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

[tonea2003]

I've just posted a long reply giving my view on the technical case against us. But everything I've heard suggests that UEFA as an organisation didn't want it to come to this but that representatives of clubs who make up part of that organisation did. Ceferin wa desperately trying to get a deal hammered out late last year. Whether he'd have got that through the AC (which is supposed to be independent of UEFA) is another matter but if he thinks he could have done, then it throws that claimed independence into doubt doesn't it?

You can look at it two extreme ways. One is that UEFA is serious and that will involve a fight to the proverbial death between us and them over this. The other is that it's a carefully staged process between the three main parties, us, UEFA and CAS, knowing that the case will be thrown out at CAS. But even then, the mud they've thrown will stick and we can't afford to ignore that. We have to therefore deal with the elements causing this as they won't go away unless we do.

sorry if i'm very naive colin but if the second scenario comes to pass what do uefa get out of this as surely their reputation would be shot for bringing such a ludicrous trumped up charge

 

[asahartford1]

The outcome of this will define us for a generation.
Everyone can have a say, but some people on here do have more knowledge a d experience than others.
With such volume coming through, would it be a good idea to have a separate thread with just a few of the people with a clue.
@Prestwich_Blue et al, and leave the guessers like me on this thread.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Were we offered a lesser sanction mate? If so what was it?

I am simply referring to stuff on Twitter from our own @Prestwich_Blue. Seemingly we were offered a small fine for accepting a technical breach. We said no.

 

[stan bowles]

The fucking us over wont stop with the 2 year UEFA ban either.

Expect the Scousesrs, Rags,Arse to start screaming its unfair we dont have Champions League distractions next season.

That if we do hypothetically win the League by 20 points,they want a 21 point reduction.Or they will go to Court.

Even if we overturn this ban excpect a huge outcry from these same bastards finnishing 5th,6th,.

UEFA has set the Premier League against us,exactly what they wanted.

Isn't it odd too that the UEFA decision came out during the PL winter break - thereby ensuring maximum exposure on us at a time when there was very little other football related news. The world and his wife and every wearied hack and sports discussion programme is given ample opportunity to report and highlight the level of City's 'misdemeanours' (and give factual inaccuracies in the BBC's case) to peddle and play up to their jaundiced audience. I can envisage regular hostilities developing by opposition fans towards City's players and officials on their travels in the immediate future.

City are now fair game for anyone and everyone to throw what they like (literally perhaps) at us because 'we deserve it for what we've done'. Referees and VAR will allow anything and everything to our detriment. Officialdom will of course turn a blind eye. If you think the world has been against us in the last few years things are going to get much worse.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Surely we may as well take the piss and announce an enormous Abu Dhabi related shirt deal.

Well yeah, there is that.

Uefa can't rule it fair value if we aren't on their watch!

 

[KS55]

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.

This is how it feels to be City:

NO NO NO

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

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.

The word you are looking for is protectionism.

 

[Dirty Harry]

You only have to look at Liverpool's sponsors to see how dodgy some of those have been. We all know about Standard Chartered/Western Union and their money laundering activities but there's more. Tibet Water didn't get renewed after even their own fans protested and there was a very shady Russian money launderer who sponsored them via what appears to have been a phony Forex company. Just doing some research on that one.

Just out and saw a kid with a Liverpool shirt, and then saw Western Union on the sleeve, fuck me, not sure what it’s like now but not so long back many a genuine decent business wouldn’t have anything to do with these fuckers such was their reputation!

 

[Gordyola]

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.

We took a pinch as Khaldoon said that was for the good of football Mansour was ready to spend whatever in the courts but obviously persuaded otherwise
Now they come back at us There is no way we take another pinch the gloves are off it’s war and I for one are glad the club will now have the opportunity to show the world we mean business

 

[Metalartin]

Apparently we pay our legal people considerable amounts of money to make sure we're ahead of the game.

My fear is UEFA have additional information from the hack that isn't public, again I state hopefully I'm wrong.

I considered that but then I thought, surely that shows how sure City are that they haven't done what has been preposed?

City probably have records of all those emails from that period but maybe it doesn't matter to City what is in the public leaks or not because the case remains the same.

It would just require time to counter those claims and prove where they have have taken said emails out of context to support their case.