Yes although maybe City had some guide from the conduct of the hearing.
I hope the media look into the UEFA investigatory process. How could they have prosecuted this case? It does seem to be a strong case of club bias overwhelming the regulatory process, and that really should not happen.
I am glad now that City went through the CAS process because for the first time we can say to the rest of football you were wrong, and you have been proven to be wrong. It was a draining process for us all.
I’m as pleased as shit with the outcome. But let’s not forget a big reason is that the clock ran down on some offences so the club has to learn from and avoid those mistakes.
EDITED to add. I think the whole FFP was a Pulling The Ladder Up exercise by Old Money and should be abolished.
The PL can't and won't do anything to City. That story will quietly disappear into the ether over the coming weeks.
Look at it like this - City's intransigence to the charges brought by UEFA made them go to war rather than seek ANY kind of settlement. The PL will absolutely NOT want to have one of it's top stakeholders going to war with it over historic financial issues when the club is so well run financially and so financially powerful.
Personally I think that every single reference I've seen to PL charges since yesterday's ruling is about appeasing the dumbest rival supporters who will cling to any hope that City are going to be 'stopped' by football's authorities.
If there is one lesson we all should have learned it is the fact that if something is being widely reported it doesn't mean it is true. This is a covenient angle for all those red-faced reporters who have been bollocked by their Newsdesks for being beaten to the biggest story of the year. It also suits City to leave this version out there.It is being widely reported that nobody associated with City knew the decision on Friday. Same at UEFA's side. It was genuinely given to both parties yesterday morning a couple of hours before it was published. That's kinda mental. We really did take a 'shit or bust' approach with this case.
Looking forward to the full judgment and Stefan's analysis of it. Will be interesting to see what it says, but my bet is it'll say more or less that everything in the leaks pre 2014 the panel simply couldn't look at, and the only post 2014 issue was the Etihad sponsorship deal which UEFA were never going to be able to prove anything about.
In the end it really was as simple as a lot of us thought it would be at the start in terms of what the main issues at play were.
The anti-city media said it is a big reason.
The cas ruling said Manchester city did not inflate sponsors deals.
The story is being totally rewritten imo and some (a lot) are falling for it.
Interesting because we have a PSG fan on here and the reality to their case is different to the headlines about them 'getting away with it'. So maybe the best we can hope for is the exoneration we got but the media propaganda gets worse.
If there is one lesson we all should have learned it is the fact that if something is being widely reported it doesn't mean it is true. This is a covenient angle for all those red-faced reporters who have been bollocked by their Newsdesks for being beaten to the biggest story of the year. It also suits City to leave this version out there.
He has been good on this since last Christmas. Before that he, and the Times, were swallowing the UEFA line and were one of the recipients of leaks. I believe that they eventually realised they were being used to spread misinformation and since then their coverage has been mostly balanced and accurate. One of the leaks (from UEFA) about City facing a ban was shortly before Ceferin's trip to the Etihad. I don't think that was a co-incidence.
G Nev out here talking absolute sense, fair play to the twat:
'I said a few months ago, FFP would have prevented Jack Walker doing what he did 30 years ago at Blackburn,' he added.
'It's fundamentally wrong that there are restrictions placed on owners to put money into football clubs. Whether it's Chelsea, Man City or Blackburn, all those stories we've had in the Premier League over the last 20 years or so, the addition to challenging Manchester United, Arsenal and other clubs wouldn't have happened if FFP had been implemented in its truest form"
'I don't believe it's right. There has always been rich owners investing into football clubs and that won't change today. FFP needs changing to a different model.'
There certainly seems to be an urge to recast "some charges excluded due to being timebarred" into "technical get-out so not innocent".
Also the weaselly "in breach of FFP regs" which is technically true, even though it's not a financial breach.
I am sure City didn't lie but there is a difference between a preliminary briefing to lawyers and the official announcement. I agree it is a complete non issue.City as a general rule don't lie. If they knew on Friday, then that would've been via an official communication from CAS, and they'd have no reason to deny it today or to 'leave this version out there'. It's a COMPLETE non issue which is only really relevant in places where people made bold predictions on Friday.
The PL can't and won't do anything to City. That story will quietly disappear into the ether over the coming weeks.
Look at it like this - City's intransigence to the charges brought by UEFA made them go to war rather than seek ANY kind of settlement. The PL will absolutely NOT want to have one of it's top stakeholders going to war with it over historic financial issues when the club is so well run financially and so financially powerful.
Personally I think that every single reference I've seen to PL charges since yesterday's ruling is about appeasing the dumbest rival supporters who will cling to any hope that City are going to be 'stopped' by football's authorities.
City as a general rule don't lie. If they knew on Friday, then that would've been via an official communication from CAS, and they'd have no reason to deny it today or to 'leave this version out there'. It's a COMPLETE non issue which is only really relevant in places where people made bold predictions on Friday.