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

[Cornish_Blue]

Why should we have taken another “pinch/ fine and admission of technical error”. It would have just given them more ammo downstream to say. “See, they’ve admitted they’ve done it before”.

I’m hoping that Khaldoon and the gang are so sure that our evidence is watertight. UEFA should not be underestimated. They’re no mugs, they can normally bully and pressure the lesser teams.
They’ve found us “guilty” because we are now stepping on the toes of their favourite cartel and look like surpassing them. They can’t have that, so, they have had to come up with a way to ‘put us back in our place’, yet PSG, who committed EXACTLY the same ‘technical’ errors, walked away without punishment.
No agenda??? Get fücked.

 

[Newman Noggs]

Or maybe there's a level of confidence because UEFA have a history of losing at CAS?

UEFA must have had something on PSG to take them to CAS! Oh wait they got the case thrown out.

UEFA must have had something on Lyon to take them to CAS! Oh wait they got the case thrown out.

UEFA must have had something on AC Milan to take them to CAS! Oh wait, they rejected UEFA's ban and told the Adjudicatory board to make a sensible punishment.


One of the parties in this dispute has a long a storied history of overplaying its hand, over punishing clubs and getting slapped down by an independent panel (CAS). That party is not Manchester City.

Being a City fan that fills me with trepidation. Like when a team comes to City bottom of the league not having won a game for months or when a player like Traore hasn't scored for eons.

 

[FrankSwift1]

Sorry Frank but I disagree.

The club are insisting that they have done nothing wrong.

In the past they accepted an arrangement like you describe and UEFA have now gone back to that period and opened up the can of worms again.

If the club are right, then they have to stand up for their integrity.

If they accept another deal they are admitting guilt.

100% see that point of view. We all want the American movie ending where we are found innocent of all charges and everyone cheers and walks off into the sunshine.

But this is undoubtedly done us huge damage even if we win that wont go away.

 

[bewildered]

'PB's document' should be discussed by the football-finance experts. It's central to UEFA's case against City. Was the UAE sponsorship legitimate?

Apparently the value of the sponsorship is not the issue, especially when considering the PSG deal.

The issue is the origin of the funds.

 

[Gordyola]

There is a huge amount of wishful thinking in this thread I’d say.

In an ideal world we would win the CAS appeal on all points and the sanctions would be cancelled. We would then go to a court of law (Swiss court?) and again we would need to win comprehensively. Then any appeal by UEFA would have to be rejected and then we would pursue them for exemplary damages. This would result in FFP being dropped and possibly the end of UEFA in its current form.

How likely is any of that? Only the first part (CAS appeal) has much chance of success I reckon. The rest is wishful thinking unfortunately.

Yet an army of lawyers, City took up to 8 to the original CAS appeal, say otherwise

 

[Marvin]

No city pre-match press conference but I think we have to give a post-match press conference

 

[dave_blue12]

There is a huge amount of wishful thinking in this thread I’d say.

In an ideal world we would win the CAS appeal on all points and the sanctions would be cancelled. We would then go to a court of law (Swiss court?) and again we would need to win comprehensively. Then any appeal by UEFA would have to be rejected and then we would pursue them for exemplary damages. This would result in FFP being dropped and possibly the end of UEFA in its current form.

How likely is any of that? Only the first part (CAS appeal) has much chance of success I reckon. The rest is wishful thinking unfortunately.

You know this how ?

I trust Khaldoon against that band of corrupt cheats at UEFA all day every day.

 

[Father Paul]

After the events of the last few days I cant help but think that City have made a huge strategic error. Apparently we were offered a way out of this with a technical breach and small fine. (Similar to the Fifa case). By refusing to negotiate it seems we have pushed UEFA to go nuclear with us.

Even if the ban is overturned by Cas this doesnt clear us and its my understanding we have to carry the fight on in Swiss courts(?).

Even if we are eventually cleared which is far from certain the reputational damage of the ban and potential future case with UEFA is enormous. Pretty much the whole footballing world has heard Manchester City are cheats for the last few days and will narative will continue and wont stop even if we win the case. It will turn to, 'well what did you expect when they can buy the bsst lawyers'

Wouldn't it have been sensible to take the fine and carry on as normal. Who would care apart from Johny from Liverpool on twitter.

By taking this risk we have potentially affected our ability to compete for the next 3 4 years but also will forever be known as cheats. We can all argue with internet warriors till we are blue in the face but the label will surely affect out ability to attract commercial sponsorship and grow our fan base in the developing football markets such as India, China and the US.

This has been raised on numerous occasions since Friday and it does have a degree of validity. Firstly we don't know if a deal was offered and if so what it entailed. Clearly if such a deale existed the club felt obliged to reject it. To say they made a "huge strategic error" is a sweeping statement unless you have knowledge the rest of us don't. My belief is rather than being offered a way out we we presented with no option but to go nuclear with them. My only concern about all this is that they have a lot more evidence of wrong doing than what has already entered the public domain if not they will pay dearly for any financial and reputational damage they may have or will cause us.

 

[manimanc]

No city pre-match press conference but I think we have to give a post-match press conference

It was already done before the postponed game, no need for it again.

 

[xgorton]

Lest we forget our 'quality press'

the scum of the earth are feasting on our carcass​

You forgot the Express,Mail and Sun George probably just a slip.

 

[ctid1894]

I see the argument but if we win we still lose. The reputational damage this has caused is not going away no matter what happens.

That's completely irrelevant, some of our own fans have allowed doubt to creep in, that's justification enough to prove we are NOT guilty.

