PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[jamielowndes]

No one is expecting Khaldoon to call up TS and give it the big one, but the club has not issued a statement about this for over a year. I fail to see how a brief statement about our engagement with the process; the absence of any substantive evidence; asserting that the delay is down to the process, not us; and reaffirming our innocence would be against the club’s best interests. If those four elements are true (which I believe they are) I can’t see why that doesn’t happen, given the length of time for this still to play out and recent events in relation to other clubs.

I can see nothing wrong with the club reaffirming its position at this stage.

I understand that and I think in this era of media as fans we're used to being in the know on everything so this approach can be a little unnerving.

I'm OK with it as they know bombastic PR is a dangerous move.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought of as a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

 

[Dirty Harry]

No one is expecting Khaldoon to call up TS and give it the big one, but the club has not issued a statement about this for over a year. I fail to see how a brief statement about our engagement with the process; the absence of any substantive evidence; asserting that the delay is down to the process, not us; and reaffirming our innocence would be against the club’s best interests. If those four elements are true (which I believe they are) I can’t see why that doesn’t happen, given the length of time for this still to play out and recent events in relation to other clubs.

I can see nothing wrong with the club reaffirming its position at this stage.

Agreed mate, only needs to be something short and reassuring directed to the fans of the club, no response to the nuggets or anything confrontational, I really can’t see anything wrong with that.

 

[dadnlad]

No loans to avoid FSR like Arsenal who play 10 +1 the +1 being the Brentford GK thats cheating in my book

Brentford should've said you want him buy him but there again what favour have Arsenal done behind close doors

 

[CC1]

I know what everyone is trying to say and you are all right. The FFP rules are poor and they are being changed to punish certain clubs and restrict their investment. But Everton and Forest (and Chelsea for that matter) weren't affected by those rule changes. They spent more than they knew they "should" have according to the rules, banked on a fine and then panicked when points deductions started to be handed out. They should have been more prudent.

Agree totally. They admit they have broken the rules whereas we fervently deny any wrongdoings. I still believe the structure of the PL Financial regs has always favoured the red clubs & purposely leaves out real issues such as debt!

I do feel that the changes that have been made over time to these regulations , seem to coincide with possible charges being applicable to the clubs that invented the PL financial rules

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

No one is expecting Khaldoon to call up TS and give it the big one, but the club has not issued a statement about this for over a year. I fail to see how a brief statement about our engagement with the process; the absence of any substantive evidence; asserting that the delay is down to the process, not us; and reaffirming our innocence would be against the club’s best interests. If those four elements are true (which I believe they are) I can’t see why that doesn’t happen, given the length of time for this still to play out and recent events in relation to other clubs.

I can see nothing wrong with the club reaffirming its position at this stage.

Do you think that is because our legal team would have advised that it won't make any difference to how our case is resolved one way or another?

In some ways it would be similar to the PR fluff of Khaldoons' end of season interview with Chris Bailey. What I have thought the club could do if they had any substantive dirt on rival clubs is to get some of it out there by whatever means just to make a point. I actually doubt that we have such information as I'm sure they would have done that by now. We have been promised Shit Storms in the past but nothing has ever transpired.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I'm not too concerned about the lack of PR on this. The upper management has always preferred the "move in silence" approach and they don't see a reason to drag themselves into the knuckle dragging discourse going on at the moment.

I guarantee Khaldoon has just laughed off any of the BS on talk radio or podcasting. None of that has any importance if you're actually in the eye of the storm.

We are engaged in a legal battle with a group of people who want to destroy our club. The implications of us losing can't be underestimated. It would be devastating, not just for fans but for the entire Manchester business community. It would put hundreds, perhaps thousands, of jobs at risk if you include the local businesses who depend on City. Our opponents, firstly UEFA, now the PL, have constantly undermined their own case by leaking information to the media. It would be crazy for us to go on the offensive at this delicate stage. I have consistently criticised City in the past for not being proactive enough with their PR but this is not the right time to do it.

 

[KS55]

Fans of other clubs should always read this from Martin Samuel:

MARTIN SAMUEL: Fair play? To the Premier League's gang of four, that means a ban on dreamers like Jack Walker

The plot which Arsenal and Manchester United have hatched is sucking in many of the other Premier League clubs eager for a slice of the pie.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Still the greatest criticism of ffp all these years later.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

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.

