PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[bluemanchester]

wasn't it spurs allegedly behind pushing the PL to finally pull the trigger?

And then Joe Lewis got busted some time after our breaches were made public. Now his charge sheet if proven is serious stuff. Whats goes around comes around. Maybe one or two more skeletons will be coming out of cupboards when we are cleared or even sooner. Get the Guinness out;-)

 

[Saddleworth2]

It's my pleasure.

That's an interesting point about the position taken by the PL's independent commission, and got me thinking. The PL's PSR are more generic than the FFP ones, which are quite specific.

FFP goes into detail about owner investment, about allowable expenditure and other things. The PL Handbook only talks about submitting accounts, and the process for doing that, acting in good faith, and generic requirements like that. The only area they go into specific detail on is associated party transactions.

So the commission won't have any empirical yardstick to judge our charges against. They could, for example, say that the Etisalat sponsorship (where ADUG seemingly paid upfront before being reimbursed) was not done in good faith. They could take the same view of the Mancini contract, or the players' image rights payments. That's potentially a very different test to the PSR or FFP financial calculations, or CAS declaring that there was no evidence of disguised owner investment within the Etihad contract.

CAS essentially asked:

• Did Etihad pay what was in the contract?
• Was any of that sponsorship funded by Sheikh Mansour?
• If not, how was the additional money due funded?
• Did Etihad pay a fair market price?
• Did City provide adequate exposure for Etihad as part of that contract?

They were happy that there was an acceptable answer for all those questions.

Asking "Did City act in good faith?" is more subjective. Having said that, I'm sure we'll be bringing the CAS output as part of our evidence, and I think they'd be foolish to ignore it.

Maybe there is a legal definition for ‘acting in good faith’ . I find it difficult to understand how given the paucity of evidence an independent commission could reach a verdict that we had.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Stefan went far more in depth on this Arsenal podcast. Really interesting discussion...

Thanks for posting, looking forward to hearing more from Stephan. He clearly knows this subject very well.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Clearly I wasn't suggesting relegation for non-cooperation. You can't really believe that is what I said, meant or that people interpreted.

The problem with speculation about potential punishment is that there is nothing in the PL Handbook about the scale or severity of sanctions. UEFA published a clear tariff of penalties for failing FFP, dependent on the seriousness of the breach and whether it was a first or repeat offenc, so we can safely talk about the scale of any punishment in that situation. Everton may try to use that as part of their appeal.

But the PL doesn't, so in my opinion it's unhelpful to speculate, using words like 'relegation'. And, being pedantic, the PL can't relegate us, as they don't control the lower leagues. As with Bury and the EFL, they could potentially expel us and we'd have to apply to the EFL.

I know it's easy to be wise when you're not the one in front of the camera or microphone but I think my answer to the "What will happen if they're found guilty" question would have been something like "We just don't know. It will totally depend on whether we're found to have breached any of the specified rules in any of the specified years. There are no indicators as to potential sanctions in the PL's rules but, at the very, very worst, there's the possibility we could be expelled from the PL. But that would involve quite an egregious breach of those rules and I don't see that scenario as a likely outcome. Even in (in my view) the unlikely event that we are found to have committed a minor breach, the punishment should be proportionate".

 

[paulchapo]

Similar to what I posted yesterday. Masters and the PL totally out of their depth here .The consequences are mind blowing and Masters effectively a dead man walking ( career not literally ha ;-) )
Where does the PL go from here ? Pretty much unfit for purpose……… step in the regulator !

It should have all been put to bed when cas, an independent court, cleared us, after the kangaroo court of UEFA found us guilty and banned us for two years. Not happy with that the usual letter writing suspects badgered the premier league to go after us and foolishly they did. All they have done is make a rod for their own back here. If we are cleared and if we can prove the old redshirt cartel forced the premier league to go after us, then they are all fucked. It proves the redshirt are running a supposed impartial league.

 

[Bald fraud]

He simply has to be unwell Harris to have this fixation on us. Now even going to the extremes of "I want disgruntled ex city employees to get in touch with stories of malpractices and cover ups'....24 hours a fuckin day we are in his head.

We all know he's never off this forum too, So Harris I just want to call you a **** while you're reading this.

Ye but don’t forget he’s not well. Bless

 

[ChicagoBlue]

After watching the video yesterday of stefan with the gobshite I've come to the conclusion that Jordan is on the spectrum. His behaviour and inability to stop himself from cutting in when people are speaking is rude and probably out of his control.

It’s what comes from not being stopped by others and being so up your own arse. People who think they are something just run over others until they are stopped. Sadly, Jordan’s ears were too closed to even hear @projectriver facts stopping him in his tracks, and he just carried on with his own agenda.

To my mind, and ear, Jordan seemed like he knew he was outgunned, so (knowing it’s a radio show for most) wanted to keep talking over Stefan to try to not look the fool.

Didn’t work out too well for him.

 

[hello]

Not sure if you can go into 3 figures! Maybe D Squared could make something for Pep to wear with 115 on it.

D=10.724 just rolls off the tongue.

 

[blue ranger]

I think if City are found guilty which I do not think they will then they will bring the Premier league to an end. City will have their own accusations about the red clubs.

Disagree as I’ve said many times this smoking gun really doesn’t exist. If city had anything on the other clubs it would be out.

 

[paulchapo]

Clearly I wasn't suggesting relegation for non-cooperation. You can't really believe that is what I said, meant or that people interpreted.

You did a great job mate but as soon as you mentioned relegation most of us guessed that would be the one sensational snippet they'd headline with and true to form they did.