Going after CFG?

[domalino]

The Mail, surprise, surprise, have today done a story by chief reporter Matt Hughes.

Pathetically attempting to also cite Newcastle as also wanting to start up their own version of CFG, inferring City pay players and coaches via sister clubs...

Anyhow, they say the Premier League are about to introduce new rules to clamp down on inter-related payments via wider football groups like the CFG, to stay within FFP salary caps.

Mentions Mancini's two salaries with just a cursory nod that we weren't charged over it.

It seems the CFG, along with the current plans to also stop related party sponsors, is also now on the radar.

Firstly, as I understand it, we merely charge other clubs for the services we provide and most multi-national companies do this, have employee salaries spread across the group?

We do not pay players or the manager off the books.

I'm getting seriously pissed about the collusion and the Mail smearing us in any way possible.

Premier League plan to curb Newcastle and Man City spending

The new regulations will form part of tightened restrictions on related-party sponsorship deals in a direct response to the £305million Saudi Arabian-led takeover of Newcastle.

www.dailymail.co.uk

At the end of the day there's nothing the Premier League can actually do about CFG.

If NYCFC wanted to pay Haaland £10m a year to host a football seminar every August the PL, UEFA, FA, FIFA are powerless to stop it. If he then was paid less by the club they can't stop it.

None of the football authorities Manchester City are governed by have the reach to effectively stop something that stretches so far beyond football and across the globe.

If they did, clubs would be pursuing that and not getting the Mail to reprint old news.

It's all theatre - like when 3 weeks ago everyone reported they were going to introduce new rules on related party sponsorships only for Stefan to show on twitter it was already in the league rulebook.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Tolmie is quite correct about how we deal with these payments and it's a normal part of group accounting. The group pay the wages and other overheads then recharge these. So instead of appearing in City's accounts as Wages, they appear as part of Operating Expenses.

You can even see this in the accounts. When the two central companies (CFM and CFS) were established, a number of staff were transferred from City to those 2 companies. So the staff numbers declared in City's accounts reduced, wages reduced but operating expenses increased, reflecting the change.

Many accused us then of "dodging FFP" but the overall impact on City's bottom line was minimal, maybe £2m, reflecting the costs attributed to the other group clubs. Also FFP rules were altered to bring those companies into our 'reporting perimeter'. So we were actually a bit worse off under FFP as we had to include costs for clubs not under the UEFA umbrella. So much more "dodging FFP".

I suspect this is partly why, about three years ago, we brought many of those staff back in-house as they were spending the vast majority of their time working for City. This was confirmed to me by Omar Berrada in December 2019. So staff numbers and wages went up, and operating expenses went down.

It's so fucking annoying that City don't come out and say this openly, relying on people like me, Stefan and others to do it. How hard would it be for them to use part of Pep's next press conference to make a clear statement correcting these fictions?

Because they know we have done nothing wrong and are treating the bullshit with the utter contempt it deserves.

 

[JASR]

At the end of the day there's nothing the Premier League can actually do about CFG.

If NYCFC wanted to pay Haaland £10m a year to host a football seminar every August the PL, UEFA, FA, FIFA are powerless to stop it. If he then was paid less by the club they can't stop it.

None of the football authorities Manchester City are governed by have the reach to effectively stop something that stretches so far beyond football and across the globe.

If they did, clubs would be pursuing that and not getting the Mail to reprint old news.

It's all theatre - like when 3 weeks ago everyone reported they were going to introduce new rules on related party sponsorships only for Stefan to show on twitter it was already in the league rulebook.

It’s as though they are just desperate to stop us (and now Newcastle) by any means they can dream up… who’d of thunk it

 

[Bozzie]

I do recall Martin Samuel saying that anyone who thinks City's PR Dept don't react swiftly and forcefully to media content they disapprove of is very mistaken. He could of course be peddling a bit of 'CIty PR' at the club's behest but it doesn't appear to be his style. Like most I guess, I'd like to see us be more openly assertive with the false narrative and insinuations that appear far too regularly across all strands of the media. Maybe the club are waiting for the PL investigation to be officially, and hopefully successfully, concluded before publicly flexing their muscles?

 

[Beaker]

How do you know they don’t?
They may well defend themselves vigorously but are just not publicity whores like the red yanks.

I don’t know anything about what goes on behind closed doors but what I do know is these journalists go after them time and time again with impunity. This suggests to me that the club just takes it on the chin.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

Far from being pissed off about our owners approach I rather enjoy it! Keep our powder dry for the war, these are just little skirmishes seeking to draw our fire. It might be difficult as a supporter who has no control or insider knowledge, but I just reach for the popcorn knowing the powers that be are in total control. Yes the FFP issue felt like Armageddon at times, but the Club never flinched. Every option is kept on the table by the CFG should we need to change approach, we won’t ever show our hand with rebuttals or denials, they are far too smart for these pretenders, it’s almost like me trying to take on Kasparov at chess.

 

[Keeper!]

At the next press conference, before the Everton game, instead of Pep sitting there on his own, what if Vicky Kloss, Ferran Soriano and Andy Young (the CFO) sat there and said "Before the manager answers any questions, we'd like to correct the article that appeared in the Daily Mail suggesting that we use City Football Group and some subsidiaries to somehow mis-state our accounts and thereby make them look more favourable for FFP purposes. Here are the facts that prove we don't, including figures from our published accounts. Following this there should be no excuse for suggesting we do mis-state the accounts and anyone suggesting otherwise will have no excuse or defence to any action we take against them".

It's out there in the public domain then.

Totally agree but it would be even better if Khaldoon Al Mubarak came and did it .

I would imagine Khalddon is not the type of guy who tolerated fools, lies, agendas and ignorance, it would be box office to watch.

 

[Barcon]

Had enough of this nonsense. I don't think I will pay any attention to it anymore and just enjoy the football.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

All these media attacks on the club demonstrate how much our success is hurting the old established clubs and the pressure they assert on to these media whores to besmirch the club and everything involved with it.

Whilst I personally take comfort in this, I do wish the club would take action and shut these poisonous cunts up instead of allowing them to peddle their vitriol and jealousy on behalf of the Yank owned clubs, as I believe them to be behind most of the worst shit thrown at us.

 

[Blue Mist]

Can anybody more learned than me give any plausible explanation as to why the hierarchy at City don’t publicly defend themselves against articles such as this and countless others.

I’m sure there is a reason as to why the club continues to maintain its silence in the face of so many unfounded allegations but I just don’t understand it.

They don't respond as it only adds fuel to the fire. If gives all the idiots licence to come out of the woodwork and spout even more shite.
How many articles do you read where it first of all lists the punishment we got from uefa, it highlights why we were banned, mentions human rights and then a small bit at the end says we were cleared on appeal.