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

[Plain Speaking]

The interview yes, not the written statement.

That's accepted but there still seemed a significant time delay before a proper club rebuttal to the charges.

 

[Dave S]

We'll have to agree to disagree. This isn't a scrap that we started. They did. Also, no one is talking about dismantling UEFA, just their unfair FFP, which was specifically designed to stop City.

If UEFA crumble because of this, that's their lookout, not ours. They've chosen to stymie our progress at the behest of their G14 paymasters. They'd love to rewind their competition back to a time when City didn't stand a cat in hell's chance of qualifying.

Personally, I couldn't give a rat's arse what happens to them. Their possible demise is collateral damage of their own making, not ours.

In my world, if you hit me, I'll hit you back twice as hard, & 10 times on top of your one, & keep on hitting you until you're a bludgeoned, mangled mess on the floor. City should do the same, so even if they wanted to come after us again, they were in no shape to do so.

I'd have no mercy with them. We took their 'pinch', & they came back to us over the same issue to pinch us again. Fuck em! UEFA/G14 is rotten to its core, so I'm struggling to understand why you'd want to preserve the status quo to our eternal disadvantage.

After every mass extinction, life rebuilds itself, bigger, better, stronger. If UEFA/G14 were to crumble by their own hand, European football would be stronger & more competitive for it.

Look at the great clubs who've won the European Cup in the past, & consider how many of them stand a chance of ever achieving that feat again?. Yes, they'll always be a Porto, or a Leicester, but in between them there'll be three Real Madrids, two Barca's, Two Bayerns, One Rags, an Inter etc.

It's their club competition, & they've set it up to their advantage, not ours, so if it's City who tear down FFP, like Bosman tore down players contracts, then so be it. Like I said, these things will only stand until challenged. I don't get why you don't see that??????

Excellently put and bang on!!!

 

[blueparrot]

That's accepted but there still seemed a significant time delay before a proper club rebuttal to the charges.

There wasn’t any delay the rebuttal was on the web site immediately.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

We'll have to agree to disagree. This isn't a scrap that we started. They did. Also, no one is talking about dismantling UEFA, just their unfair FFP, which was specifically designed to stop City.

If UEFA crumble because of this, that's their lookout, not ours. They've chosen to stymie our progress at the behest of their G14 paymasters. They'd love to rewind their competition back to a time when City didn't stand a cat in hell's chance of qualifying.

Personally, I couldn't give a rat's arse what happens to them. Their possible demise is collateral damage of their own making, not ours.

In my world, if you hit me, I'll hit you back twice as hard, & 10 times on top of your one, & keep on hitting you until you're a bludgeoned, mangled mess on the floor. City should do the same, so even if they wanted to come after us again, they were in no shape to do so.

I'd have no mercy with them. We took their 'pinch', & they came back to us over the same issue to pinch us again. Fuck em! UEFA/G14 is rotten to its core, so I'm struggling to understand why you'd want to preserve the status quo to our eternal disadvantage.

After every mass extinction, life rebuilds itself, bigger, better, stronger. If UEFA/G14 were to crumble by their own hand, European football would be stronger & more competitive for it.

Look at the great clubs who've won the European Cup in the past, & consider how many of them stand a chance of ever achieving that feat again?. Yes, they'll always be a Porto, or a Leicester, but in between them there'll be three Real Madrids, two Barca's, Two Bayerns, One Rags, an Inter etc.

It's their club competition, & they've set it up to their advantage, not ours, so if it's City who tear down FFP, like Bosman tore down players contracts, then so be it. Like I said, these things will only stand until challenged. I don't get why you don't see that??????

I never said I wanted to preserve the status quo, so please don't put words in my mouth - I'm perfectly capable of speaking for myself.

What I do see is that there are frequently consequences that no-one can foresee when precipitating instability and potentially chaos. You have stated with absolute certainly that there are no potential downsides to taking on UEFA. All I have said is that you simply cannot know that with any degree of certainty. No-one can. Not you, not me, not anyone at City.

 

[Dribble]

I never said I wanted to preserve the status quo, so please don't put words in my mouth - I'm perfectly capable of speaking for myself.

What I do see is that there are frequently consequences that no-one can foresee when precipitating instability and potentially chaos. You have stated with absolute certainly that there are no potential downsides to taking on UEFA. All I have said is that you simply cannot know that with any degree of certainty. No-one can. Not you, not me, not anyone at City.

You said there are downsides. Quite simply, what are they?

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

You said there are downsides. Quite simply, what are they?

Again, misquoting me.

I've previously said there are potential downsides:

Plenty, potentially.

and provided an example.

I'm sorry if my complicated choice of words has confused you in some way.

 

[Decepticon]

Incriminating or not, hopefully CFG have learned that you NEVER send "For your ears & eyes only" communications through wires, or over the air. There isn't a system I've encountered which can't be gotten through if there's a will.

That being said, the "Ha ha! We gotcha red handed" or the "You've taken it all out of context" are both moot points. City didn't want to be the ones to bring down UEFA/G14 over this, but because we are where we are, we've fuck all to lose in doing so now.

What UEFA are doing with FFP is against EU competition law, plain & simple. We need to stop fucking around, & shine the flashlight on the stinking elephant in the room.

In no other walk of business is a minted owner not allowed to invest his own legal funds into his enterprise. Even worse, with FFP, a skint owner can borrow £750m, or whatever he likes, as long as a high street banking institution is willing to loan the money, & the club in question can afford the capital & interest repayments.

UEFA/G14 have taken our gloves off for us, & as far as I'm concerned, we've got fuck all to lose by going nuclear & reducing the whole scam to rubble.

THAT should be our main defence. "Here you go CAS. There's all of your 'Out of context' bollox." And then "Here you go Swiss Courts. We believe we've uncovered anti competition practices by UEFA/G14, which contravenes your EU Constitution".

Sometimes, the polite corporate way doesn't produce the desired results, & you have to get all street on your enemies. If I've ever seen a situation where this is the case, it's right here, & right now with FFP!

Yes, TFEU article 101 "cartels". Question, does this apply to UEFA? Switzerland is not part of the EU, is this law still applicable here?

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Nobody saw a 2 yr ban coming so i am in the wait and hope for the best camp

I did, but only in as much as I speculated that it would probably be 3 years. Either way, this was only ever going to be the old guard’s last chance to destroy us. Fines and 1 year bans were never likely to achieve that aim. It had to be long enough for the income shortfall to force us into selling our assets, and indeed from dissuading those assets from staying at City. It also had to be long enough for them to lay the groundwork for a super league (or rule change), with us excluded, sine die. People get too hung up on here on following the evidence instead of following the money

 

[Dribble]

Again, misquoting me.

I've previously said there are potential downsides:


and provided an example.

I'm sorry if my complicated choice of words has confused you in some way.

Sorry, I missed the example. If you could recap that for me?

 

[Plain Speaking]

There wasn’t any delay the rebuttal was on the web site immediately.

IMO the delay before we gave an interview didn't give the impression we were fully expecting the charges and were ready with a riposte.