Martin Samuel: The plot to shackle City & Chelsea

[Nebuchadnezzar]

David Gill likes playing 5 a side on Sundays, y'know

 

[stonerblue]

Oh Terry Coooooooooke...............

He's not (cough) anymore.........

sang all the way to Wembley and all the way back again.

 

[GXCity]

The 4 clubs who are behind this know they need to bring them in as soon as possible. The only way to slow us down is to bring them in immediately. Long term they will be unable to do anything due to the stadium expansion and the development of the collar site. Once both of these are complete, along with further commercial partnerships, we are well on the way to matching the Rags. Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs will be nowhere near our income levels. Their only chance is to slow us down now but how can you implement them, say, from next season? Unworkable. How long was it between UEFA announcing FFP and the first monitoring period? From memory it was 3 years, if the PL work to a similar timescale I wouldn't be too concerned as we will be starting to see things take shape by then.

Let them try I say. I am pretty sure we will challenge the rules in any case, but if not I am also sure we will still remain competitive and some of the clubs behind these new rules may live to regret it. Lets say Liverpool get taken over by Dubai. Can you imagine how sick they would be that they would be unable to improve due to the very rules which they hoped would improve their current predicament, whilst we had kicked on further. Same for Spurs and Arsenal. How sweet could this all turn out for us.

The club with the most to gain is the Rags and if all the other clubs cannot see this then more fool them. I only hope that if the rules do get passed then there is some clause about debt levels etc.

 

[Zuriblue]

in the early 1900s utd ,gained citys top players,and went on to win the legue,
the manchester public were happy to see a club in need benefit,
in the 30s when they were in danger of going under city backed them,when the choice was manchester central ,
in the 40s when they were homeless we took them in
in the 50s during their darkest hour we were there for them,losing a large
chunk of fans ,without bitterness,
again in the 50s we took them in wheh they didnt even have proper lighting
and how do they repay us ,by backstabing us and jumping into bed,with a pair of cockney wide boys and their "biggest rivals"
well the next time they need us (and history tells us there WILL be a next time)i hope we tell them exactley where they can shove it,

Well said, I've been reading Gary James' book and we helped them in so many ways, directly and indirectly (the FA stitching up our club when it was on the cusp of a golden age, allowing half our team to join United) and the only thing they offered in return was to let us use Old Scaffold for a weekend or two after the fire at Hyde Road. They owe us but have no integrity whatsoever.

They didn't even do that. The rent that they wanted was so outrageous that City told them to shove it and rebuilt the stand.

 

[taconinja]

I strongly suspect the word is going out from Sky and the PL. They do not want the 'Best league in the world' to turn into some sort of bland, predictable version of East Germany.

I`ve already mentioned this but tv is where most monet is generated,not gate receipts or selling shirts.If these rules came into play we would end up having a league like Spain with 2/3 clubs only competing.....or worse, we could end up like the Scottish premier.Heaven forbid!

How many of you would really want sky/espn sports if that was the case? I for one would cease giving money to sky and espn. I wonder if sky have thought about this and if they will put pressure on the league and FA. I`m sure they will if they were thinking like me!

I posted some weeks ago about how the clubs supporting financial constraints must be very very very stupid. They are lured in by the prospect of having to shell out less on transfers and wages and maybe being able to compete more.

But they have not thought it through. These proposed changes would doubtless make the PL less appealing overall, which would almost certainly impact TV rights, marketing rights, ticket revenues etc and therefore the clubs' income.

It's a bit like a shop next to Sainsburys. Superficially they might want some sort of curbs on what Sainsburys can sell. But then people stop coming Sainsburys and go to Tescos. Instead of you getting *some* passing trade from the customers drawn to Sainsburys who also go in your shop, you now get none because no-one visits at all.

My opinion is those clubs have their own agendas. Three of them I'm guessing think they can make up any perceived shortfalls from TV deals with the Premier League via Champions League money and merchandising money. My guess also includes one of them (Tottenham) that thinks they could replicate that CL money and merchandising with sustained CL appearances and want to do it on the cheap so to speak.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

The 4 clubs who are behind this know they need to bring them in as soon as possible. The only way to slow us down is to bring them in immediately. Long term they will be unable to do anything due to the stadium expansion and the development of the collar site. Once both of these are complete, along with further commercial partnerships, we are well on the way to matching the Rags. Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs will be nowhere near our income levels. Their only chance is to slow us down now but how can you implement them, say, from next season? Unworkable. How long was it between UEFA announcing FFP and the first monitoring period? From memory it was 3 years, if the PL work to a similar timescale I wouldn't be too concerned as we will be starting to see things take shape by then.

