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

[Ric]

Lack of cooperation isn't enough to justify any ban at all, let alone 2 years. And if we can prove the source of our sponsorship then that would surely put us in a strong position.

I very much hope you are right mate. Don’t think anyone can confidently predict how this will play out yet though.

 

[Silva2021]

Any idea on timeframes from hearing to decision.

 

[Proy]

I very much hope you are right mate. Don’t think anyone can confidently predict how this will play out yet though.

Most definitely.

What I am confident of, though, is that the club will not stop if a ban in any form is passed.

Even a year ban would set us back, and I don't see the club sitting on that and allowing it to come to fruition.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I very much hope you are right mate. Don’t think anyone can confidently predict how this will play out yet though.

Well Omar Berrada was quite vehement that we wouldn't be doing any deals with UEFA and that we sent Ceferin away empty handed. Spoke to a couple of my CM colleagues today & both confirmed he said that. Soriano was quite clear in his video interview. And I do know that Khaldoon is 100% sure we'll win this and that's not bravado. These guys' reputations and honour are on the line.

I'm nervous nonetheless but I'm also sure we've got an ace or two up our sleeve.

 

[GBrannan]

I keep coming back to it , but the Bosman case demonstrates just how arrogant and downright wrong uefa could be.
I’m sure they approached that case supremely confident that they were going to succeed, supported by the views of various expensive ‘legal experts’ that this was the case, only to be given a rude awakening by a relatively unknown Belgian footballer and his relatively unknown lawyer, who showed that the properly constituted law, not uefa’s notions of ‘what’s best for football according to us’ applies.
In fact , that is what the ECJ pointed out to uefa in no uncertain terms.

They probably did.

We are dealing with a different court here though.

I hope you’re right. But our case has fallen down thus far at three hurdles. The first UEFA panel (which probably wasn’t very rigorous or impartial), CAS I, which raised some concerns about how our case was being adjudicated but we don’t know if they’re going to be enough on their own to have it eventually thrown out, and lastly UEFA II, which was more rigorous but hopefully also circumspect.

UEFA do win at CAS. It’s not like their processes are completely ludicrous. Hopefully in our case, their case is like a sieve and we make them look daft.

 

[Ric]

Most definitely.

What I am confident of, though, is that the club will not stop if a ban in any form is passed.

Even a year ban would set us back, and I don't see the club sitting on that and allowing it to come to fruition.

Yeah, I think the club would contest any form of punishment. Not sure they’d be able to fast track that before next season starts though. If CAS uphold the verdict (or reduce the ban to one year) we almost certainly won’t be in next season’s CL draw.

 

[Ric]

Well Omar Berrada was quite vehement that we wouldn't be doing any deals with UEFA and that we sent Ceferin away empty handed. Spoke to a couple of my CM colleagues today & both confirmed he said that. Soriano was quite clear in his video interview. And I do know that Khaldoon is 100% sure we'll win this and that's not bravado. These guys' reputations and honour are on the line.

I'm nervous nonetheless but I'm also sure we've got an ace of two up our sleeve.

Let’s hope so!

 

[Blootoof]

Let's face it. We are guilty if banned, and guilty if not. May as well go for their corrupt throats with both barrels as we've nothing to lose either way.

 

[GBrannan]

Well Omar Berrada was quite vehement that we wouldn't be doing any deals with UEFA and that we sent Ceferin away empty handed. Spoke to a couple of my CM colleagues today & both confirmed he said that. Soriano was quite clear in his video interview. And I do know that Khaldoon is 100% sure we'll win this and that's not bravado. These guys' reputations and honour are on the line.

I'm nervous nonetheless but I'm also sure we've got an ace of two up our sleeve.

They certainly are on the line!

 

[Gordyola]

My hope too.

If not it’s going to be very dodgy.

My point, as made earlier, is that the idea that the final verdict was made only by disgruntled clubs and voiciferous failed politicians seems pretty wide of the mark. It was eventually done by a very senior legal professional. We can debate the merits of that and why he may have come to that conclusion but he ultimately did. He will have a reputation to keep up. He won’t want to look stupid.

We may win. I hope we do. But the whole process is going to go through a proper grinder and we’ll see what comes out.

Maybe it’s too long supporting City, but I fear we’ll win the battle, by highlighting pretty poor processes etc, but lose the war and be found to have not abided by the rules we signed up to.

I hope I’m wrong. But that possibility is where the debate should lie.

AC is made up of more than a single judge, they can only look at the evidence from the IC who rushed through their verdict due to the 5 year time rule. City have stated public that their evidence, 200 page document wasn’t considered. I think you should look at the history of the lead investigator Leterme, he’s dodgy to say the least In the PSG case the AC were aghast at his conduct

Maybe you will or maybe you won’t I hope you do

 

[pavelsrnicek]

They probably did.

We are dealing with a different court here though.

I hope you’re right. But our case has fallen down thus far at three hurdles. The first UEFA panel (which probably wasn’t very rigorous or impartial), CAS I, which raised some concerns about how our case was being adjudicated but we don’t know if they’re going to be enough on their own to have it eventually thrown out, and lastly UEFA II, which was more rigorous but hopefully also circumspect.

