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

[Dirty Harry]

I seem to remember my children's illustrated Bible has a splendid picture of David with his sling shot about to fell goliath, but was a little light on pictorial evidence of the subsequent bumming.

it’s on xhamster ;-)

 

[slbsn]

Hahahaha. You spent FAR too long on that. Very good though.

Nonsense. I always keep a ready stock of interview scripts for all eventualities. The question did make me think. What could Khaldoon say if we were comprehensively found against...not easy. Some contrition inevitable but not easy for the old guard to show that. Would be interesting.

 

[waspish]

You mean the Chairman's end of season interview:

Chris Bailey in Palo Alto: "Welcome Chairman, what words do you have for the supporters of the CFG"
[EMBARGOED AMERICAN PERSON]: "Replacing Khaldoon as [Chairman][Chairperson] of this wonderful group is a great honour. Look, I am not close to the details of what went on in 2012-2016 in Manchester City. I know everyone involved was very disappointed by CAS's findings and we disagreed with them. Ultimately, though we all have to move on to the next phase of this soccer and entertainment franchise and put that whole legal saga behind us. We will take the ban in Manchester City, concentrate on those trophies we are in and support the new manager as best we can. There will be a few changes but it is a little too early to talk about those. We will learn the lessons of the past and I can assure you the club is financially secure and strong with or without Champions League football and completely self sustaining. Beyond that our focus really is the wider CFG group and we are excited by our teams in New York, Uruguay and India where we see great opportunities. CFG is, and always has been, much more than Manchester City. City is important but so are all of our clubs - mens and womens."

Howard Hockin does the time travelling thing that’s his niche. ;)

 

[slbsn]

Howard Hockin does the time travelling thing that’s his niche. ;)

We taught each other all we know

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

I've come onto Bluemoon and straight on to this thread, which seemed to be dying on its feet as we wait for the decision to find that it has exploded, simply exploded. The reason appears to be two tweets, one in Spanish from a "contact" of Sergio's and one from Sam Lee. Both tell us absolutely nothing; Haya says the club and squad are very confident and the club might spend big in the window while Lee has no idea what the decision will be but his guess is that the ban might stand. I don't think Haya's contribution merits the detailed examination it has received and Lee certainly has committed the act of treachery many seem to think.

Everyone is certain of very little apart from the fact that 3 arbitrators at CAS reaching the decision. My opinion is what it has been from the start and that is that UEFA claim that City's accounts are not accurate because they have been falsified to mask owner investment as sponsorship from Etihad. But it could be a guess. My opinion is that City are very confident indeed because the club has audited accounts, a statement from Etihad and also, I believe, a statement from the accountants and auditors to say the accounts are accurate and complete. My opinion is that CAS will need conclusive proof that this evidence is in fact not only not irrefutable but actually mendacious to decide in UEFA's favour. My guess is that such evidence does not exist. Indeed, my guess is that, if City has such evidence, evidence to support UEFA's case cannot exist. But! if City don't have such evidence or if its credibility is open to serious doubt...

It's all speculation again. I had actually vowed not to post in on this thread again because we know as little as we did two years ago, I'm posting virtually the same as I was two years ago, I still think our appeal will be upheld and we've simply got to wait for CAS to pronounce. In the meantime I'm not going to pillory Lee because his guess is different to mine and I'm not going to analyse every last full stop of Haya's tweet when he's saying, in effect, something we've been told a thousand times.

 

[bluestreak]

In short no it won't. We breached by a mile in 2014 in UEFA's view. That's done and dusted.

And we got a punishment six years ago that should be deemed "Done and dusted"

 

[Coatigan]

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 looked at the poll above? less thsn 50% think we will win the case, even in this echo chamber of pure positivity!

 

[bluemoon32]

I seem to remember my children's illustrated Bible has a splendid picture of David with his sling shot about to fell goliath, but was a little light on pictorial evidence of the subsequent bumming.

Ah, you made the mistake of not looking at the pictures we found in a bush

 

[slbsn]

And we got a punishment six years ago that should be deemed "Done and dusted"

Correct

 

[whp.blue]

Disagree with that, CAS were bound by their own regulations - they couldn't rule on the substance of the case until UEFA's AC had completed their investigations and City had launched a fresh appeal.

That has always been my take on it.

 

[KS55]

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.

Ah, does that mean @Ric is poing to pay us?

 

[whp.blue]

The analogy I use is that we are the 300 Spartans fighting the barbarian hordes with only a small chance of winning...but against all odds we do in the end! Don't we?

Didn't the Spartans not only lose but were all killed?

 

[Gingers Dad]

Project, would CAS have also asked how UEFA and the AC arrived at their figure of a £30m fine?

Nobody seems to have questioned what their calculation/justification was?

I suppose I am asking in terms of whether we can show any type of motive/bias on that score?

Do they ever give a detailed explanation of where the fine money is spent?

 

[Coatigan]

When you go balls out like the club have, then they better be right. Otherwise I want to see heads rolling left right and centre inside the Etihad. I'll repeat, we should not be here. This should've been dealt with without it being shit or bust. The fact it is now shit or bust means we must win for the sake of our credibility.

The damage that will be done if CAS uphold the UEFA ban won't just go forwards, it'll go backwards too. Taint everything the players, coaches, etc have achieved over the last decade. That's a disgrace and would be on all the powers that be at City.

