inbetween said:
yankcitizen76 said:
I don't care whether they fined us 100 million to 100 billion dollars. I want to know why Real, Barca, United and Chelsea were found
not to be guilty either. One year Real spent 300 million dollars and it didn't get them anything. I also want to know how the special
government status given Real and Barca effects the FFP rules. I also want to understand how we are supposed to compete with
larger clubs with more revenue?? I want a written, legal document on every point of City's probation or I would tell them to stuff it,
One of our fans has got to be a layer or a barrister and can pick apart the actual punishment and the real story. I want the truth on this!
There isn't really much to pick apart. FFP is not a legal act or document. It is simply rules which supposedly define a club attaining a UEFA license, no license means no competition in UEFA competitions. In UEFA's judgement we have failed those rules and really a legal challenge is difficult because it will take ages and there is no guarantee of winning. European Law is notoriously open to interpretation and the result would pretty much be dependent on what is best for Europe and football as opposed to us or UEFA. The EU likes to give sport a degree of autonomy when dealing with it's own affairs so I think it is likely that they will side with UEFA. I once said on here that FFP would be defeated if it ever got to court but the problem is City cannot really challenge our sanctions with the EU, we must go for the whole thing. City can appoint lawyers to challenge FFP as a whole in court but that has not happened and probably will never happen because of the huge process involved. We also won't challenge it because after the coming year FFP is irrelevant to us because we are on target to break even and pass anyway. What we will never see though from us and we have never seen anyway is a huge transfer like Messi or Ronaldo for £100M+ and FFP will directly prevent that in the future at other clubs too.
We are currently on target to break even and make a profit in the future and that is why City are so narked with UEFA because we worked with them and showed them how our business plan meant we aren't reckless but we are building something. Instead UEFA chose to sanction us and we have basically been made an example of. The other clubs passed because they were relatively pragmatic, we instead chose to carry on spending and that is why we failed FFP. I'm assuming however this was all on the presumption that UEFA gave some signal that a small breach would be met lightly but this has not been the case and we have been made an example of.
Chelsea, United, Barca, Real all passed FFP which is amazing considering their spending but you have to remember that they all have won absolutely nothing between them (Real could win the CL still!) and this is likely because they haven't been able to
properly spend. We however threw caution to the wind and decided to spend and that is why we have failed but it is also arguably why we won 2 trophies this season. I'd take that any day.
Its is widely accepted that Sport gets a reasonable degree of autonomy.
The question is here is where does sport end and business begin.
The definition of sport is
"An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment:"
It is when you get into the realms of professional sport that contract law, employment law, h&s law, torts etc.
What Uefa (& G14) are actually doing is trying to hide behind the "sporting exemptions" to produce rules for which it could be argued that are technically not compliant with EU law.
Smaller clubs (those outside the G14) have a variety of reasons not to challenge them at the moment (owners self interest, can't afford to, rules do not overly affect them (right now) or just fear of the bullys.
City are not in that position, I do not think they are scared of the bullys, I just think the rules don't overly affect them right now. They are on target to break even and move into profitability, They have a strategy which will shortly make them a finacially powerful club that falls within the FFP rules. Why should they rock the boat, they want to join the elite and make the G14 the G15.
I just hope and pray that when we (City) get there and achieve G15 status we remember our roots, our fight with FFP, the fans of football and continue the fight against this unfair restriction from within.
Let someone else take the fight, maybe the new owner of Villa, maybe West Ham, who are about to move into a new stadium, maybe the next Max Griggs (Rushden and Diamonds). In no other industry is owner investment disallowed, why should it be in football.