UEFA, backed by other clubs and the media have an agenda which will continue to get pushed as long as we're a threat to the established elite. Proving ourselves NOT guilty in a legal court means they'll have to find anothe method of punishment, then another, then another... At some point the public get wise, just like they do with politics and start pushing back against the views forced upon them.

 

[ganganvince]

No city pre-match press conference but I think we have to give a post-match press conference

Pre match was last week

 

[KS55]

This.

It is perfectly legal for Big Businesses to circumvent rules, and regulations within the remit of the law.Big companies hire the best accountants to do just this for them.Apple,Amazon etc

If a third party with others interests at Heart, puts restrictive legislature in to place to try and limit growth.Then obviously you hire top accountants to find a legal work around.

I am not saying we have done this by the way.

I am just saying i will be amazed if our owners have done anything wrong other than hire a top firm of accountants that found a work around.

UEFA likely then threw their Toys out the Pram and had a temper tantrum because said accountants found a workaround.

I keep hearing we have broken rules...........what fucking rules ?

Circumventing rules is fundamentally different to breaking rules.

Only a idiot breaks rules.

Going to be interesting when what we are accused of hits the legal Courts.And other conflicts of interest are laid bare,too many to list,but lets start with the instigators of the Witch hunt Bayern Munich and their sponsors Audi,Volkswagen,Adidas,and their connection to UEFA.

Connection to uefa?

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Really? What if the charge was sexually assaulting a minor?

Good luck getting a fine for sexually assaulting a minor!

 

[BlueAnorak]

From Der-Spiegel leaked email analysis
"As we discussed, the annual direct obligation for Aabar is GBP 3 million," Pearce wrote. "The remaining 12 million GBP requirement will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness."

With just a single sentence, Pearce confirmed the accusations that his club had repeatedly, indignantly rejected: Namely, that His Highness, Sheikh Mansour, paid a portion of the sponsoring money himself!

Der-Spiegel have clearly assumed that His Highness is Sheikh Mansour

Pearce, highly experienced Abu Dhabi protocol, won's have made a simple mistake as BlueAnorak said above doing so leads to being bollocked

Simon Pearce works at senior levels throughout Abu Dhabi government and state owned businesses and would never make a mistake like that in a billion years.

 

[Dirty Harry]

So did Bayern PSG and Juventus but Uefa let them get away with what we have supposed to have done!

As I understand it, thereby setting a precedent as to the severity of sanctions they (UEFA) deem suitable, something CAS would take into account, they can't give Bayern, PSG and Juve a fine of 1 Euro, and then ban City for 2 years and fine them £25 million.

They have nailed their colours so strongly and firmly to the mast, i don't think there is any way back for them now.

And should we eventually be exonerated, it will no doubt be reported we "got off on a technicality", wankers !

 

[Marvin]

Apparently the value of the sponsorship is not the issue, especially when considering the PSG deal.

The issue is the origin of the funds.

The UAE executive council. Their smear should really have just about run its course now. It should have ended with the UEFA hearing but the hawks just wouldn't back down.

It's going to be City who make the running now. We must be confident, otherwise we'd have settled with Ceferin (assuming the reporting was correct).

 

[BringBackSwales]

I may be the only one, but I am worried by this, and the potential impact on our club, and all the fist pumping delight about it in here seems a little misguided.

IF we lose in CAS and any other courts, we lose CL football for at least 2 years, potentially we lose our manager and top players (whatever WE think THEY want to be playing in the CL), we would also be bound to lose huge amounts of sponsorship revenue, all of which would take a lot more than 2 years to put right, and as we know the pl and uefa have put up barriers to entry against our wealth, which we thought we had just got in ahead of. We seem to think in here that uefa haven’t got a case against us, but we have said that before, and been wrong, and their lawyers aren’t all muppets, and have had a long time to decide whether they had a case or not - it’s a tad unrealistic to assume they definitely have nothing on us. As well as the financial implications there is a huge negative impact on our reputation, which the media cunnts have already kicked to fuck, undeservedly, and well before this weekend; my lads have had season tickets all their lives and were getting loads of shite all weekend from dipper and rag “fans” who have never been to a fucking game. I am also reading in here that we will fill the ground even if we were sent to league 2 - a lot of us will still go, but 54k? - just look in the match day thread to look at the mentality of a lot is our “fans”. I will still go come what may, as will my kids, but let’s not pretend all 54k are like that.

Like everyone else I hope we kick fuck out of uefa and the pl and all the behind the scenes cunnts who are lobbying against us, scum, dippers, spurs, Chelsea, arsenal, Bayern, real, barce, Milan, PSG, they all fucking hate us as we are a threat. But I am more in hope than expectation, it’s their cartels and their rules. 60 years of being a Blue has made me pessimistic, maybe realistic, but I don’t feel at all that this is more of an opportunity than a threat.

However come what may, FUCK THE CUNNTS AND CMON CITY, CTWD

 

[Len Rum]

Im as furious as everyone here and of course we did take the pinch and it came back to haunt us. I just cant see this ever subsiding. We will be questioned about this in 10 years. Its a huge story. Whereas a small fine would be done with in a month or so.

Hi Frank , we don't know whether the 'small fine' story is true, whether it was a serious offer or just UEFA flying a kite and exactly what the terms of the offer were.
There has been some speculation it might have been a trap.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Good article in NYT. If you register for free, you get access to several articles per month.
Manchester City Vows to Fight, Because Losing Is Unthinkable https://nyti.ms/2Sx20T3

That's another brilliant piece in the New York Times which puts the UK media to shame. I know some on here have criticised the NYT (and they have got some things wrong) but they seem to be the only news outlet which understands the bigger picture. Perhaps the US media has a better insight into the politics of sport and finance. A lot of the coverage in the English mainstream media has just been totally moronic.