I doubt in those murder cases there was a private organisation needing to access emails and obtain information from an authoritarian state in a heavily censored and wealthy country where they have zero jurisdiction to force them to comply.
City and Financial Doping | Charged by PL with numerous FFP breaches | Hearing begins 16th September 2024
- Thread starter VanGaalEra
- Start date
Have they tried to 'balance it out' by mentioning the 40 million Covid allowance United got yet?
That’s coming up next, funnily enough.
Personally I am of the opinion it is Championship of National League. I personally do not see how the EFL can say 'we take you but League Two'. I think it would either be as a classic relegation or a rejection of their membership. I think that would legally be hard to implement.
Yeah, I have been thinking this as well. They're hedging against a Champo season. So, limiting incomings as they'll fire sale next Summer then try and spring back straight away.
Well it isn't that simple. The stripping of titles is essentially re-playing/retrospectively punishing.
The PL would be wise to steer well clear of this as their have been other events that could then been claimed to need retrospective punishments/replays (whatever you want to call it.)
I really can't see the PL wanting to play that game. At best City get a *.
of course... because 115 charges and a relatively small one-time allowance for an unprecedented global pandemic event are more or less the same thing
Retrospectively punishing for things they retrospectively did, yes. They don't win those leagues without the financial doping, so they don't deserve them. Simple as that really.
Going down the leagues and giving out new winners, sorting out compensation, etc... is a fecking minefield and probably going to be avoided but I think it's a joke if they don't at least announce their titles as null and void.
It wouldn’t mean nothing, it would forever taint the club and players and managers would leave pronto. Confirmation of their guilt would be enough to contemn them to a future of mediocrity even before you get to the actual physical punishments like relegation or point deductions.
Expulsion with no return possible for 10 years would be the best outcome. Even better if they could only return if they had new, non-state, owners.
The ‘specialist’ they usually wheel out (Stephan Borson, I believe is his name), used to work for City. Impartial, I’m sure.
Anyone who thinks there is hope is just fooling themselves with both governments being direct on this matter. The early here and decision date is to close the chapter as soon as they can and move on.
So why did the PL bring this case forward if it was just for show?
There’s an odd situation where a deduction of points creates a negative points tally … if you haven’t already earned the number of points deducted. Any points deduction early in the season is almost bound to give teams a minus points total. I wonder if there are rules around that? Like could City be given a 400 points deduction?
Assuming they are found guilty, would it open the door to other clubs then going after them or would it be the PL in the firing line? I'm thinking of the clubs who have been significantly disadvantaged more so than most - those in and around the various European qualification places that would have been edged out due to the cheating. Surely there is a case for looking for lost revenues as a result of their rule breaking, but I'm not sure if it would be the PL being seen as just as culpable for not ensuring rules were adhered to.
If there is a risk here for the PL that can also play into their thinking (negatively). Has anyone seen that discussed anywhere? I'm curious to know how that would pan out.
If there is a risk here for the PL that can also play into their thinking (negatively). Has anyone seen that discussed anywhere? I'm curious to know how that would pan out.
If something is a show, you generally want it to happen at a particular time.
What are they saying, can you post clips?
It's almost certain that a guilty verdict won't be the end of it regardless of what punishment the league gives them.
The aguero goal doesn't happen without this stuff. Arse have been pipped by them, liverpool too, then there is all the teams like spurs and everton that missed out on CL by 1 place. Thats worth 20 million plus for them.
If it is categorically proven they cheated in all those seasons, the doors open for so many clubs to take action I don't think it would ever end.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4889001/2023/09/22/man-city-charges-premier-league-abu-dhabi/
I didn't say that it's for show but stated that the governments got directly in touch regarding this matter. Also shows how important the City brand is for UAE.
I personally hope they cum down hard on them.
I can't see them getting all their titles stripped away (much as that would be hilarious).
1. It would bring an entire decade of PL into disrepute. See all those matches you went cheering for? You were playing in a rigged game mate! One team cheats and fair competition goes out the window. Brand PL would suffer a major blow. As far as I'm aware, not many other teams want them stripped of titles, either.
2. Acknowledgment of a decade's worth of cheating by the higher ups of the PL would only highlight their sheer incompetence. Ever seen a managing executive willing to acknowledge their own incompetence? No? Me neither.
3. The literal money involved for so many teams, and the maelstrom of quantifiable losses. 1 team per year for a decade losing out on Champions League place/money, is that about £250m in total? Heck, even 18th place can claim, for a decade, there was one team above them who cheated and therefore they shouldn't have been relegated.
What I'd like to see if they ARE found guilty (and what will surely not happen), would be an actual punishment of the ownership rather than club and fans. Bar them from ownership in the PL. Enforce conditions by which they have to sell the club (similar to what happened to abramovich at Chelsea). Let City keep all the money and titles, maybe a big massive fine or something, but with some safeguarding to ensure the club isn't sent into a spiral. I'm sure a bunch of players will leave but I'd imagine at the end of it all the club will still be in a decent enough standing compared to where they were before the cheats took over.
