PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

willipp said:
What are the implications to Khaldoon if we are found guilty of the charges - the more serious ones? Surely someone as high profile across world politics as he is, is under serious scrutiny if the worst case does happen. Almost makes the notion of him being the head of the most corrupt football club the world has ever seen even more ludicrous.
Click to expand...
Pretty severe internally I'd presume.

They'd do nothing immediately, this generally isn't how the Arab dynastys work. They tend to wait a decade or so until everything has died down and then make their move but everybody who needs to understand that this is a punishment understands that this is a punishment. If the global news points at Khaldoon as a man who has fraudulently lied to investors then he will be removed and his entire powerbase and that of his family for a generation will be scrapped. Not in a violent manner, just a slow fall from grace into obscurity.
His entire job is to be palatable to Westerners like SilverLake with Mubadala investment. If the most famous trait about him is that he's caught cheating, defrauding, and lying about money then he's essentially fucked unless he can spin it to MbZ. They're very sensitive to reputational damage, as I say, they literally just neutralised the ruler of Dubai with whom they've had generations of rivalry with and the country's Constitution guaranteed his powerbase because he embarrassed them.
 
Shirley said:
I was a regular at Maine Road in the 60’s and I can honestly say I never met one of these fans who went to Maine Road one week and the swamp the next.
Perhaps it’s a myth.
Click to expand...

My father took me to Old Trafford and Maine Road whenever he could in the 60s but he was from Cardiff and so the sport was more important to him than being a fan. Something I picked up from him in every sport except football, funnily enough.
 
TheGhost said:
It probably like me saying I used to go to watch Stockport when they played on a Friday night. I probably went about 3 or 4 times. But I’ve very rarely missed a game at Maine Road and the Etihad in 40+ years
Click to expand...
I watched county on Fridays for a couple of seasons, my dad allowed me to go with my mates as it was close to home, I went to Maine Rd when I was with an adult, my rag bro-in-law took me a couple of times. Once I was old enougjh I ditched county and ended up with a season ticket on the Kippax, the rest is history (although we have none apparently)
 
LangleyBlue1970 said:
A few have said now that the day Liverpool Mathematically win the league we should release the verdict. I know that won’t happen, but in my warped head not only do we announce it, but it’s Bernardo who does it complete with training coat and
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20250328_115522_Samsung Internet.jpg
    Screenshot_20250328_115522_Samsung Internet.jpg
    205.2 KB · Views: 62
Damocles said:
Pretty severe internally I'd presume.

They'd do nothing immediately, this generally isn't how the Arab dynastys work. They tend to wait a decade or so until everything has died down and then make their move but everybody who needs to understand that this is a punishment understands that this is a punishment. If the global news points at Khaldoon as a man who has fraudulently lied to investors then he will be removed and his entire powerbase and that of his family for a generation will be scrapped. Not in a violent manner, just a slow fall from grace into obscurity.
His entire job is to be palatable to Westerners like SilverLake with Mubadala investment. If the most famous trait about him is that he's caught cheating, defrauding, and lying about money then he's essentially fucked unless he can spin it to MbZ. They're very sensitive to reputational damage, as I say, they literally just neutralised the ruler of Dubai with whom they've had generations of rivalry with and the country's Constitution guaranteed his powerbase because he embarrassed them.
Click to expand...
Wow powerful stuff and i presume Khladoon will know all this better than anyone. It would be an incredibly reckless and unnecessary risk he took if we are guilty. What you say just re assures me that we will come out on the right side of this.
 
Damocles said:
They believe Khaldoon to be the most actually powerful man in the UAE because he sits at the apex of their political, Governmental and economic systems and ties them all together. He is one of MbZ's closest advisors and accompanies him on state visits (as we saw with Trump). While doing this, he also actively runs Mubadala.

Khaldoon is from a very well to do family but not one of the ruling families. His father was the Ambassador to France and murdered in Paris when Khaldoon was a little boy and obviously his family were taken care of extremely well by the Al Nahyans. He grew up with the brothers essentially and was also educated in the US.

Khaldoon has two major advantages which is why he the Western countries like him. Firstly, he speaks their language. While he is absolutely aware of what some Westerners would call the "weird tribal stuff", he dodges this and wants to talk about global capital markets and social pressures and investment opportunities. He is someone that Westerners can feel comfortable around instead of the guys wearing traditional robes. Secondly, as he is not a Royal but instead just really close to them, he has an agility to pursue other things that they cannot. It would be entirely inappropriate for Sheikh Mansour to go on the City website and give interviews about the season for example, but it's fine for Khaldoon. His lack of Al Nahyan blood is actually a plus point for him rather than a negative. He's not a nepotism hire, he is an extremely competent man which is why he is where he is.

