OK, I'll try it this way.
If the CAS find we have a case to answer and uphold the ban, effectively that investigation by senior judges finds that the books were cooked and implies breaches of the Companies Act. However they are not empowered to take action under that Act so will do nothing other than submit their findings to the two parties. City and UEFA. They may issue some brief of an overview of the proceedings with the outcome in their reports.
It has already been stated that the Premier League have been investigating the same allegations made by Dr Spiegel and codified by UEFAs charges into the submission of incorrect accounts. So the first question is, if UEFA uphold the ban and fine in any combination do you think the Premier League will not investigate further?
Do not kid yourself if we get found to have done what is alleged do you believe we will get an easy ride from the British press and the rest of the hateful eight etc? There will be a huge demand for exemplary action. I fully expect a demand for points taken away and redistribution of League Titles etc to be openly banded about as punishment or perhaps you think they'll take it easy on us? I suspect not.
It naturally follows if that happens that such a huge case in the UK indicating we have breached the Companies Act will alert both the Police and CPS. There may well be such a referral to them from the Premier League or from hundreds of "well intentioned" private citizens or other aggrieved football clubs or members of the press due to their outrage at such blatant disregard for the law. Do you not naturally see where it goes? If the general public are seemingly outraged the Police will feel compelled to act under the "public interest" elements of the law.
I make these comments not out of any wish for this to pass but over 25 years experience of legal process and because some blues are quite glib about "Accepting a 1 year ban" and that acceptance clearly indicates a tacit submission of guilt.
Does anyone think the powers that be will be allowed to sweep this under the carpet should the CAS outcome not be favourable? Do you not think Steven Gerrard (who's a keen observer of the outcome) et al will sit back and do nothing along with Liverpool FC who are likely to whip up an absolute storm in their indignation?
Perhaps they'll just let us off!
So when you say there's "No chance" this will lead to criminal charges at home perhaps I'll politely disagree.
Of course it's all speculation at this stage and I hope we have sufficient evidence to exonerate the club completely and none of this will mean a thing.
What truly irks with all of this shit is that our ‘crime’ amounts to no more than wanting to be allowed to spend the same amount of money as the old guard and to compete on a level playing field (and even now the highest wage bill and squad cost belongs to United, not us). The punishment we will get however, if we are found guilty of undermining the laughably named Financial ‘Fair’ Play rules, will be so utterly disproportionate to the offence, that it will make transportation to Van Diemen’s Land for stealing a turnip, seem like Steven Gerrard getting found not guilty by a jury of Scousers after he blatantly and publicly beat up a DJ. I have not the slightest doubt that all of what you say above is true, albeit that PB has qualified the Company Law angle for us. The intention of the rags and the dippers, et al, is to ruin us completely and irrevocably, and they will leave no stone unturned, no smear story unleaked, in their quest to achieve that. If we don’t win this case then we are quite likely to be utterly fucked, and if our enemies can leverage the Premier League to relegate us and strip us of our titles then they surely will.
The positive point, and Dear God I pray it wasn’t an elaborate bluff, is that whatever his briefing was, we gave Ceferin short shrift, an act which points to supreme confidence amongst the club’s hierarchy. The negative is the concern, IMO, that whatever leaks and dodges UEFA have or have not been responsible for during the process, will ultimately sit as second fiddle to our ability to discredit the content of those emails, whatever their provenance, and I don’t think CAS will view City opting not to do that on the grounds that they were hacked or were taken out of context, in a positive light. I hope then that we have that evidence, and if we do, then I don’t understand why we have not produced it sooner, and our failure (as far as we know) to have done so, makes me very wary of how this is all going to pan out
