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

[oakiecokie]

Ah yes! The days of player wage caps, exposed to all weathers at the scoreboard end, the Kippax being posh because it was covered and you could see both ends -a big bonus in the winter fogs and smogs where the referee would stand at the centre circle and only decide that the game would be played if he could see the goalposts at both ends.

Many is the game I attended where the Platt Lane end was invisible, especially under floodlights. Like the blind we relied on the crowd at the end for an inkling of excitement. It is one of the reasons it was common for supporters to change ends at half time. What price VAR in those days when it was frequently impossible to even see what was happening on the mud heaps that passed as pitches.

This is the nearest that could be described as a level playing field when it came to competitions. No need for FFP then.

The only thing I don`t miss from "All Our Yesterdays" are the piss stones in the Kippax.

 

[spiny]

The problem is that is exactly what the cartel want. The old G14 mafia have goaded UEFA in going after City. For them it is win-win. Either City get banned or UEFA go down the pan. The latter scenario opens the way for .

That may have been the plan. However many of these clubs have huge debts to service with no immediate prospect of revenue with coronavirus. Competitions, gatherings and travel may be restricted for some time. "A new invitation-only European Super League" may have been feasible but now could equally be folly opening a Pandoras Box that could badly backfire and see the end of them. A new competition could emerge although not necessarily what the G14 clubs have in mnd.

On one side we have a debt free, profitable, investment rich City with CFG and owners around the world but failing FFP against a proposed new European cartel league started by FFP compliant but potentially bankrupt clubs, carrying debt and needing to secure new sponsorship and investment. I would say their plans now look scuppered.

 

[Kenward Garg]

I love it when you talk dirty Colin.

I think he’s devious and delightful at the same time. A wonderful combination.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

It goes further than this though, doesn't it PB. I believe that FIFA only allows "arbitration" by the CAS if a club "isn't happy" with the AC's decision. This effectively allows no appeal since CAS has to accept the lawfulness of FFP and can only rule on the process followed (including the status of evidence). The entire process from start to finish is a denial of the right to an objective, fair hearing and tips the balance overwhelmingly in favour of UEFA and is so scandalously dictatorial that we haven't seen its like outside the most unpleasant dictatorships. Recently the enforced recourse only to CAS was found to be a denial of the human rights of defendants and I think City would have ignored FIFA's regulations anyway and had recourse to courts which can and will pronounce on more fundamental questions, but again we are left open mouthed at the arrogance of all the regulatory bodies of world football, bodies which believe they really are not accountable to anyone and are above the law and can do exactly as they please.

I think you meant UEFA rather than FIFA.

I'm surprised at the article which said that CAS upheld the legality of FFP, as I didn't think that was even within CAS's remit to look at. But our appeal is on the basis of due process, as you say. The process was akin to a Stalinist show trial, with the verdict known in advance and the defendant not allowed to mount a proper defence. There's the whole issue around the settlement agreement and whether UEFA even had the right to re-open this case at all. That's before any of their accusations about our conduct are even tested.

 

[Kenward Garg]

Beware the Ides of March

I looked that up. It’s the day of the death of Julius Caesar who was stabbed 23 times. You learn something new every day.

 

[manclad]

I looked that up. It’s the day of the death of Julius Caesar who was stabbed 23 times. You learn something new every day.

Remember Kenneth Williams in Carry on Cleo - "Infamy, Infamy they've all got it infamy!!!!

 

[Kenward Garg]

Better call Saul!!!

Just recently finished watching the four series of it. A devious, lying little shit who had my blood boiling at times and I was hooked. I then went on to watch Breaking Bad. It was nice to see and know the history of the characters and once again: old Heisenberg and young Jesse had my blood boiling once again because of their sheer stupidity. Alas, I was hooked and now have a huge amount of respect for Vince Gillian and Bob Odenkirk. Geniuses.

 

[Kenward Garg]

Remember Kenneth Williams in Carry on Cleo - "Infamy, Infamy they've all got it infamy!!!!

Ah! Well remembered. Do you recall a rather attractive Alma Sedgewick from Coronation Street? Those eyes!!

