halfcenturyup
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 12 Oct 2009
- Messages
- 12,489
Agreed. The club have tested the legitimacy of the PL requests for info and their rules via the courts in order to ascertain what we should and should not provide. Like UEFA, the PL were hanging their hats on the illegally acquired emails. City quite rightly, probably following legal advice, wanted to be crystal clear what information should and should not be in scope.. That does not mean we have not cooperated. I remember when the PL were in the early stages of their investigation they noted that they were pleased with how things were going and with City's level of cooperation. That position clearly changed when the PL were seeking information that City's lawyers probably felt they were not entitled to receive. I am pretty sure City will have learned from the poor handling of the investigation by UEFA. Once bitten, twice shy. If the independent commission finds against City regarding the allegations relating to non cooperation they will have to see evidence that proves City's actions were unreasonable based on the facts. Plus, they will need to be satisfied the PLs requests for info were reasonable too. It is certainly not a given that City have been uncooperative. We can only speculate at this point in time.
I think there is no doubt the club hasn't co-operated as much as it could. The question is if the club has co-operated as much as they had to.
I doubt very much the club held back information the PL was entitled to, after the court rulings.
But, even at CAS, the club was criticised for not providing UEFA with the evidence it presented at CAS, iirc saying that witholding information from the investigation that proves innocence for a later appeal makes a mockery of the investigative powers of UEFA. That was the basis of the CAS fine, I think. It will be interesting to see if the club appeals a fine for non-cooperation in this case and what the merits of each side would be, as this is still the PL process, unlike UEFA/CAS.