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

[Rammy Blue]

This is the crux of it for me.

Did someone in the UAE (i.e., HH) top up the sponsorship funds? Maybe, maybe not. The emails seem to suggest they did.

But if that money was invested in each of the sponsors and then paid into City's accounts directly from Etihad, Etisalat, Aabar, etc. (as also suggested by the emails), I don't see how UEFA have much of a case.

It's not like they'll have any access to those companies' accounts/bank records as they have no jurisdiction over them. And in the very unlikely scenario they even asked to see them, they will have been told to fuck off.

So, all that matters is that if City stated X million as Aabar sponsorship revenue, then City's own bank records need to show that same X million arriving directly from Aabar. And the leaked emails suggest they were very careful about ensuring that happened.

Now obviously, if City's accounts show 25% of that X million came from Aabar and 75% came from elsewhere (i.e., ADUG, Sheikh Mansour), then we're bang to rights. But we surely wouldn't be appealing if it was that cut and dried.

So, my own hypothesis is that UEFA "know" we have circumvented FFP; the emails show it. But they have no other proof. And even if those emails were admissible, they could theoretically be explained away as meaning something else.

Rather than allowing us to get away with what they see as blatant "cheating", and knowing that the evidence they have won't stand up in CAS (or court), they have sought to inflict massive reputational damage in the hope that some of that damage will stick even when the punishment is overturned.

This ties in with the rumours that UEFA were desperate to agree a deal with City that saw us accept guilt with a token slap on the wrist. That suggests they weren't at all confident that their "evidence" would stand up to intense scrutiny.

When City told them they weren't interested, UEFA went for the only other option left to them — nuclear reputational damage. This explains why the punishment is so excessive; they know it won't be upheld, but they had to go in hard for the world to take notice and make at least some of the mud stick.

That's my theory anyway!

That’s my exact theory too, added to by the fact that surely we could explain away the emails as being “conversation” rather than fact anyway, so the accounts/books are all that matters.

 

[Dubai Blue]

Again none of this is true. Where these companies got the money from is vitally important. How do you think criminals wash their money. By layering it through legitimate companies/shell companies etc.

I’m not for one second saying we’ve done this but I guarantee it’s not our defense.

We're being investigated by UEFA, not the FBI.

UEFA have zero jurisdiction to go delving through Aabar's accounts. They're the governing body of European football. How the money got into City's accounts is the only thing relevant to their investigation.

 

[blueinsa]

Sorry if this is posted earlier, but good points. They are not after ManCity but CFG as whole. But there are Chinese Involved, Americans involved and CFG operates in Japan, India, Australia

Way back Khaldoon said when we took the pinch that its a battle of business plans. We are going one way whilst the rest to a man goes the other and that the future fight would be who is right and he said he hoped that they would see the way we have done things will be the blueprint for the rest.

What they have done is try to rip our blueprint up and ensure no one ever thinks of trying it because they know it works but they are not able to copy.

With each hour that passes im confident this is going to the highest courts, not just CAS and that we will rip UEFA and the cartel of clubs behind them a new one.

Im also hopeful that years of dominance will be financed off the back of the damages they pay out as well, just to really rub salt in the wounds.

 

[Sir peace frog]

Wouldn't it be great if the court case was live on mcfctv

 

[bobmcfc]

There were all kinds of suggestions that UEFA had backed down. Ceferin was widely thought to be seeking a compromise and then came the Silverlake investment which suggested they had done their due diligence. You don't invest hundreds of millions into a football club if that club is about to lose a major revenue stream.

It seems pretty obvious that UEFA has been vacillating between one position and another. If City have proof of this then it compromises UEFA's adjudicatory chamber.

I think if City turned down a negotiated settlement then we must have had very very god reasons for doing so.

However this is all based on suppositions and Ifs. Maybe we all just misread reports including the media.

Hopefully the deal was offered in writing and we can put it forward to CAS. If not then it’s hearsay or even worse a fake offer designed to have us admit guilt before pulling the rug and hitting us with an even heftier sanction

 

[Bandofblues]

Nailed it, this is what fans of other clubs should be reading.

It should be cut and pasted onto every comments section of every online paper and forum. Stop bring baited into arguements just post the above and whenever someone else replies then post it again and just keep doing it.

 

[bluedan]

Would be class if Khaldoon wore a wire/camera when hosting Ceferin and UEFA. There had to be some point in hosting him and be brilliant if there was some admission that could be later used for our benefit in court.

 

[Tarzan41]

In this scenario you are describing money laundering. In essence we are using a bank transfer to a sponsor from us to falsely conceal the source of funds for a sponsorship deal. If that’s our defense we are truly buggered.

Nobody on here has a clue what our defense is. What is clear is that we are supremely confident of having this quashed. Our statement in response to the ban has basically accused UEFA of being totally corrupt. No legal team would dream of advising us putting this in writing unless they are 101% certain UEFA are wrong. An interesting time is ahead.

That’s not money laundering at all. No dirty money to launder. Money laundering is the process of turning dirty money or property into clean money.

 

[Dirty Harry]

see I’m very cynical towards this. If he offered us a deal in exchange for a guilty plea then it reeks of entrapment imo. I reckon any lesser punishment was a lie as they have form for goalpost moving.
I mean could we really try and claim we were offered a lesser sentence in return for a admission of guilt ?? Nobody would take our side because nobody is on our side

I’m glad we said no. If they really thought they had no case or feared a trial we wouldn’t have got 2 seasons. We have a huge fight on our hands and we’re up against a very corrupt system. Nobody can say FIFA and UEFA aren’t rife with corruption.

i hope to god that these last few years we’ve been gathering intel in exactly the same way they have got hold of the so called evidence they have on us.

Fighting clean just won’t cut it in my opinion and if we are going down then I’d like to think we can take the whole grubby house down with us

If we do have evidence of the original offer/conversation, and because we said no they upped the punishment hugely, then I would expect any impartial court to draw an inference that the case was brought, not out of a sense of justice, but one that was solely vindictive in nature.

What would be funny, in fact it would be truly hilarious, and cunning beyond belief, was if we knew our emails were being hacked, and we put out a few dodgy ones to smoke out the wolf (wolves) in sheep's clothing within the club and beyond.

 

[Marvin]

I'm not suggesting that's what our defence will be. I'm suggesting that's what may have happened.

City's task will be to show that X million was due from Aabar, Y million was due from Etisalat, and Z million was due from Etihad, etc. And then to produce records to show that X, Y, and X million was received from Aabar, Etisalat and Etihad, respectively.

How any of those companies got that money is none of UEFA's business and certainly beyond their jurisdiction.

The same people in the media have reported years earlier that the Etihad sponsorship was worth about £50m a year. I would have thought a sponsorship agreement exists somewhere!