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

It's ironic that City pay a fortune for Mr Burns team of high priced lawyers and just like with Mr Burns, not one of them has the balls to tell City that they have no friends in the game and the chance of getting enough support in their attack on the Premier League, which is literally an attack on the club's themselves is an absolute certainty to fail.

That's the issue with paying top dollar. You get yes men. Slimey cnuts who's sole purpose is to extract as much brown from the hole as possible forthr biggest fee. That's what City have fighting for them.

Even if they succeeded legally, the Premier League, by which I mean the 19 other clubs are under no obligation to accept any ruling and will simply follow the now over 3 decades old format of putting it to vote. People worry that the UK government will side with City's owners so not to lose investments from the middle east but imagine what they would do if one of the biggest English exports was at risk? They wouldn't dare risk the Premier Leagues position to save City or to keep a tiny insignificant gulf State happy. There's loads of dodgy countries to fill the gap if you lose Abu Dhabi money just as there was plenty ready to fill the gap for Russian money.

City are done. The last few days has all but confirmed they know they have lost. This is the twelfth and final round, John Fury is wittering gibberish in their ear telling them they've won and the rest of footballs just stood in the middle of the ring laughing.
 
It’s funny how English made this huge protests over SuperLeague but are happy to stay on their couches now that City is literally trying to takeover the PL and make their own rules :lol:. “Football is for the fans”

Trying and doing is different.

Which club do you support? I suspect you are in favour of the Super League then.
 
Of course they were. People have been talking about teams (Inc Chelsea) having to sell players to meet FFP for ages.

I've no idea why it's 'breaking news" today.

Which is why the likes of Chelsea, Villa, Everton are joining City.

Chelsea people could have seen coming a mile off, spending over £1bn, ofcourse there would be repercussions.
 
No I meant it didn't make sense, so can you explain what the original point was. Wage cap would help smaller clubs so I am not sure what you are saying.

FFP is not perfect but it's misunderstood because smaller clubs want something tangible to point to as an inhibitor but let's actually look at it. FFP came into play in 2012, people always say it was to stop City the reality was the league was a financial pit for most clubs, hard ot imagine now everyone is enjoying the pie but it wasn't until 2014 the combined clubs were in profit. Anyway. back to FFP, here are the revenues from the clubs 2012/13.

Club(m)2023 (m)% increase
United363583+160
Arsenal283367+130
City271619+228
Chelsea260481+185
Pool206594+288
Spurs147442+300
Newcastle96179+186
WHUM91255+280
Everton86181+210
Villa84217+258

Obviously City's % is much higher if you go back another couple of seasons pre takeover. Point out this cartel to me that is stopping the growth of these other clubs?

The protectionism comment degrades your post, that clubs who win the FA cup will then get done away with is madness. Everton I will address below, Leicester ironically City probably harmed more than anyone as their model needed CL qualification and they missed out 2 years running so couldn't buy anyone, the irony of bringing up Pompey should not be lost on you in an FFP conversation. Wigan were bought by an owner who basically destroyed them, look up Kieran Maguire's commentary on this and, again, ironic to bring them up in an FFP conversation.

Your Everton comment makes me think you are very young or just trolling, Everton put themselves in the shit by having back to back mental windows for a club of their size, buying terribly and reaping the rewards. Moshiri even admitted this. There's that bonkers fact about them spending more than Real and Bayern since 2014.

What's the issue with not having cup replays, we need to cut down on # of games? I'd rather England games got canned but that's just me.

No idea what you mean re threatening to leave as you can't mean the ESL as City were in on that.

The cartel introduced 5 subs, scrapping fa cup replays implemented rules to stop any challengers to them like Leicester Everton Newcastle Villa. No investment allowed restrictions.

Expanded the champions league, also trying to make it so if you finish out the top 4 you can still get in it based on prior finishes. Not to mention the super league. European coefficients, league cup draw fixing.

As for the comment on Everton’s spend look at net spend + wages the narrative around Everton’s spend is rubbish more than Bayern etc don’t make me laugh. So we signed a few bad players doesn’t mean we should have to sell our good ones below market value. It is also convenient for the cartel and a by product of their devious means.We’ve also took a huge hit in revenue due to all this FFP. Look at spurs Richarlison, Maddison, Johnson they’d never sign for them prices or for them if not for FFP.