 

[the talisman]

Highly regarded lawyers had to argue that UEFA was not bound by contract law because football was an exception, a sport which could decide contract matters without interference from the courts. I cannot imagine that trained lawyers felt anything other than desperately uncomfortable pleading that the ECJ should butt out and mind it own business but they did because their client left them no choice. The verdict of the ECJ was brutal but lawyers have to fight the case their client wants, and the lawyers came up with the only argument they could put forward, however flimsy it was.

Well if it is true that they are going to CAS with “NOTHING first hand, it's truly unbelievable” then it will be the shortest hearing in the history of CAS.
Unbelievable indeed.
Love to be proved wrong in the fullness of time though.

 

[Blue Feather]

Ah! Well remembered. Do you recall a rather attractive Alma Sedgewick from Coronation Street? Those eyes!!

and a Blue too I think

 

[manclad]

Ah! Well remembered. Do you recall a rather attractive Alma Sedgewick from Coronation Street? Those eyes!!

Amanda Barrie. She has been on TV quite alot recently . She is over 80 years old now and showing signs of her age but still appears to be enjoying life.
And she may be a City fan in real life, if I recall correctly .

 

[Kenward Garg]

Amanda Barrie. She has been on TV quite alot recently . She is over 80 years old now and showing signs of her age but still appears to be enjoying life.
And she may be a City fan in real life, if I recall correctly .

You’ve got me reminiscing about Kenneth Williams and the Carry On films in general: funny as fuck and there was always the guarantee of a bit of boob for a horny and prepubescent cent jerk such as myself.

 

[Kenward Garg]

and a Blue too I think

Smart and attractive. There too few and far between.

 

[Blue Feather]

I see a film.....' Carry on (f***ing) UEFA'

 

[Kenward Garg]

Almost as good as footy, this.

Godfather meets Escape to Victory.

 

[KS55]

Amanda Barrie. She has been on TV quite alot recently . She is over 80 years old now and showing signs of her age but still appears to be enjoying life.
And she may be a City fan in real life, if I recall correctly .

I spent a happy day with a young Amanda Barrie when I did some extra work for Granada many years ago. Very nice too.

 

[nmc]

That may have been the plan. However many of these clubs have huge debts to service with no immediate prospect of revenue with coronavirus. Competitions, gatherings and travel may be restricted for some time. "A new invitation-only European Super League" may have been feasible but now could equally be folly opening a Pandoras Box that could badly backfire and see the end of them. A new competition could emerge although not necessarily what the G14 clubs have in mnd.

On one side we have a debt free, profitable, investment rich City with CFG and owners around the world but failing FFP against a proposed new European cartel league started by FFP compliant but potentially bankrupt clubs, carrying debt and needing to secure new sponsorship and investment. I would say their plans now look scuppered.

You make a good point and UEFA and the G14 are too closely linked to just separate when one falls. Lots of the despots from the G14 clubs are entrenched in UEFA roles and their reputations will be left in tatters when UEFA falls. The UEFA bureaucrats won’t go down alone.

 

[nmc]

Remember Kenneth Williams in Carry on Cleo - "Infamy, Infamy they've all got it infamy!!!!

That phrase seems to describe RAWKs attitude to @Prestwich_Blue at the moment....

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

There were plenty of dangerous stadiums apart from Heysel and had been for most of the previous hundred years. The loss of life at Ibrox (1902 and 1971), Burnden Park (1946), and subsequently Valley Parade (1985) and Hillsborough (1989) testify to that. None of the incidents could be directly related to hooliganism apart from Heysel.

Liverpool managed to create a media image of their fans as 'good natured scallies' that resulted in much of the blame being attributed to the state of the stadium. The fact that the stadium was falling apart and that there wasn't better segregation, is no excuse for Liverpool fans charging at police lines, breaking through and attacking the Juventus fans. In the stampede to escape, part of the perimeter wall collapsed. This allowed most to escape but 39 were crushed to death before the collapse.

I suppose that Liverpool could argue that it would not have happened if the supporters were separated by barbed wire and trenches (plus a few landmines) but it doesn't really wash.

My memory fails me momentarily... Who decided that Heysel would have the final that year?

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

I really hope that the “favours being called in” that @Prestwich_Blue refers to includes exposing Gill for the corrupt little shit stirrer he is... would love to see him in the dock.

I think the "favours being called in" that PB is alluding to will do a great deal more damage than that. Many may well find that insulting the Abu Dhabi establishment can lead to the presentation of a very hefty bill indeed.