PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[Chris in London]

Thanks for that. I suppose it's the contract equivalent of @Prestwich_Blue 's argument that not everything accounting is fraudulent just because you don't agree with it. Makes sense to me.

More to the point: do you never sleep?

Not when someone on the internet is wrong, no.

 

[halfcenturyup]

They set precedents all the time. Liverpool / City hacking was considered too old & resolved. Surely that’s the same precedent as an allegation from 2009 & an investigation cleared by CAS.

The question is despite this being so old, investigated by CAS was there still an appetite to charge, embarrass, damage your own product with little opportunity for success.

The hacking was settled between the parties, I guess that's the reason.

I am also guessing the current allegations may cover some of the same issues as CAS, but for more years, so the PL can say they couldn't rely entirely on the CAS award. But that is more a question of why the investigation should/shouldn't have been stopped "at the beginning" (more or less). That's an interesting question which could be answered. And I think we all know the answer. But at some point, the PL investigators lhad to shit or get off the can because they had obtained all the "evidence" they were going to get internally from the club, and the club wasn't giving them access to external information. Getting off the can wasn't a real option by then. Imho.

 

[halfcenturyup]

Not when someone on the internet is wrong, no.

:D So you never sleep then?

 

[cheekybids]

The hacking was settled between the parties, I guess that's the reason.

I am also guessing the current allegations may cover some of the same issues as CAS, but for more years, so the PL can say they couldn't rely entirely on the CAS award. But that is more a question of why the investigation should/shouldn't have been stopped "at the beginning" (more or less). That's an interesting question which could be answered. And I think we all know the answer. But at some point, the PL investigators lhad to shit or get off the can because they had obtained all the "evidence" they were going to get internally from the club, and the club wasn't giving them access to external information. Getting off the can wasn't a real option by then. Imho.

I know what you’re saying but all the time authoritaries, regulators make decisions if it’s right to proceed. There was no appetite to proceed with the hacking because nobody was lobbying. There was no appetite to investigate Liverpool for their stadium costs because nobody is lobbying.

A strong & competent CEO would have managed the lobbyists by explaining that there is no evidence of wrongdoing only innuendo & the cost & damage to the brand isn’t worth it.

 

[halfcenturyup]

I know what you’re saying but all the time authoritaries, regulators make decisions if it’s right to proceed. There was no appetite to proceed with the hacking because nobody was lobbying. There was no appetite to investigate Liverpool for their stadium costs because nobody is lobbying.

A strong & competent CEO would have managed the lobbyists by explaining that there is no evidence of wrongdoing only innuendo & the cost & damage to the brand isn’t worth it.

Agree with you completely about how wise it was and exactly why the PL went down this particular rabbit hole. These are all good questions. And obviously I agree that Masters quite clearly isn't an impressive CEO.

But, at some point you get so far down an investigative rabbit hole you can't get back out. You have to go all the way and either find your rabbit, or find there isn't one.

To continue the analogy, I think in this case the bloody rabbit is behind you filling in the rabbit hole as you go deeper so there is, in fact, no way to back out. For the avoidance of doubt, the rabbit in this story is the club, you are the PL and there is no rabbit left in the rabbit hole when you finally get to the end of it. Oh, and the PL are going to end up dead and buried :)

 

[Champions again in 2012]

Agree that I can't see the PL landing any of the main charges (with the possible exception of Toure which I don't know much about but is small anyway).

On the reason for pursuing the allegations, do you think there is any merit in my view that, at the end, they had no choice? They had investigated for four years and City were presumably withholding key external evidence, so they had a choice: drop the investigation which would set a terrible precedent, or refer the allegations knowing that the external evidence will disprove them when it is provided which would be a terrible result for the cost involved.

There are questions around the investigation and why and when it was carried out, but for the decision to eventually refer the allegations I am not sure they had a choice.

I have said before I think the club know exactly what they are doing, and have the PL exactly where they want them on this whole thing. Clever stuff.

Or maybe it's all bollocks. Interested in your view, though.

The bit I really do not get is 4 years to complete an investigation. Was it carried out by the office junior who picked it up and put down when they got bored or had to go on day release?

4 years, teams could win lots of trophies in 4 years and yes, I know it’s unlikely but a team could possibly win 4 consecutive premier league titles ;-)

 

[1961_vintage]

Agree with you completely about how wise it was and exactly why the PL went down this particular rabbit hole. These are all good questions. And obviously I agree that Masters quite clearly isn't an impressive CEO.

I strongly suspect that Masters had Levy and the cartel screaming in his face to "get these dirty, cheating arab oil bastards" done or we will take our ball and our money and fuck-off to the european super league and your premier league product will be destroyed and you with it.

Faced with this, the wet wipe wilted.

 

[cheekybids]

I strongly suspect that Masters had Levy and the cartel screaming in his face to "get these dirty, cheating arab oil bastards" done or we will take our ball and our money and fuck-off to the european super league and your premier league product will be destroyed and you with it.

Faced with this, the wet wipe wilted.

An impressive CEO would have looked at his strength & the weaknesses of the cartel, lobbied the other members, government & UEFA rather than wilt.

 

[halfcenturyup]

The bit I really do not get is 4 years to complete an investigation. Was it carried out by the office junior who picked it up and put down when they got bored or had to go on day release?

4 years, teams could win lots of trophies in 4 years and yes, I know it’s unlikely but a team could possibly win 4 consecutive premier league titles ;-)

Tbf to the PL I don't suppose they were dragging their feet. It's more likely the club was making it as difficult as possible for the PL to get the information they wanted. Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[give it to gordon]

This question might have already been answered.
Are City defending themselves on the first list of charges, the ones the pl rushed out with lots of mistakes in.

Or is it the second list of charges after the pl corrected all the mistakes ?

If it's the second list won't they have been outside the time frame ?