Why the hell are we getting deducted points for building a stadium and investing in a team when our spend is way lower on players and wages than most teams? last 5 years net spend 17th. The only one reason is to stop competition. Want to build a stadium increase revenue and compete? back in your box!

In fact, if City / Leicester weren’t cheating Everton would have been top 4 and European places over the last ten years. I think you forget where we were under Moyes Martinez and not a small club huge potential. it’s only the last 5 years we’ve dropped out the top 8 with FFP direct cause + Ukraine war.

Look at the last 30 years league placing trophies won, v the 30 years prior. The spread of trophies and revenue over them periods. Then tell me coupled with the above something not seriously wrong and there is not a protectionist cartel! the evidence is overwhelming.

United’s position on this is: City spent less than us over the last 10 years, and a bit to catch up, wahhhhhh, so we want the rules fixed in our favour. Sorry it just doesn’t wash with me, you want to swap corrupt crap with corrupt crap for your benefit. The whole thing needs a massive reset.
 
You think the Chelsea people didn't see the FFP requirements coming?

They probably did, its either they will sell a couple players or saw City and realised you can just fight it.

The PL clearly are too scared of the bigger lawyers.
 
@Dean60 , are you sure you didn't put your blue jeans in the wash with your city top, cos you seem to be confused.

That's the most cowardly stance and hate it when I hear Jay Motty use it on Stretford Paddock. Going back to your actual question there aren't any plusses whatsoever.
To be fair, and respecting the point you're making, and not to throw out personal opinions; if, hypothetically, he was making the question out to the forum in general, being aware that he was either totally neutral or was in the centrist camp, testing the water without exaggerating a point to make a point would mean he couldn't get definitive opinions.

Not that I'm saying that that is what he's doing, I'm just playing Beelzebub's Barrister
 
Which is why the likes of Chelsea, Villa, Everton are joining City.

Chelsea people could have seen coming a mile off, spending over £1bn, ofcourse there would be repercussions.

Do we know for sure these clubs are 'backing' City in their lawsuit against the PL? The article posted in here that mentioned something to that effect was talking about Chelsea sent a letter to the PL, when the PL invited clubs to provide statements, specifically around the issue of multiclub ownership, which is why I think headline writers have taken a few liberties with the facts. I haven't seen anything anywhere that suggests Chelsea, or any of the other clubs mentioned, would vote with City and stand side by side with them in their fight against the league.
 
Do we know for sure these clubs are 'backing' City in their lawsuit against the PL? The article posted in here that mentioned something to that effect was talking about Chelsea sent a letter to the PL, when the PL invited clubs to provide statements, specifically around the issue of multiclub ownership, which is why I think headline writers have taken a few liberties with the facts. I haven't seen anything anywhere that suggests Chelsea, or any of the other clubs mentioned, would vote with City and stand side by side with them in their fight against the league.

No we dont know for sure, I can only go by what is reported. I dont have any links or sources that can confirm anything. I guess we wont know.

This is a ploy from City to get the 115 case thrown out, which I reckon will happen.

City will get away with it and accept the new rules once their case is dropped.
 
City’s net spend since pep took over is 4th. At the end of the day given United’s net spend they should have done better.
If you trust City's figures for wages, agents fees etc.

Look at how Mancini was allegedly payed off.

Problem is some of the charges relate to not being honest about finances. So your net spend point is invalid.
 
There is only one relevant question now: which players should we get from these clubs before the end of the month for cheap? Hehehehe

Or will they find some „levers“ now too?
 
No we dont know for sure, I can only go by what is reported. I dont have any links or sources that can confirm anything. I guess we wont know.

This is a ploy from City to get the 115 case thrown out, which I reckon will happen.

City will get away with it and accept the new rules once their case is dropped.

I think the opposite to be honest. I think City doing this now shows they're nervous about what's coming and they've decided to press the nuclear button and burn everything down, if they can.
 
Financial Fair Play, that stops spending and growing whilst keeping the turnover for the top 6 artificially high. My sentence on a wage cap and salary cap would be true FFP. For example, all teams can spend the same, or spend the turnover of the largest club turnover.

