This is where the genius stuff comes in. We picked all 3 judges and appointed the chair and didn’t want anyone to spot what we had done by winning 3-0. Therefore we channelled our inner QPR, and decided to instil a bit more drama into the proceedings with the ‘vote’.What about if we picked the judges & bribed them…..
In the pressers, when asked 'how do you feel about the effect of the charges...?' Etc, just reverse the question on them. Because at this time we are still innocent.Is it really up to a media department though, to do this? Not sure it is, or how far their remit goes.
I suppose the club Could occasionally reiterate a simple statement that would then have to be reported by other media outlets. But really, it is pointless, as it would just lead to more and more prejudiced 'takes', and would imo become a distraction more than it might help.
Remember when mere minutes after Pep himself came out swinging, factual and resolute, Melissa Ruddy who was put down for saying something stupid, was then standing on tv with her own version of it, putting 'innocent' in air quotes when describing the cas verdict etc. So, pointless engaging.
The problem is cultural with the media and broadcasting (not just with this btw), and is rooted much much deper, than any attemp at a PR war might reach.
He was genuine.A huge fine and a 20 point deduction is hardly the PL on the run !! If that’s what the PL think they may as well go ahead with their IC. Your information about settlement discussions is likely correct as is that Masters is a dead man walking but I wonder if your lawyer friend was winding you up with the £50m/20pts ?
He's not stupid.
and is a lifetime Ipswich supporter
If there's one thing I know about this City team, it's that they'd take that challenge on just to boil even more piss!He was genuine.
Maybe (this is just me speculating) the PL thought we would respond with £25m/10 points and "it's a deal". So the PL could appease the screaming masses with a potential ECL qualification fail and certain failure to win the PL.
The Americans might do plea bargaining but we don't in the UK. That 20 point deduction plus 50 million fine would leave us at least 150 million down on turnover and forever tarnished as cheats, it was never happening.I think everyone could deal with a 20 point deduction, missing out on Champions League and a level of impact on the clubs growth. It’s not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but admission of some kind of guilt or even enabling perception of guilt would be a serious kick in the balls that would be hard to deal with. That would enable questioning of our achievements on the pitch and would be rammed down our collective throats for years and years by social media morons, not to mention justifying the job that the media have done on us down the years.
100% correct decision by the club to tell them to stick their agreement where the sun don’t shine.
Ok I'll explain why I think 20 points is a likely outcome. It's a penalty that is severe enough to be significant (and outweigh the penalties given to Forest and Everton, meaning fans of other clubs can shut up about City not having to take their medicine) whilst simultaneously not actually affecting City that much as with a 20 point deduction they are likely to still qualify for the CL etc.
My hypothesis is based on how businesses operate. Also regarding guilt or otherwise - there are shades of grey always when it comes to legal proceedings and even if you know you are totally innocent there's always the fear that the court/jury etc don't see it that way - maybe the opposition lawyer spins a great story, maybe there's inherent bias on the part of the jury etc.
Which is why I think they won't want to risk it. They'll take a penalty 'in the interests of putting the matter to bed' whilst simultaneously maintaining innocence and stating dissatisfaction with the whole process, both sides move on, and in a couple of years the City fans sit back with popcorn watching Chelsea get bent over a desk by the PL before they go in dry.
All opinion, probably worth fuck all, I've absolutely zero inside info etc.
This is where the genius stuff comes in. We picked all 3 judges and appointed the chair and didn’t want anyone to spot what we had done by winning 3-0. Therefore we channelled our inner QPR, and decided to instil a bit more drama into the proceedings with the ‘vote’.
We went one down, equalised near the end and then judge Aguero gave us the win…….
I will do, never thought of that.Did you complain to the BBC about the post? I know it seems futile but I complained about a comment recently and the BBC agreed to remove it. Only a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Fuck me. What is that about?
Is he finally going insane? Discussing things with other people inside his head?
Christ on a bike. He needs help. I hope he doesn't get it.
Like we were all stupid being City supporters when we were absolutely dog shitHmmm. Let me think about that a moment.
You do realise that this will be repeated on various loony-tune, fruit-loop sites and tweets etc, as proof positive of guilt?This is where the genius stuff comes in. We picked all 3 judges and appointed the chair and didn’t want anyone to spot what we had done by winning 3-0. Therefore we channelled our inner QPR, and decided to instil a bit more drama into the proceedings with the ‘vote’.