UEFA do win at CAS. It’s not like their processes are completely ludicrous. Hopefully in our case, their case is like a sieve and we make them look daft.

There were 2 separate chambers of the UEFA CFCB who ruled on City. The first was the one that leaked like a sieve and as such we went to CAS. CAS rejected our appeal not on the merits of the case but because the CFCB process hadn’t been full.

 

[chedinho]

My hope is that we didn’t fully comply with the investigation as we knew that they would find us guilty regardless, so have withheld evidence for the CAS hearing in pursuit of total exoneration. Might be wishful thinking, but who knows. Going to be fascinating to see how this plays out anyway, especially as the stakes are so high.

I think the evidence is most likely to be the full transcript of emails.
That would be a goldmine of information to our competitors at best or further the witch hunt against us at worst.

I can’t see how we can lose at an independent tribunal.

 

[GBrannan]

AC is made up of more than a single judge, they can only look at the evidence from the IC who rushed through their verdict due to the 5 year time rule. City have stated public that their evidence, 200 page document wasn’t considered. I think you should look at the history of the lead investigator Leterme, he’s dodgy to say the least In the PSG case the AC were aghast at his conduct

Maybe you will or maybe you won’t I hope you do

The process absolutely seems questionable. I’m sure we’ll question it thoroughly. That’s what CAS seemingly look at, the process of what transpired against the rules that each party signed up to. Leterme is also not without his faults, but he ultimately didn’t sign off on this, even if he was the public narrator.

I’m aware that CAS will now give us three judges as opposed to one. However it seemed overlooked to many that a proper, high standing judge had reviewed our case and decided we we worthy of a two year exemption from the Champions League (plus associated revenue costs) and a €30m fine. Somewhat unprecedented measures. It wasn’t Gill and Parry et al that eventually found us at fault, it was a high standing European judge.

I reiterate, I hope we can deliver a conclusive argument that clears us of all charges and leaves no doubt about our innocence. I’d personally take an exoneration with loads of hanging questions marks right now just to move on! However I think the mere fact we’re in this predicament suggests we’re not as on top things as we think/ hope and there are weaknesses in our position that we need to get leading legal people to fight.

Time will eventually tell what these eventualities look like, but we inevitably have some sticky areas that we need to explain. The fact we decided to talk about aspects of these areas in email correspondence seems pretty poor judgment by those involved, given their professional standing.

I’m sure in all our walks of life we occasionally make poor decisions, but in a very public facing business these could be subject to serious exploitation. We’ve been exploited via hacking to defend a case other parties wanted answering almost since our takeover and were openly pressuring UEFA about investigating. We paid our high ranking people significant sums of remuneration to hopefully avoid such eventualities. Alas, it didn’t workout because we made internal errors of judgement that were leaked, reported and then collated to make us, at this stage, in breach of regulations, even if those regulations are not seemingly very fair from an objective viewpoint.

I think it is though fair to say UEFA will be told some of their processes are poor etc. but will that be enough for them to lose the case?

Time will tell and it depends what we can prove/ have up our sleeve.

 

[GBrannan]

There were 2 separate chambers of the UEFA CFCB who ruled on City. The first was the one that leaked like a sieve and as such we went to CAS. CAS rejected our appeal not on the merits of the case but because the CFCB process hadn’t been full.

Yep. But the second chamber had at least some legal element that shouldn’t be completely discounted. The first phase did, without seeing the process, come across like an absolute farce.

Hopefully when three other judges review this case they’ll think our position and interpretation of evidence, in relation to the processes we signed up to, is top notch and it’ll be enough to discount the original decision.

 

[Impeccable One]

Anywhere I can lay a bet that the ban is quashed and we are exonerated by CAS ?

 

[cheekybids]

Yep. But the second chamber had at least some legal element that shouldn’t be completely discounted. The first phase did, without seeing the process, come across like an absolute farce.

Hopefully when three other judges review this case they’ll think our position and interpretation of evidence, in relation to the processes we signed up to, is top notch and it’ll be enough to discount the original decision.

Corruption reaches the highest levels & across every industry, that includes judges & lawyers.

 

[better dead than red]

Handbags at dawn

Caught them on hidden camera

 

[kaz7]

Caught them on hidden camera

That is me and dom !

 

[better dead than red]

domilino can be found on every thread(except the anglers) arguing with anyone and everyone ,he's like bluemoons pet Pitbull, but ill give dommy this , he know his facts, as for the ignore button, that should be banned ,its a forum with debate, not everyone will agree with things, especially if your domilino :), have a verbal sparring then back away, move on, this is football

Not certain, why you addressed me with this though. I merely said there is more than one "never wrong" at BM.

I've no issue trying to argue a point here. Goodness knows I've done it. However, I don't see how disrespecting the person you are trying to bring to your point of view helps your cause. I suppose I was raised well...

 

[better dead than red]

That is me and dom !

You in blue Karen? I'd have thought you'd have chosen a sky blue over navy blue. :-)