PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

World class ****.

Wouldn’t believe a thing he says but he does sound like he’s licking his wounds in that article.

Very much written like “they just couldn’t get past the smoke and mirrors but everyone knows they’re guilty”.
Also, belittling our CAS 'victory', making more of being found guilty initially, the twat:

"By contrast, UEFA took just two days to find City guilty of financial manipulation on the basis of similar evidence, in January 2020 - a verdict later overturned on appeal."
 
To be honest, I think bringing in analogies to Harold Shipman is a new low.
homer-of-all-your-crazy-schemes-this-ranks-somewhere-in-the-v0-pqszebt6ribd1.webp

It's that bad, when you sit and think about it. It's about 5th. Our fanbase was called "vermin" by a professional; journalist at one of the world's most circulated newspapers, for telling them they were factually wrong when they were factually wrong.

I want to thank @johnny crossan for recording this back in 2010. I archived it at the time and I've never forgotten this. The context is that Mancini was in Italy at the time and the reports were false FYI. They have always despised us, look at the contempt from these failed no marks, none of which are still mainstream reporters.

 
We would want to be completely cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to finances.
Any doubt and the jealous fans will cling to any excuse. They see us as a lance Armstrong, OJ Simpson type. Dirty oil club and at this stage it’s exhausting
 
World class ****.

Wouldn’t believe a thing he says but he does sound like he’s licking his wounds in that article.

Very much written like “they just couldn’t get past the smoke and mirrors but everyone knows they’re guilty”.
Sounds like just one last hurrah before the judgement comes out and he can’t write shit like that again
 
If you could pick one person to go after who would it be?
Ziegler.

Most of these people are just twats but he's a genuinely good reporter who is engaging in client journalism. Herbert, Delaney, etc. They're no marks, bloggers in a failing industry that nobody cares about now. They're 40 year old Saturday Social clowns. Ziegler knows better though. He knows what he is doing is ethically wrong but he does it anyway.
 
Ziegler.

Most of these people are just twats but he's a genuinely good reporter who is engaging in client journalism. Herbert, Delaney, etc. They're no marks, bloggers in a failing industry that nobody cares about now. They're 40 year old Saturday Social clowns. Ziegler knows better though. He knows what he is doing is ethically wrong but he does it anyway.
and is the very first post on this monumental thread.
 
I would temper this slightly by observing that the animosity towards us started when we began to dominate - pretty much from the start of the Pep era. From memory, when we won the league with the Aguero moment, there was great euphoria from media. The hatred ramped up after the Der Speigel leaks.

Any other team might become the victim of jealousy if they start to dominate, or if they threaten to remove one of the establishment clubs. Newcastle have already had their ambitions reined in.
Oh, it certainly got worse under the Pep era and yes dominating will breed resentment for any club is not part of the red cartel to some extent. We are talking about the mainstream media coverage here though at the core and that sort of negative coverage started way before the Pep era for City. The first PL title win broke viewing records and broke up United's dominance(stopped them doing yet another threepeat, when you think about it). They were happy with that but it quickly changed soon after. Also, lets not forget the season before that, was the overhead shin from Rooney, where City were treated with all sorts of contempt, labeled mercinaries, belittled, mocked. They were already in the habit of shitting on all of our signings before they'd even kicked a ball for us(Yaya, Silva etc). This all fits with the theory about United perhaps being the biggest reason for the difference in coverage, with clubs that should in theory be getting the same sort of press treatment. After the first PL win, they desperately wanted City to be the new Blackburn. In fact, those comparisons were frequent in the papers, as I remember it. They seemed happy United won it, as they felt business had returned to normal. Even during that season, there were signs of them worring that it wasn't a one off, given they'd heard Fergie was thinking of retiring. When City had the audacity to deny Liverpool a title the season after, the anti-City machine had gone up a gear. I seem to recall net spend lists started appearing. Then came the 2014 FFP sancations and so on(sweeping Liverpools under the rug).

I guess my point is, you'll find articles with some of the same arguments and complaints for these similar clubs/ownerships(I dug up an article about Chelsea's wage bill ruining football a while back for example) but it's never nearly as frequent and not nearly as widespread. Chelsea got a bit of it at their peak but not City levels of it(everyone on the enemies of football hyperbole train). Yes, Newcastles spending has been reigned-in with the regulations but it still feels like they are getting off very light, with the state owned aspect. It seems quite a lot in the MSM don't feel the need to mention it. With City, it seems like they all push the same narratives, they sustain the stories longer and they rehash/repeat the same things more, to make sure they have the public repeating what they want them to repeat. The lack of balance just isn't comparable, from what I remember.

I still don't see any club ever getting to the same level because it's not really repeatable. Because of City's relationship with United and what happened to them during City's rise. There's only Everton I can think of, where that's even possible, to be fair. However, as much as I'd love City to be able to take credit, City aren't the reason United are in the state they are in. So, if that is the reason for the widespread biased coverage starting in the early 2010s, it just shows you how silly football can get. United are in fact lucky, that they had credit in the bank. Luckier still, that the rigged PL format and media backing, protected them and kept them relevant and so on(because they've been awful and have been ran terribly). United being relatively fine, in spite of all the things that have gone wrong, shows how rigged football is, post PL launch.
 
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I'm so very fortunate (yeah, ok) to be exposed to a plethora of football fans from across the top 5 tiers through various WhatsApp channels, and the general consensus the last few months, especially since it's gone quiet, is "they need to get on and punish City with something, seen as they did with Everton and Forest".

It's like talking to a brick wall. There is no conversation. There is no fact checking. Anything other than punishment will be seen as an outrage.
 


Anyone have access able to provided the content?

I am a confirmed no nowt but I believe Stefan claimed the opposite previously that a large delay was more likely to signify that the most serious claims we had lost on. Basically what our friend magic hat is posting under this tweet. I obviously cannot find this now so happy to be shot down that Stefan never actually said this.
 

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