While Sheikh Mansour was your average C student, Khaldoon was the opposite. A very charismatic and personable student who worked hard and excelled. He picked up the language well.

Khaldoon's power is obvious from how we look at it, but he is still beholden to MbZ. He is MbZ's guy more than Mansour's guy if such a distinction even really makes sense. Everybody is MbZ's guy. But because he holds certain titles and positions and is a trusted advisor then because of how we in the West understand power structures and because he is more approachable then we see "the most powerful man in the UAE".
Click to expand...
One thing that people forget in our case is that HH Sheikh Khalifa was the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the President of the UAE for the first five years. MBZ didn’t gain full power until January 2014, when Khalifa had a stroke.
 
Shirley said:
I was a regular at Maine Road in the 60’s and I can honestly say I never met one of these fans who went to Maine Road one week and the swamp the next.
Perhaps it’s a myth.
Click to expand...
not a myth, the hatred was just not there, no segregation, a derby nothing like what it has become, the FA cup was the big one. My mate was a red, we stood on the Kippax and the scoreboard end at ot, trouble was usually down to pissed-up gobshites at both grounds. Football hooliganism mirrored what was happening to society, tribal and nasty. The season the rags were relegated, the Maine rd derby was the last match i went to for years, the thuggery on the pitch and on the terraces....
 
yerwot? said:
not a myth, the hatred was just not there, no segregation, a derby nothing like what it has become, the FA cup was the big one. My mate was a red, we stood on the Kippax and the scoreboard end at ot, trouble was usually down to pissed-up gobshites at both grounds. Football hooliganism mirrored what was happening to society, tribal and nasty. The season the rags were relegated, the Maine rd derby was the last match i went to for years, the thuggery on the pitch and on the terraces....
Click to expand...

Children collected cards and magazines with any team on the front middle or back, so to that degree it wasn't tribal.

However I don't know of anyone who took in a rag match one week and a City match the next mate.
 
Damocles said:
The UAE wouldn't exist without Al Suwaidi. When Sheikh Zayed wanted to unite the states, under one Government (mainly through bribery), Al Suwaidi was the guy they sent around to the other leaders with the money and offers. He was considered to have been a huge part of bringing in the smaller non Abu Dhabi/Dubai tribes.

A lot of the information on the history of the UAE and its setup actually comes from places like the CIA. And they generally consider the familial, loyalty and power structures to be completely impenetrable to anybody who isn't an actual member of the UAE ruling class. Nobody understands who works for who, who is powerful and who is just a name or nepotism hire. Who works at where and in what roles. Not Government intelligence agencies, let alone The Athletic.

Their culture is a polygamous society where family honor and duty is considered paramount. As I mentioned at the time, Sheikh Mansour is UAE Vice President as a punishment to the Dubai ruling family for embarrassing the country by needing a financial bailout. Sheikh Mansour has 21 siblings by Western definitions. He has 6 by UAE definitions. Though if any of the remaining 15 were to embarass themselves then it would be the fault of the UAE President (the head of the 6) who doesn't consider them family in the way we do and would be a major scandal. They're more akin to how we would view distant cousins.

The relationship between the current head of the Al Suwaidis and the current head of the Al Nahyan families (MBZ) is a much more "influential" one on the UAE Presidency than one of MBZ's brothers (in the 15) on MBZ. That doesn't make sense to Western ideas, how can some guy your Dad knew have more influence over you than your own brother?

These stories don't mean anything because there's about 4 families in Abu Dhabi (well, 1 and 2 quarters I guess) who own anything and they're all inter married. This how we get shit like this and the "Man City paid Michael Oliver" nonsense. It's impossible to do any sort of business in the entire UAE without being able to link it to anybody else in the UAE.
Click to expand...
The PL claims of “associated” are based on this factor. Every single relationship we have with AbuDhabi companies is “associated” in their book, but not in any sensible reality. For example, what is associated about our sponsorship from the Palace Hotel? I was surprised when our legal team did not really push this in those hearings but there were probably reasons.
Both UEFA and the PL decide what outcome they want and then make up some nonsensical principle on which to base a rule.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top