PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[gordondaviesmoustache]

You are correct and I agree but, I assume those at the top of the club are focussed on one thing - winning the war - and this noise from the media right now is viewed as a distraction and they simply don’t want to compromise our long term well being by swatting down a few no marks like Simon fuckin Jordan. I agree that is infuriating but I was talking to the Chairman of a lower league club last week and he had some insight into the last EPL meeting where the resolution of the EFL payment wasn’t approved and he said the feedback from the meeting was that City are anything but passive in those meetings - they know precisely what’s going on and are fighting their corner - I’d sooner we use our resources to wrestle Fenway Sports to death in the corridors of power than concern ourselves with what a few wankers on X or Twitter think.

I agree with the thrust of what you’re saying but to suggest the public image of the club is nugatory (which this approach suggests) is plainly wrong. It’s not about engaging with Simon fuckin Jordan, it’s about applying some effort and purpose to publicly defending the club when there presently appears to be none.

I think this view also reveals a fear in me that the club will continue this supine approach after we are cleared, which I would say is likely and would be infuriating.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Do you think an independent "Supporters' Trust" would be able to speak on behalf of the fans on these issues, and others, to the public and to the club? Something that is outside the current organisation that seems too cozy to the club with the result that the club are largely deaf to supporters' concerns? Thinking also about the CL final fiasco, tickets, pricing and the rest?

There are plenty of people on here, and in the wider fanbase, with the legal, financial and community experience to do some good work publicising concerns and countering narratives, I think.

I’m not sure the club would listen, mate.

 

[halfcenturyup]

I’m not sure the club would listen, mate.

Pretty sure the club management wouldn't want to listen, but it would be up to the Supporters Trust to get the higher ups to listen. City fans in general, the City supporters' clubs, City Matters are all too passive. It's all well and good saying the club is too passive, without doing anything ourselves to improve the situation. Become visible, have a strong, recognisable voice. Choose battles to fight in the press and on social media. We have plenty of fans in the UAE. I am sure some are well-connected. Get them involved, open up a channel. Make the management take notice by pressuring them from top and bottom.

Revolution!

OK. I am going for a lie down now.

 

[Colin Bell (genuine name)]

I agree with the thrust of what you’re saying but to suggest the public image of the club is nugatory (which this approach suggests) is plainly wrong. It’s not about engaging with Simon fuckin Jordan, it’s about applying some effort and purpose to publicly defending the club when there presently appears to be none.

I think this view also reveals a fear in me that the club will continue this supine approach after we are cleared, which I would say is likely and would be infuriating.

I think we all agree that a more positive approach would be supported by the fans but in what shape or form would that take?

The club just can’t approach the likes of Jordan, Harris etc and say, “You continue to besmirch our club in the manner you have, then once it is all over, we’re coming after you.” These cretins would be reporting it quicker than you could blink, that representatives of Manchester City had threatened them with legal action. I am pretty sure they are so far up their own arse that they are 100% convinced that City are guilty and would be willing to take the risk of going public.

I am convinced our owners are innocent and have a strategy they trust in, after all who saw that we would become the best run club in football in 2008?

 

[oxopop]

When the richest, most powerful and commercially successful league in the world appears to be so, inexplicably, hell-bent on self-destruction, I think it's worth, at least, considering the possibility that, far from being incompetence, it's actually a deliberate act of sabotage from within.

After all, if we, and Martin Samuel, could see the utter shambles that would Inevitably result, why couldn't the architects of the whole disaster.

If we consider who would benefit from the collapse of the PL, who would love to see the PL implode, the answer has to be La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga. So we're talking, primarily, the most powerful clubs in those leagues Madrid, Barca, Athletico the Milan clubs, Juventus, Bayern and Dortmund. Essentially, those leagues' representatives in the old G14. Apart from the German clubs, that's, also, essentially, the clubs refusing to give up on the ESL. But the ESL is nothing without the most powerful English clubs to carry it through and structure of the PL and, specifically the voting structure of the PL, means that Arsenal, united, liverpool and Spurs could be out-voted or, worse, in theory, voted out. We've recently seen what some media sources, most notably, Sky, describe as a "rebellion" where some clubs had the audacity to vote against the "associated party" rule changes. In short, there are signs that the other clubs are beginning to flex their muscles. So, change the voting rights. Liverpool and united were frustrated in their attempts to do just that in Project Big Picture where, in association with Rick Parry, their PL puppet, Richard Masters', equivalent in the EFL, they attempted to tie increased payments to the EFL to increased voting rights for 9 certain clubs including, oddly, City, Everton, West Ham and Southampton. The kicker being that the way it was structured was that only 6 clubs were required to carry any proposal., one of which, incidentally, was the power to veto new owners, So Arsenal, united, liverpool, spurs and chelsea only needed one other vote to do as they pleased. That plan was frustrated by the other clubs in the PL.

