Martin Samuel: The plot to shackle City & Chelsea

[jrb]

One question. It probably has already been asked/answered.

Who do you think leaked the *Arsenal* letter?

Somebody inside the PL, Chelsea, or City?

Another point.

By the time everything is up and running, City's income will dwarf even United's. That's my honest opinion. I have not facts or stats to back that up. But the vision will eventually become a reality.

 

[OB1]

All eyes on PSG's sponsorship deal. IF approved we can go ahead with a £200million-per-year deal with Abu Dhabi Tourism and UEFA can do nothing without applying double standards that City could surely start legal action over.

The couple of reservations I have are that, firstly, PSG were a founder member of the G14 who set up the champions league whereas we aren't part of that cartel. Secondly, French clubs seem supportive of PSG whereas English clubs clearly aren't to us. I suspect that PSG may have received some "assurances" as to their treatement by UEFA.

If we do have to take on the establishment, I think we may well be on our own but whether it comes to that remains to be seen.

UEFA can't actually treat City differently to PSG: that would be "illegal".

 

[Newman Noggs]

All eyes on PSG's sponsorship deal. IF approved we can go ahead with a £200million-per-year deal with Abu Dhabi Tourism and UEFA can do nothing without applying double standards that City could surely start legal action over.

The couple of reservations I have are that, firstly, PSG were a founder member of the G14 who set up the champions league whereas we aren't part of that cartel. Secondly, French clubs seem supportive of PSG whereas English clubs clearly aren't to us. I suspect that PSG may have received some "assurances" as to their treatement by UEFA.

If we do have to take on the establishment, I think we may well be on our own but whether it comes to that remains to be seen.

UEFA can't actually treat City differently to PSG: that would be "illegal".

We'll see. I hope you're right.

 

[Braggster]

All eyes on PSG's sponsorship deal. IF approved we can go ahead with a £200million-per-year deal with Abu Dhabi Tourism and UEFA can do nothing without applying double standards that City could surely start legal action over.

The couple of reservations I have are that, firstly, PSG were a founder member of the G14 who set up the champions league whereas we aren't part of that cartel. Secondly, French clubs seem supportive of PSG whereas English clubs clearly aren't to us. I suspect that PSG may have received some "assurances" as to their treatement by UEFA.

If we do have to take on the establishment, I think we may well be on our own but whether it comes to that remains to be seen.

I'm generally not optimistic about the prospects for any legal challenge to FFP by City (for what it's worth I'm a practising lawyer, though not in a directly relevant field of law).

However, I would be wildly bullish about our prospects of success if we could legitimately say we were being treated differently when compared against PSG. That would be the legal equivalent of Falcao in front of an open goal...a mere formality, in other words.

 

[OB1]

One question. It probably has already been asked/answered.

Who do you think leaked the *Arsenal* letter?

Somebody inside the PL, Chelsea, or City?

Another point.

By the time everything is up and running, City's income will dwarf even United's. That's my honest opinion. I have not facts or stats to back that up. But the vision will eventually become a reality.

I think it could take a long time for City to genuinely get into that position but what City might engineer in terms of sponsorship that would close the gap significantly remains an open question.

 

[fbloke]

A question - apologies if someone's already asked it - but what sanctions exactly do the PL intend to impose if clubs fail to meet FFP ?

They havent got anywhere near that level of detail as far as I can tell.

The proposals currently being considered are for the PL to instigate some form of FFPR.

Its the old 'in principle' nonsense that means we are a while off anything substantive yet.

 

[bernabias home shirt]

A question - apologies if someone's already asked it - but what sanctions exactly do the PL intend to impose if clubs fail to meet FFP ?

Whatever david gill decides

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Thinking about it, sanctions are going to have a much greater impact on the integrity of a relatively enclosed league system than a pan-European cup competition.

The ultimate sanction within UEFA is exclusion from entering the competition. Assuming that the established clubs will be left alone (a pretty safe assumption) then the impact on the wider competition would be relatively limited, I reckon. The Champions League is a 32 team competition and the odd missing team from here or there, wouldn't necessarily enormously undermine its integrity.

A league system is different, however. You only have to look to Italy to see the effect that points being routinely docked has had on the reputation of their league. The same could be said of the Football League at various points in recent history. But it goes further than that. Whether a team has been found guilty of corruption or gone into administration or not is very much a matter of fact. A straight yes and no.

If this is implemented, the Premier League could be reduced to farce as clubs argue about technical accounting points for months, and maybe years on end. Matters such as the outcome of relegation and promotion could then be subject to judicial determination, some considerable time after when the League would require to operate within its usual timetable. The Sheffield United/West Ham/Tevez case gives a flavour, albeit on an much smaller scale, of the way this could play out.

Talk about bringing the game into disrepute.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

One question. It probably has already been asked/answered.

Who do you think leaked the *Arsenal* letter?

Somebody inside the PL, Chelsea, or City?

Let's suppose you ask Scudamore this question. Which owner enhances the PL most from this list?

a) Malcolm Glazer?
b) Joe Lewis?
c) Stan Kroenke?
d) John W Henry?
e) Sheikh Mansour?

What do you think his answer would be?

 

[samharris]

What about current owners??

whats to stop say Mike Ashley or Bill Kenwright just packing it in and selling up??who would they sell to seeing as the new owner wouldnt be able to invest their own money??
The constraints have basically ended any hope of these teams competing for European honours.

whats fair in that ??