PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[Jack Hackett]

Might sound like a daft question but is there a reason why the PL have handed this over to an independent panel rather than deciding the punishment themselves which is what UEFA initially did?

For the same reason Pontius Pilate handed the decision to the Sanhedrin and the mob…expediency.

 

[SanPellegrini]

The strategy from the league and cartel is to smear us with as many allegations as they can - it is a campaign for reputational harm with a view to affecting our performances on the pitch. Arsenal, United and Liverpool being the lead proponents, which should not be a surprise to most. I don’t think the merits of the allegations would factor into this. After all, if made out, I am sure the vast majority of clubs in this league could have similar allegations made out against themselves. Consider the structure United allegedly used to pay Ronaldo.

One point that fans of other clubs don’t seem to understand is that losing City, and setting a precedent which disincentivises investment (from teams such as Newcastle and even Spurs - c.f. Chelsea’s near half a billion spending which is apparently fine), would be sacrificing the Premier League’s period of dominance, its excitement and ultimately the league’s TV money.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the final straw which leads to the uncovering of systemic corruption at the heart of English football. Not the corruption that rival fans thinks stems with City, but the uncovering of what will come as no surprise to our fans who have watched whilst under the microscope: an economic, media influenced, US backed agenda that only publicly reared its head with the Super League proposal, but goes much deeper. We all know what I’m talking about.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

Wonder if something is going on here with the motivation behind this that we don’t understand just yet.

The problem with the PL seeking to use us as what feels like a scapegoat to throw off criticism of the league as an example of wealth inequality (i.e. PL wealth gap, spending vs. other Europe leagues) and to hide their own flaws in addressing this is that if they go through with this and hand out severe punishment it will be fool’s gold, laced with hypocrisy that could be a sort of nihilistic, pyrrhic type of victory with the costs outweighing the benefits.

Maguire’s tweet on the circumstances with the UK government white paper report on football governance reform also shows plenty of motivation for the PL to show they don’t need an independent investigator from the government.

Combine both Maguire’s claim with Stefan’s tweet and could that not then imply the PL may not truly plan to hand out as severe a punishment from these accusations as we think? In order to provide some cover with hope of the government backing off.

The severity and length of the charges leads me to suspect this may also be about getting City to come to the table to make a deal.

The PL claims we have resisted the investigation, according to their accusations, and we are aware this was the approach with UEFA that led to CAS. Yes, we know the club responded claiming they have cooperated, but that’s surely lawyer talk, as they would never admit they have not, publicly.

If we don’t make a deal and fight it this will drag out and be misery for City, its fans and I’d argue the PL. You don’t want this case lingering around and distracting attention, unless you truly hope to do all they can to prevent City from success as a club, which isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility for various reasons we could go through easily.

The way it was announced could be a smokescreen to hide the fact we are working ‘with’ the PL to put all this to bed once and for all, I mean where does it go if an Arsenal supporting independent investigator finds no case to answer or us guilty on very small charges ? The part I find most supportive and interesting in all this is that the allegations go all the way back to the start of the takeover, meaning our owners have a potential clean slate and the PL a clean competition, which is also coming under scrutiny after Chelsea’s spending

 

[FightLikeAGirl]

And what happens to the club that finished 5th or 3rd bottom? They then sue the PL for lost earnings... it opens a whole can of worms which is one of the reasons it won't happen

Yep. Of course nobody thinks about the clubs who don't make it into Europe or end up getting relgated.

 

[grant1977]

On what grounds did they decide to investigate City ? What made them think City must be cheating ?

do they investigate every PL club this deeply ? If not than it is a clear case of a witch hunt.

What is the pl views on money laundering for guns as shirt sponsors ?

there is no way they treat every club like this and carry out such investigations. it would be an industry in its self going to this level of detail atheist takes 4 years to put together

 

[lee_wsm]

Time for the club to stop getting shafted up the arse and go to war against the corruption stop playing the softly softly game

 

[luckers]

My dad's 70 now. I've never ben to a match without him.
I think when he isn't here anymore my love for the game will go with him due to the way the sports has gone.

I'm tired of all the allegations etc. It's gone beyond banter now. I wish the club would sue everyone for slander tbh.

Football isn't what it used to be, not just city but football In general

 

[chaddblue]

Make them speed up for process , the longer this goes on it only harms city

It would be just spun as the fans have turned their back on the club as they believe they're guilty

 

[not my fault!]

So what happens if you lose the case? All the trophies get given to whoever came second?

I think they’d have to take us out of the equation and our results. It wouldn’t automatically go to Liverpool as an example. But it’ll not come to that I do t think, fans of other clubs will claim it’ll happen but City are not stupid, we employed the two blokes who wrote the FFP rules so although we may of gone in to grey areas or touched the line, I’m sure we can prove we never crossed it.

 

[BossHog]

At this point I'm over worrying about this shit - it's been going on for a decade if not more now.

I don't even have the desire to defend the club within circles of friends who are supporters of other clubs. Wasted energy - as new allegations seem to appear 12 months later.

Just make shit up, say you’ve heard from a reliable source that Pep has a 25 mill signing on fee every season .
Hope it’s not true tho!