If you think FFP stops the bigger clubs, that’s madness, it locks their turnover in at 2/3 times the competition hence the one sided top 4 positions(only Everton Leicester Newcastle Villa been in sparingly) and the trophy wins of the last 30 years. FA Cup winners old top 4 clubs repeatedly + Everton(points deduction) Wigan(relegated) Portsmouth(relegated + points deduction) + Leicester(relegated+ 2 point deductions incoming + prior FFP fine) and City(huge investment 115 charges) see a pattern here!? pure protectionism.

Everton have had to sell their best players below market value, lost their position from 5th to 8th in and around Europe to fighting relegation. And then deducted 8 points to boot and now you want Branthwaite on the cheap to meet FFP. When the new stadium comes with increased turnover and with a rich benefactor we could be right up there, hence the coming after us.

I look at City’s case like this, if the current FFP rules protect position and turnover the only way round that is a rich owner which is not allowed. So the only way anyone can progress is a rich owner(based on last 30 years) if City win the case rich owners become a possibility. Hence support for them, unless a more equitable solution is put forward.

People saying Arsenal, Liverpool and United will protect the football pyramid whilst they are cancelling cup replays etc are frankly deluded. I don’t want a league where Nike sponsor determines the winner any more than a state owner club ploughing money in.

Also Net spend is just a measure of players brought in and out, however much City have “cheated” if they have, they still spent 4th on players in the last 8 years or so. Also factor in wages. In the end, net player spend + wages = final position and trophies, almost with a 1-1 correlation over time so it is very relevant. You could also argue rigging the rules in your favour via threats to leave is “cheating”
How to say you don't understand the charges, without saying you don't understand the charges.
 
Its alright these smaller clubs wanting their owners to be able to pump in as much money as they want but what happens a couple of years down the line when one of these owners gets fed up of investing millions and seeing nothing in return due to the other clubs investing the same or more and decides to pull the plug? Their club will be left with an expensive squad and huge wage bill they cant afford so will fall in to financial disarray with the possibility of falling in to administration or even bancrupcy.

The fans of these smaller clubs need to realise that no matter how much they are allowed to spend they will never be able to spent enough to even keep up with the big 6 and spending beyond their means will likely end in disaster like it did for Leeds, Portsmouth, Bury, Malaga, Anzi, Gretna and many others.
 
It's pointless to talk about City's net spend when they're actively being investigated for falsifying their financial records. It has repeatedly been reported that they're paying more under the table than they put in their records. That makes it absurd to point to their self-professed net spend as evidence of anything. We already know from things like the Haaland deal that their "transfer expenses" only tell half the story.
 
It also totally ignores the fact that United's spending has ramped up as a necessity due to City's spending. And City's spending has meant that the quality of the players available to us has declined while their prices have increased dramatically. Add in incompetance at board and managerial level at United and you get the expensive mess we're currently in.

Just for context though, while we've got supposed neutrals in this thread praising City for spending less than everyone else, let's look back on the transfer climate from three years either side of City's takeover:

'Big Four/Cartel' + Manchester City transfers, pre-Abu Dhabi takeover, between 2005/06 to 2007/08:

United: 19.5 (13.5) + 18.7 (-5) + 59.1 (25.8)
Chelsea: 54.7 (27.7) + 66.3 (39.3) + 36.5 (4.5)
Liverpool: 26.7 (12.7) + 27.2 (14.4) + 71.9 (37.9)
Arsenal: 36.9 (30.1) + 13.9 (-17) + 31 (13.4)
City: 8.3 (-13.9) + 3 (-2.5) + 50 (43.1)

Total spend seasons 2005/06 - 2007/08 (net figures in brackets, top spenders in bold, lowest spenders in italics):
United: £97.3 (£34.3m)
Chelsea: £157.5m (£71.5m)
Liverpool: £125.8m (£65m)
Arsenal: £81.8m (£26.5m)
City: £61.3m (£26.7m)

Average spend per season:
United: £32.4 (£11.4m)
Chelsea: £52.5m (£23.8m)
Liverpool: £41.9m (£21.7m)
Arsenal: £27.3m (£8.8m)
City: £20.4m (£8.9m)

