City & FFP | 2020/21 Accounts released | Revenues of £569.8m, £2.4m profit (p 2395)

[jrb]

Daily Fail.

Manchester City fear UEFA fine for big spending... and may have broken FFP rules

By Ian Ladyman

Published: 22:30, 15 April 2014 | Updated: 22:30, 15 April 2014

Manchester City are becoming increasingly nervous that they will be one of the first major European clubs to be found in breach of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

European football’s governing body examined the finances of about 20 clubs who they feel need close examination with regards to FFP. That process - which also includes Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain - is expected to continue on Wednesday.

Though City were confident when they released their latest annual figures at the end of January that they had done enough to squeeze the right side of UEFA’s guidelines, they have become less certain over recent weeks

Officials at the world’s richest football club are unsure about how UEFA view their attempts to add extra revenue streams to their vast business in the last 12 months and are awaiting news with some trepidation.

If City are found to be in breach, they are likely to be fined rather than banned from European competition.

UEFA have indicated all along that they are likely to look favourably on clubs who have made genuine efforts to reduce their losses when it comes to deciding on punishment. City certainly fall into this category, having cut their annual deficit from £98million to £52m over the course of the last two financial years.

Part of that has come through reining in their transfer spending, which has fallen since 2011, when they set a club record with the £38m signing of Sergio Aguero.

Nevertheless, if City were to fail the test it would represent a blow to their reputation and would be an enormous disappointment, given the extraordinary lengths they have gone to in a bid to comply.

City’s official stance yesterday was that they have received no indication from UEFA as regards what may happen.

Nevertheless, at the heart of the club’s anxiety is UEFA’s investigation into City’s unusual decision to sell £24.5m worth of player image rights to an external company. That has never been done before by a leading English club and the interest in the manoeuvre has been heightened by the fact City have declined to reveal the company’s identity.

City are also aware that UEFA are examining the way in which the club raised £22.45m from selling their intellectual property rights to outside parties. It is thought this figure includes charging affiliate clubs New York City FC and Manchester Ladies FC for the use of City’s scouting and commercial services.

Finally, UEFA are known to be looking at the structure and market value of the 10-year, £350m deal City struck with Etihad in 2011 to sponsor their stadium, shirts and new training complex.

City are confident that everything they have done to reduce the losses created by the colossal spending of the last five-and-a-half years is above board and able to withstand the most rigorous examination. If they are found in breach of FFP, they may well appeal.

Once UEFA’s club financial control body have met this week they will write to clubs telling them they have passed or failed and offering those in breach a punishment or ‘settlement’.

The clubs will then have until April 30 to accept the sanction or appeal. UEFA would expect to deal with any appeals by May 5 but the matter could in theory drag on all summer if affected clubs appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

UEFA’s FFP guidelines say clubs must keep losses to an aggregate of £37.2m over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons and although City’s figure stands at £149.5m, the regulations contain two significant loopholes for clubs looking to prove they are making concerted efforts to reduce their losses.

The first is that any club who reduce their deficit between the last two seasons are allowed to write off the wages of any player signed before 2010.

Any spending on youth development, infrastructure and community projects over the past two years’ accounts is also deductible for FFP purposes.

UEFA president Michel Platini, who has driven FFP from its inception, has spoken publicly about throwing clubs out of European competition if they fail the tests but the truth is that UEFA only intend to apply this to repeat offenders.

One further issue that City will also be aware of, though, is that other European clubs can appeal if they think their rivals’ finances have not been examined properly.

Teams like Manchester United and Arsenal, for example, are keen that UEFA implement the rules as stringently as they said they would when FFP was first launched five years ago.

 

[kippaxblue76]

UEFA and the Whining clubs

People should not fall prey to the media attempt to not only rally haters, and there are plenty of them, to the agenda of City being the bad guys and thus should be hunted down, but also perhaps unintentionally make City fans absorb a guilt that our club is actually doing something wrong. This is the general impression I am getting from reading this thread- there are folks here that has allowed the media to twist their minds into thinking we are in the wrong and with the feeling of guilt comes the expectation of consequences hence the hysteria about the possible ban, point deduction and whatever you want to talk about

My opinion is that the fight and focus should not be about addressing guilt or fear but of attacking and fighting the universal unfair system of Elitism and Protectionism rampant in today society and has seemed to permeate football and sports in general.

The whole FFP is a UEFA sham to retain the so called status quo on clubs. It has naught to do with fairness, justice or responsibility. So that is what the focus should be on because the reality is that the good guys are the ones fighting this horrible elitist system in which any club outside the so called, self proclaimed elite cannot progress and get to the level of parity and beyond. These are the bad guys: UEFA and the whining clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and one or two others.

