Manchester City in row with Premier League on Frank Lampard deal after admitting 'mistakes' and misleading supporters over New York plans
Man City have admitted misleading supporters over Frank Lampard deal
- The Premier League champions had previously claimed the former Chelsea star would be arriving on 'loan' after signing for New York City FC
- City now admit that the former England midfielder was not yet a NYFC player when signing with the club on a supposed 'loan'
- The Premier League have contacted the Etihad club to complain over the suggested length of Lampard's contract, which breaches their rules
- The 36-year-old will now leave for the MLS at the end of the season
- Manchester City are embroiled in an embarrassing row with the Premier League after admitting that they misled their supporters and those of feeder club New York City FC over Frank Lampard's contract last summer.
The Barclays Premier League champions have alienated thousands of the fans they were trying to woo in America by keeping Lampard in England rather than sending him to New York for the start of the MLS season in March.
Now senior sources at City have revealed that they made 'mistakes' when initially announcing the terms of Lampard's arrangement at New York last summer.
Initially the NYFC website announced last July that Lampard had signed a two-year deal to take effect from August 1 2014 while City's own website declared that the former Chelsea midfielder would join them 'on loan' until December 31.
That was repeated on a Tweet sent from City's official account on August 6 (below).
Subsequently, however, that has proved not to be the case with City now admitting that Lampard never actually became a NYCFC player last summer and instead signed a contract at the Premier League club. As a result, there was no need for a loan.
It is understood that Lampard only signed the equivalent of a pre-contract agreement with NYCFC. The agreement was for him to join on January 1 but that has now been put back to July.
And now, in a fresh twist, City have found themselves at loggerheads with the Premier League about the exact nature of the deal they did sign with Lampard.
Earlier on Friday, City released a series of points to the media in an attempt to clarify the situation. They are listed here:
* The statement on the NYCFC website in July saying Lampard's two-year contract took effect from Aug 1, 2014 was a mistake.
* The Initial statement on the Manchester City website that it was a loan was also an error.
*.There was never a break clause in Lampard's contract dated 31 December. The short-term contract with City only ran to Dec 31 and has now been extended..
* There was a 'head of terms commitment' from Lampard to join NYCFC from Jan 1, 2015. That was extended to the end of this season.
* Any contract with NYCFC will now take effect from July 1, 2015.
Now, however, the Premier League have been in touch with City to complain about the suggestion from them that Lampard's contract only ran until December 31.
The League insist that's not the case and have pointed out that it would have been in direct contravention of Premier League rule T11 which insist a contract must be for a minimum of 12 months.
Indeed the Premier League have assured Mail Online that the contract they agreed to was one for the whole season and did contain a break clause for the end of the last calendar year. That clause was utilised after discussions between City and the Premier League on New Year's Eve, thus allowing Lampard to play – and score the winner – against Sunderland the next day.
Talks are currently ongoing between the Premier League and City and it may well be that the English champions release another statement this evening.
Whatever happens, the saga is hugely embarrassing for City, who pride themselves on being a club that does things the right way.
The events of the last few days have certainly left a number of huge questions unanswered by City.
Why, for example, didn't City and indeed NYCFC just tell the truth about Lampard's status back in the summer. And why are they now claiming that Lampard essentially signed a contract with them that would be in contravention of Premier League rules?
Certainly, the situation was not helped by a peculiar statement released by Lampard himself this morning. In attempting to clarify matters, Lampard's declaration only served to point out that he had never signed for NYCFC as initially claimed.
The 36-year-old said: 'I want to make it completely clear about my situation as I have read a lot of lies and nonsense over the last few days.
'When released from Chelsea last year at the end of my contract I signed a commitment to play for NYCFC for two years starting January 1, 2015. I was then offered the chance to train and be part of the Man City squad in the interim to keep myself in the best shape going into New York.
'This period has since been extended by Man City and I will now start playing for NYCFC at the end of this current Premier League season.
'There has always been a constant dialogue between all parties in this time to find the best solution for everyone. I can say that I am very excited about arriving in New York and giving everything to the team to make us a success in the MLS as soon as possible.
'Thanks everyone for your ongoing support and I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2015!'
