CAS judgement: UEFA ban overturned, City exonerated (report out p603)

[Woody135]

A pair of 2s? That good a hand?!

They have managed to get €10m out of us

 

[Marvin]

The first casualty of war they say is the truth.

 

[Ban-jani]

A bit of a side point but CAS ruled that illegally hacked emails, were permissible for action by UEFA as it was in the public interest, despite the legal ruling in Portugal. Only 6 from 5.5m were used to prosecute City by UEFA.

Wonder what else is in the hacked emails from other clubs, which if obtained and planted in newspapers would suddenly become actionable by UEFA. If only a sovereign state with a mercenary hacking team (let's call them Raven), and an axe to grind against a number of other clubs, anonymously leaked other damaging emails to the press.

If UEFA didnt prosecute it would be clear the attack against City was malicious, and if they did I wonder how a number of the big clubs and their media would handle it?

It would be but City would never do that or do it via proxy.

We’re playing the long game of being whiter than white.

 

[chesterbells]

Obviously City have been on to it as not a mention even on Talkshite, think it was clear when the whole report from CAS clearly cleared us on any FFP charges that most of the early media releases were completely liable. Unfortunately most haters would have already read the original fraudulent releases !

Yeah, rather than be positive about us, just ignore the story.. Talksport. Caught 5 mins this morning and they were spending their time casting doubt on the Madrid tie at our place cos they’ve had a player tested positive.

 

[supercity88]

The impression I also get is that CAS are very diplomatic when writing up their reports so even if they feel UEFA have conducted a bent investigation they can’t actually say that in their report, hence why the strongest language they’ve used against UEFA in all this is the word “worrisome” in relation to the leaks.

Exactly and our case wasn't centred on the leaks as a reason for getting away with this so UEFA weren't being investigated for any breaches of protocol. We used that in our first appeal to make CAS aware and to try and subsequently justify our stance on not providing them with further evidence in their subsequent investigation.

 

[levets]

Keegan and his family are all rags

Keegan is 100% Oldham Athletic.

 

[chesterbells]

What a post.

Agree fully. It sounds odd to say it, especially in the immediate aftermath, but UEFA aren’t really the enemy here are they.
A minor point, but a reason why I won’t be booing the anthem when we finally get back in the ground.

 

[crazyg]

On Twitter. But why we let these rancid, lying fuckers wander around the Etihad unchallenged is beyond me. I'm certainly not advocating violence but we should given them a "guard of dishonour" when they walk into the stadium in future. They should learn that words have consequences.

So you're a lover, not a fighter?

 

[Cellarite]

I thought I'd do a post from UEFA's point of view after reading the report...boooooo!

What strikes me most is how stupid the whole thing has been from start to finish and what a looney tunes World we live in.

Just a bit of background. The old G14 agreed to officially disband what amounted to a powerful pressure group in return for some of their members being given positions on some decision making sections of UEFA. In some cases this amounted to 50% of the decision making body. The G14 also agreed that they wouldn't break away from UEFA...the often referred to Super-league. This single action was, and still is, UEFA's biggest mistake. They should have kept their independence at all costs even if it meant the G14 leaving UEFA and FIFA.

UEFA kept their part of the bargain. The G14 then morphed into the ECA containing hundreds of clubs throughout Europe. However the old G14 still retained control but were no longer referred to officially as the G14 and were regarded as founding members. The G14 now had an even bigger pressure group and crucially members on the inside of UEFA itself.

G14 used its powers to carry out all sorts of unfair practices. Some of them City fans are well aware of...changing FFP from debt based to turnover based is famous by now as is the redistribution of money from UEFA competitions based on historical success. The threat of a Super-league did not go away.

When City came along it was thought that FFP would limit our success as it would anybody else thinking of doing the same. City's business model however was frighteningly good, it went over FFP like a speed bump. Additionally the CFG were buying clubs from all four corners of the World. City's turnover quickly matched and surpassed that of many of the G14 clubs and City were hoovering up domestic trophies at an alarming rate.

Rather than welcoming the new investment into football G14 were terrified that their income was going down and used all their power to stop us. When DS published their hacked emails about City this was their big chance. They put enormous pressure on UEFA externally and internally to cut us off at the knees never to return.

What happened next is guesswork but won't be far off reading between the lines.

Confident of victory, the G14 and their press friends used the opportunity to attempt to influence public perception and also the two decision making chambers over which they crucially had an amount of control. This included the now famous leaks coming from UEFA itself.

Early reports were suggesting that UEFA's decision was a small fine. The G14 are furious. The emails looked extremely damaging and it looked like City were ignoring the rules but that UEFA was caving in. There was talk of FFP being meaningless if direct investment was allowed, more talk of a break-away and UEFAs governance being woeful. City were not fully cooperating and had something to hide.

UEFA are now in an awful position of their own making and they try to come up with a deal that will keep the G14 and City happy. No deal. A two year ban was announced to everyone's surprise but City.

The press find City guilty immediately. The American owners exert all their power over UEFA and the press that they can influence.

City knew the emails were out of context but did not give UEFA the proof preferring to take the case to CAS. This was a big gamble. As CAS pointed out City should have co-operated before the case reached CAS and UEFA might have not gone ahead with the expulsion. City were concerned about leaks and UEFA's impartiality.

When the case comes to CAS City hand over the full picture. UEFA only had the emails which turned out to be glued together and altered much to UEFA's embarrassment. City are cleared but punished for the smaller charge of none co-operation with the process.

G14 transfer their anger to UEFA in an attempt to remove more UEFA officials not G14 friendly. City and UEFA have talks about removing the UEFA officials that are G14 friendly.

The press are left with crumbs but keep going. With the legal backing now clear City stop some reports likely to cause the most damage.

So here we find ourselves. Who is the enemy now? Remember Soriano's video? It's all in there. City want to work with, not against, UEFA but remove the G14 infestation. City have sympathetic friends in UEFA who now realise they were naive to let certain people into their organisation.

Talk of replacing all of UEFA is dangerous because the replacement could be 100% Pro G14. Much easier to slowly replace the 5% using their influence for self gain.

City have won a big battle. The War has tipped in our favour. City fans want immediate revenge which isn't going to happen.

The old guard will have their power removed slowly and we will never notice it. One day we will be the old guard and we will try to protect ourselves from the new guard and we will be replaced...and on it goes...

Sometimes, just sometimes on here, you read something worthy of Fante.

 

[blue oli]

So after reflection and a lot of thought on this I decided to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

The influence of a small number of clubs on the European game has been unhealthy, it has also damaged the game eminently.

The clearing of these FFP charges is the start of a longer action i believe.

The non compliance with the investigation is a hit we are willing to take as it will drive further revelations in the Ethics case currently ongoing against UEFA. There is further corruption that will come out in this case, some of it in direct relation to our FFP case and the clubs putting pressure on the regulatory bodies.

This will probably name individuals, inferred club ties and damage the strangle hold on the game by an elite few clubs, including our very own red brigade in England.

Just got this feeling that we have influenced a much longer shake up in the game - which is also why Cerefin is talking to our leadership on such a regular basis - he wants the same level playing field - uncorrupted and fair that we do.