on the BBC news there, UEFA are trying to get City banned from the CL for a year.

Thanks for the update mate. Where have you seen this?