The point about coercion is key here. It was clear from the UEFA charges that certain clubs were stirring the pot. You could see the relationships at work in how leaks were disseminated to favoured journalists and how the mainstream media was used. Pep’s comments about Levy and others at his Presser and Khaldoon’s earlier comments make it clear we know there has been “interference”.
When these shady, secretive, “off the record” discussions take place, the usual safeguards of process and advisory checks are often by-passed. “Principals” agree a course of action between them without appreciating the full breadth of consequences that may follow. You can imagine Masters being persuaded to run with the charges on the basis that it’s then passed over to the panel who will then have to sort it out. Job done - because in the meantime City’s reputation can be trashed and the PL is shown to be policing the game. I suspect they’d not fully appreciated the magnitude of the charges and have made a really big mistake. Time will tell but I think nothing will be the same again. All conjecture of course but hard to think of another explanation.
www.thetimes.co.uk