Let them try I say. I am pretty sure we will challenge the rules in any case, but if not I am also sure we will still remain competitive and some of the clubs behind these new rules may live to regret it. Lets say Liverpool get taken over by Dubai. Can you imagine how sick they would be that they would be unable to improve due to the very rules which they hoped would improve their current predicament, whilst we had kicked on further. Same for Spurs and Arsenal. How sweet could this all turn out for us.

The club with the most to gain is the Rags and if all the other clubs cannot see this then more fool them. I only hope that if the rules do get passed then there is some clause about debt levels etc.

Also didn't Liverpool post a loss last year, presumably funded by the benevolence of their 'foreign owners'? Another case of do as I say, not as I do.

Briefly putting the wider interests of the game to one side, from a City point of view, I agree, we have little to fear from this in terms of eighteen members of the Premier League, but there can be little doubt that this is united's best, and possibly only realistic chance of keeping us at arm's length.

As you say, delaying its implementation may be as effective as frustrating it entirely to thwart that aim.

 

[Anonymous]

The 4 clubs who are behind this know they need to bring them in as soon as possible. The only way to slow us down is to bring them in immediately. Long term they will be unable to do anything due to the stadium expansion and the development of the collar site. Once both of these are complete, along with further commercial partnerships, we are well on the way to matching the Rags. Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs will be nowhere near our income levels. Their only chance is to slow us down now but how can you implement them, say, from next season? Unworkable. How long was it between UEFA announcing FFP and the first monitoring period? From memory it was 3 years, if the PL work to a similar timescale I wouldn't be too concerned as we will be starting to see things take shape by then.

Let them try I say. I am pretty sure we will challenge the rules in any case, but if not I am also sure we will still remain competitive and some of the clubs behind these new rules may live to regret it. Lets say Liverpool get taken over by Dubai. Can you imagine how sick they would be that they would be unable to improve due to the very rules which they hoped would improve their current predicament, whilst we had kicked on further. Same for Spurs and Arsenal. How sweet could this all turn out for us.

The club with the most to gain is the Rags and if all the other clubs cannot see this then more fool them. I only hope that if the rules do get passed then there is some clause about debt levels etc.

Also didn't Liverpool post a loss last year, presumably funded by the benevolence of their 'foreign owners'? Another case of do as I say, not as I do.

Briefly putting the wider interests of the game to one side, from a City point of view, I agree, we have little to fear from this in terms of eighteen members of the Premier League, but there can be little doubt that this is united's best, and possibly only realistic chance of keeping us at arm's length.

As you say, delaying its implementation may be as effective as frustrating it entirely to thwart that aim.

I believe there's some gloating for you to do in the Pep thread ... some of your mates are already there cracking the champagne and putting up their own bunting ... ;)

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

The 4 clubs who are behind this know they need to bring them in as soon as possible. The only way to slow us down is to bring them in immediately. Long term they will be unable to do anything due to the stadium expansion and the development of the collar site. Once both of these are complete, along with further commercial partnerships, we are well on the way to matching the Rags. Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs will be nowhere near our income levels. Their only chance is to slow us down now but how can you implement them, say, from next season? Unworkable. How long was it between UEFA announcing FFP and the first monitoring period? From memory it was 3 years, if the PL work to a similar timescale I wouldn't be too concerned as we will be starting to see things take shape by then.

Let them try I say. I am pretty sure we will challenge the rules in any case, but if not I am also sure we will still remain competitive and some of the clubs behind these new rules may live to regret it. Lets say Liverpool get taken over by Dubai. Can you imagine how sick they would be that they would be unable to improve due to the very rules which they hoped would improve their current predicament, whilst we had kicked on further. Same for Spurs and Arsenal. How sweet could this all turn out for us.

The club with the most to gain is the Rags and if all the other clubs cannot see this then more fool them. I only hope that if the rules do get passed then there is some clause about debt levels etc.

Also didn't Liverpool post a loss last year, presumably funded by the benevolence of their 'foreign owners'? Another case of do as I say, not as I do.

Briefly putting the wider interests of the game to one side, from a City point of view, I agree, we have little to fear from this in terms of eighteen members of the Premier League, but there can be little doubt that this is united's best, and possibly only realistic chance of keeping us at arm's length.

As you say, delaying its implementation may be as effective as frustrating it entirely to thwart that aim.

I believe there's some gloating for you to do in the Pep thread ... some of your mates are already there cracking the champagne and putting up their own bunting ... ;)

I'm very much my own man Billy and furthermore, gloating is far too undignified for me to engage in.

Always nice to be proved right though ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

Always nice to be proved right though ;-)

And taking defeat with good grace and a touch of humility is an admirable characteristic. Even if I do say so myself ... ;)

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

And taking defeat with good grace and a touch of humility is an admirable characteristic.

;-)