We went one down, equalised near the end and then judge Aguero gave us the win…….
We can appeal, but it won't go to CAS. If we appeal there would be a fresh hearing with a new panel.Why on earth would we do a deal anyway if we're innocent? The only fear is innocent or not they still stick us with a fine and a points deduction. UEFA did exactly that, a fine and a ban for two years. Luckily we had CAS to go too, not sure if we have such an option this time.
To which the answer is, 'We choose not to let what is in our opinion a circus of spurious client-media driven invective spoil our fun.Actually, it is true
Friends of ours emigrated to Australia around 20 years ago
My daughter (27 years old) posted pics on Instagram of us at the parade and the Dad commented back something along the lines of "what are you celebrating for? You've got 115 charges to face"
He's not stupid. He works as a regional manager for one of the largest banks in Australia and is a lifetime Ipswich supporter
There you have it, a new category to add to the know all know fuckall community The Ipswich / other teams Emigrant.
Did you complain to the BBC about the post? I know it seems futile but I complained about a comment recently and the BBC agreed to remove it. Only a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Unless he’s got previous, you’re right, the response has been well over the top. We’ve had way worse on hereHe's a good poster and I think the pile on is over the top to be honest. As you say, his only crime is that he's a bit misinformed but nowhere near as much as some of the other whoppers we've come across during this process.
I watched AFTV this evening to catch up on the transfer rumours and I was disappointed to see AFTV banging on about the charges as that hasn't been part of the agenda of AFTV all season. That being said there were City fans on here having a dig at the Thomas Partey accusations and in both cases it's innocent until proven guilty. You can't give it out to him and then complain that other fans give it to City. Not until the proper legal process has been allowed to take course.
Re the City charges, 115 is misleading as the reality is it will boil down to a few more serious charges and a bunch of other much more trivial misdemeanours. Bear in mind the traditional top 4 sides had decades to get their shit together and spend a fortune on building their clubs so if, big IF, City are guilty, it will be of doing something to develop the club in a way that the other big sides have historically been allowed to do but now times have changed and newly-monied clubs are unable to, and City bending the rules and concealing the true nature of events leading up to City being able to invest in the club.
From what I'm reading and hearing it is likely some sort of deal gets done in the background, City get a 20 point deduction and a big fine - will mean they won't win the league that season but still qualify for CL. The hysteria that City get relegated to the National League or whatever is overkill - not in a million years will that happen and it's in the club's interests to wrap things up quickly and I'm sure the lawyers will be advising them that as for sure with 115 charges to go through some of them will stick, even though there's an element of subjectivity to them all.
Note also, contrary to some of the posts in this thread, City were NOT cleared by UEFA. They were found guilty however there is a statute of limitations that applies when going to the European CAS meaning evidence older than a specified period of time cannot be used and therefore the charges were not allowed to stick. PL rules are different and evidence can be used from any period of time which is why I think the PL will get some of them to stick. But none of the charges are as serious as the ones Juventus faced for basically match-fixing and their penalty was relegation to the next division down. So there's nothing in my mind that makes me think City won't be able to do a deal behind the scenes with a one-off points deduction and a fine.
As a Gooner I'm genuinely not bitter at all - we've historically had the opportunity to spend whatever we wanted - we chose not to (despite at the time having a corrupt Putin stooge in the form of Alisher Usmanov as a major shareholder who wanted to splash his blood money around). Other clubs like Chelsea and the Rags did get their wallets out though and now they don't like it when someone else wants to spend their money on their club. Football has always been. That way in the PL era - heck even Blackburn bought a league title. Since then more clubs have come in with the readies to compete and build the infrastructure to take the club to the next level, set up sustainable infrastructure for the future, sustain higher revenue channel opportunities and so on.
Chelsea spent dirty Russian money on building that club. Money with blood on it.
And as for the Dippers being up in arms - let's just reflect on the fact that their club is responsible for the murder of 39 Juventus fans, responsible for English teams being banned from Europe, responsible for attacks on opponents team coaches. If there ever was any justice then that club would be permanently banned from Europe and would have been relegated by the FA for giving English football a bad name in the 80s. So I'd advise them to shut the fuck up.