PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

Will be interesting to see what happens if Everton fail FFP , will the three relegated clubs go legal on Everton & the Premier league ? Wouldnt be suprised if Masters brushes this under the carpet to prevent any legal wrangles , which will leave him in a sticky situation with our charges.
We know Richard Masters is just a puppet for the Rags & Dippers , he jumps to their tune and the only reason these charges were undertaken is to placate the red 'istree clubs , a pathetic attempt at yesterday's powerhouse football clubs to stay relevant . F*ck 'em.
Never mention Fight Club.

The clubs sign up to a treaty, the PL contract that is a memorandum of understanding. The PL hold all the rules and if clubs don’t want to follow, they don’t have to take the spoils and will soon be back in the Championship.

The PL, who have been controlled by the few, understand that times have changed and it is they that hold all the power. Bringing their broadcast indoors will suit them but nit sure how that will fare for sporting integrity.
 
Very interesting post. I have a number of questions but two in particular I've wondered about and you are more qualified to answer. When Platini introduced ffp he announced they were fully compliant with European law, did this mean EU law and if so could teams playing in European countries not members of the EU in theory have challenged in their own courts the legalities of this? Also if this is the case after Brexit is there any recourse to challenge against say freedom of free trade as an example.

Intended to come back and answer this at the weekend, but was busy with family stuff on Sunday, while Monday was a working day for me (and proved quite a tough one).

Yes, he meant EU law and specifically competition law. EU competition law states that a restriction on competition can be treated as allowable if it can be shown to give rise to benefits to consumers which outweigh any restrictions of competition.

IIRC, he managed to secure an agreement from the relevant directorate of the European Commission that the rules did give rise to such benefits and, as I recall, there was also a statement that sport in general should be treated as a special case as compared with other economic sectors. This is something sporting bodies often argue, but with wildly varying degrees of merit IMO.

But the thing is that the Commission is an enforcement body. While statements to the above effect were no doubt useful for Platini, the ultimate decision as to what does and doesn't breach EU law lies with the Court of Justice, so the Commission's consent was no guarantee UEFA would prevail if the matter were litigated. There were some challenges working their way through the system, but to be honest I didn't follow what happened to them.

In terms of someone litigating in an individual country whose FA is a member of UEFA to have UEFA regulations declared unlawful in that state, I think that would be of limited value. They'd simply exclude the litigant in question, or all clubs from that country if the FA were supporting the challenge.

It's hard to see UEFA seeing too much of a problem in a legal challenge in most non-EU states, whereas obviously the heft of the EU would give them serious problems of its courts made an adverse ruling. IMO, they'd think they could ride out an adverse ruling even in post-Brexit Britain, where currently the most lucrative domestic league is played,
 
Intended to come back and answer this at the weekend, but was busy with family stuff on Sunday, while Monday was a working day for me (and proved quite a tough one).

Yes, he meant EU law and specifically competition law. EU competition law states that a restriction on competition can be treated as allowable if it can be shown to give rise to benefits to consumers which outweigh any restrictions of competition.

IIRC, he managed to secure an agreement from the relevant directorate of the European Commission that the rules did give rise to such benefits and, as I recall, there was also a statement that sport in general should be treated as a special case as compared with other economic sectors. This is something sporting bodies often argue, but with wildly varying degrees of merit IMO.

But the thing is that the Commission is an enforcement body. While statements to the above effect were no doubt useful for Platini, the ultimate decision as to what does and doesn't breach EU law lies with the Court of Justice, so the Commission's consent was no guarantee UEFA would prevail if the matter were litigated. There were some challenges working their way through the system, but to be honest I didn't follow what happened to them.

In terms of someone litigating in an individual country whose FA is a member of UEFA to have UEFA regulations declared unlawful in that state, I think that would be of limited value. They'd simply exclude the litigant in question, or all clubs from that country if the FA were supporting the challenge.

It's hard to see UEFA seeing too much of a problem in a legal challenge in most non-EU states, whereas obviously the heft of the EU would give them serious problems of its courts made an adverse ruling. IMO, they'd think they could ride out an adverse ruling even in post-Brexit Britain, where currently the most lucrative domestic league is played,
This from memory.
The case in Belgium, originally brought by a consortium of supporters organisations resulted in a win, the court deciding ffp was anti-competitive. The Commission said it would have to be litigated in a higher court for them to act on it. It went to a higher court (I forget which) (EDIT Belgian Court of Appeal) who sent it back to the original Belgian court who said they could not rule. Stalemate.
PS EDIT:The ECJ stated that our case had no merit and UEFA claimed victory.
Google DuPont Belgian case on ffp. Several articles.
 
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They defend it until their club has the means to invest, then they realise what a sham it is. City were lucky and managed to grow before the rules stopped other sides doing what Mansour did. City then looked at the ffp rule book and then used it to maximum advantage. That’s why United and Liverpool are struggling whilst City are a well tuned machine.