Post-Abu Dhabi takeover, between 2008/09 - 2010/11

United: 42.5 (35.5) + 21.5 (-64.6) + 28.1 (13.3)
Chelsea: 24.2 (-10.8) + 23.5 (17.5) + 94.6 (82.6)
Liverpool: 39 (6.5) + 36.6 (-8.2) + 84.6 (-2.4)
Arsenal: 15.8 (-3.5) + 10 (-31) + 14.5 (6.8)
City: 126.9 (118) + 144.5 (123) + 153.7 (124.8)

Total spend seasons 2008/09 - 2010/11:
United: £92.1m (-£15.8m)
Chelsea: £142.3m (£89.3m)
Liverpool: £160.2m (-£4.1m)
Arsenal: £40.3m (-£27.7m)
City: £425.1m (365.8m)

Average spend per season:
United: £30.7m (-£5.3m)
Chelsea: £47.4m (£29.8m)
Liverpool: £53.4m (-£1.4m)
Arsenal: £13.4m (-£9.23m)
City: £141.7m (£121.9m)

In short, Chelsea were outliers in terms of transfer spending in the Premier League following their own takeover by Roman Abramovic. They spent double the amount United were spending and a considerable amount more than second-top spenders Liverpool. Meanwhile, City went from having a net spend of £7.6m less than United did between 2005/06 to 2007/08, to spending four times what Chelsea were, while having commercial deals at the time such as a Thomas Cook shirt sponsorship worth £1.5m per season.

They were bringing in £6.5m in sponsorship revenues in 2008/09, yet were able to spend 18 times that on transfers! And within a year or so, on the back of winning absolutely nothing at that point, they suddenly increased their sponsorship income to £32.4m a year. £29m of that came directly from Abu-Dhabi-based organisations. And in 2011 - after spending £425m on transfers since the takeover, and winning a solitary FA Cup, they suddenly got multiple world-record sponsorship deals totalling £400m. All from an airline that had yet to record an operating profit, but is owned by the family of the guy who bought City. What a coincidence!

It was blatant financial doping back then, and yet it's all been forgotten about and rewritten as City having been scrappy underdogs.

So so true. But this is what happens with time, and city know this. People forget what was normal, you can dig up posts of mine from almost a decade ago complaining that the market was clearly being inflated and ok United were lucky enough to have the money to try catch up but very few others did. It was so evident what was happening
 
It's pointless to talk about City's net spend when they're actively being investigated for falsifying their financial records. It has repeatedly been reported that they're paying more under the table than they put in their records. That makes it absurd to point to their self-professed net spend as evidence of anything. We already know from things like the Haaland deal that their "transfer expenses" only tell half the story.

The Haaland deal didn't suddenly reveal to the world that agent fees and signing bonuses exist.
 
The cartel introduced 5 subs, scrapping fa cup replays implemented rules to stop any challengers to them like Leicester Everton Newcastle Villa. No investment allowed restrictions.

Expanded the champions league, also trying to make it so if you finish out the top 4 you can still get in it based on prior finishes. Not to mention the super league. European coefficients, league cup draw fixing.

As for the comment on Everton’s spend look at net spend + wages the narrative around Everton’s spend is rubbish more than Bayern etc don’t make me laugh. So we signed a few bad players doesn’t mean we should have to sell our good ones below market value. It is also convenient for the cartel and a by product of their devious means.We’ve also took a huge hit in revenue due to all this FFP. Look at spurs Richarlison, Maddison, Johnson they’d never sign for them prices or for them if not for FFP.

Why the hell are we getting deducted points for building a stadium and investing in a team when our spend is way lower on players and wages than most teams? last 5 years net spend 17th. The only one reason is to stop competition. Want to build a stadium increase revenue and compete? back in your box!

In fact, if City / Leicester weren’t cheating Everton would have been top 4 and European places over the last ten years. I think you forget where we were under Moyes Martinez and not a small club huge potential. it’s only the last 5 years we’ve dropped out the top 8 with FFP direct cause + Ukraine war.

Look at the last 30 years league placing trophies won, v the 30 years prior. The spread of trophies and revenue over them periods. Then tell me coupled with the above something not seriously wrong and there is not a protectionist cartel! the evidence is overwhelming.

