La Liga official complaint about City

[CC1]

Here's what I've sent:

In issue 422 and on several previous occasions, you’ve referred to Manchester City as ‘state owned’. This is completely inaccurate and taints your reputation as a serious football publication. Manchester City’s immediate parent is City Football Group and in CFG’s accounts, their own ownership is set out in Note 13 and which states (and I quote verbatim) “City Football Group is a company incorporated in England and Wales. The Company is 75.1% owned by its parent undertaking Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited, a company registered in Abu Dhabi and wholly owned by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The remaining 25.9% is owned by China Media Capital Football Holdings Limited (12.4%), SLA CM Marcus Holdings, L.P. (10.4%), and Vega FZ, LLC (2.1%).”

Sheikh Mansour, the majority owner, is undeniably a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family but owns the club in a private capacity. That doesn’t make City “state owned” any more than the Queen’s racehorses or Prince Andrew’s well-publicised ski chalet are “state owned”.

And then in your article on foodbanks, you highlight the great work Alex Timperley and other fans are doing but spoil the article completely by comparing what they’re doing to Erling Haaland’s wages. City isn’t the only club who pay fees and wages and nor is East Manchester the only area that suffers above average deprivation. It would have been better to showcase the work Alex and his team are doing with the vast improvements made in the area around the Etihad Stadium, which include the City Football Academy, the only sixth form college in East Manchester and the building of a huge indoor arena that will bring economic benefits to the area. All of those have been built by the club’s owner. It involved the cleaning up of what was a toxic land environment from the coal mine and dye works that previously occupied it. It also ignores the fantastic work done over many years by City In The Community to improve the lives of young adults and children in the surrounding area.

As a fan, I’m very proud of all my club does, globally and in that local community, and also in the little kindnesses it quietly but regularly shows to fans who need a bit of support in difficult times. WSC is seemingly proud of how it highlights football’s links with local communities so it would be nice to redress the balance by both being accurate in your reporting and doing an article showing that even a leading Premier League club hasn’t forgotten its roots in, and responsibilities to, those communities. But I suspect that anything that might show Manchester City in any other light than football’s pantomime villain will be off WSC’s agenda.

Let's see if they publish it (although I won't hold my breath).

Brilliant PB - can you email it to Mr Jordan at talkshite???

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Just as an aside, 75.1 + 25.9 = 101.

Thanks. I've sent an amended, correct version.

 

[oakiecokie]

Brilliant PB - can you email it to Mr Jordan at talkshite???

I`ll second that.

 

[Tbilisi]

Brian Granville, a great football writer, made this point several years ago. For him, the first 5 European cups did not count.

Yes thats where I got it from, I used to get World Soccer magazine and he was always talking about Franco and how he shafted Barca.

 

[feelymcfeel]

Thanks. I've sent an amended, correct version.

no bother. Only mentioned it as some other pedantic arsehole just like me would have clocked it.

 

[jrb]

Lol!

LaLiga will file a lawsuit with the French courts through lawyer Juan Branco to prevent Kylian Mbappe's new contract with Paris Saint-Germain from being validated.

Spanish football's governing body considers the new deal to be 'illegal' because it violates UEFA's financial fair play rules. In the event the French courts do not rule in favour of LaLiga, action will be sought from the European Commission and it is not ruled out filing a lawsuit at the Court of Justice of the European Union.

(This is the best bit towards the end of the article. They are f*cking insane!)

Meanwhile (Juan Branco), he also accused "state clubs or clubs [owned by] oligarchs" such as PSG or Manchester City of undermining European football by forcing clubs such as Real Madrid or Barcelona, who do respect the rules, to increase revenue from stadium tickets or shirt sales in order to compete on an equal footing.

LaLiga will try to prevent Mbappe's new contract from coming into force

LaLiga will file a lawsuit with the French courts through lawyer Juan Branco to prevent Kylian Mbappe's new contract with Paris Saint-Germain from being validated. Spanish footbal

www.marca.com

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

no bother. Only mentioned it as some other pedantic arsehole just like me would have clocked it.

Or like me!

 

[The First Earl]

All I said was that piece of fish was good enough for Jehovah.

Lol!

