UEFA FFP investigation - CAS decision to be announced Monday, 13th July 9.30am BST

[Exeter Blue I am here]

You're presuming that the UEFA picked judge will side with them (and vice versa of course), as judges they should be impartial and consider all of the evidence. I've certainly got more faith in them than I do in UEFA.

I’d have more faith in Jimmy Saville behaving himself in a playground than UEFA

 

[marco]

Has that point been confirmed?

it was dicussed last night on here,no idea of the page numbers

 

[Saddleworth2]

I am really conflicted by all this. On the one hand my heart says fight this all the way. Present the facts and we will win the argument and prove Uefa to be corrupt and incompetent. But to do that we need a level playing field and impartiality and when the fuck have we ever had that in the last 10 years. It really is just a circus from Pogmol to Uefa and I am starting to think that it is a war we cannot win because of the systemic corruption we are faced with. I hope that the club have got this right and we dont regret turning down the offer of another small 'pinch' that would have allowed Uefa to save face. We have made a very very big call and it might define us as a club for years and years.

 

[Blue Mist]

I am just checking with my legal team if that is defamation of character.

Whilst I accept I am only one of your many legal eagles on this team of yours I can confirm that in my opinion that is defamation. Where your argument falls down is in using the word character. Can you defame a bad character, I will have to ponder that issue further. In the meantime that's £200 please.

 

[vincent]

Basic rule of civil law. punishment suspended until after appeal.

indeed but we are dealing with UEFA here.

 

[Robinho's Subbuteo]

I don't think this is a valid defence though. Each case judged on its merits and all that. If the CAS believe we have misrepresented our sponsorship deals to inflate our revenues they'll uphold the ban and the fine and we'll have a points deduction from the PL too. It won't matter what other clubs have done.

It will if it shows UEFA to be applying one rule for us and different rules for others - which would undermine the Fair Play part of FFP itself.

 

[nmc]

indeed but we are dealing with UEFA here.

It will be CAS that suspends it until after they've heard the appeal.

 

[purplenose]

Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war.

No one is going to have any sympathy with us on this issue. The media campaign has already done the damage and even if the CAS overturns the decision, the reputational damage has been done.

If, and it’s a big if, the CAS reduce UEFA’s ban to one-year then I would personally like the club to take it. There are all sorts of deals to be struck in which you accept the punishment but maintain innocence and a one-year ban could benefit the team in the long-run.

More importantly, it allows the club to change the narrative. Us spending too much and ‘cheating’ is no longer news, we’ve taken our punishment.

Instead the club should draw new battle lines . Go after the very nature of FFP and it’s protectionist scheme. Explain how if we did break the rules, it was to enhance the competition. Hammer home how some clubs have far too much influence with governing bodies.

That is the battle to be won and one with other clubs would support us on.

There maybe no sympathy from rags and scumces but supporters of every other club with any intelligence at all will be right behind us. If City do not overcome this it will be the end of the dream of every single football club that what happened to us could happen to them.

It will effect the prospects of future investments into clubs as wealthy individuals realise their visions will not be allowed to become reality.

Those being so dismissive of the likely or not departure of our owners are blind fools.

I doubt they will be going anywhere without exhausting every avenue to remove the corrupt and restrictive regime that is desperate to protect those chosen few. However should UEFA come out on top there could well be a view that further investment and effort are pointless.

Our owners after all are not lifelong blues born in Stockport!! These guys will not want to let UEFA destroy what they have built at eye watering expense and a decade of work. However should UEFA get away with this it is hard to see where the owners ambitions could be achieved.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

From Samuel’s article:

“At CAS a list of independent arbiters will be provided, with City choosing one, UEFA another, plus a CAS selection, to make the three-strong committee.”

That should worry us all. UEFA will end up choosing two as they will pay off the people that matter within CAS to choose someone they want.

Tell me that won’t happen. Nobody can with any confidence. We have no chance of defeating this evil.

 

[blue by birth]

In a weird way, this could be the making of the Club.
I can't think of anything more likely to unite the fans than this wanton and unjust persecution by a corrupt elite. In addition, unlike our neighbours down the road, we are fully behind the Club's owners. Unity is strength.
The new chant should be "Fuck off Uefa", for 90 minutes, every game.

It would work better as " FUCK UEFA" to the fuck var tune