All that presents a real problem for the 4 PL clubs most determined to join the ESL. That is, unless the Premier League is brought to heel and ceases to be the commercial force that it has been and would continue to be, unless it somehow contrived to self-destruct. And at that point, the white knights would ride in to save the day. Only with certain pre-conditions......

Fanciful ? Possibly, but I'm not so sure.

Sadly I see this as not so fanciful but a legitimate standpoint.

 

[M12Blue]

The problem of defending the club is contentious. As fans I'm sure tge majority of us want Simon Jordan and his ilk to get a good kick in down some blind alley in Gorton. Club see things very differently, and professionally. Given what they've done for us, I'm guessing they're doing the right thing.
However once everything done with and cleared, I do hope they ruin a few sacrificial gobshites to keep me happy.

 

[Dribble]

Its amazing that after what this club has set out to achieve and what is has achieved that people still criticise and doubt it for refusing to shoot down and argue with assasanine idiots throwing baseless accusations, they have already decided we are guilty and nothing anyone says especially the club is going to change that so just laugh in the full knowledge that the club is playing chess while these fuckers are playing tiddlywinks.

If we did robustly defend ourselves on a regular basis, the average braindead footy fan will only reply "Well they're bound to say that aren't they", hence why I believe our best way forward would be to create an alternative FFP/PSR narrative & place the notion through other sources into the media/social media.

Cutting to the chase, FFP/PSR will only be properly resolved when an alternative solution is found, disseminated & begins to take root, & there's no better time than now with Everton, Forest & now Leicester being directly affected, with looming threats to Newcastle, Villa & Chelsea apparently on the horizon.

City need to covertly take the initiative on this. An FFP/PSR alternative can't be seen to be coming from The Etihad, but if a fairer alternative is put forward which suits most English football stakeholders outside of the Cartel Clubs, the most City need to do is sit back & say "We're not averse to the idea", as our planted alternative takes on a life of its own.

If City did propose the perfect FFP/PSR alternative, because it came from us, it would meet fierce opposition without ever being given serious consideration by those currently involved in the governance of football, its stakeholders & rival fans.

In short, what is our considered, fairer alternative to FFP/PSR?

 

[halfcenturyup]

If we did robustly defend ourselves on a regular basis, the average braindead footy fan will only reply "Well they're bound to say that aren't they", hence why I believe our best way forward would be to create an alternative FFP/PSR narrative & place the notion through other sources into the media/social media.

Cutting to the chase, FFP/PSR will only be properly resolved when an alternative solution is found, disseminated & begins to take root, & there's no better time than now with Everton, Forest & now Leicester being directly affected, with looming threats to Newcastle, Villa & Chelsea apparently on the horizon.

City need to covertly take the initiative on this. An FFP/PSR alternative can't be seen to be coming from The Etihad, but if a fairer alternative is put forward which suits most English football stakeholders outside of the Cartel Clubs, the most City need to do is sit back & say "We're not averse to the idea", as our planted alternative takes on a life of its own.

If City did propose the perfect FFP/PSR alternative, because it came from us, it would meet fierce opposition without ever being given serious consideration by those currently involved in the governance of football, its stakeholders & rival fans.

In short, what is our considered, fairer alternative to FFP/PSR?

The idea that 20 clubs will come up with a "fair FFP" is part of the problem. The "top" clubs dont want anybody takng their place; the "middle" clubs want to spend as much as they can to become "top" but don't want anyone coming from below to be "middle" and the clubs at the bottom want to spend as much as they want to be able to survive. Then you have owners who want to invest as much as they can, and owners who want to invest as little as they have to. It's hopeless.

This is an area where the IR should set the basic parameters of FFP for the good of the game then let the clubs agree rules within those parameters.

Personally, I would just scrap break even and squad cost rules in the PL but require pre-active monitoring of debt, along with stronger F&PP tests and some rules over community assets. The top clubs will have to comply with UEFA FFP anyway, which still has break even and squad cost requirements. That way clubs can invest to succeed but need to trim their finances accordingly (to the higher revenue figures) when they get to the top.

 

[Gingers Dad]

Your first five paragraphs , whilst illuminating , well put and extremely interesting , are actually superfluous.
Your final five words were all that was needed .

I think you've got GDM perfectly summed up there.

 

[chesterguy]

The issue with these rules is that they have solely been introduced to stop anybody taking the place of United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs we managed to do it just but that is it. I have seen comments in this thread about “stuff Forest with their reckless spending”. What’s reckless about a very rich man spending money he can afford on what he wants. The club is not being put under a mountain of debt so there is nothing reckless about it. Badly judged perhaps but that is his prerogative. I see today that Newcastle and Villa may have to sell Isak and Jacob to comply with the rules so how can these clubs hope to move up the ladder. As long as clubs are not being saddled with debt then let the owners spend what they want!!!