Falastur said:The Daily Fail are reporting that the PL contacted City today to accuse us of lying in our statement to the media today, and pointing out that if our statement were correct then we'd have broken PL rules about the minimum allowed length of a contract. They also think that we may be forced into releasing a second statement regarding Lampard later this evening:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2903696/Manchester-City-row-Premier-League-Frank-Lampard-deal.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... paign=1490</a>
Manchester City in row with Premier League on Frank Lampard deal after admitting 'mistakes' and misleading supporters over New York plans
Man City have admitted misleading supporters over Frank Lampard deal
- The Premier League champions had previously claimed the former Chelsea star would be arriving on 'loan' after signing for New York City FC
- City now admit that the former England midfielder was not yet a NYFC player when signing with the club on a supposed 'loan'
- The Premier League have contacted the Etihad club to complain over the suggested length of Lampard's contract, which breaches their rules
- The 36-year-old will now leave for the MLS at the end of the season
- Manchester City are embroiled in an embarrassing row with the Premier League after admitting that they misled their supporters and those of feeder club New York City FC over Frank Lampard's contract last summer.
The Barclays Premier League champions have alienated thousands of the fans they were trying to woo in America by keeping Lampard in England rather than sending him to New York for the start of the MLS season in March.
Now senior sources at City have revealed that they made 'mistakes' when initially announcing the terms of Lampard's arrangement at New York last summer.
Initially the NYFC website announced last July that Lampard had signed a two-year deal to take effect from August 1 2014 while City's own website declared that the former Chelsea midfielder would join them 'on loan' until December 31.
That was repeated on a Tweet sent from City's official account on August 6 (below).
Subsequently, however, that has proved not to be the case with City now admitting that Lampard never actually became a NYCFC player last summer and instead signed a contract at the Premier League club. As a result, there was no need for a loan.
It is understood that Lampard only signed the equivalent of a pre-contract agreement with NYCFC. The agreement was for him to join on January 1 but that has now been put back to July.
And now, in a fresh twist, City have found themselves at loggerheads with the Premier League about the exact nature of the deal they did sign with Lampard.
Earlier on Friday, City released a series of points to the media in an attempt to clarify the situation. They are listed here:
* The statement on the NYCFC website in July saying Lampard's two-year contract took effect from Aug 1, 2014 was a mistake.
* The Initial statement on the Manchester City website that it was a loan was also an error.
*.There was never a break clause in Lampard's contract dated 31 December. The short-term contract with City only ran to Dec 31 and has now been extended..
* There was a 'head of terms commitment' from Lampard to join NYCFC from Jan 1, 2015. That was extended to the end of this season.
* Any contract with NYCFC will now take effect from July 1, 2015.
Now, however, the Premier League have been in touch with City to complain about the suggestion from them that Lampard's contract only ran until December 31.
The League insist that's not the case and have pointed out that it would have been in direct contravention of Premier League rule T11 which insist a contract must be for a minimum of 12 months.
Indeed the Premier League have assured Mail Online that the contract they agreed to was one for the whole season and did contain a break clause for the end of the last calendar year. That clause was utilised after discussions between City and the Premier League on New Year's Eve, thus allowing Lampard to play – and score the winner – against Sunderland the next day.
Talks are currently ongoing between the Premier League and City and it may well be that the English champions release another statement this evening.
Whatever happens, the saga is hugely embarrassing for City, who pride themselves on being a club that does things the right way.
The events of the last few days have certainly left a number of huge questions unanswered by City.
Why, for example, didn't City and indeed NYCFC just tell the truth about Lampard's status back in the summer. And why are they now claiming that Lampard essentially signed a contract with them that would be in contravention of Premier League rules?
Certainly, the situation was not helped by a peculiar statement released by Lampard himself this morning. In attempting to clarify matters, Lampard's declaration only served to point out that he had never signed for NYCFC as initially claimed.
The 36-year-old said: 'I want to make it completely clear about my situation as I have read a lot of lies and nonsense over the last few days.
'When released from Chelsea last year at the end of my contract I signed a commitment to play for NYCFC for two years starting January 1, 2015. I was then offered the chance to train and be part of the Man City squad in the interim to keep myself in the best shape going into New York.
'This period has since been extended by Man City and I will now start playing for NYCFC at the end of this current Premier League season.
'There has always been a constant dialogue between all parties in this time to find the best solution for everyone. I can say that I am very excited about arriving in New York and giving everything to the team to make us a success in the MLS as soon as possible.
'Thanks everyone for your ongoing support and I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2015!'
dubblue said:I really don't get the issue with the Lampard deal,mountain out of a mole hill in the extreme.
Jesus...What's going on ?
McfcMK said:They are trying to embarrass the club but they are just embarrassing themselves.
Easily one of the most pointless topics that has got journalists knickers in a twist.
LoveCity said:Garry Cook would be proud, but compare the relentless coverage of this to the minimal credit/acknowledgement of City clawing back an apparent lost cause to go level with Chelsea. Or is that a topic for the agenda thread?