Not fanciful at all, sadly. The PL and (by way of projection) any Super League are/would be enormous cash generators and we are the proverbial fly in the ointment, dipping our paws in the honeypot year after year after year, and walking away with the better part of £100m a season in prize money from the CL alone, not to mention all that silverware that had previously been reserved for United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Pretty much every time we finish in the top 4, one of them misses out on a pot of gold and they’re forced to spend large sums of money to try and keep up with us and, as long as Pep remains at the helm at City certainly, there’s no sign of that changing any time soon.

No surprise then that they want us gone. They’ve been trying for years. Rule changes galore in an attempt to stymie us and benefit themselves, and now we’re reaching a Game of Thrones style ‘all or nothing’ denouement. Those fucking context-free Der Spiegel emails gave them the chance to try and ruin us that they’d hitherto been unable to obtain (and Blues should be under no illusions as to the extent of the resentment these entitled bastards have for us by the way - they don’t want us just “punished” without the inconvenience of a trial, they want us, to borrow from John Kreese in the Karate Kid, “out of commission, permanently.” IMO, not just relegated and stripped of titles, but damaged reputationally beyond all repair and then excluded from the entire Football League structure).
CAS was of course surely meant to act as the catalyst for our removal, but the judgment went our way, and so this now is the last hurrah instead. They’ve had 4 years to learn from their mistakes and prepare, and all the pieces are potentially now in place. A CEO who had to be ‘auditioned’ at Anfield and the Swamp before being approved for the role, a Chairwoman who is a season card holder at United, Parry in charge of the EFL (you can make your own minds up about his alleged previous associations with certain overseas journalists) and an Arsenal fan invited to select the panel for our tribunal and, as long as that panel is cautious with its legal vocabulary, no right of appeal to anything other than another rubber stamping PL appointed panel, in the event they decide we’re guilty, and new “associated party” legislation in place to “manage” any attempt at a return to our former position.
I should stress I cast no aspersion over the actual integrity of those just mentioned. For all I know they may be all absolutely committed to affording us a fair hearing, but unfortunately their club associations can’t fail but make me itch. I can’t even go to fucking Sainsbury’s in a City hat without some cnut or another shouting “cheats” at me, so I can’t imagine the opinions they’re going to be surrounded by at places like Anfield or the Emirates, for all that there may be educated individuals like David Dein floating about, are going to be anything other than loaded.
We’ve unquestionably missed the boat IMO, in attempting to counter some of the relentless propaganda spewing out of rival clubs and MSM, particularly as regards to the current round of “what about City?” bullshit. Apart from Stefan Borson being wheeled out on Talkshite every now and then to be interrupted by that City hating troll Jordan, our media presence in the dreary “what about City?” debate, has been practically zero, and even then it feels like an exercise in futility to try and convince the “cor blimey” merchants who listen to that clown car of a radio station that we should even have the right to a hearing, never mind entertain the possibility that we might not even be guilty of anything. For the record I have zero sympathy for Everton, who voted for FFP, I have zero sympathy for Newcastle, who also voted for FFP and were one of the hateful 8, I have zero sympathy for Forest, who spent recklessly, and every time one of their wanker fans lashes out at us, as if we were the fucking enemy, it makes me boil.

There are causes for optimism - the ongoing stadium expansion at the Etihad for one and the fact that I genuinely don’t think we did what we’re accused of (if I were a gambling man, I would have money on the AD Executive Authority, ie. the UAE government, having covered the disputed £59m of Etihad’s £67m sponsorship deal, not ADUG). There’s also then the reach of our owners, which is prodigious. I just hope we (the club) haven’t been complacent on that basis though, because the one thing I fear is not that we might actually be guilty (and we may or may not be, I have no idea), but rather that our guilt or innocence is almost irrelevant, and a gigantic stitch up is currently being played out.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I'll admit I'm not expert in ffp but this person on YouTube comments says that debt before the rules doesn't count. No idea if that's correct. But arent City being charged for breaking the rules before the rules were made ?

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Total bollocks. United have done nothing to reduce their debt. In fact it has increased during the 12 years of FFP rules. They are a good example of an unsustainable business. The Glazers couldn't pay their debts tomorrow if they were called in. A bit like their pal Donald Trump is finding.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

"We reiterate our strenuous denial of the charges against us and express our concern at certain outlets inferring otherwise and comparing our ongoing, legally sensitive situation to that of other clubs charged by the PL. We make this statement as a courtesy and reinforcement of the Club's innocence, to our loyal fans."

Wouldn't hurt.