PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[Manchester_lalala]

From a bitter man who lost his role probably because UEFA found he the leak He also has a dodgy past with his resignation as Belgian PM due to a banking scandal

Club statement

Manchester City Football Club is disappointed, but regrettably not surprised, by the sudden announcement of the referral to be made by the CFCB IC Chief Investigator Yves Leterme.

mancity.com

I think the latter two paragraphs are interesting as City pretty much said the exact same in their statement last week. It’s almost as if their saying “they’re bent cunts who know they haven’t got anything on us”.

 

[Dazzle84]

Actually, no. The change from KC to QC happened instantaneously on the death of her father and her accession to the throne. It didn't wait until the coronation.

Very good point

 

[Rory Bluelow]

Don't post a lot these days, but need to use some sort of forum to vent.

I find myself falling out of love with the game that has been so wrapped in to my very DNA as a person day by day. For as long as I can remember, it has made up a huge part of my life & personality. I now find the general landscape of football in general utterly depressing, rotten to the core & increasingly unbearable. The fact that the only way you can wish to see your team compete consistently for the game's biggest honours is by your club being taken over by a ruling member of a Middle Eastern royal family is something that is often, in fact, no, always lost on the detractors of City. Even withstanding how broken that is, it's not even an avenue open to clubs in Spain, Germany etc.

I love my club, Eric Brook was my Grandfather's Uncle, so it's literally been in the blood since he was smashing goal scoring records in front of 84,000 at Maine Road, but the game today fucking stinks. Gone are the days where a brilliantly managed Leeds United, Manchester City, Derby County, Nottingham Forest et al could come from nowhere & not only compete, but WIN the biggest prizes the game had to offer. Why? Because of the slow eroding of the games competitive balance by a group of entitled clubs, lobbying their own interests to prevent others using the same path they used to stardom & success. How? By changing the very foundation of what the sport is meant to be through rotten politicking dating back to the 1970's/80's. Firstly through monopolizing gate-receipts, then the breakaway Premier League & Champions League, Super League, G-14 & of course the hijacking of FFP's original purpose by moving it away from debt maintenance, to a tool to suffocate any investment @ rivals which threatens their position. Finally now, to destroy Manchester City as a competitive force at the very top of the game.

So where are the media in this? well, acting in the interests of said clubs on the whole. Whether through being pawns for these clubs via briefings & thus guaranteeing the click revenue that brings from their legions of mindless, moronic fans. Or just being bad-faith acting journalists who support these clubs themselves, distorting rulings made by CAS, the history of City post takeover, our actual ownership model & more. The battle of public opinion has been lost since Der Speigel's original 'leaks', & has tarnished the clubs commercial reputation, I don't care what anyone says. & here is what the masses never see, including most City fans, as it so brilliantly disguised... People often slate BT/Sky for their coverage, & it makes me laugh. Their subscriber base probably has a greater % of United, Liverpool & Arsenal fans than the other 17 clubs combined. It is in their VERY interest to be biased towards these clubs, commercially. The same goes for the print media. What is going to make your company richer? A positive City article, or negative one? Think about it & stop expecting impartiality.

Now, do I love our owner? Honestly no, not any more than I would any billionaire I have 0 connection to. Do I love the fact they've made my club competitive & made all my dreams come true for 15+ years, yes I fucking do, unashamedly. In an ideal world I'd love City to be fan owned, competing at the highest level. The fact is, it's impossible due to the points outlined, namely the hijacking by a bunch of greed driven, self-interested vile clubs across Europe of the games purity, with their proxy journalists in tow, spouting their interests for generations to garner public support. With that said, we take what we can get don't we? Even so, we have to put up with all this shit, & I'm tired of it, I just want to be a football fan.

The only thing Manchester City are guilty of, is gaming a rigged system.

Regarding our owner, I can’t say I love him either - but hugely admire the way he has delivered on his promises and what he brought to City and Manchester as a whole. He chose our club and we are so lucky that he did. Just look at those clowns in Trafford for a contrast. Great post by the way !

 

[BigDog82]

Don't post a lot these days, but need to use some sort of forum to vent.

I find myself falling out of love with the game that has been so wrapped in to my very DNA as a person day by day. For as long as I can remember, it has made up a huge part of my life & personality. I now find the general landscape of football in general utterly depressing, rotten to the core & increasingly unbearable. The fact that the only way you can wish to see your team compete consistently for the game's biggest honours is by your club being taken over by a ruling member of a Middle Eastern royal family is something that is often, in fact, no, always lost on the detractors of City. Even withstanding how broken that is, it's not even an avenue open to clubs in Spain, Germany etc.

