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

stevoc said:
So you think Journalists aren't criticizing City because they are worried they'll get chopped up?

:confused:
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I think journalists go very easy on city. We all know they cheated, a lot know they intimidate officials in their own nefarious ways and yet they are celebrated for being champions and lauded for pep football.

May not be because they are worried about being chopped up, but how can such an obviously corrupted institution be getting such a handy pass that’s effectively the “that would be an ecumenical matter” level of Apathy? I’m sure “well they could sue us for defamation” kind of defence could be used but this never puts rag papers off running rampant lies about people or institutions when it suits.

So yes; I’d say there’s some fear for multiple reasons, legal and physical, along with self vested interest of making money off the EPL. A lot easier to get open doors promoting the league than highlighting its corruption. Whistleblowing is not for the faint hearted and we as a society have a truly awful record at destroying people trying to uncover the truth.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
Given my age and that rivalry being one of the earliest I remember I absolutely cannot stand Chelsea. I consider Chelsea the original cheats who started this whole ridiculous transfer market. Can’t stand them!
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Surely it was Blackburn in the early 90s?

A tiny northern town that was an absolute no mark club until a massively wealthy individual took them over.
 
Sandikan said:
Surely it was Blackburn in the early 90s?

A tiny northern town that was an absolute no mark club until a massively wealthy individual took them over.
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Wasn’t old enough for that I’m afraid! But yeh doubt I’d have liked them.
 
ExecutionerWasp001 said:
Think it's telling in an interview (I presume from a couple of days ago). He talked about a swift outcome now the hearing date has been set. He emphasized that it's being heard by an independant panel. Made a point of repeating it. It seems to me like there's going to be a panel stitch up much like the CAS case.
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Do you have a link?
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
I think journalists go very easy on city. We all know they cheated, a lot know they intimidate officials in their own nefarious ways and yet they are celebrated for being champions and lauded for pep football.

May not be because they are worried about being chopped up, but how can such an obviously corrupted institution be getting such a handy pass that’s effectively the “that would be an ecumenical matter” level of Apathy? I’m sure “well they could sue us for defamation” kind of defence could be used but this never puts rag papers off running rampant lies about people or institutions when it suits.

So yes; I’d say there’s some fear for multiple reasons, legal and physical, along with self vested interest of making money off the EPL. A lot easier to get open doors promoting the league than highlighting its corruption. Whistleblowing is not for the faint hearted and we as a society have a truly awful record at destroying people trying to uncover the truth.
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I doubt they are worried about anything physical. They may be worried about legal consequences and losing access though.
 
stevoc said:
I doubt they are worried about anything physical. They may be worried about legal consequences and losing access though.
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I wouldn’t doubt anything on this. City are intimidating people investigating these 115 charges, do you think they wouldn’t do the same with Journos?
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
I wouldn’t doubt anything on this. City are intimidating people investigating these 115 charges, do you think they wouldn’t do the same with Journos?
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Oh they would have no problem dealing with journos in whatever way they see fit to get message across
 
HTG said:
The end? Everything will just continue as before. The clubs won’t do shit, because they aren’t clubs anymore, but just big businesses who do whatever gets them the most capital. Some fans will turn away, to be exchanged with plenty new ones from abroad and the players themselves never gave a shit anyway about ok the cheating.
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Unfortunately I think it would be business as usual as well. If City are able to pull any strings to get off this, then you know they’d also make sure they take care of any other stakeholders.

The fans wont affect anything unless it’s a massive revolt like the super league situation. But in this instance there’s too many teams who also are on City’s side due to the way their own teams behave.
 
People really think city will get anything except a minor slap on the wrist? They are owned by a member of the abu dhabi royal family who also happens to be the vice president. Unlike forest or Everton's owners, this guy has serious leverage.

I remember the athletic reported that UK gov confirmed Cty's charges were discussed between it's embassy in Abu dhabi and the foreign office in London.They also refused to disclose the correspondence because it could risk the relationship with the UAE.

So if City is not state owned..then why would the state be pissed off?
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
I wouldn’t doubt anything on this. City are intimidating people investigating these 115 charges, do you think they wouldn’t do the same with Journos?
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If they made physical threats to a load of journalists I wouldn't be surprised if one of them would have went public with the evidence.

No, they treat their own people and people within their own country brutally. But in dealing with foreigners legal consequences, threats of losing access, possibly even blackmail with information will be their methods of intimidation.
 
Hard to take things seriously this season with this going on in the background.

The biggest case ever in football about to be heard, with massive repercussions which ever way the verdit goes, and we're all supposed to swallow them and most of the media carry on as if nothing is happening.
 
