PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Thanks. Looks like we'll have to strap ourselves in for the long haul then!

That being said, I don’t think it’ll take anything like that long. In fact, Mr Blue Sky that I am, I think it might all be over and done with by July!
All I keep reading on here are about appeals this and appeals that, coupled with people moaning that fans of other clubs have already found us guilty! I’m firmly of the view that we will be found innocent of the vast majority, if not all, of the charges and all this talk about high courts and appeals is nonsensical.
The PL suits want this dealt with as quickly as possible and a verdict which either exonerates us completely or finds us guilty of some technical error, which we perhaps made every year, might well be the outcome. If the PL ‘lost’ that would be that, if the technical error was ‘proven’ and we accepted some sort of fine, that would also be that.
What the PL DON’T want is this going on for 4 years especially if City won 2/3 or even all 4 titles in that time.

 

[Corky]

We should have gone to court to re-sign a player outside a transfer winder who was on a temporary transfer, which was against the rules clearly, but not for something that could set the club back ten years.

Ignore so called experts, as no one is an expert in this area on here on a scenario that has never happened.

 

[Brendan110_0]

That being said, I don’t think it’ll take anything like that long. In fact, Mr Blue Sky that I am, I think it might all be over and done with by July!
All I keep reading on here are about appeals this and appeals that, coupled with people moaning that fans of other clubs have already found us guilty! I
’m firmly of the view that we will be found innocent of the vast majority, if not all, of the charges and all this talk about high courts and appeals is nonsensical.
The PL suits want this dealt with as quickly as possible and a verdict which either exonerates us completely or finds us guilty of some technical error, which we perhaps made every year, might well be the outcome. If the PL ‘lost’ that would be that, if the technical error was ‘proven’ and we accepted some sort of fine, that would also be that.
What the PL DON’T want is this going on for 4 years especially if City won 2/3 or even all 4 titles in that time.

The PL is basically the hateful 8. So they would like this to drag on

 

[John Wayne]

The mistake there is that the charges actually go up to 2023.

The club were right to stop co-operating on ongoing matters when charged in 2018. As the charges go up to 2023, what the PL were essentially doing is trying to place us under unprecedented supervisory and special measures. They were asking us to submit paperwork as and when it was being produced. They had absolutely no right to do that because they had no evidence to believe that we were committing offences at the time the charges were brought. As such, I think any charges relating to late 2018-2023 should be easy to dismiss. If the smoking gun is supposedly the Der Spiegel hack, then anything subsequent to that is surely inadmissible. I believe therefore that there is a mud-slinging element to this.

 

[bluenova]

You’re last sentence is interesting, “wouldn’t actively invite scrutiny”? Just what do you think has been happy over the last decade?

Do you think City were happy that all their emails are those hacked emails are in the public domain?

They won at CAS but it's hard to argue that it was a huge reputational victory. They'd have much preferred the emails never to have seen the light of day, so why would they actively start court cases where they'd be expected to share that information publicly? Libel cases in this country are a total shitshow for all involved.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Seems like another bombshell charge has dropped!
City have been charged with falsifying gate receipts by using the fans singing “we’re not really here” in their accounts and the PL have since been watching TV and have definitely spotted that that is an ’irregularity’.

 

[Blue Tooth]

Woke up this morning and felt a need to write something as a life long Manchester City fan. So much negativity around the club that I love and have watched since 1968.

It has been said in the media world that the truth should never get in the way of a good story. Over the course of my life, 60 years this far, I have seen this to be self evident in many many situations, both sporting and non.

Their job is to sell newspapers, get clicks and stir the pot. It has always been so. It may feel different in this scenario because they are going after our beloved Manchester City but we have been here before and won. .

We know what it feels like to be fucked.To feel like it has all gone tits up.

Halifax in the Cup.
Luton and David Pleat.
Ricky Villa.
Years and years of spankings by the different red shirts. Knowing we were shit and still showing up. We were there, somewhere, having our own experience of being City.

We know what it feels like.

Unlike all of our antagonists, who have dined for a long time at the top table. Who gorged themselves on a cycle of unfettered success. Unchallenged because of the hegemony they created.
They became complacent and stuffed full of themselves and their self important shite. Corrupt and bloated to the core.

They do not know how it feels to lose.