United’s position on this is: City spent less than us over the last 10 years, and a bit to catch up, wahhhhhh, so we want the rules fixed in our favour. Sorry it just doesn’t wash with me, you want to swap corrupt crap with corrupt crap for your benefit. The whole thing needs a massive reset.
Ok so 5 subs I agree with, it favours the bigger squads, I do think there’s a secondary argument here that PL teams have the disadvantage of extra games (Carabao) and no winter break (and that’s going again although Chelsea and City won the CL in that period).

Expanding the CL ruins your point, the more places the more chance of other teams getting in. Your point would be the top clubs restricting the big money for others but the reality is there’s more access to European money than before. Poor argument.

If you’re an Everton fan you’d know that was a fact re Bayern and Real. See here. You might have just blown your cover if other posters are correct about you being a City fan.

Re points deduction it’s about psr, you know this and it’s not hard to adhere to. Every club has the same rules. Re Everton in Europe, exactly, which is why when a club has cheated and taken your CL or EL place you should hate them. Tell me what the difference is between you before the awful spending and Villa now, you’ve just recruited poorly.

Im completely confused by the last para. United aren’t trying to fix any rules?
 
Maybe those teams should break away and form their own league and see how they do. Maybe join the Saudi league...
 
Wondering why Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle are backing City? Because they could be next for punishment under profit and sustainability rules



Follow the money, it's pretty clear why.

Newcastle are Saudi owned
Chelsea are owned by Clearlake Capital, which has recieved/manages investments from the Saudi PIF (billions)
Villa is owned by two billionares, who isn't these days, so that's a bit more of logical leap over the above.

But obviously these owners would quite like to pump money into their clubs, over and above what they currently are, all three are on track to breach PSR this season according to reports.

If City get away with no punishment, expect "Oil Derricks R us" to sponsor all three to the tune of 300m a season by the following Monday.
 
This is a bizarre little post.

Really?
Maybe what is bizarre is that SuperLeague was seen as the worst thing to ever to happen to Football but the Premier League, on the other hand, already has VAR "deficiencies", several FFP violations, monopoly from Oil Clubs, sportswashing and a dubious implementation of their statutes. 115 charges have been issued but none have been answered, actually it seems all this time has passes just to give City time to manipulate the rules that have indicted them.

Worst, fans in England whom supposedly love Premier League have made nothing to protest against such things, actually they seem quite well with that.

It is also very bizarre and ironical that in the thread related to Real Madrid success, that most of the fanbase of this Forum seem to concur that Florentino Perez is an excellent chairman and some people ask how has he managed to obtain such achievements, when he was the mastermind behind "Football's worst nightmare".

I just write this to entertain myself, take it as that, but please just look at how much damage teams like City have inflicted, and probably Newcastle will do eventually.
 
Trying and doing is different.

Which club do you support? I suspect you are in favour of the Super League then.

Regrettably I think it's too late. I did my predictions some years ago that clubs, leagues and federations will eventually break away from FIFA/UEFA.

As it says in my profile, I support Chivas de Guadalajara from Mexico. Although in international stage I like United, their fanbase and this forum's objectivity, that's why I'm here.
 
Financial Fair Play, that stops spending and growing whilst keeping the turnover for the top 6 artificially high. My sentence on a wage cap and salary cap would be true FFP. For example, all teams can spend the same, or spend the turnover of the largest club turnover.

If you think FFP stops the bigger clubs, that’s madness, it locks their turnover in at 2/3 times the competition hence the one sided top 4 positions(only Everton Leicester Newcastle Villa been in sparingly) and the trophy wins of the last 30 years. FA Cup winners old top 4 clubs repeatedly + Everton(points deduction) Wigan(relegated) Portsmouth(relegated + points deduction) + Leicester(relegated+ 2 point deductions incoming + prior FFP fine) and City(huge investment 115 charges) see a pattern here!? pure protectionism.

Everton have had to sell their best players below market value, lost their position from 5th to 8th in and around Europe to fighting relegation. And then deducted 8 points to boot and now you want Branthwaite on the cheap to meet FFP. When the new stadium comes with increased turnover and with a rich benefactor we could be right up there, hence the coming after us.

I look at City’s case like this, if the current FFP rules protect position and turnover the only way round that is a rich owner which is not allowed. So the only way anyone can progress is a rich owner(based on last 30 years) if City win the case rich owners become a possibility. Hence support for them, unless a more equitable solution is put forward.

