City and Financial Doping | Charged by PL with numerous FFP breaches | Hearing begins 16th September 2024

Reading what Khaldoon Al Mubarak has said about it all, he wants City to win everything, every year for the rest of eternity.
He isn’t interested in ‘competition’. Wants to be able to outspend everyone else in some noble pissing contest.
It’s abhorrent and the sooner they are thrown out of the EPL the better.
If they want a one horse race every year, they can go and do it in their own country.
There’s nothing racist in that. We would all just like our national game back.
Doesn't surprise me. He's a rich baby, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He'll never have to fight for anything he has so he thinks he can just buy anything he wants. Spoilt brat wants to spoil everyone else's good times.
 
I'm not sure the level of corruption will ever be truly discovered. They are going to hinder any investigation & just throw money at lawyers.
Peps achievements will be forever tainted by the cheating ownership. Just kick them out and get it over with !!!
Pep‘s achievements won’t be tainted by the cheating ownership. It is tainted because he himself took part in all the cheating. He’s not at a club that happens to cheat, he’s at that club because it cheats and he wants to cheat with them. He is among the people with the most guilt. He’s the face of their whole operation. Him being there is as much about his coaching skills as it is about him selling them his name and image. He’s not a coach. He’s a brand ambassador who happens to be a coach as well.
 
Pep‘s achievements won’t be tainted by the cheating ownership. It is tainted because he himself took part in all the cheating. He’s not at a club that happens to cheat, he’s at that club because it cheats and he wants to cheat with them. He is among the people with the most guilt. He’s the face of their whole operation. Him being there is as much about his coaching skills as it is about him selling them his name and image. He’s not a coach. He’s a brand ambassador who happens to be a coach as well.

This.
 
Something I don't get about the City project is why they have to continue to dominate football for the project to be seen by the owners as a success?

I've asked this too, I can't see what city does for them now. They wanted to put themselves on the map and make people more aware of Abu Dhabi. They've done that, they've won 8 titles and a treble by cheating. So from here on out it's only going to bring negative PR.

Hopefully this all ends with them having to sell up.
 

Beginning to think the final outcome of this might actually be City fully expelled from the football league as voted for by the football league as their dominance through cheating is putting the league’s reputation and competitive model at risk.
 
Beginning to think the final outcome of this might actually be City fully expelled from the football league as voted for by the football league as their dominance through cheating is putting the league’s reputation and competitive model at risk.

I just dont see this happening.
 
Beginning to think the final outcome of this might actually be City fully expelled from the football league as voted for by the football league as their dominance through cheating is putting the league’s reputation and competitive model at risk.
My god that would be hilarious.

Basically make themselves into a national pariah
 
Do they have any prospect of joining a Super League? I don’t think it even looks realistic to see them competing in a lower league…
By the way.. The answer to why they have to dominate, I suspect, is that the state entity is persuaded that they are winning friends by winning. It’s not propaganda in the old fashioned sense; it’s raw power.
 
I've asked this too, I can't see what city does for them now. They wanted to put themselves on the map and make people more aware of Abu Dhabi. They've done that, they've won 8 titles and a treble by cheating. So from here on out it's only going to bring negative PR.

Hopefully this all ends with them having to sell up.

They’re effectively trying to take over football. Buying up clubs, monopolising the youth system, and projecting sporting dominance to build the brand, becoming the leading name in global football (Abu Dhabi and City Group that is, not City the club). Before long there would probably be all-star exhibition matches in the UAE and some special league or tournament out there. We’ve seen similar plays in golf and boxing. They’re not really interested in competition, just trying to basically take ownership of it all.
 
https://x.com/SamJDean/status/1798356965988634782?t=m9FOL-WgamIxSJ2r5x0yRQ&s=19

Don't think I can post Twitter posts but City post says

"In the decade from 2009 to 2019, the big clubs all enjoyed a healthy rise in commercial revenues.

Arsenal: £48m to £111m (131%)
Chelsea: £53m to £185m (249%)
Liverpool: £68m to £186m (174%)
United: £70m to £280m (300%)
City: £18m to £230m (1177%)
"

Nothing to see here.
 
FFP plus a wage cap is literally all that’s needed.

that’s not enforceable. these state owned clubs can proxy money through their countries with no way of the premier league ever knowing.
 
that’s not enforceable. these state owned clubs can proxy money through their countries with no way of the premier league ever knowing.
Exactly. It’s not the rules that are the problem; it’s the circumvention by any means necessary.
 
As Franny Lee once said, “if there was a cup for cock-ups, City would win it every season.”

Let’s hope this version of City returns.
 
I'm not sure what the first two paragraphs have to do with what I said and they definitely aren't relevant to the legal challenge.

City definitely won't be arguing a case of racism or xenophobia unless they want to get laughed out of court. Cpurts rely on evidence not baseless slandering. They will be arguing that the newly introduced rules have been brought in specifically to target them and are therefore discriminatory, which is a fair argument but then that's because they are the only team exploiting loopholes in the existing rules. Or at least they'll hope they are because if everyone was doing it they'd have no case at all.

it's quite childish really. The PL imposes rules via a voting system from its members who City are one of. If every time one party doesn't like the result of a vote they get the courts involved, there's not much point making any new rules at all unless you get all 20 clubs to agree, which would never happen.

They should probably steer clear of arguments like "we'll have to spend less money on stuff like the community" as well because that's completely irrelevant and just makes it look like they are resorting to blackmail tactics because their case is weak.