I love my club, Eric Brook was my Grandfather's Uncle, so it's literally been in the blood since he was smashing goal scoring records in front of 84,000 at Maine Road, but the game today fucking stinks. Gone are the days where a brilliantly managed Leeds United, Manchester City, Derby County, Nottingham Forest et al could come from nowhere & not only compete, but WIN the biggest prizes the game had to offer. Why? Because of the slow eroding of the games competitive balance by a group of entitled clubs, lobbying their own interests to prevent others using the same path they used to stardom & success. How? By changing the very foundation of what the sport is meant to be through rotten politicking dating back to the 1970's/80's. Firstly through monopolizing gate-receipts, then the breakaway Premier League & Champions League, Super League, G-14 & of course the hijacking of FFP's original purpose by moving it away from debt maintenance, to a tool to suffocate any investment @ rivals which threatens their position. Finally now, to destroy Manchester City as a competitive force at the very top of the game.

So where are the media in this? well, acting in the interests of said clubs on the whole. Whether through being pawns for these clubs via briefings & thus guaranteeing the click revenue that brings from their legions of mindless, moronic fans. Or just being bad-faith acting journalists who support these clubs themselves, distorting rulings made by CAS, the history of City post takeover, our actual ownership model & more. The battle of public opinion has been lost since Der Speigel's original 'leaks', & has tarnished the clubs commercial reputation, I don't care what anyone says. & here is what the masses never see, including most City fans, as it so brilliantly disguised... People often slate BT/Sky for their coverage, & it makes me laugh. Their subscriber base probably has a greater % of United, Liverpool & Arsenal fans than the other 17 clubs combined. It is in their VERY interest to be biased towards these clubs, commercially. The same goes for the print media. What is going to make your company richer? A positive City article, or negative one? Think about it & stop expecting impartiality.

Now, do I love our owner? Honestly no, not any more than I would any billionaire I have 0 connection to. Do I love the fact they've made my club competitive & made all my dreams come true for 15+ years, yes I fucking do, unashamedly. In an ideal world I'd love City to be fan owned, competing at the highest level. The fact is, it's impossible due to the points outlined, namely the hijacking by a bunch of greed driven, self-interested vile clubs across Europe of the games purity, with their proxy journalists in tow, spouting their interests for generations to garner public support. With that said, we take what we can get don't we? Even so, we have to put up with all this shit, & I'm tired of it, I just want to be a football fan.

The only thing Manchester City are guilty of, is gaming a rigged system.

Outstanding post. Everyone with a brain knows FFP is just there to limit investment for the 'smaller sides' and keep the established elite at the top of the food chain.

 

[terraloon]

The UEFA issue wasn't that the contract wasn't valid, or wasn't at fair value, or that Etihad was a related party, or that services weren't performed, or that Etihad didn't pay MCFC in full was it?

I thought the allegation was that ADUG gave the money to Etihad to pay MCFC? And the club proved with witness statements at a high level, and expert analysis of the ADUG accounting records, that no money in the relevant time period had been passed from ADUG to Etihad. Is that not right?

CAS relied very heavily on witness statements but on the flip UEFAs expert witness was never afforded access to the full records . I can’t remember the quote but it was something like he had seen the tip-off the ice berg but not what went on below.

CAS weren’t in a position to test the witness statements because UEFA didnt have evidence to back up the emails although when the accounts were particularly made available the amounts and timing of payments was in accord with the second email.

People are reading too much into the CAS judgment. For 1 it’s in accord with Swiss Law and 2 it, ad it’s something I keep repeating UEFA didn’t pursue to the end the fact that some documents were never disclosed they in effect gave up on that approach had they focused on that it’s highly likely that CAS would have come to the same conclusion as UEFA.

I just can’t see how City will even remotely be able to defend full non disclosure( if that’s what happened) when there was a HC ruling on the matter and indeed a PL arbitration panel has likewise confirmed contractual obligations

When the PL and City disclose in full the evidence they will rely on at the tribunal other than the hearing where that evidence will be examined it’s unlikely that even if it goes to a further hearing that either party will be allowed to reduce any further info.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Not really, it was looking very positive but last night TH brought us back down to earth with a bump in case we were getting too giddy ;-)

No he didnt,he simply offered a cautious opinion.

We need to sort the squad out soonest,go big and future proof it for the next 5 years with top class young talent,and then,if a transfer ban occurs.....we can fill in any minor blanks by way of the academy.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Because we have to cooperate?

It's a strange one though. Because I can't think why we would ever co-operate with people who are essentiaally running a smear campaign against us. We know that the PL are targeting us because we are the only club supporting an independent regulator, we know that at least nine clubs tried to get us banned even before the UEFA case had been considered by CAS, we know the PL sent the charging details to the media before we knew about it, we know the PL is on a fishing expedition going back 14 years. Even someone accused of murder in a criminal prosecution has the right to remain silent!
What this whole saga shows is that the PL is totally unfit to act as a regulator. There is no chance of us getting a fair hearing. Other clubs are still briefing against us to the media and so are some people from UEFA (like Leterme). The press stories are full of anonymous quotes from Directors from other clubs. The process is just a trial by media with a very biased media as judge and jury.

