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

[Marvin]

I can't remember him revealing anything I didn't already know through my own contacts or through the well-informed posters on this forum. Many say he's a nice person and he may well be, but I don't rate him as a journalist.

Financial journalism or Arab politics are niche subjects. A good football journalist is someone who can cultivate contacts, get news and communicate it. At face value, people like McGeehan, with human rights watch behind him would seem to be a credible independent expert. It's only when you have been following City for some time that you realise that these people are evangelical in their dislike for City and their owners. Perhaps Sam Lee should really have sussed that out by now.

 

[FrankSwift1]

Does anyone outside the club and fans think we win the case? I've not read anyone being positive.

Are we in our own little echo chamber and suffering from confirmation bias.

 

[BillyShears]

No, he should have finished his response after the first two words, “ NO IDEA”. This guy is a fucking clown

Nah. That’s nonsense. He was asked an opinion and gave it. It’s not like he can delete it if CAS find in our favour.

journalists like the all of us on here live and die by their opinions.

 

[nmc]

Time to close the thread and look forward to clocking up some new grounds in League 2 - Sam reckons the ban will be upheld:

To translate.... I am an utterly clueless clown, I’ve no idea quite what I am talking about, I have no grasp of FFP or the case in hand, , I’m as think as pig shit, but I have to chase clicks on the Internet because my boss says I have to. I’m a Rag so I’ll go for a guilty verdict but I have absolutely no idea why!

 

[paulchapo]

I can't remember him revealing anything I didn't already know through my own contacts or through the well-informed posters on this forum. Many say he's a nice person and he may well be, but I don't rate him as a journalist.

He's a nobody, him and the athletic are begging for customers these days, as are the msm.

 

[nmc]

I suspect that Sam, having been burned once on this case, is playing safe this time round. Far more sensible in his shoes to say he expects a ban than say he expects CAS to throw the case out.

Hardly playing safe though is it. It’s the equivalent of tossing a coin and calling ‘tails’ because you lost calling ‘heads’ the last time. A guess is after all, still a guess and Sam’s odds have not greatly improved.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

Nah. That’s nonsense. He was asked an opinion and gave it. It’s not like he can delete it if CAS find in our favour.

journalists like the all of us on here live and die by their opinions.

Agree.

 

[BillyShears]

Does anyone outside the club and fans think we win the case? I've not read anyone being positive.

Are we in our own little echo chamber and suffering from confirmation bias.

100%.

Quite frankly it blows my mind some of the stuff I keep reading about how we're sure to win and UEFA have no case. The reality is that we're at CAS and all that entails. If I were the supporter of any other club and I'd seen those leaked emails I'd be thinking "they're done here" as well.

That's not to say that is correct either, but as @projectriver has said a few times, the best case comes with a 30% risk you'll lose it.

 

[manimanc]

I've got a feeling it could go either way.

There you go, we're all ITK'S.

 

[M18CTID]

I suspect that Sam, having been burned once on this case, is playing safe this time round. Far more sensible in his shoes to say he expects a ban than say he expects CAS to throw the case out.

Be piss funny if it turns out he’s wrong again!

 

[BillyShears]

Hardly playing safe though is it. It’s the equivalent of tossing a coin and calling ‘tails’ because you lost calling ‘heads’ the last time. A guess is after all, still a guess and Sam’s odds have not greatly improved.

Not really. If everyone takes a step back and has a little think - he went balls out that we weren't getting banned. It was his first big story at the Athletic and it was a big exclusive as at the time nobody else had it. The fact that it ended up going totally the other way has probably been a chastening experience for him. Remember that whatever you may or may not think of him, he is their City correspondent. He's not in this to deliberately alienate City supporters, far from it. Him giving his opinion and erring on the side of "guilty" makes not a blind bit of difference to me.

In the greater scheme of things there are loads of reporters who are deliberately and constantly going after the negative with City. Sam isn't one of them, so I prefer to save my energy for guys like Miguel and Jonny Liew and that little clique of twats.

 

[Barcon]

I suspect that Sam, having been burned once on this case, is playing safe this time round. Far more sensible in his shoes to say he expects a ban than say he expects CAS to throw the case out.

He'd get a lot more respect if he just stuck with, "No idea".

 

[M18CTID]

Does anyone outside the club and fans think we win the case? I've not read anyone being positive.

Are we in our own little echo chamber and suffering from confirmation bias.

Neville said he thought we’d win. That said, I don’t think he had an understanding of this case itself and it was more a general anti-FFP stance he was taking. As we know, this case isn’t about the perceived rights and wrongs of FFP - it’s about whether we’ve done what we’ve been accused of doing.

 

[BillyShears]

Be piss funny if it turns out he’s wrong again!

He's big enough to know that's a possibility and all that will entail. He's said a few times it's just his opinion.

Quite frankly, my opinion is that a 2 year ban is more likely than CAS throwing this out so I don't really know what else to say ...

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Financial journalism or Arab politics are niche subjects. A good football journalist is someone who can cultivate contacts, get news and communicate it. At face value, people like McGeehan, with human rights watch behind him would seem to be a credible independent expert. It's only when you have been following City for some time that you realise that these people are evangelical in their dislike for City and their owners. Perhaps Sam Lee should really have sussed that out by now.

He just seems a bit naive. He must have been stitched up by someone with that "City will be cleared" story just before the ban was announced. He was taken for a ride by a source who no doubt had their own motives.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

He just seems a bit naive. He must have been stitched up by someone with that "City will be cleared" story just before the ban was announced. He was taken for a ride by a source who no doubt had their own motives.

give him a duff story, humiliate him and tell him if he wants anything legitimate he has to get on board with the prescribed narrative, hence the nonsense we've had since.

 

[HelloCity]

Be piss funny if it turns out he’s wrong again!

For reference he also predicted we’d get a transfer ban from FIFA and could barely hide his disappointment when it didn’t happen.

 

[domalino]

give him a duff story, humiliate him and tell him if he wants anything legitimate he has to get on board with the prescribed narrative, hence the nonsense we've had since.

Oh great, we're back in full tin hat conspiracy land.

 

[M18CTID]

He's big enough to know that's a possibility and all that will entail. He's said a few times it's just his opinion.

Quite frankly, my opinion is that a 2 year ban is more likely than CAS throwing this out so I don't really know what else to say ...

True enough. I don’t dislike Sam Lee anywhere near as much as some of the usual suspects but I do think he’s totally out of his depth when talking about FFP.

As for the second bit, you may well be right. I’m nervous about the outcome but I’m trusting the club when they say they have done nothing wrong. If we can prove that at CAS - and by prove, I mean proof of the irrefutable kind that the club have been so vocal about - then we ought to prevail because I trust CAS to reach the correct decision.

Of course, it’s been at the back of my mind that the club may have been lying to us all along and we’re bang to rights. Their bold stance throughout doesn’t appear to reflect this though.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Does anyone outside the club and fans think we win the case? I've not read anyone being positive.

Are we in our own little echo chamber and suffering from confirmation bias.

You make a good point. It is very difficult to judge because we have virtually no allies in the media or the football world. Of course we are all biased and Bluemoon is certainly an echo chamber. No one outside City has been positive but I do think the media hate campaign against us has generally reduced since Christmas and that could be a good sign.