PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[Rory Bluelow]

As I said before I am not going( as a Chelsea supporter) comment on the validity or otherwise of the charges but will on process.

I am not sure that City would have any grounds to withhold any documents re finances if requested even if they were thought by City to be irrelevant

Power to Inspect
E.1.
Without prejudice to its powers of inquiry under Rule W.1, the Board either by itself or by any Person appointed by it shall be empowered to inspect the financial records of any Club which it reasonably suspects has acted in breach of these Rules.

I think City took the view that some requests were just “fishing expeditions” and I’m sure I read somewhere that the EPL were effectively asking for forecast numbers etc. that paragraph also looks pretty weak to me and capable of wide interpretation (and challenge). City are sensitive on the matter because during the UEFA case the investigative chamber were merrily leaking matters to their placemen in the press (Panja at the New York Times etc). The whole 100+ charges seems more focussed on impact headlines than substantive matters tbh. Maybe City should take a leaf out of the rags book and bury their accounts in an offshore tax haven. As this shitty week has unfolded I’m much more confident that the EPL will live to regret this and have bitten off much more than they can chew. But being a long time blue, you always think something‘s gonna sneak up behind you and kick you up the arse.

 

[cheekybids]

I’ve watched it three times! Incredible story. Truly amazing he got away with it, for as long as he did. So it happens. Enron is another example. But I’ll bet a pound to a pinch of shit that’s not the case here and anyone who thinks it’s likely to have happened is an idiot.

And if anyone cares to raise the issue with me, I will be telling them that. Only a moron would actually believe this is likely to be true.

I have myself & there’s some cracking documentaries on YouTube on similar. Have a look at ColdFusion.

The issue with Madoff is the analysts knew but everyone kept quiet.

 

[Rory Bluelow]

Those other 8 clubs sent a joint letter to Uefa and the CAS to hurry up a legal process three years ago. In essence, don’t properly look at the facts. Hasten up your progress to the verdict cos one of those 8 clubs could do with having City’s space in the Champions league. Nothing to do with fair legal process, just pure opportunistic greed to gain something they weren’t good enough to attain on a pitch.

Now they are crying cos Pep has called them out, I bet behind the scenes Levy has been jumping up and down for action on City. There’s no coincidence Spurs are sat in 5th and would be the ones most likely to gain from any points sanction being handed out.

The charges and sanctions being attempted to dish out have been pushed by other clubs wanting this to happen. The Premier league would probably prefer to just close the case and forget about it. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place, they have to be seen as doing something as 5 of those clubs have been plotting to set up a Super League.

Spot on.

 

[hilts]

He did what a leader should do, face a hostile baying mob ( Which is what the press are) and defended our club with pride, passion and honour, making them look like what they are, a bunch of cunts. It was a brilliant performance and deserving of all the praise it got.

Hyperbole my arse!

Way to prove my point mate;-)

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

As I said before I am not going( as a Chelsea supporter) comment on the validity or otherwise of the charges but will on process.

I am not sure that City would have any grounds to withhold any documents re finances if requested even if they were thought by City to be irrelevant

Power to Inspect
E.1.
Without prejudice to its powers of inquiry under Rule W.1, the Board either by itself or by any Person appointed by it shall be empowered to inspect the financial records of any Club which it reasonably suspects has acted in breach of these Rules.

‘The financial records’ does not encompass every document imo.

 

[ZanteWeatherman]

Interviewed her?

Indeed mate, I've never heard it called that before......

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I have myself & there’s some cracking documentaries on YouTube on similar. Have a look at ColdFusion.

The issue with Madoff is the analysts knew but everyone kept quiet.

Of course they did. Plenty will have joined the dots. There were no trades ffs!

 

[Blueboy73]

Spurs are in the gang because they won quite a few pots between their last title in 1961 and the early 80s when clubs started talking about increased TV coverage and broadcast revenue. They've spent the Premier league era hanging on to the coat tails of the rags, dippers and Arse just to appear relevant. Almost every comedian who took the piss out of the ESL said things like "five successful clubs plus Tottenham".
There was also the link that some satellite receiver systems were made by Amstrad and Alan Sugar was chairman of Spurs at one point, though I'm not sure if the timescales match up.

A lot of the satellite receivers in the early days of sky were made by Amstrad.
Sugar owned Spurs at the time, I think he sold up around 1997

 

[KS55]

I read through the entire CAS award today and I really think they lay out everything we need to know about this case.

Specifically, CAS asked what evidence Mr Lindsay, UEFA’s financial witness would need to prove their allegations. And he replied -

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"[...] that exercise requires extensive access to accounting records that - - I talk about reviewing contemporaneous emails, relevant documents, board papers, where in essence it would have to be a very wide-ranging review to try to determine whether or not these payment mechanisms happened or not and it would require access not only to the books and records of the Club, of which I've seen very little, but more importantly it would require access to the books and records of both of the sponsors​

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There is simply no way that the Premier League have been rooting through the accounts and bank records of the other parties involved here. Whether that’s sponsors, or Mancini, or Fordham, or players.

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It would require police powers to find City guilty of these charges.

That, of course, is just his opinion and there may be others that disagree but, if he is correct and the panel in this case agree with him, this is a huge boost for us.
Well done Dom for rooting this out.

 

[dario2739]

The footballing writers being no nowts haven’t picked up on this point. I’ve heard some good input from more qualified people talking about the case this week, that if these allegations are that serious can a small panel of people sit and adjudicate on the vast amount of evidence to go through. Also the astonishing accusation that the club, the directors, accounting firms such as BDO and Deloitte, sponsors and partners such as Silverlake all colluded to commit industrial sized mass fraud for over a decade. It’s a very high bar the Premier League will have to jump over to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Has anyone heard anyone who is legally qualified put out an alternative view to this that generally says City are fucked and the premier league can get all these charges over the line? I’ve not heard one yet.

They have picked up on it, they just won't report it... they don't want an impartial story, they want to inflame the situation and stoke the feelings of opposition fans...
...and when we're found innocent they will try and spin it like they did with CAS