Done with football when they inevitably get off with a minor punishment. Daft sport really allowing it to go on.
 
stevoc said:
If they made physical threats to a load of journalists I wouldn't be surprised if one of them would have went public with the evidence.

No, they treat their own people and people within their own country brutally. But in dealing with foreigners legal consequences, threats of losing access, possibly even blackmail with information will be their methods of intimidation.
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Maybe you are right , but that doesn’t explain following home people involved in processing the case against them. To be honest , I think your views on this are a little naive. Presuming a journo being threatened is automatically gonna be brave enough to put their head above the parapet is extremely presumptuous.
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
Maybe you are right , but that doesn’t explain following home people involved in processing the case against them. To be honest , I think your views on this are a little naive. Presuming a journo being threatened is automatically gonna be brave enough to put their head above the parapet is extremely presumptuous.
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That's standard intimidation tactics.

I'm not presuming I'm saying if they'd threatened people who's job it is to expose corruption, etc with violence then there's a good chance one of them would go public. I doubt the Abu Dhabi regime are that naive.
 
stevoc said:
That's standard intimidation tactics.

I'm not presuming I'm saying if they'd threatened people whose job it is to expose corruption, etc with violence then there's a good chance one of them would go public. I doubt the Abu Dhabi regime are that naive.
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They killed a journalist and they cooked the books at city. They’ve spent billions on their city sportswashing project, they’d do and are doing whatever they need to do to legitimise their affairs.

As I’ve said already, I’ve a friend whose job is actually helping major European clubs find owners. So he has a lot of contacts within the football world. He has said, straight out, that it’s no secret in football circles , that the people involved in the case against city are being intimidated in different ways, one being them being followed home. So it’s happening.

It’s also very easy to twist a narrative , particularly if you have the kind of funds these criminals have to play with.
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
They killed a journalist and they cooked the books at city. They’ve spent billions on their city sportswashing project, they’d do and are doing whatever they need to do to legitimise their affairs.

As I’ve said already, I’ve a friend whose job is actually helping major European clubs find owners. So he has a lot of contacts within the football world. He has said, straight out, that it’s no secret in football circles , that the people involved in the case against city are being intimidated in different ways, one being them being followed home. So it’s happening.

It’s also very easy to twist a narrative , particularly if you have the kind of funds these criminals have to play with.
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Which journalist did they kill? If you’re referring to Khashoggi that was Saudi Arabia, not the UAE.
 
Peps confidence seems to be a bad sign for me. I'd think if he knew they were about the punished he'd be making noises about leaving.
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
They killed a journalist and they cooked the books at city. They’ve spent billions on their city sportswashing project, they’d do and are doing whatever they need to do to legitimise their affairs.

As I’ve said already, I’ve a friend whose job is actually helping major European clubs find owners. So he has a lot of contacts within the football world. He has said, straight out, that it’s no secret in football circles , that the people involved in the case against city are being intimidated in different ways, one being them being followed home. So it’s happening.

It’s also very easy to twist a narrative , particularly if you have the kind of funds these criminals have to play with.
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The only one I'm aware of was when Saudi Arabia killed a Saudi journalist in a Saudi Embassy. Not Abu Dhabi, though I wouldn't put similar past them. As I said they are brutal towards their own within their own borders but dealing with foreigners is a different kettle of fish. I highly doubt they are threatening to kill journalists mate.

Following someone is home is awful but it's not actually threatening them with violence. It's just trying to put that in their heads, if it happened.

they’d do and are doing whatever they need to do to legitimise their affairs.
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I don't imagine threatening UK nationals in the UK would help with that.
 
Josep Dowling said:
Which journalist did they kill? If you’re referring to Khashoggi that was Saudi Arabia, not the UAE.
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My bad, got them confused , so they are the ones with slaves dieing to make their WC stadiums. Not much more of a civilised form of corruption to be fair.

stevoc said:
The only one I'm aware of was when Saudi Arabia killed a Saudi journalist in a Saudi Embassy. Not Abu Dhabi, though I wouldn't put similar past them. As I said they are brutal towards their own within their own borders but dealing with foreigners is a different kettle of fish. I highly doubt they are threatening to kill journalists mate.

Following someone is home is awful but it's not actually threatening them with violence. It's just trying to put that in their heads, if it happened.



I don't imagine threatening UK nationals in the UK would help with that.
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In fairness , following people home to intimidate them is what gangsters do and is threatening UK nationals.

My wife was in the jury of a killing over a decade ago and some of the jury were being intimidated. If you have kids it’s even worse cause you really don’t know what they are capable of doing.

