Here’s a article I wrote for the red rag media.
Titled - Projection
City's alleged FFP violations have led to cheating accusations in the media and from rival fans. The definition of ‘cheating’, especially when it comes to football, is to break the rules or laws of the game, to gain ‘an unfair advantage’. However, FFP created an unfair advantage in the game, in favour of certain clubs, to the detriment of others. FFP hinders new club ownership and perpetuates the very essence of an unfair advantage. This completely contradicts FIFA's principles.
1. Principle of Fairness: FIFA's statutes emphasise the importance of fairness and equal treatment in football. If FFP rules were intentionally crafted to create an unfair advantage for established clubs, it could be argued that, this principle has been violated.
2. Integrity and Ethics: FIFA's regulations place a strong emphasis on maintaining integrity and ethical conduct in football (laughable I know). But, If FFP rules were intentionally designed to manipulate competition and undermine fair play, this is a massive violation of these principles.
3. Anti-Discrimination: Discrimination based on factors such as ownership or club status, could potentially conflict with FIFA's regulations against discrimination. If FFP rules were intentionally designed to discriminate against certain clubs or owners, it may be deemed a breach of these regulations.
4. Prohibition of Abuse of Power: FIFA's regulations aim to prevent the abuse of power, or the creation of an unfair advantage by individuals or entities. If FFP rules were intentionally implemented to favor established clubs, it can be easily argued that this constitutes an abuse of power and violates FIFA's regulations, in this regard.
According to the red shirt media, we may have cheated in 2012 to beat Utd to the title. Because we may have inflated sponsorship, in order to be able to spend more money to compete with them. However, to prevent any club, from spending a modern day equivalent, to the cost of their entire squad, or even their 10 year spending, presents a completely unfair advantage. It’s an absolutely huge contradiction.
Utds squad spending in a 5 year period between 2001-2008, was absolutely insane. Take inflation into consideration, it would be over £2.5 Billion in todays money, no exaggeration. It was far beyond anything, we have ever seen, we just didn’t know it at the time, because no one cared about spending money then.
A lot of players bought in the period between 01-08, were part of their squad that lost the league to City in 2012. To put it into some perspective, Utd paid roughly the same amount of money, to buy both Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney 8-9 years earlier. As City spent, to buy Joe Hart, Zabaletta, Kompany, Clichy, Nasri, David Silva and Yaya Toure.
Despite limitations being put on us in comparison to them, we still managed to have a plan, to create a better team, a better way of playing, and the foundation of a successful style of football, by spending less than them. We managed to beat them, even though THEY tried to cheat us.
Now their media and fans, have resorted to a psychological warfare tactic, known as "projection." Projection involves accusing someone else of engaging in behavior or actions, that you are guilty of yourself. It is a defense mechanism, where individuals attribute their own unacceptable actions onto others. The purpose of projection in psychological warfare, is to manipulate perceptions, create confusion, and influence the behavior or beliefs of the target audience. By projecting negative intentions onto an adversary, the psychological warfare operator, aims to discredit or demonise them in the eyes of others. The goal is to shape public opinion, create distrust, or provoke fear or anger towards the targeted entity. This is why, we see so many absolute blatant lies said about City in the media. This is why the ones cheating, are trying to call us cheaters. This whole FFP thing is a complete farce, it’s a total waste of time and a complete hatchet job from start to finish.
