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

[manimanc]

This story is in the worlds press and media

I know. And your point is?

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Was that Yves Laterme? Staunch christian (sure he has nothing against Muslims), who apart from being on Volkswagen's Sustainability Council (yep, VW who are major sponsors of Bayern Munich) has also publicly made, what can only be described as, racist comments about the French... what a shining beacon he is!

Cuhna Rodriguez. He also wanted to kill Paris but Laterme ensured otherwise.

 

[Keeper!]

I know. And your point is?

Our owners reputation has taken a good hiding, when he should be lorded for a magnificent investment and the incredible success he and MCFC have achieved.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Going after FFP is not a sure success and could be a long process. Would UEFA let you enter their competition during this battle ? UEFA and FIFA can threaten the whole British association if one of his member dares to go to civil court. It happened with Sion if my memory is right. And Switzerland association slapped Sion with a big point penalty in the league which satisfied UEFA/FIFA.

I know your owner is more belligerent than PSG one but PSG won the appeal and didn't go further. They even accepted UEFA request about not renewing the QTA contract. And their brand is still damaged as they are seen as cheat like City.

Btw, i was on some OctagonUK account and the guy posted a study showing that, in general, the people don't really care about the moral value of a brand. So, i think City won't have too much damage on their quest for sponsors after being cleared. PSG is doing excellent these days despite all the past and present suspicions. City will be alright.

You are right, there is no guarantee that a legal challenge to FFP will be successful, and there are risks involved, to be sure.

But, I think your stance is based on a few dubious premises:

1) FFP, in its current or later modified state (for which we undoubtedly will have no input), will not be used to curtail City development in the future.

This is almost certainly false for very obvious reasons.

2) UEFA will threaten or actually expell City or perhaps all English teams from the Champions League if City were to mount a legal challenge to FFP.

This is *probably* false given that any such action could itself spark a legal challenge of unlawful retaliation from an industry regulatory body, which could be won at great (perhaps catastrophic) expense to UEFA even if the City challenge to FFP failed. Sion (and a few other examples) are very different to City challenging FFP in the courts as they were clubs with limit resources and stature so could be very easily bullied in to submission (they had little functional recourse).

3) The current damage done to the City brand and standing will be the last instance of such degradation brought about by UEFA and affiliated adversaries.

This, of course, is most certainly false. And, despite what some studies may tell you (many of them from brand management agencies who are incentivised to convince organisations that brand damage doesn’t matter much), continued hits to the integrity of a brand — and an organisation’s standing in the specific industry — will eventually lead to investment challenges and, in the case of football, suppression of sponsorship potential. That is especially the case in our social media / outage age. I actually think many of the brand value studies are fairly out of sink with the commercial environment that exists now.

4) That our relationship with current UEFA leadership is not irrevocably damaged beyond mending.

I think most reasonable observers would say this is unlikely to be true and that for City to have any hope of ever getting a seat adjacent to the table, much less at it (as PSG have), there would need to be a major change either with our leadership and organisation (perhaps even extending to ownership) or UEFA’s.

Ultimately, not attempting to remove or significantly change FFP will only serve to further inhibit City’s (as well as most other European clubs’) development in the future and, in my opinion, be seen by City leadership and ownership as acquiescing to UEFA power and control, which by extension means bowing to the cartel clubs control.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Ric recommended it this morning, very good piece

It was shite. It made my head hurt and feel intellectually inferior.

Far too many long words for likes of me ;)

 

[cityboy1]

People do realise that all of these stories are just setting up the narrative that we beat poor little underdog UEFA by simply throwing money at the problem and finding a legal loophole which meant we escaped the punishment we deserved?

idc about the media narrative anymore they hate our guts anyway we need to stop trying to impress them they were literally celebrating on saturday

 

[SebastianBlue]

Stefan's blog for ninetythreetwenty is a brilliant forensic analysis of the position as he sees it. This follows the excellent pods over the weekend.

He know's what he is talking about:
The author is a more than 20 year English qualified lawyer, current public company Chief Executive Officer, former General Counsel, former financial adviser to the Board of Manchester City and an experienced litigator including in matters of complex accounting. He knows little or nothing about CAS jurisprudence or the Swiss Civil Code and freely admits he could be completely wrong on all of the above given the scarcity of public documents relating to these matters.

I know a couple of others have linked to the article but I've not seen any comment here about it. Essential reading if you can handle the legal-speak:.

It is a great piece.

I think there has been less direct discussion about it because it hits on many topics that have already been or are already being discussed independently of it.

 

[Roachy]

Footy365 throws up another issue for suspended ban
https://www.football365.com/news/premier-league-winners-losers-burnley-mourinho-liverpool-arsenal

Say Everton get 5th, how do they recruit players for CL if our ban is reversed and place given back to us?

Please don't take my response personally as it is sincerely not aimed at you, but myself and I'm sure most City fans don't give a flying fuck.

 

[manimanc]

Our owners reputation has taken a good hiding, when he should be lorded for a magnificent investment and the incredible success he and MCFC have achieved.

Has it though? Not in my eyes it hasn't, in the green eyes of the bitter pricks in the press it has.

Do you really think a professional businessman would cook the books and jeapordise the reputation of the club, put employee's livelihood's at risk and leave his name with a black mark next to it?

This is an organised assault from UEFA, if it's not them it's the FA, if it isn't them it's the premier league and finally to top the lot the absolute bastards who write their bile and vitriol in the press have been after our blood for years.

Our owners reputation is intact, is impeccable and Is as professional as ever.

 

[remember arthur mann]

Far too many long words for likes of me ;)

We talking about bluemoon ?