Other fans of clubs that are not part of the elite are too blinded by jealousy of clubs like City and PSG and media power of persuasion to actually identify the bad guys in this issue and the campaign for clubs like City and PSG that are challenging the status quo should be to spread the message that the only way any club can have sustained long term progress in this modern era is by external investment, a wee help, but the jealousy will obviously win the day because afterall it is not their club with this new money to challenge and compete at the highest level, it is ours so why should they care.

I don't care how efficient and wise a so called non -elite club is to raise a team of young locals or country men that will win the title because the bottom line is that if they did win the title or qualify for the champions league , clubs like Real Madrid and other so called elite clubs will come with hundred of millions of pounds to buy those players and the owner and chairman of such clubs will have no choice but to sell. Therefore success can never be sustained in this modern era without a situation of financial comfort that comes from external investment so that clubs can retain their players and continue to compete against the elite. This is what we are doing, challenging the elite and other clubs should be actually cheering and not jeering our situation and welcome more investment so that other clubs in Europe can also be in a situation to progress, compete and build a foundation of sustained success for the future. It is clear that city are doing just that in terms of building for the future and investing in the community and every person including the media can see this but as I said, jealousy and media indoctrination, a very strong force indeed.

This story is another sensationalist nonsense but is a stark example of the hostile environment clubs like City will find themselves as they continue to fight the power.

Excellent post.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

they want clubs to get their finances in order

but it's OK to be indebted to your eyeballs

yeah right

what a bunch of agenda driven clowns they truly are

It wouldn't surprise me if it did start out with noble intentions. But once they'd ran it past the big clubs (that have a record of holding the rest of football to ransom) it became obvious that anything that would actually work (wage caps, actually distributing money evenly, etc) were non-starters.

 

[Balti]

Daily Fail.

Manchester City fear UEFA fine for big spending... and may have broken FFP rules

By Ian Ladyman

Published: 22:30, 15 April 2014 | Updated: 22:30, 15 April 2014

Manchester City are becoming increasingly nervous that they will be one of the first major European clubs to be found in breach of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

European football’s governing body examined the finances of about 20 clubs who they feel need close examination with regards to FFP. That process - which also includes Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain - is expected to continue on Wednesday.

Though City were confident when they released their latest annual figures at the end of January that they had done enough to squeeze the right side of UEFA’s guidelines, they have become less certain over recent weeks

Officials at the world’s richest football club are unsure about how UEFA view their attempts to add extra revenue streams to their vast business in the last 12 months and are awaiting news with some trepidation.

If City are found to be in breach, they are likely to be fined rather than banned from European competition.

UEFA have indicated all along that they are likely to look favourably on clubs who have made genuine efforts to reduce their losses when it comes to deciding on punishment. City certainly fall into this category, having cut their annual deficit from £98million to £52m over the course of the last two financial years.

Part of that has come through reining in their transfer spending, which has fallen since 2011, when they set a club record with the £38m signing of Sergio Aguero.

Nevertheless, if City were to fail the test it would represent a blow to their reputation and would be an enormous disappointment, given the extraordinary lengths they have gone to in a bid to comply.

City’s official stance yesterday was that they have received no indication from UEFA as regards what may happen.

Nevertheless, at the heart of the club’s anxiety is UEFA’s investigation into City’s unusual decision to sell £24.5m worth of player image rights to an external company. That has never been done before by a leading English club and the interest in the manoeuvre has been heightened by the fact City have declined to reveal the company’s identity.

City are also aware that UEFA are examining the way in which the club raised £22.45m from selling their intellectual property rights to outside parties. It is thought this figure includes charging affiliate clubs New York City FC and Manchester Ladies FC for the use of City’s scouting and commercial services.

Finally, UEFA are known to be looking at the structure and market value of the 10-year, £350m deal City struck with Etihad in 2011 to sponsor their stadium, shirts and new training complex.

City are confident that everything they have done to reduce the losses created by the colossal spending of the last five-and-a-half years is above board and able to withstand the most rigorous examination. If they are found in breach of FFP, they may well appeal.

Once UEFA’s club financial control body have met this week they will write to clubs telling them they have passed or failed and offering those in breach a punishment or ‘settlement’.

The clubs will then have until April 30 to accept the sanction or appeal. UEFA would expect to deal with any appeals by May 5 but the matter could in theory drag on all summer if affected clubs appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

UEFA’s FFP guidelines say clubs must keep losses to an aggregate of £37.2m over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons and although City’s figure stands at £149.5m, the regulations contain two significant loopholes for clubs looking to prove they are making concerted efforts to reduce their losses.

The first is that any club who reduce their deficit between the last two seasons are allowed to write off the wages of any player signed before 2010.

Any spending on youth development, infrastructure and community projects over the past two years’ accounts is also deductible for FFP purposes.

UEFA president Michel Platini, who has driven FFP from its inception, has spoken publicly about throwing clubs out of European competition if they fail the tests but the truth is that UEFA only intend to apply this to repeat offenders.