The losses that United are making whilst the interest rates creep up are hilarious irony. The lobbied rules to stop investment but now their money stream from the bank is starting the cripple them they can’t spend what they’d like to keep up. They probably need another 5 players this season but won’t be able to spend what they want.
This is one of the most beautiful side effects of FFP. Many of those whom it was designed to protect - the Milan clubs for starters - have either fallen foul of it or found themselves restricted by it. Even better that City could actually be held up as a FFP success story!
 
Even better that City could actually be held up as a FFP success story!
It's so funny isn't it. It's relegated the Cinderella story of Leicester, kept clubs that might have similarly benefitted from cash injections at bay (Everton, Newcastle, Villa), fucked some of the European "I Love the 1990s" clubs, and forced us to diversify and invest in the EDS and CFG and campus.
 
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It's so funny isn't it. It's relegated the Cinderella story of Leicester, kept clubs that might have similarly benefitted from cash injections at bay (Everton, Newcastle, Villa), fucked some of the European "I Love the 1990s" clubs, and forced us to diversify and invest in the EDS and CFG and campus.
Yes it's ironic in the extreme. What I'm struggling with is how are they going to find a way of blaming City for these perverse effects. If we play the long game we will get stronger and stronger. Having some short-term pain in terms of reputational damage may well be worth it as if they retain FFP in some sort of form it will hurt our competitors more than us and if they scrap it we can hold the moral high ground and still be in a superior competitive position because our strategic positioning will keep us in front. At that point they may well wish they had not tried to bring us down. Look at the start we have with the CFG - imagine how long it would take to replicate anything like that. Years of under-investment and a lack of an innovative and visionary strategy will cost the red top clubs dearly. That's my opinion anyway.
 
The losses that United are making whilst the interest rates creep up are hilarious irony. The lobbied rules to stop investment but now their money stream from the bank is starting the cripple them they can’t spend what they’d like to keep up. They probably need another 5 players this season but won’t be able to spend what they want.
Goldbridge keeps pushing the Qataris, apparently they can open their chequebook, completely wipe out all the rag debts, build a brand new stadium and spend a billion on player's in their first season. Bloke is totally off his rocker.
 
This from memory.
The case in Belgium, originally brought by a consortium of supporters organisations resulted in a win, the court deciding ffp was anti-competitive. The Commission said it would have to be litigated in a higher court for them to act on it. It went to a higher court (I forget which) (EDIT Belgian Court of Appeal) who sent it back to the original Belgian court who said they could not rule. Stalemate.
PS EDIT:The ECJ stated that our case had no merit and UEFA claimed victory.
Google DuPont Belgian case on ffp. Several articles.

Is this all to do with the European Model for Sport, whereby exceptions from normal legalities are granted to sporting regulatory bodies where there is an interest in sporting integrity at a community/ national/ international level?

I seem to remember the ECJ has ruled in favour of that a few times? And will again later this year in favour of UEFA and against the ESL?
 
Will be interesting to see what happens if Everton fail FFP , will the three relegated clubs go legal on Everton & the Premier league ? Wouldnt be suprised if Masters brushes this under the carpet to prevent any legal wrangles , which will leave him in a sticky situation with our charges.
We know Richard Masters is just a puppet for the Rags & Dippers , he jumps to their tune and the only reason these charges were undertaken is to placate the red 'istree clubs , a pathetic attempt at yesterday's powerhouse football clubs to stay relevant . F*ck 'em.
It does highlight how we are dealt with in the media. BBC (who again just now have 2 photos of us plus mentions us in the caption) of a totally non related illegal streaming story) had a pre recorded story about our charges which went live minutes after we won the PL.
Everton stay up, not a mention of the charges anywhere
 
Is this all to do with the European Model for Sport, whereby exceptions from normal legalities are granted to sporting regulatory bodies where there is an interest in sporting integrity at a community/ national/ international level?

I seem to remember the ECJ has ruled in favour of that a few times? And will again later this year in favour of UEFA and against the ESL?
Correct.
 
A few thoughts/questions from a non expert concerning these charges and the uefa ones too, and the involvement of the media in all this. Please excuse the generalisation of charges etc and apologies if I get any details wrong.

A few years ago uefa announced a two year ban on City for european games for breaches of their ffp rules.

These charges were thrown out by the first independent official body( cas ) that looked at them, because uefas case was weak and the main evidence of stolen emails were already tainted with crime and tampering, we won, regardless of how the media like to portray it.

Given the above is correct, who in their right mind would sanction the ban and announce it to the world with just the evidence they held? they MUST have known it was shit and would fail.
The "olive branch" of a reduced ban which was offered prior to cas was almost an admittance of weakness when looked at in hindsight, but had we accepted that, we would have been forever guilty for ducking the hearing. A fantastic outcome for those who would see us destroyed and well worth a shot from their perspective.

Has anybody come out and said that they were ultimately responsible for what was a farcically transparent attempt to falsly ban us from a competition with no real proof of guilt, and who was pushing for it.
Has there ever been a trail to follow back to the "brainchild" of all that, or do they just close ranks to protect each other, because if I ran a sporting body like uefa, and somebody publicly embarrassed it like that I would like to know who was responsible.

