PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[Gordyola]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaldoon_Al_Mubarak

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak[1] (Arabic: خلدون المبارك; born 1975)[2][3][4] is an Emirati Government official and business leader. Al Mubarak holds senior positions within the Government of Abu Dhabi, including as: a member of the Executive Council since 2006, a member of the Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs, and as the founding chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority. He also fulfills responsibilities for the UAE Federal government and has served as Presidential Special Envoy to the People's Republic of China since 2018.

Al Mubarak is chief executive officer and managing director of Mubadala Investment Company. He is also chairman of Manchester City FC, Melbourne City FC and Mumbai City FC. Al Mubarak is on the board of the UAE business ADNOC and serves as the Chairman of the Boards of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Emirates Global Aluminium.

Here he is visiting 10 Downing Street....

At City Academy with President Xi of China....

With Macron...

Obama....

Putin...

As CEO and Managing Director of the Mubadala Investment Company, Khaldoon manages assets of around 288 billion US Dollars. In 2022 alone Mubadala invested in excess of 29 billion Dollars worldwide.

I've a hunch that whatever Simon Jordan, Mark Goldbridge, RAWK, Daniel Levy and Julian on AFTV have to say about City, it probably doesn't give Khaldoon too many sleepless nights.

You can bet that the first conversation with all these world leaders is Manchester City

 

[Tracking back]

To be honest the PL should be investigating all clubs as deeply as us. Like you I do t see how the PL can afford it. If it's just City getting this treatment its clearly a witchhunt

The only reason MCFC is being charged and investigated by the premier league is because of the unprecedented success on the pitch over the past decade.

If we were to this all over again from 2008 with the same owners, investment and business model and the rags continued to dominate the premier league, then FFP and these subsequent charges would never have materialised.

 

[halfcenturyup]

To be fair it is hard to find any major FFP cases like City. They have also referred Everton to a panel. UEFA routinely issue sanctions for FFP but the PL seems reluctant to act. It is a bit different fining a manager or player for bad behaviour compared to destroying a club!
But there is a problem coming because United and Chelsea are skating on thin ice financially. The PL could find itself managing huge investigtions into multiple clubs and they simply don't have the resources to maintain this. They have set a dangerous precedent by unfairly targeting City for political reasons.

They don't go to a panel if the findings are accepted. If the findings a re disputed, then they go through the panel/ appeal/ arbitration procedure.

 

[Dannyblue52]

To hit us with allegations going back to 2009 (before FFP even came in) suggests Masters and his pals are acting in bad faith. Their broad motive is unclear but it increasingly looks just like an ongoing smear campaign against City. It is difficult to see what positives the PL can get out of this even if they win the case. Perhaps Masters knows that his career is over as soon as this case is concluded and he is just spinning it out to keep his bosses at LFC and MUFC happy till the superleague is revived. The sheer scale of allegations means the case will last many years and the PL lawyers must know this.

There are two main issues. The first is the financial element. Who will be funding this very long investigation? The lawyers must be overjoyed knowing they have a large source of income for some time. If the Premier League clubs have to fund this you would have thought that some of them might rebel.
Secondly, do their rules state they can sanction clubs, and if so what can they do?
Fine us, suspend us, take trophies off is or kick us out of the league!
If they can sanction, but haven't done so, they cannot have evidence to back up their actions. Anyone know the precise powers that they have? I assume it must be written in the rules.
Not sanctioning us following a four year investigation and just referring us to an independent panel smacks of them moving it on so they can say to the red tops, we really tried our best, we know they are guilty, but the panel decided they weren't so they got away with it again.

 

[Bodicoteblue]

You can bet that the first conversation with all these world leaders is Manchester City

I love the idea that an organisation of such wealth and power and business acumen, led by a man who has world leaders on speed dial, would make such a half-assed, bungled mess of cooking the books and leave a paper trail that even the bone-heads and half-wits in the media and at the PL could follow it.

 

[halfcenturyup]

You calling PB a rag?

While you are here, could you think about this for a moment?

"In respect of each of Seasons 2009/10 to 2017/18 inclusive, the Premier League Rules applicable in those seasons that required provision by a member club to the Premier League, in the utmost good faith, of accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position, in particular with respect to its revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its related parties and its operating costs".

I have been struggling with this a little. There is no requirement in the PL Handbook or the Companies Acts for an annual report to be accurate. They have to give a true and fair view which, as we know, is different. Accurate is absolute, true and fair introduces the question of materiality. So when they say "accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view", are they not mixing up two issues? I suppose they could be talking about supplementary information not in the annual report being accurate, but then they shouldn't have conflated the two concepts?

 

[Gordyola]

https://shura.shu.ac.uk/32115/1/2023_ISLR_Issue_3_Print_Ioannidis_Plumley.pdf

"Manchester City ultimately secured what could be considered as a serious dent to the efficacy (and importance) of the FFP, settling the case for a fine of €30million"
Well this is wrong in the first paragraph, the fine was for none -cooperation with the investigative chamber not for FFP which CAS cleared City of any infringements The UEFA fine was considerably reduced by CAS as they somewhat agreed with City's premise that the IC was leaking like a sieve, and saw the reason for the none cooperation. So City dint settle the FFP case as inferred

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

To be honest the PL should be investigating all clubs as deeply as us. Like you I do t see how the PL can afford it. If it's just City getting this treatment its clearly a witchhunt

Haven't seen evidence that ALL clubs in the Pl are under a similar scrutiny , which suggests that something is clearly not kosher in their approach.


But as a City supporter I am obviously paranoid :)

 

[The perfect fumble]

You can bet that the first conversation with all these world leaders is Manchester City

The Sheikh has joked that he's mostly known as the guy who owns Manchester City.

 

[halfcenturyup]

I love the idea that an organisation of such wealth and power and business acumen, led by a man who has world leaders on speed dial, would make such a half-assed, bungled mess of cooking the books and leave a paper trail that even the bone-heads and half-wits in the media and at the PL could follow it.

It's not even that. It's their underlying premise that is ridiculous. They expect us to believe that two Emirati companies, funded by one of the richest governments in the world, each with their own regulatory and supervisory regimes, couldn't enter into a sponsorship agreement without getting funding from a third party. Or put it another way, they are suggesting that Mansour is influential enough to get these two companies to accept such an arrangement, but isn't influential enough to secure the extra funding from the government? None of it makes any sense.