PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

Lets assume the PL strategy behind the 115 charges is to attack the Etihad Airways sponsorship in any way possible, eg by attacking contract docs or lack of contract docs, the methods of payments, stated values etc.

Despite some irrefutable facts:-

1 A large part of East Manchester M11 has been named the Etihad campus for a decade.

2 The Etihad Stadium sign is seen by millions of passengers flying into Manchester Airport on the East Manc inbound route.

3 The millions of people who have seen Etihad Airways ads during ACTUAL visits to the stadium for games/concerts etc.

4 The billions of people who have seen Etihad Airways on MCFC Kits during televised games

5 The millions of MCFC/Etihad Stadium references seen daily on digital platforms all over the globe

6 The millions of passengers who have flown on Etihad Airways aircraft painted in the sky blue MCFC livery.

Many of of our detractors claim the ultimate owner of MCFC is HHSM who is not just a citizen of the UAE but a member of the ruling family with official state roles. Etihad Airways is actually an Abu Dhabi airline but that makes it a UAE entity. So the IC will rule the Etihad Sponsorship is just a convoluted way for HHSM to pump money into MCFC and is therefore disguised equity funding.

Such a decision would destroy our accounting history completely. We know in the past the owner of NUFC directly sponsored his club via his business Sports Direct, and the owner of LCFC directly sponsored his club via his business i.e. King Power. Those are two very dangerous precedents for the IC to ignore.

In case anyone hadn't noticed, to this very day our main sponsor is Etihad Airways, that's six years after the date of the most recent PL charges. Are the PL going to demand the sponsorship must cease ?. The damage to Etihad Airways reputation would be huge. How would they respond after spending hundreds of millions of pounds on a long term sponsorship deal that is judged (after 15 years) to be illegitimate by the PL.

The next legal battle would of course be Etihad Airways v Premier League, and if City are not in the PL why would they care what damage was done to the PL ?

Personally I am resigned to this being a battle that will go on for many years to come.
Putting to one side the rights and wrongs of it, it's increasingly hard to argue that the Etihad deal hasn't been amazing value for money for them as a brand. In, say, the same way that it's hard to argue that Kyle Walker, who were roundly mocked for spending that much money on a defender, hasn't been amazing value for money as well. I know City shape the market as much as reflect it, but still.
 
To be fair, Ratboy has always been understanding of our plight & is one of the few who's called out FFP/PSR for the bullshit scams they are.

Spuds being praised as a model club is a case in point. They've not progressed beyond those ahead & the chasing pack behind, they've dragged everyone back to their level by supporting FFP/PSR.

The PL are in a race to the bottom of European football. It's evident the Red Top Mafia & Spuds couldn’t give a fuck, as long as when the PL hits the pits with a splat, they're still ahead of everyone else.

Utter madness! We need to launch a hostile takeover of the Premier League alongside the chasing pack who're finally waking up to the bit part they'll always play in the PL, with the way things currently stand.

You talk a lot of sense on this subject mate but never, ever let Neville persuade you he is anything but the snidest of cunts.
 
as far as I can see, he was just defending UEFA‘s decision to charge us. He had to say he felt UEFA were right. Not once did he say CAS were wrong in their findings.
Telegraph wanted something to twist
Unless the Telegraph fabricated his comments Ceferin's precise quote was: "We know we were right. We wouldn't decide if we didn't think we were right." Then he started backpedalling saying things like but of course we respect the CAS decision. Has he retracted his comments today or said anything about it?
He's the Head of UEFA and a lawyer who deals wilth the media all the time. He knew what he was doing and left it out there. It was the first salvo in his campaign to ban mullti-club owners and he has City in his sights. I am sure Khaldoon doesn't trust a word he says. Remember we sent him packing during that pre-Christmas meeting at the Etihad when he was trying to cut a deal with us before CAS got involved. Ceferin is a snake.
 
But there aren't 115 discrete or separate offences.

There are essentially 2 - that we overstated revenue because of 'fake' sponsorships and we didn't report payments to a manager and the players.

You could probably split that first one into Etihad and Etisalat, although disguised owner investment is the core of those.

The second is more properly two separate issues, which are Mancini's Al Jazira contract and image rights payments to players.

There are two further offences, which cover FFP and the PL's own financial rules. If the first two can't be proven then these further two are irrelevant.

The 115 comes from splitting these charges across different rules and multiple years. The sponsorship ones cover 50 of the 115 and if the PL fail to land their case on these then that's 50 that fall at one fell swoop.