All this status quo stuff is boring and makes no sense. The current status quo is that City win the league every year while other teams are restricted from competing due to ffp. Even with the new rules City are in a better position than most (at least until their charges hearing/verdict). When all this mess they've created ends up causing enough damage to drag the European super league back from the dead they'll soon change their tune and jump back on board with that as well.

It just that you mentioned the spirit of FFP, you seriously think it is in place for the long term sustainability of football clubs?

Breaking news: It’s setup to keep a cartel in place, and is heavily influenced by that same cartel. Correlation of success to revenue and spend is almost 1. The cartel is locking all revenue at double / triple everyone else and restricting investment of others. You want to swap one immoral / unethical means for another, for your own benefit.

I doubt a lot of FFP will be enforceable legally, express terms in contracts, like FFP rules, that violate laws of the land / European laws are unenforceable. I can see this going all the way to the high courts and the premier league being laughed at.

As for unfounded claims? City’s lawyers clearly think they have a case for discrimination. The racism and xenophobia, I’m sure Klopp was accused of it and that’s the tip of the iceberg.
 
Pep‘s achievements won’t be tainted by the cheating ownership. It is tainted because he himself took part in all the cheating. He’s not at a club that happens to cheat, he’s at that club because it cheats and he wants to cheat with them. He is among the people with the most guilt. He’s the face of their whole operation. Him being there is as much about his coaching skills as it is about him selling them his name and image. He’s not a coach. He’s a brand ambassador who happens to be a coach as well.
Very well said:+1:
 
Quite an interesting bit of insight into City's legal action. This plus reading other bits and bobs around it makes me think that City are truly beyond fecked, even if they somehow win this case.

 
Só here we are then. It’s either expulsion from the league, or the demise of the Premier League.

I hope the likes of Neville are happy after defending and legitimizing this bizarre facade for so long.
 
Do they have any prospect of joining a Super League? I don’t think it even looks realistic to see them competing in a lower league…
By the way.. The answer to why they have to dominate, I suspect, is that the state entity is persuaded that they are winning friends by winning. It’s not propaganda in the old fashioned sense; it’s raw power.
I wish they would join the Saudi league, spend what the heck they want a nd win their next 50 titles.
 
Them suing the PL seems like they know they’re fecked and just going down swinging. They’ve spent years denying all this shit - they may aswell throw one last hail mary
 
I'm still trying to work out how the big traditional clubs are monopolising football.... given, as I pointed out earlier, the title has only been won twice by United, Liverpool and Arsenal in the last 11 years. I'm leaving out Chelsea because their successes are almost as corrupt as City's
 
I hope the likes of Neville are happy after defending and legitimizing this bizarre facade for so long.
Neville's morals are for sale. He went from criticising Qatar to doing a fecking advert promoting the hotels during the World Cup. He's an idiot.
 
Só here we are then. It’s either expulsion from the league, or the demise of the Premier League.

I hope the likes of Neville are happy after defending and legitimizing this bizarre facade for so long.
PL should certainly expel them perhaps indefinitely.
I can’t see the FA welcoming them with open arms either.
This could legitimately be the end of Manchester City (by far and away the biggest cheaters in the uk - am reserving Barca for that spot on a world stage) as a viable club in the UK. Hope you enjoy Saudi boys………
 
Not even points deduction will happen for Manchester city. EPL are not foolish to taint the name of their biggest and most valuable product. The hearing is set on November so that guardiola renew his contract on January 2025 when the case concludes and city are exonerated
In what world are City the EPL’s biggest and most valuable product?
 
I'm still trying to work out how the big traditional clubs are monopolising football.... given, as I pointed out earlier, the title has only been won twice by United, Liverpool and Arsenal in the last 11 years. I'm leaving out Chelsea because their successes are almost as corrupt as City's

2 times too many in the eyes of Abu Dhabi probably.
 
I don’t mind a bit of lay man psychology, so thanks for the speed diagnosis :)

It’s true I am offended by the Mansour way of trying to change English football and the PL, certainly. It seems to me I’m not alone, luckily. You are OK with it?
I totally agree with you, I saw a post today on Facebook, (I can't remember the exact dates) that in the late 60's - 70' s 11 different clubs won the league title in 13 yrs. That was equality, now since 1992 only 7 different clubs have won it, Leicester being the most unlikely winners along with Blackburn.
 
I totally agree with you, I saw a post today on Facebook, (I can't remember the exact dates) that in the late 60's - 70' s 11 different clubs won the league title in 13 yrs. That was equality, now since 1992 only 7 different clubs have won it, Leicester being the most unlikely winners along with Blackburn.
Can you imagine what it was like for City ownership & staff back in Leicester’s run? Know that they’re cheating like hell & it’s Leicester that’s making history.
 
In what world are City the EPL’s biggest and most valuable product?

This is what makes this terrifying for City in my opinion. Their value to the Premier League is feck all, meaning jettisoning them would only minimally impact the global brand.

The only thing we don’t know about is how much behind closed doors corruption has gone on, Sarkozy-Qatar style. That’s the thing that’ll mean City go unscathed.
 
Can you imagine what it was like for City ownership & staff back in Leicester’s run? Know that they’re cheating like hell & it’s Leicester that’s making history.
It's such a long time ago, were they even in the Prem then ?
 


Joe from Stretford Paddock speaks to Matt Lawton who broke the story starts at about 7:50