 

[Ballosteve]

Brillian

Don't post a lot these days, but need to use some sort of forum to vent.

I find myself falling out of love with the game that has been so wrapped in to my very DNA as a person day by day. For as long as I can remember, it has made up a huge part of my life & personality. I now find the general landscape of football in general utterly depressing, rotten to the core & increasingly unbearable. The fact that the only way you can wish to see your team compete consistently for the game's biggest honours is by your club being taken over by a ruling member of a Middle Eastern royal family is something that is often, in fact, no, always lost on the detractors of City. Even withstanding how broken that is, it's not even an avenue open to clubs in Spain, Germany etc.

I love my club, Eric Brook was my Grandfather's Uncle, so it's literally been in the blood since he was smashing goal scoring records in front of 84,000 at Maine Road, but the game today fucking stinks. Gone are the days where a brilliantly managed Leeds United, Manchester City, Derby County, Nottingham Forest et al could come from nowhere & not only compete, but WIN the biggest prizes the game had to offer. Why? Because of the slow eroding of the games competitive balance by a group of entitled clubs, lobbying their own interests to prevent others using the same path they used to stardom & success. How? By changing the very foundation of what the sport is meant to be through rotten politicking dating back to the 1970's/80's. Firstly through monopolizing gate-receipts, then the breakaway Premier League & Champions League, Super League, G-14 & of course the hijacking of FFP's original purpose by moving it away from debt maintenance, to a tool to suffocate any investment @ rivals which threatens their position. Finally now, to destroy Manchester City as a competitive force at the very top of the game.

So where are the media in this? well, acting in the interests of said clubs on the whole. Whether through being pawns for these clubs via briefings & thus guaranteeing the click revenue that brings from their legions of mindless, moronic fans. Or just being bad-faith acting journalists who support these clubs themselves, distorting rulings made by CAS, the history of City post takeover, our actual ownership model & more. The battle of public opinion has been lost since Der Speigel's original 'leaks', & has tarnished the clubs commercial reputation, I don't care what anyone says. & here is what the masses never see, including most City fans, as it so brilliantly disguised... People often slate BT/Sky for their coverage, & it makes me laugh. Their subscriber base probably has a greater % of United, Liverpool & Arsenal fans than the other 17 clubs combined. It is in their VERY interest to be biased towards these clubs, commercially. The same goes for the print media. What is going to make your company richer? A positive City article, or negative one? Think about it & stop expecting impartiality.

Now, do I love our owner? Honestly no, not any more than I would any billionaire I have 0 connection to. Do I love the fact they've made my club competitive & made all my dreams come true for 15+ years, yes I fucking do, unashamedly. In an ideal world I'd love City to be fan owned, competing at the highest level. The fact is, it's impossible due to the points outlined, namely the hijacking by a bunch of greed driven, self-interested vile clubs across Europe of the games purity, with their proxy journalists in tow, spouting their interests for generations to garner public support. With that said, we take what we can get don't we? Even so, we have to put up with all this shit, & I'm tired of it, I just want to be a football fan.

The only thing Manchester City are guilty of, is gaming a rigged system.

Don't post a lot these days, but need to use some sort of forum to vent.

I find myself falling out of love with the game that has been so wrapped in to my very DNA as a person day by day. For as long as I can remember, it has made up a huge part of my life & personality. I now find the general landscape of football in general utterly depressing, rotten to the core & increasingly unbearable. The fact that the only way you can wish to see your team compete consistently for the game's biggest honours is by your club being taken over by a ruling member of a Middle Eastern royal family is something that is often, in fact, no, always lost on the detractors of City. Even withstanding how broken that is, it's not even an avenue open to clubs in Spain, Germany etc.

I love my club, Eric Brook was my Grandfather's Uncle, so it's literally been in the blood since he was smashing goal scoring records in front of 84,000 at Maine Road, but the game today fucking stinks. Gone are the days where a brilliantly managed Leeds United, Manchester City, Derby County, Nottingham Forest et al could come from nowhere & not only compete, but WIN the biggest prizes the game had to offer. Why? Because of the slow eroding of the games competitive balance by a group of entitled clubs, lobbying their own interests to prevent others using the same path they used to stardom & success. How? By changing the very foundation of what the sport is meant to be through rotten politicking dating back to the 1970's/80's. Firstly through monopolizing gate-receipts, then the breakaway Premier League & Champions League, Super League, G-14 & of course the hijacking of FFP's original purpose by moving it away from debt maintenance, to a tool to suffocate any investment @ rivals which threatens their position. Finally now, to destroy Manchester City as a competitive force at the very top of the game.