It's a common theme from fans that "115 charges. You must have done something wrong". That's a complete lack of understanding of the real situation.
Thanks yet again for explaining this, PB. It's years back now that so many City supporters swallowed the "no smoke without fire" philosophy in the run up to the CAS hearing. How depressing that there are still those who think we must have done something or why are we accused now of 115 offences. The scales of justice, eh! But then again, like a true Liverpool fan despite any evidence at all Ceferin "just knows" UEFA was right and CAS was wrong. And as he doesn't tire of pointing out, he was a"trial lawyer for twenty five years". God help us.
 
Unless the Telegraph fabricated his comments Ceferin's precise quote was: "We know we were right. We wouldn't decide if we didn't think we were right." Then he started backpedalling saying things like but of course we respect the CAS decision. Has he retracted his comments today or said anything about it?
He's the Head of UEFA and a lawyer who deals wilth the media all the time. He knew what he was doing and left it out there. It was the first salvo in his campaign to ban mullti-club owners and he has City in his sights. I am sure Khaldoon doesn't trust a word he says. Remember we sent him packing during that pre-Christmas meeting at the Etihad when he was trying to cut a deal with us before CAS got involved. Ceferin is a snake.

“We know we were right”

Mad as fuck he still thinks that after being proved wrong at CAS.

There’s a shilling missing a bit somewhere.
 
Putting to one side the rights and wrongs of it, it's increasingly hard to argue that the Etihad deal hasn't been amazing value for money for them as a brand. In, say, the same way that it's hard to argue that Kyle Walker, who were roundly mocked for spending that much money on a defender, hasn't been amazing value for money as well. I know City shape the market as much as reflect it, but still.

Everyone knows Etihad are an airline in the Middle East because of their association with City. Nobody would have had a clue who they were before 2009, so their sponsorship of the stadium and shirt has been a rip roaring success for their part. City get £67.5 million a year whilst Arsenal get £50 million from Emirates, let’s highlight this as Arsenal who have never won the champions league, haven’t won the Premier League in two decades and don’t consistently qualify for the Champions league like City do. Not to mention the 7 Premier League titles since 2012 City have won. Looking at that it’s by far market value, if someone buys a football team why can’t a relation to that person sponsor it?
 
Unless the Telegraph fabricated his comments Ceferin's precise quote was: "We know we were right. We wouldn't decide if we didn't think we were right." Then he started backpedalling saying things like but of course we respect the CAS decision. Has he retracted his comments today or said anything about it?
He's the Head of UEFA and a lawyer who deals wilth the media all the time. He knew what he was doing and left it out there. It was the first salvo in his campaign to ban mullti-club owners and he has City in his sights. I am sure Khaldoon doesn't trust a word he says. Remember we sent him packing during that pre-Christmas meeting at the Etihad when he was trying to cut a deal with us before CAS got involved. Ceferin is a snake.
It is bizarre to say the least that Ceferin knows the adjudicatory panel were right but that he respects (not accepts but respects) a decision which in his eyes was completely wrong. Almost as strange as for a trial lawyer for twenty five years basing his view on no evidence at all. A great guy!
 
City can't speak out publically at the moment because it would undermine our legal position. I would hope we have spoken privately to Ceferin though. When this case is finally resolved hopefully the club will speak openly and in detail making our "irrefutable evidence" clear to the whole world. This is the least our fans deserve. We are the paying customers.
Khaldoon did say last post-season interview, "now is not the right moment to speak about this, but there will be a time when I have plenty to say on the subject".
He said it with a smile that looked convincing. The suspense is going to be worth the wait I'm certain.
 
I liked your post but just add this for a sideways look at the clubs passive position.

I had read in several places that we scored points with CAS in demonstrating evidence of the tidal wave of pre-judgement, prejudicial comments and biased vitriol pre-hearing - and much from influencers in positions of power like Creterin.

Maybe, just maybe the club are boiling but keeping quiet and creating the evidence file which starts with the message…‘we have already been judged and hung, this myopic, one sided hysteria without any substance must have a bearing on the conscious and subconscious of the committee members.’
This is my hope as well. Our defence tactics from day one with UEFA and now the PL have been that these organisations have been acting in bad faith. The more leaks and negative briefings from our enemies the more ammo for us. Ceferin scored a huge own goal before the CAS case by speaking openly about the "concrete" case. Now he has been spouting off again. City also know that our commercial rivals are still briefing against us to the media. They just can't help themselves. As far as I can see, nothing has come out of City. If the panel is an honest one they will be influenced by this.
 
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