So when we kicked the door down, because it was the only way in, and brought a level of competition they could not live with,they did not have the spine for the fight. None of them. They tried to meet us on the pitch and failed. They tried through UEFA to knock us out and they failed again. So now they resort to the only weapon they have left. Old money. Old power. Friends in high places. The real corruption. Hidden in plain sight.

But they have picked a fight with a club who know how to scrap.We know the pain of losing big and we know how to come back from that.

Dropping 2 divisions.
Dark days and grim gallows humour.That place somewhere in the old ridings where 300,000 of us watched on in the shadows
Then Gillingham. A moment when the future looked so bleak that people walked away from Wembley , muttering "fucking typical City," only to be drawn back by a miracle.
Imagine that we had lost. I did. And I knew we would still be here come the next season.
QPR. Dead and buried. To make matters worse the old enemy winning it all. Again. Not in my lifetime. You think? Another miracle. A big fuck off metaphorical wink from Mario.

Champions.

Only this.

Just the beginning.

This club, players, management and of course us, the supporters, do not ever lie down.This too I have witnessed. Time and time again. We are City.
It is not even about the winning for me. When you have lost so many times you understand the balance of all things more deeply. You know you can always lose and it makes the joy of winning something our red friends will never ever get to experience.

The day Sergio scored was the loudest noise I ever heard in a football ground and I knew why. That banner. That sanctimonious, rub it in our faces spineless bunch of toss perpetrated by the prawn sandwich brigade. The old money. They never saw it coming. Noisy neighbours indeed.

I understood completely and more than ever before what it meant to be a Manchester City fan.
We can lose this current fight and we will still be here. That's what makes us a fucker to fight with. We don't know when we are beaten.

We're Man City.

We'll fight to the end.

 

[not my fault!]

I suspect the PL, just like UEFA, assume guilt and in all likelihood know we have bent rules. However, knowing (or suspecting) and proving it are very different, you only need to read the comments from the UEFA guy who tried to get us. He’s clearly bitter and frustrated because although he just knew deep inside we were taking the piss, he just couldn’t prove it with the half arsed hacks he had!
The PL are beating the same drum with the same info, they may well know we have trod in to grey areas but proving a rule break is almost impossible for them. City’s owners are not stupid, they are not amateurs and they are well aware of the loopholes and grey areas of FFP (we employed the two gents who wrote the rules!) so it’s fair to assume we have done the same with any PL rules and guidelines in relation to our business.
I fully expect some silly ruling where we are banned from XYZ, fIned huge sums and suffer a points deduction. I then expect City to blow it all apart through the legal system and have it all overturned. It won’t be quick, it won’t be without short term pain and it won’t be pretty… But, I do fully expect us to be vindicated and see the PL have to make a public apology at some point.
On the side, I think we can look forward to some future scandals being “leaked” to the media regarding the PL or ”big clubs”, maybe we’ll see individuals having a bright light on them to the point they have to retire from positions or step down in disgrace. Hey, who knows, we may see leaked hacked emails from other clubs or individuals too. One things for sure, any “revenge” or “payback” will be from the shadows, in the light City will be as professional as is humanly possible but those shadows follow closely behind the light don’t forget.

 

[Edghill OG]

This is brilliant. I'm writing my next missive for KOTK so have been going through the rule books to see exactly what we've been charged with, and it's clear the PL have fucked it up big time. For example, in 2011/12, they've charged us with a breach of Rule E11. That rule in the 2011/12 Pl Handbook says "Each club shall enter the FA Cup".

I've looked at a few others and it's a similar story. They've seemingly charged us against another rule which says that, except for televised games, all PL games will be played on Saturdays at 3pm.

It's an absolute fuck up.

I guess they waived E11 when the rags decided they didn't want to participate?!!

I'm actually numb to it all now. Pick on City as it's the easy target. Let's go through the red cartel's accounts with a fine toothcomb and see what dirt we find. See them crawl back under that rock.

 

[TFC]

Whether we clear our name or not, the damage is done and its exactly what was wanted by the other shithouse clubs behind this. Luckily, I and I'm pretty sure the majority of other blues couldn't give a flying fuck what other people think.

Ironically, rags, dips, etc are in a win win situation...we 'lose' they get what they want which is stuck mud, ickle Citeh are cheats etc etc. We 'win', they'll also get what they want which is a Super League. If City destroy the PL in court (this is what I personally believe will happen), its a hop skip and a jump to away days in Milan. PL has been played like a fiddle here.

*rolls eyes*