LaLiga will file a lawsuit with the French courts through lawyer Juan Branco to prevent Kylian Mbappe's new contract with Paris Saint-Germain from being validated.

Spanish football's governing body considers the new deal to be 'illegal' because it violates UEFA's financial fair play rules. In the event the French courts do not rule in favour of LaLiga, action will be sought from the European Commission and it is not ruled out filing a lawsuit at the Court of Justice of the European Union.

(This is the best bit towards the end of the article. They are f*cking insane!)

Meanwhile (Juan Branco), he also accused "state clubs or clubs [owned by] oligarchs" such as PSG or Manchester City of undermining European football by forcing clubs such as Real Madrid or Barcelona, who do respect the rules, to increase revenue from stadium tickets or shirt sales in order to compete on an equal footing.

LaLiga will try to prevent Mbappe's new contract from coming into force

LaLiga will file a lawsuit with the French courts through lawyer Juan Branco to prevent Kylian Mbappe's new contract with Paris Saint-Germain from being validated. Spanish footbal

www.marca.com

It‘s becoming more ironic than Gullivers travels this nonsense.

 

[The perfect fumble]

Here's what I've sent:

In issue 422 and on several previous occasions, you’ve referred to Manchester City as ‘state owned’. This is completely inaccurate and taints your reputation as a serious football publication. Manchester City’s immediate parent is City Football Group and in CFG’s accounts, their own ownership is set out in Note 13 and which states (and I quote verbatim) “City Football Group is a company incorporated in England and Wales. The Company is 75.1% owned by its parent undertaking Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited, a company registered in Abu Dhabi and wholly owned by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The remaining 25.9% is owned by China Media Capital Football Holdings Limited (12.4%), SLA CM Marcus Holdings, L.P. (10.4%), and Vega FZ, LLC (2.1%).”

Sheikh Mansour, the majority owner, is undeniably a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family but owns the club in a private capacity. That doesn’t make City “state owned” any more than the Queen’s racehorses or Prince Andrew’s well-publicised ski chalet are “state owned”.

And then in your article on foodbanks, you highlight the great work Alex Timperley and other fans are doing but spoil the article completely by comparing what they’re doing to Erling Haaland’s wages. City isn’t the only club who pay fees and wages and nor is East Manchester the only area that suffers above average deprivation. It would have been better to showcase the work Alex and his team are doing with the vast improvements made in the area around the Etihad Stadium, which include the City Football Academy, the only sixth form college in East Manchester and the building of a huge indoor arena that will bring economic benefits to the area. All of those have been built by the club’s owner. It involved the cleaning up of what was a toxic land environment from the coal mine and dye works that previously occupied it. It also ignores the fantastic work done over many years by City In The Community to improve the lives of young adults and children in the surrounding area.

As a fan, I’m very proud of all my club does, globally and in that local community, and also in the little kindnesses it quietly but regularly shows to fans who need a bit of support in difficult times. WSC is seemingly proud of how it highlights football’s links with local communities so it would be nice to redress the balance by both being accurate in your reporting and doing an article showing that even a leading Premier League club hasn’t forgotten its roots in, and responsibilities to, those communities. But I suspect that anything that might show Manchester City in any other light than football’s pantomime villain will be off WSC’s agenda.

Let's see if they publish it (although I won't hold my breath).

This is a fine letter, but there are two areas where it's a tad weak.

Our monarchy is a constitutional monarchy. This means that, while our sovereign is head of state, the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected parliament.

The UAE is a federation of absolute monarchies, it is a "tribal autocracy" where the seven constituent monarchies are led by tribal rulers.There are no democratically elected institutions in the UAE.

So comparing the Queen to the Sheikh doesn't really work, she has no political power by dint of royal blood, the Sheikh does.

As you know the Sheikh is vice chairman of Mubadala Investment Group, the Emirati State-owned sovereign wealth fund, he did not buy City with funds from this group. Instead he bought City as owner of the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), an investment company for the Abu Dhabi royal family.

You and I might consider this distinction to be of paramount importance, I very much doubt WSC will.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Just as an aside, 75.1 + 25.9 = 101.

But more importantly what did you think of the contents of the letter ?