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

[B\connellblue]

It would appear not

Some years back coolmore took out a high court injunction to allow the banned mick kinane to ride in a classic. So it looks like there's precedent for sport cases to appeal to the legal system.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

If we feel we are being unjustly punished, why can’t we take it to a proper court of law not just the CAS sports one? Surely we could argue about loss of business, commercial value, income, etc at a real court not just the one for sports arbitration?

I think the argument against that would be that City have voluntarily agreed to the rules.

Deciding to play by rules when we want, and not to when we don't want, is something people here have complained about regarding other clubs.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

I haven't been involved in this discussion. Simply because the champions league means nothing to me. I only ever watched it to see the rags get beat or because I liked the way Barcelona played. We play better than them now so I've got no reason to watch it whatsoever.

Ban us and we hoover up all the domestic silverware (again) don't ban us and we more than likely go onto to win the blasted thing.

One thing is for sure: whether we get a ban from UEFA or not, the clubs (and they know who they are, more worryingly for them so does Sheik Mansour) who are behind it are FUCKED!

We’ve been here before. We might not be arsed if we get banned from the CL, but the players sure as hell will. Let’s say the ban is 2 or 3 years, you think Kev, Raz, Bernie, etc, won’t be influenced by that in terms of whether they’d want to stay at the club? They aren’t City fans. And notwithstanding that, the revenue the competition generates for us is huge.

There’s lots of fighting talk about how UEFA and the clubs behind this crooked sham will be “fucked” if they punish us, but if we don’t have recourse to the Courts to sue their arses or contest the legality of FFP, I don’t see how they will be

 

[MillionMilesAway]

Some years back coolmore took out a high court injunction to allow the banned mick kinane to ride in a classic. So it looks like there's precedent for sport cases to appeal to the legal system.

That would be pretty different, I think.

Any punishment handed down by UEFA's adjudicatory committee does not claim to be a legal judgement, but one handed down by a committee clubs have agreed to be party to. Appealing it to a legal court would be like appealling a red card to a court.

 

[Len Rum]

So it’s CAS or bust? Seems like we can’t go to anyone other than them? Makes me wonder if UEFA have their claws into them too.

Yep, may be CAS or bust.
But is the MOU legally binding? Depends on the precise wording in the memorandum.

 

[Neville Kneville]

We’re not being denied recourse to legal representation. The MOU is legally binding. Think of it as a pre-nup. Did we understand what we were signing up to? Unquestionably. So, what would be the point in having that pre-nup if you could drive a coach and horses through it at a later date?

If your wife attacked you with a carving knife, you might not get her money, but you could still have her arrested.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Thanks for the extra info. Stefan is a legal mind, yes?

I didn't think anyone had claimed that City could challenge punishment in court; court action would be challenging FFP as a whole.

Yes, Stefan has a legal background and is our resident font of legal knowledge on Twitter. I’ve asked him the latter question (does the MOU prevent us from contesting FFP disputes and punishments only, or does it extend to challenging FFP on anti-competitive grounds as well), but I haven’t had a reply yet

 

[Tricky_Trev]

We’ve been here before. We might not be arsed if we get banned from the CL, but the players sure as hell will. Let’s say the ban is 2 or 3 years, you think Kev, Raz, Bernie, etc, won’t be influenced by that in terms of whether they’d want to stay at the club? They aren’t City fans. And notwithstanding that, the revenue the competition generates for us is huge.

There’s lots of fighting talk about how UEFA and the clubs behind this crooked sham will be “fucked” if they punish us, but if we don’t have recourse to the Courts to sue their arses or contest the legality of FFP, I don’t see how they will be

Yeah, it’s definitely a spanner in the works. It won’t be a shock to City of course, but more to us fans. We’ve been bigging up how they’re all going to be fucked and UEFA effectively ended. Doesn’t appear that’s even a possibility. I don’t even trust CAS that much anymore, purely because that’s who UEFA want us to go to. If they want it, I don’t like it.

 

[SilverFox2]

I wonder if CAS will take into consideration that we historically signed up to the rules yet our 100 page document will clearly show that uefa disregard their own rules and procedures so they misled us into signing their paperwork?

 

[Tricky_Trev]

Yep, may be CAS or bust.
But is the MOU legally binding? Depends on the precise wording in the memorandum.

I’m no legal mind, but it looks robust enough to be legally binding to me.