People saying Arsenal, Liverpool and United will protect the football pyramid whilst they are cancelling cup replays etc are frankly deluded. I don’t want a league where Nike sponsor determines the winner any more than a state owner club ploughing money in.

Also Net spend is just a measure of players brought in and out, however much City have “cheated” if they have, they still spent 4th on players in the last 8 years or so. Also factor in wages. In the end, net player spend + wages = final position and trophies, almost with a 1-1 correlation over time so it is very relevant. You could also argue rigging the rules in your favour via threats to leave is “cheating”
:eek:
 
It’s funny how English made this huge protests over SuperLeague but are happy to stay on their couches now that City is literally trying to takeover the PL and make their own rules :lol:. “Football is for the fans”
I think most just don’t understand the extent of the cheating and, importantly, look at the difference in media coverage and influential people like G Nev, the ultimate shill, saying nada on this.
 
It’s funny how English made this huge protests over SuperLeague but are happy to stay on their couches now that City is literally trying to takeover the PL and make their own rules :lol:. “Football is for the fans”

2 different things really.

What City is doing is obviously dreadful for the top end of the league, but probably makes zero difference to half the league and even less to the rest of the football league.

A super league cherry picking the biggest out of the Premier league, into a system with no relegations would utterly ravage the dream of making it to the big league - a dream that is still almost impossible for most clubs, but is still a possibility as it stands.
 
I think most just don’t understand the extent of the cheating and, importantly, look at the difference in media coverage and influential people like G Nev, the ultimate shill, saying nada on this.
I think people are also waiting on the outcome. I mean the PL has charged them with 115 charges, it's not like nothing is happening.

If they get off scot free we could see a lot of protests and public pressure.
 
2 different things really.

What City is doing is obviously dreadful for the top end of the league, but probably makes zero difference to half the league and even less to the rest of the football league.

A super league cherry picking the biggest out of the Premier league, into a system with no relegations would utterly ravage the dream of making it to the big league - a dream that is still almost impossible for most clubs, but is still a possibility as it stands.

I mean it’s similar, since it’s virtually impossible to compete long term in the premier league now unless your club is bought by a country with a bottomless pit of money. Everyone else is just making up the numbers.
 
The cartel introduced 5 subs, scrapping fa cup replays implemented rules to stop any challengers to them like Leicester Everton Newcastle Villa. No investment allowed restrictions.

Expanded the champions league, also trying to make it so if you finish out the top 4 you can still get in it based on prior finishes. Not to mention the super league. European coefficients, league cup draw fixing.

As for the comment on Everton’s spend look at net spend + wages the narrative around Everton’s spend is rubbish more than Bayern etc don’t make me laugh. So we signed a few bad players doesn’t mean we should have to sell our good ones below market value. It is also convenient for the cartel and a by product of their devious means.We’ve also took a huge hit in revenue due to all this FFP. Look at spurs Richarlison, Maddison, Johnson they’d never sign for them prices or for them if not for FFP.

Why the hell are we getting deducted points for building a stadium and investing in a team when our spend is way lower on players and wages than most teams? last 5 years net spend 17th. The only one reason is to stop competition. Want to build a stadium increase revenue and compete? back in your box!

In fact, if City / Leicester weren’t cheating Everton would have been top 4 and European places over the last ten years. I think you forget where we were under Moyes Martinez and not a small club huge potential. it’s only the last 5 years we’ve dropped out the top 8 with FFP direct cause + Ukraine war.

Look at the last 30 years league placing trophies won, v the 30 years prior. The spread of trophies and revenue over them periods. Then tell me coupled with the above something not seriously wrong and there is not a protectionist cartel! the evidence is overwhelming.

United’s position on this is: City spent less than us over the last 10 years, and a bit to catch up, wahhhhhh, so we want the rules fixed in our favour. Sorry it just doesn’t wash with me, you want to swap corrupt crap with corrupt crap for your benefit. The whole thing needs a massive reset.
:lol:
 
I mean it’s similar, since it’s virtually impossible to compete long term in the premier league now unless your club is bought by a country with a bottomless pit of money. Everyone else is just making up the numbers.

But the point is you can get to the premier league, you can aspire to be top flight.
You have Brentford, Bournemouth, Luton, all gub clubs that were playing my boys Wycombe in league fixtures not long ago making it.

They wouldn't even get near a Super league.