I know that the likes of gill and parry have been talked about on here and their input really was a possibility too. European footballs governing body has undertaken proceedings against one of its members with very little chance of winning, yet all the fallout revolves around us "getting off" instead of the real story.
Surely there must be journalists intrepid enough to smell a story, a story of members clubbing their power against another member and using uefa as a tool for their own ends, it smacks of all sorts of probabilities all the way up to possible corruption.

Why would no one want to take a look at that, its a massive story, but sadly one that no one wants to write. It would seem that the media are only interested in one side, the side that has the established elite and history clubs on it.

Now to the current pl charges, I suspect that its basically the same thing repeated at domestic football level. Probably the same culprits now using their collective power against a fellow member with the pl as the weapon of choice this time.

Again, the media have set about us with the same vigour as the uefa farce, have they learned their lesson from that, have they hell, that is not their want.
They are the biggest weapon of the cartel in all of this, not uefa, not the pl either as their efforts were/are bound to fail, but the media reach people with their falsehoods, and in a way that makes us guilty whatever the official verdict is.

The media is the only thing that has given creedence to any of the uefa charges, and the pl charges too, it is they who have tried City and found us guilty and although we won at cas and am sure we will win v the pl too. It is our enemies that will win when the media again claim a "technicality or loophole" saved us from the fate we deserve.

I dont really blame uefa and the pl, I pity them, they are like battered housewives to the bullying cartel who they think they need to serve to survive. When really what they need is to stand on their own feet and treat all clubs at the same level.

The media though, they are the whores with absolutely no self worth, bought and paid for by the cartel.

Ultimately we are winning, City are growing still, attracting new fans, winning trophys and all done in spite of the above. A fantastic achievement really, and who knows, soon I might be able to talk about how well we play when someone mentions City, instead of having to fight our corner over perceived wrongdoings.

After we win against the current charges I truly hope we get properly vindicated in a way that nobody can deny and put these history wankers to bed once and for all.
 
A few thoughts/questions from a non expert concerning these charges and the uefa ones too, and the involvement of the media in all this. Please excuse the generalisation of charges etc and apologies if I get any details wrong.

A few years ago uefa announced a two year ban on City for european games for breaches of their ffp rules.

These charges were thrown out by the first independent official body( cas ) that looked at them, because uefas case was weak and the main evidence of stolen emails were already tainted with crime and tampering, we won, regardless of how the media like to portray it.

Given the above is correct, who in their right mind would sanction the ban and announce it to the world with just the evidence they held? they MUST have known it was shit and would fail.
The "olive branch" of a reduced ban which was offered prior to cas was almost an admittance of weakness when looked at in hindsight, but had we accepted that, we would have been forever guilty for ducking the hearing. A fantastic outcome for those who would see us destroyed and well worth a shot from their perspective.

Has anybody come out and said that they were ultimately responsible for what was a farcically transparent attempt to falsly ban us from a competition with no real proof of guilt, and who was pushing for it.
Has there ever been a trail to follow back to the "brainchild" of all that, or do they just close ranks to protect each other, because if I ran a sporting body like uefa, and somebody publicly embarrassed it like that I would like to know who was responsible.

I know that the likes of gill and parry have been talked about on here and their input really was a possibility too. European footballs governing body has undertaken proceedings against one of its members with very little chance of winning, yet all the fallout revolves around us "getting off" instead of the real story.
Surely there must be journalists intrepid enough to smell a story, a story of members clubbing their power against another member and using uefa as a tool for their own ends, it smacks of all sorts of probabilities all the way up to possible corruption.

Why would no one want to take a look at that, its a massive story, but sadly one that no one wants to write. It would seem that the media are only interested in one side, the side that has the established elite and history clubs on it.

Now to the current pl charges, I suspect that its basically the same thing repeated at domestic football level. Probably the same culprits now using their collective power against a fellow member with the pl as the weapon of choice this time.

Again, the media have set about us with the same vigour as the uefa farce, have they learned their lesson from that, have they hell, that is not their want.
They are the biggest weapon of the cartel in all of this, not uefa, not the pl either as their efforts were/are bound to fail, but the media reach people with their falsehoods, and in a way that makes us guilty whatever the official verdict is.

The media is the only thing that has given creedence to any of the uefa charges, and the pl charges too, it is they who have tried City and found us guilty and although we won at cas and am sure we will win v the pl too. It is our enemies that will win when the media again claim a "technicality or loophole" saved us from the fate we deserve.

I dont really blame uefa and the pl, I pity them, they are like battered housewives to the bullying cartel who they think they need to serve to survive. When really what they need is to stand on their own feet and treat all clubs at the same level.

The media though, they are the whores with absolutely no self worth, bought and paid for by the cartel.

Ultimately we are winning, City are growing still, attracting new fans, winning trophys and all done in spite of the above. A fantastic achievement really, and who knows, soon I might be able to talk about how well we play when someone mentions City, instead of having to fight our corner over perceived wrongdoings.

After we win against the current charges I truly hope we get properly vindicated in a way that nobody can deny and put these history wankers to bed once and for all.
We will get bummed for a few, they need some validation and we will have fallen fall of a couple shirley. Its all noise ultimately though and nothing will alter, its just some haters will grab at it and want to gain false credibility in it
 

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