So where are the media in this? well, acting in the interests of said clubs on the whole. Whether through being pawns for these clubs via briefings & thus guaranteeing the click revenue that brings from their legions of mindless, moronic fans. Or just being bad-faith acting journalists who support these clubs themselves, distorting rulings made by CAS, the history of City post takeover, our actual ownership model & more. The battle of public opinion has been lost since Der Speigel's original 'leaks', & has tarnished the clubs commercial reputation, I don't care what anyone says. & here is what the masses never see, including most City fans, as it so brilliantly disguised... People often slate BT/Sky for their coverage, & it makes me laugh. Their subscriber base probably has a greater % of United, Liverpool & Arsenal fans than the other 17 clubs combined. It is in their VERY interest to be biased towards these clubs, commercially. The same goes for the print media. What is going to make your company richer? A positive City article, or negative one? Think about it & stop expecting impartiality.

Now, do I love our owner? Honestly no, not any more than I would any billionaire I have 0 connection to. Do I love the fact they've made my club competitive & made all my dreams come true for 15+ years, yes I fucking do, unashamedly. In an ideal world I'd love City to be fan owned, competing at the highest level. The fact is, it's impossible due to the points outlined, namely the hijacking by a bunch of greed driven, self-interested vile clubs across Europe of the games purity, with their proxy journalists in tow, spouting their interests for generations to garner public support. With that said, we take what we can get don't we? Even so, we have to put up with all this shit, & I'm tired of it, I just want to be a football fan.

The only thing Manchester City are guilty of, is gaming a rigged system.

Brilliant post mate

 

[KS55]

Spot on, seems quite a number of clubs /people caught up in it all, this males fpr an interesting read.

How Football Leaks Is Exposing Corruption in European Soccer

While Rui Pinto sits in jail, his revelations are bringing down the sport’s most famous teams and players.

www.newyorker.com

Thanks. This is what I remember. I haven’t yet seen updates. Portugese authorities launched three enquiries in autumn 2221.

 

[BillyShears]

Not as confident as at CAS. I was pretty certain we would win that one.

I'm about 65/35 on this one, simply because I fail to see how the reporting of it doesn't prejudice the panel, no matter how learned or esteemed it will be.

Can only take City at their word they are pretty confident we will win again, but I don't see a home run and envisage a big fine again for non cooperation and maybe a transfer ban over a couple of windows just to limit our progression over the image rights set-up.

I trust Lord Pannick to make the difference.

Interesting take. I am the opposite. Going into CAS I was very apprehensive because I had the feeling that there was a groundswell of opinion that regardless of the rights and wrongs of what we'd done, we needed to be banned simply because of the Football Leaks revelations. Everything was 'fresh' in that moment and the time lapse between UEFA's announcement and the CAS case was months.

Things are hugely different this time round and the major difference is time. We're looking at a process that is going to take upwards of 18 months, so by the time we're at something approaching a decision from the panel, we'll be well into 2025 if not 2026. Glazers will be gone. FSG will be gone. The landscape in the league will be totally different. The power dynamics also totally different.

You also have to look at the charges themselves. Whilst UEFA pointedly accused City of inflating sponsorships, which in many respects COULD have been argued just with the Football Leaks documents, PL charges are of false accounting. FL even on their face, can only 'prove' things from the relevant years of the leaked documents. The PL is relying on a discovery process where City will hand over documents which I presume they think will make us more guilty. That's naive beyond some belief. The PL have to prove false accounting all by themselves. The discovery process won't help them IMO.

I've seen the commentary around a potential whistleblower, and it feels remarkably far fetched to me. A whistleblower, at best can testify to what they saw, or were asked to do. But that is one person. On the other side City will be able to wheel out dozens of people, and dozens of documents and filings which attest to the veracity of their accounts. It is an enormous ask of any 'independent panel' to start accusing high ranking board members and executives all of lying based on the word of what would surely be a disgruntled employee. But in any case, I think it is unlikely that a whistleblower even exists, because if they'd had one, this wouldn't have taken 4 years to get here, and it would be all over the media that the league had a whistleblower.

Finally, there is the actual reasoning for why we've been charged now and in the manner that we have. My personal opinion is that the charges are the punishment. The idea here is simply to inflict maximum reputational damage onto the club. I reckon after 4 years they've realised "we'll never be able to prove this case, but if we bin it we'll forever be panned for not trying" so they've gone with the big long charge sheet knowing that it is now the panel's job to find us innocent but the smears will stick in the meantime.

The politicking at play is on another level to anything we've seen since Abu Dhabi came in.