One further issue that City will also be aware of, though, is that other European clubs can appeal if they think their rivals’ finances have not been examined properly.

Teams like Manchester United and Arsenal, for example, are keen that UEFA implement the rules as stringently as they said they would when FFP was first launched five years ago.

 

[stirlingblue]

Feel free to leave David Gill a message.

Former Manchester United chief executive David Gill has been handed power by UEFA to recommend bans on clubs such as rivals Manchester City and Chelsea, who may find themselves in breach of new European Financial Fair Play rules.

Having stepped down from his post at Old Trafford at the end of last season to become a UEFA executive member, Gill has now been appointed chairman of the governing body’s extremely influential Club Licensing Committee.

The committee essentially decides which clubs are entitled to licences to play Champions League and Europa League football. This will become increasingly important as UEFA’s FFP rules shape the landscape of European football in the coming years.

Gill is a known advocate of FFP and one of four Barclays Premier League chiefs who proposed similar rules be implemented in English domestic football back in January.

If you honestly think you can stop Sheikh Mansour and City, you're f***ing deluded Gill. Enjoy the Europa League - if you Rags actually manage to qualify!

Fixed

 

[Hamann Pineapple]

City Watch ‏@City_Watch 7 mins

The Times/@Marcotti: City's punishment if they breach FFP could be a £1 penalty for every £1 that they are over the allowed limit.

 

[sam-caddick]

City Watch ‏@City_Watch 7 mins

The Times/@Marcotti: City's punishment if they breach FFP could be a £1 penalty for every £1 that they are over the allowed limit.

I can't see that myself as we would be talking millions, I would take a transfer embargo over that and that's saying something.

 

[Gillespie]

If we were to be banned, given a transfer embargo or stripped of any titles (which is being sprouted by some papers, namely the daily fail) then it would be a complete and utter farce as there are clubs such as U****d who are swimming in debt, yet don't get looked into? In a court of law, any accusation/action taken against us will be dropped as this is unfair and corrupt in order to protect an elite.

And the fact that other clubs (Such as Arse,Livershit and U****d) can pressure UEFA and appeal for a longer/harsher sentence is absurd!! Conflict of Interest? If City given a transfer embargo, it will obviously benefit said teams!!!

Our owners obviously have the best lawyers, accountants and men to make sure we get through the door. Having said this, Uefa and other teams will try and move as many goalposts as possible to see that we fail.

On a side note, seeing the comments from fans of different clubs, saying that we get what we deserve etc really piss me off! However I can feel a sense of warmth that they are so envious of us they need to fuel rumours to make us panic.

I'd say your post is more likely to induce panic.

As a non City fan, I do not believe you face any kind of major sanction. At worst a slap on the wrist fine.

The fact is UEFA is a brand and you can't diminish the CL's money making appeal by losing City from the competition. Fans want to see Aguero, Toure, Negredo, Silva etc. Same for PSG.

Too much febrile paranoia on here if you ask me. Calm down nothing of any substance will hit you. Relax and try knocking the Scousers off top spot and while you're at it, spank Everton by 6 goals for me. Cheers!

 

[MCC]

City Watch ‏@City_Watch 7 mins

The Times/@Marcotti: City's punishment if they breach FFP could be a £1 penalty for every £1 that they are over the allowed limit.

Making the rules up as they go along!

 

[BongoBlue]

If we were to be banned, given a transfer embargo or stripped of any titles (which is being sprouted by some papers, namely the daily fail) then it would be a complete and utter farce as there are clubs such as U****d who are swimming in debt, yet don't get looked into? In a court of law, any accusation/action taken against us will be dropped as this is unfair and corrupt in order to protect an elite.

And the fact that other clubs (Such as Arse,Livershit and U****d) can pressure UEFA and appeal for a longer/harsher sentence is absurd!! Conflict of Interest? If City given a transfer embargo, it will obviously benefit said teams!!!

Our owners obviously have the best lawyers, accountants and men to make sure we get through the door. Having said this, Uefa and other teams will try and move as many goalposts as possible to see that we fail.

On a side note, seeing the comments from fans of different clubs, saying that we get what we deserve etc really piss me off! However I can feel a sense of warmth that they are so envious of us they need to fuel rumours to make us panic.

I'd say your post is more likely to induce panic.

As a non City fan, I do not believe you face any kind of major sanction. At worst a slap on the wrist fine.

The fact is UEFA is a brand and you can't diminish the CL's money making appeal by losing City from the competition. Fans want to see Aguero, Toure, Negredo, Silva etc. Same for PSG.

Too much febrile paranoia on here if you ask me. Calm down nothing of any substance will hit you. Relax and try knocking the Scousers off top spot and while you're at it, spank Everton by 6 goals for me. Cheers!

We'll do our best, mate...:)