Funny. I am A lawyer and I can’t see anything useful there. Forget the Appeal, it’s a massive red herring. If this ever sees the inside of a private and confidential arbitration then that is where it will end. Win or bust. This always has and always will be a nuclear event for the loser.
The weight of the charges makes this nigh on impossible for the PL to win without some new piece of evidence that irrefutably proves that we have done what has been alleged.
CAS showed that evidence does not exist or was not presented for at least some of the period covered in this case. The PL lawyers will be paid as much as we will be paying Pannick (funny how there is no mention of those costs). They all get paid irrespective of the result. Bird & Bird have logged 4 years of fees, they are not worried about their reputation. They will simply talk about the risks of litigation when they lose.
If there really was a smoking gun this whole episode would feel remarkably different. In fact the charges and the deal reached by City and the PL would have been announced almost simultaneously as those conversations would have been covered and dealt with behind the scenes. I remain utterly convinced that City will defeat these charges. Could I be Wrong… of course I could. However, I rarely get things wrong (arrogant but true).