Who knows, they may even become a club again, one that doesn't make the entirety of the non-city footballing world roll their eyes and struggle to care.
1. It would bring an entire decade of PL into disrepute. See all those matches you went cheering for? You were playing in a rigged game mate! One team cheats and fair competition goes out the window. Brand PL would suffer a major blow. As far as I'm aware, not many other teams want them stripped of titles, either.
2. Acknowledgment of a decade's worth of cheating by the higher ups of the PL would only highlight their sheer incompetence. Ever seen a managing executive willing to acknowledge their own incompetence? No? Me neither.
3. The literal money involved for so many teams, and the maelstrom of quantifiable losses. 1 team per year for a decade losing out on Champions League place/money, is that about £250m in total? Heck, even 18th place can claim, for a decade, there was one team above them who cheated and therefore they shouldn't have been relegated.
What I'd like to see if they ARE found guilty (and what will surely not happen), would be an actual punishment of the ownership rather than club and fans. Bar them from ownership in the PL. Enforce conditions by which they have to sell the club (similar to what happened to abramovich at Chelsea). Let City keep all the money and titles, maybe a big massive fine or something, but with some safeguarding to ensure the club isn't sent into a spiral. I'm sure a bunch of players will leave but I'd imagine at the end of it all the club will still be in a decent enough standing compared to where they were before the cheats took over.
Who knows, they may even become a club again, one that doesn't make the entirety of the non-city footballing world roll their eyes and struggle to care.
Wtf?
Yes, lets hear what Alan Brazil and Jason Cundy have to say please.
They need punishing.
From Reddit. I refuse to believe these are charges that can result in anything but severe punishment.
Why did you spell it like that?
Because they’re all cock and no balls.
It has to be severe, otherwise why would any club bother providing accurate financial information going forward?
Only suitable punishment is a Rangers type situation where they have to start again. Man Blues or something like on PES.
Apparently it's not even 115 charges. After a correction it's actually 130.
i hope they’re stripped first.
This is sadly what will happen.
There’s no way the British gov will upset them that much. There’ll be some pathetic punishment but they are wealthy, they are valuable to us for trade and the most important thing for them is their image.
Titles won’t be stripped but there’ll be a big fine, not because they’re guilty, because they have obstructed the investigation and a lot of other ransoms things. There will never be any kind of admission of guilt.
It's funny cos it's true.
Yeah it's been discussed from time to time (even though in general, the media coverage of this farce has been tiny compared to the outrage it should have caused), but never with an actual conclusion, just conjecture. No one really knows, but I guess part of the punishment could theoretically be a massive fine which is redistributed to the clubs that have been "penalised" - even that is unsatisfying in that it doesn't cover all the harm they've been doing since 2008 (relegation fights they've had an influence on, cup runs, etc.) but it could be a way to acknowledge the harm they've caused to other clubs.
Beautiful thumbnail
Would they be fine after found guilty and paid millions dollar on table and off table to settle them ?
What’s with The Athletic and City? No mention anywhere of City’s charges.
Yeah, this is all well and good. However, for all we know the UK government told them nothing that can be done.
People keep saying this but it makes absolutely no sense what so ever.
If Man City and their owners were so important the UK Governement or whatever nefarious agency you want to use would've shut down the case before it even got made and definitely before the PL went public and said they were pursuing City.
So, the constant talk of cover ups/whitewash in this instance doesn't make a grain of sense, as this could've easily have been contained from the outset. This goes double as the PL could've easily have shot down all comments about them doing nothing by pointing to the UEFA appeal and saying something similar would happen.
After that you also get to the little fact that the PL is one of UK's biggest exports and most likely it's biggest soft power export. No way do the UK government bend over to the Abu Dhabi for that, ir simply isn't worth it from a geopolitical viewpoint or an economic view point.
If people want to dabble in conspiracies the only one that makes sense is that once Saudi got let into the PL they wanted to kill their regional rivals crown jewel. That would explain why the announcement of charges against City came out of nowhere (years after UEFA) and shortly after Saudi got let in. Thus, it would be a case of selling someone out for a bigger wallet.
Last edited:
Some people have mentioned a sort of "gag order", but considering other outlets are reporting it (in a very timid manner) and some of their podcasts also mention it, I'm going to go with "selective outrage" - they are probably content with the access they get at City and don't want to jeopardize that. It's why I have an issue with some of their journalists, even though they tend to be some of the best in the business, they seem content getting on very selective high horses.
I'm not kidding myself that if City are found guilty (there is enough info in the public domain to derive a conclusion for yourself!) than they would receive anything other than a financial penalty. Given Abu Dhabi resources it's not a sporting penalty at all and I'm sure City lawyers have already informed the club that the legal process would take several years to conclude (ably assisted by them!) for them to play without impunity.