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

[Marvin]

How do we know they offered us a fine but no ban Marvin?

See PB being interviewed by Ian Cheeseman.



It's at the beginning but in summary Omar Berrada (City's COO) told a meeting of City Matters which PB attended that a ban was off the table and Ceferin was negotiating a watered down sanction.

Fits in with other press reports at the time. I believe it. I think PB's argument that this undermines the UEFA dispute process is a legitimate report. It also suggests City were very confident of the eventual outcome.

However that's no guarantee of anything. UEFA have outflanked us before.

 

[Young Blue]

Bit of a misleading headline. The actual report hardly mentions anything about being investigated from 2016 onwards

Clickbait!

 

[KS55]

€30M is more than any profit we have made.
A 2 yr ban is worth well over €1/4B in CL revenues.
Commercial revenues would decrease dramatically.

UEFA are trying to financially cripple the club for a decade or more by removing the financial underpinnings of the club that literally allow it to compete. In short, it is BUSINESS FRATRICIDE, and they know it.

it cannot be allowed to stand, EVEN IF WE ARE TECHNICALLY GUILTY OF OVERSTATING A COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIP. There is no serious person on earth who could possibly believe that the punishment is, in any way, commensurate with the “crime,” even as charged by UEFA. Indeed, the only reason ANYONE would even do such a thing would be to attempt to break into a cartel that has been created to protect themselves from outside companies trying to take a share of the billions in TV and commercial revenues, the bulk of which they have historically kept within a small group of companies to help them grow and stay profitable at the expense of others.

And, against the backdrop of the PSG case, whereby a reported €100M commercial deal was “objectively valued” at €5M, yet UEFA accepted the €100M valuation, it appears corruption WITHIN UEFA is rife, but only available to members of the Executive Board.

Lawyers and a neutral judge (if such a thing exists in the world of multi-billion Euro business, where everyone has a favorite team!) should have a field day with both the genesis and the application of FFP to date.

I’ll worry about City’s future after the last appeal has been exhausted and Sheikh Mansour has walked away.

Until then, I quote Mark Twain, as provided in the Quotations thread:

I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.

Mansour walk away? He has invested his money time and energy into creating CFG. He wont be walking away.

 

[samarasra]

I don't feel sad about this. I feel total anger and rage at our treatment by UEFA and the media, but at the same time I'm buzzing at the idea of seeing UEFA in court, as I've wanted us to test the legality of FFP since day one - albeit that aspect won't be tested at CAS. Actually, I feel energised as an individual and part of a group that's been collectively galvanised to a level beyond anything I can remember in all my life (60 in July). UEFA have picked on the wrong club.

66 and have similar feelings, hope I get to see the end of this.

 

[Young Blue]

Ask yourself why would City turn down an offer of a nominal fine from UEFA unless we were very confident of the outcome.

Remember we have already been to CAS and may well have some insight into the outcome.

We should be worried but hopeful.

It is possible that UEFA knew that their case was lost and hence tried to negotiate a reduced settlement but as City wouldn't take it they went for the nuclear option...at least that way they say well we did our best? There were delays you recall to the hearing / announcement. Almost as if UEFA were left with no alternative.

Probably complete rubbish! ?

Was it brinkmanship gone wrong? Both sides confidently thinking the other side would back down because that seemed the smart option? Or was one side tricked?

As you say it seems a "nuclear option".

Our club's status as one of the world's most elite clubs is being threatened, or UEFA/FFP's existence. Are we really looking to carry on playing in UEFA's CL competition when both sides are at war?

I am one of those that thinks the only winners in long litigation cases are the lawyers.

 

[KS55]

City have been quite clear that they beleive they can win on the facts, not just procedure. "irrefutable evidence" etc.

If they can do that, they absolutely have to for the sake of the club's reputation. Winning on a procedural error or technicality will put us in Europe next year, but we'll still be the pariah club in the press and in the views of the ECA and that just leads to more pressure for these kind of investigations, so it does have a material impact.

There's a way to deal with this. Offer UEFA to do a complete forensic analysis of our accounts for the last x years. Scope so that they can pick the accountants, give them full access, but they can't disclose
commercial secrets but free to comment on our compliance. We pay. No doubt small discrepances will appear, but so what? Would prove our innocence. (I trust)

 

[KS55]

See PB being interviewed by Ian Cheeseman.



It's at the beginning but in summary Omar Berrada (City's COO) told a meeting of City Matters which PB attended that a ban was off the table and Ceferin was negotiating a watered down sanction.

Fits in with other press reports at the time. I believe it. I think PB's argument that this undermines the UEFA dispute process is a legitimate report. It also suggests City were very confident of the eventual outcome.

However that's no guarantee of anything. UEFA have outflanked us before.

Btw, thank you Colin @Prestwich_Blue for all your efforts on our behalf

 

[Marvin]

Was it brinkmanship gone wrong? Both sides confidently thinking the other side would back down because that seemed the smart option? Or was one side tricked?

As you say it seems a "nuclear option".

Our club's status as one of the world's most elite clubs is being threatened, or UEFA/FFP's existence. Are we really going to looking to carry on playing in UEFA's CL competition when both sides are at war?

I am one of those that thinks the only winners in long litigation cases are the lawyers.

As a fan I'd have compromised however I am hoping they have very good reason to go down this route.

It does seem like Ceferin was negotiating and that makes me think that the CAS hearing punctured UEFA's position and strengthened City's to such an extent that they felt able to stand firm. Perhaps UEFA's sanction was a face saving operation? However that's a good deal of wishful thinking.

The negative though is that the AC chamber was as PB put it a semi-independent hearing and you would think that they would be reasonably independent of all the machinations.

I find it difficult to find how UEFA can go from two positions in such a short period of time. If their sanction was an empty threat then that might explain it?

Lots of ??? marks and not many answers.

 

[Plain Speaking]

There's a way to deal with this. Offer UEFA to do a complete forensic analysis of our accounts for the last x years. Scope so that they can pick the accountants, give them full access, but they can't disclose
commercial secrets but free to comment on our compliance. We pay. No doubt small discrepances will appear, but so what? Would prove our innocence. (I trust)

City don't trust UEFA

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

There's a way to deal with this. Offer UEFA to do a complete forensic analysis of our accounts for the last x years. Scope so that they can pick the accountants, give them full access, but they can't disclose
commercial secrets but free to comment on our compliance. We pay. No doubt small discrepances will appear, but so what? Would prove our innocence. (I trust)

Monday after:

To: Gill, David
cc: Henry, John W; Agnelli, Andrea; Rumenigge, Karl-Heinz; Tebas, Javier; Panja, Tariq
RE: FW: FW: FW: Cool Arab secrets

Hey ****s,

Look at the gold Citeh have given us this time.

Regards,

Ruined Pinto.