I'll take the self-publicist remark as a compliment, although I've never set out to promote my "brand" over my mission of demystifying football finance and defending City's corner. You've been a staunch ally in that latter cause and I think we've earned our reputation as two of the leading City financial figures.
But I'm most surprised at the toolkit comment. I started on that road when Khaldoon mentioned at the time of the 2014 settlement that the beef with UEFA was over the treatment of wages.
I did a forensic deep-dive into the FFP regulations, including the toolkit, and I've documented the change from version 1 of the toolkit dealing with eligible wage deductions to version 2. It's unarguable that there was a material change in a key part of the basis of calculation. I clearly demonstrated this with screenshots of the 'before' and 'after'.
I worked with Swiss Ramble, whose sources at UEFA were invaluable in accurately identifying some of the key figures, and we agreed the calculations. I knew the figures that had been agreed between City & UEFA. Professor Rob Wilson at Sheffield Hallam reviewed my work and accepted it.
Furthermore I've had indications from the club that I was on the right lines. So I'm fully confident in my work. I therefore think your choice not to believe it reflects on you, not me.
Edit: here's a link to the piece I did on this. Please note that the reference to not collaborating with Swiss Ramble only refers to the piece he wrote on this. We did collaborate on the initial investigations into City's attempt to mitigate the impact of their losses for the first FFP assessment.
By Colin Savage. (@prestwichblue) Introduction I’ve written about this before but it’s clear some people still think that it’s something that I’ve made up in my fevered imagination. Having revisite…
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