Re: City & FFP (continued)
MCFC Financial Fair Play Statement:
Manchester City Football Club can confirm that at the end of the current financial year (May 31st) it is on course to financially break even, as planned.
Operating with no debt, the Club is realising its football and commercial opportunities whilst continuing unprecedented investments in both youth development and the local community
From the outset, the Club has engaged with UEFA in its introduction of the Financial Fair Play Regulations in good faith and without prejudice and in a transparent and collaborative manner. The Club’s position is that it is beholden upon UEFA and the European football establishment to ensure the same.
The Club can confirm that it has been in discussions with UEFA over the last month - in relation to the application of Financial Fair Play regulations - as has been widely reported and communicated by UEFA. At the heart of those discussions is a fundamental disagreement between the Club’s and UEFA’s respective interpretations of the FFP regulations on players purchased before 2010. The Club believes it has complied with the FFP regulations on this and all other matters.
In normal circumstances, the Club would wish to pursue its case and present its position through every avenue of recourse. However, our decision to do so must be balanced against the practical realities for our fans, for our partners and in the interests of the commercial operations of the Club.
As a result of these considerations and the fact that the Club is now break even in in its operations, the Club has decided to enter into a compromise agreement with UEFA with the following practical outcomes:
- MCFC will lose 10m Euros of its share of income from UEFA for competing in the Champions League completion in season 2013-14.
- MCFC will lose 10m Euros of its share of income from UEFA for competing in the Champions League for season 2014-15
- Rather than having an accumulative allowance of 30m Euros of losses over the next two reporting years (like all other clubs), MCFC will have specific stipulated allowances for 2013-14 and 2014-15 of 20m Euros and 10m Euros respectively. Significantly, MCFC plans to be profitable in 2014-15 and in the years that follow.
- The MCFC Champions League squad for the 2014-15 competition will be limited to 21 players. In 2013-14 the club registered 23 players for the competition and used 21.
- The Club’s expenditure on new players for the upcoming summer transfer window, on top of income from players it might sell, will be limited to 60m euros. This will have no material impact on the Club’s planned transfer activity.
- The wage bill of the whole club (playing and non-playing staff) for 2014-15 will need to remain at the same level as that of 2013-14 season. It is important to note that additional bonuses for performances can be paid outside this number. Importantly, in reality, the existing MCFC business plan sees a natural decline in that wage bill.
- Given the unique nature of the new City Football Group structure – which incorporates MCFC, New York City, Melbourne Heart and a number of other companies, the Club has agreed to certain non-material terms in order to make FFP reporting as easy as possible for UEFA to discern.
The nature of conditions that will result in the lifting of sanctions means that the Club expects to be operating without sanction or restriction at the commencement of the 2015-16 season.
Importantly all non-financial sanctions agreed to would have been complied with as a natural course of the Club’s planned business operations.
I'll take this all day everyday.
Not done bad at all bearing in mind they want us out and destroyed as a club