While i can agree in principle, don't think it is either as simple as that or will the result be as drastic.

And where exactly should we be, if not here? 10th, 9th in the table? a domestic cup if lucky perhaps? A course on communication sense and IT security is probably the only additional thing the heirarchy could have done.

we were always swimming against the tide here. We'l either grab onto something solid, or he swept away, and swim again.

 

[Coatigan]

The one about CAS? No slaps from me.

Ordinarily, I'd agree it was more likely CAS would throw out the appeal rather than uphold it. But City know this and the stakes are really high so I have to assume they have very strong feelings that they will prevail. They may be wrong. The club has been consistently wrong before on FFP. Remember the 2014 breaches are now known to have been "huge" (UEFA's word in a CAS case).

If City are wrong this time and we go down to a 2 year ban with everything that brings then a lot of what you write in above is wrong because CAS would have said "you did break the laws, you did conceal, you did mislead, you did make false claims about UEFA's independence and integrity, you may have filed false accounts and its not good enough to have a plan if it is in breach of the rules. Send them down"....

If that turns out to be the case, we better win the CL this year. So they have more to take/strip away.

(and yes i know the semantics of timing cover an earlier period, but if that logic is applied than sny player bought in those years co tributing to success now is also up for grabs).

 

[Marvin]

When you go balls out like the club have, then they better be right. Otherwise I want to see heads rolling left right and centre inside the Etihad. I'll repeat, we should not be here. This should've been dealt with without it being shit or bust. The fact it is now shit or bust means we must win for the sake of our credibility.

The damage that will be done if CAS uphold the UEFA ban won't just go forwards, it'll go backwards too. Taint everything the players, coaches, etc have achieved over the last decade. That's a disgrace and would be on all the powers that be at City.

Once the emails were out in the public domain I don't know what you would expect City to have done. It was either engineered or seized upon and it was not an opportunity that the cartel was going to pass by. Possibly City could have gone public with a defence and fought a propaganda war but we would not have had any allies.

 

[KS55]

The analogy I use is that we are the 300 Spartans fighting the barbarian hordes with only a small chance of winning...but against all odds we do in the end! Don't we?

Barbarians? It was sophisticated Persia, not the rags!

 

[blue ranger]

He knows no more than your average fan. Before the ban he was writing that he had heard we weren't getting a ban.

Used to like Sam but since joining the athletic he has ended up just like the rest of the bitter journos out there.

 

[twosips]

Whatever you think of Sam Lee isn't a bit odd to get exercised by a 12 word reply starting with a (presumably honest) statement that he had "no idea" and including a couple of "guesses" just in case anyone was confused that he was saying he didn't know and it was a guess?

I think it's quite obvious that if he'd said 'No idea. I think City will win though' there would be absolutely no posts on here, and no one would be arsed. Instead we get replies like this, with the big tell being the first line:

Good to see the Athletics Manchester City reporter getting behind the club!

Would we see their other reporters reporting consistently negative information regarding their respective clubs? My guess is no, just a special treat for City.

As for joining the zoom call with the fùckwits mentioned above, he has to be trolling City even mentioning such a call.

Anyhow he started of promising but now appears to be just another cùnt in the press reporting on us, well done Sam.

I can imagine many posters slagging Sam off only ever want anyone who covers City to be positive and to 'get behind the club'. It's a very simple, odd position to take IMO. Tribalism in a nut shell. I don't understand it at all. I'm almost certain he gets the stick he gets because of who he supports too (which I actually think makes him possibly more able to talk about the club without fandom clouding him). The slightest hint of anything negative and its 'rag' immediately from some many.

Anyway. I'm amazed how many still think our club is perfect, as if to suggest that City may not be perfect is some kind of slight against them as an individual. Don't get it at all.

 

[Cobwebcat]

If we attempt to read between the lines there is one thing that has been strongly hinted at namely UEFA are divided. I’m not sure City have a huge argument with the vast majority of employees acting neutrally.

However there are others who have been invited in under the threat of a breakaway league and they are unashamedly acting in their own interests much to the naive astonishment of UEFA’s old guard.

So let’s take Sam’s information that we wouldn’t get a ban. I can easily believe that this came indirectly from the old guard at UEFA. I also think that others at UEFA would be horrified that all their orchestrated efforts were about to amount to nothing and put the usual breakaway pressure on the others. So then we get the unusual situation of the head of UEFA seemingly trying to broker a deal which City rejected. We are then charged and Sam’s info is immediately outdated and incorrect.

I think that both sides believe they have a good chance of winning but that neither UEFA or City wanted this situation. The only people that have nothing to lose are the old G14...either City are banned or UEFA look unfit to govern and are replaced by people who only have self interest at heart. They’ve actually left City AND UEFA with no alternative but to fight. We can only hope we win.

City know who are behind this orchestrated campaign against the club and its the clubs who are sick of us winning trophy after trophy and are scared to death looking at the CFG world expansion. Rather than run their own clubs better and stop taking money out of their clubs they chose successfully to run to UEFA and try to stop us.

UEFA have been played as much as we have and that’s why we have common ground. Make no mistake G14 have the popcorn out here.

City have two jobs...to win a case they shouldn’t have had to answer but might lose and to put a stop to the American owners who want a closed shop and guaranteed money for themselves.

It’s a tough ask but we have proved we are up for the fight on the field we have to be as strong off it. The fight will be delayed by years if we lose and it’s only just begun if we win.