I’m fairness Steve, we are both in the dark of what exactly is going on, I guess the main difference is that I wouldn’t presume there’s any level they wouldn’t stoop to, to protect their investment. Intimidation, blackmail without physical harm is only a step away from it and if it does the same job, there’s very little difference. It’s using the threat of violence to influence a person.
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
My bad, got them confused , so they are the ones with slaves dieing to make their WC stadiums. Not much more of a civilised form of corruption to be fair.


In fairness , following people home to intimidate them is what gangsters do and is threatening UK nationals.

My wife was in the jury of a killing over a decade ago and some of the jury were being intimidated. If you have kids it’s even worse cause you really don’t know what they are capable of doing.

I’m fairness Steve, we are both in the dark of what exactly is going on, I guess the main difference is that I wouldn’t presume there’s any level they wouldn’t stoop to, to protect their investment. Intimidation, blackmail without physical harm is only a step away from it and if it does the same job, there’s very little difference. It’s using the threat of violence to influence a person.
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That I agree with the following people etc. is implying physical violence without actually doing it. With these regimes I wouldn't put anything past them, on an individual case I wouldn't be surprised if they threatened people directly to achieve a goal. These people have little or no morals.

All I'm saying is I don't think they'd take the risk of being exposed by doing it on a mass scale with a load of football journalists. The British media have been annoyingly quiet on this subject and there must be a reason for that. When you see even Youtubes say they've been threatened with legal action to keep quiet about it. Then personally that makes me suspect that's the avenue they are taking with trying to silence people.
 
ArtetasHair said:
Peps confidence seems to be a bad sign for me. I'd think if he knew they were about the punished he'd be making noises about leaving.
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I agree, he looks totally unfazed by it all as if he knows it is just a formality and a matter of time until it is all swept under the carpet.
 
stevoc said:
That I agree with the following people etc. is implying physical violence without actually doing it. With these regimes I wouldn't put anything past them, on an individual case I wouldn't be surprised if they threatened people directly to achieve a goal. These people have little or no morals.

All I'm saying is I don't think they'd take the risk of being exposed by doing it on a mass scale with a load of football journalists. The British media have been annoyingly quiet on this subject and there must be a reason for that. When you see even Youtubes say they've been threatened with legal action to keep quiet about it. Then personally that makes me suspect that's the avenue they are taking with trying to silence people.
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Yeh, but I don’t get why any of the British media doesn’t just keep sullying Peps achievements. Really go to town about the charges and make everything city related have an asterix. Why doesn’t even one rag make it their thing , constantly taking pop shots at city?

City win CL over a cloud. City win 4 over a cloud. City break records over a cloud. Headlines and narrative could always be written in a way that a city couldn’t do anything legit to argue.

Instead there’s mostly a whitewash of it, a kind of apathy with the odd mention of the charges.
 
djembatheking said:
I agree, he looks totally unfazed by it all as if he knows it is just a formality and a matter of time until it is all swept under the carpet.
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How do you think he should be reacting?
Trembling and giving credence to the whole thing?

Their whole club have played this off for years, the main man isn't going to start squirming now, probably 6months before any verdict is even in.

They'll get whacked and he'll just leave as he was going to do at the end of the season anyway
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
Yeh, but I don’t get why any of the British media doesn’t just keep sullying Peps achievements. Really go to town about the charges and make everything city related have an asterix. Why doesn’t even one rag make it their thing , constantly taking pop shots at city?

City win CL over a cloud. City win 4 over a cloud. City break records over a cloud. Headlines and narrative could always be written in a way that a city couldn’t do anything legit to argue.

Instead there’s mostly a whitewash of it, a kind of apathy with the odd mention of the charges.
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Because they know they'd be sued to oblivion and they need a job.
Why have all the Premier league clubs barely said anything either? Because there's no point with this investigation going on.
 
ArtetasHair said:
Peps confidence seems to be a bad sign for me. I'd think if he knew they were about the punished he'd be making noises about leaving.
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Ignore his bluster. He just wants to be able to claim he knew nothing about all the corruption as he swans off to another easy job where there's nobody with the resources to challenge him.
 
Flying high said:
Ignore his bluster. He just wants to be able to claim he knew nothing about all the corruption as he swans off to another easy job where there's nobody with the resources to challenge him.
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This.

I honestly hate him more than anyone in football. The way he gets lauded for managing all of these dodgy clubs is nauseating.

You just know if City are found guilty and rightfully punished, he'll flit off to PSG and plead ignorance about the entire case. Meanwhile his loyal worshippers will follow him there and lap up everything he does.

Football would be so much better without him in it.
 
Got to a point where I really don't care about anything they do. Salford isn't even in Manchester.. yeah, you are representative of your town, true Manchester local fans while United follows an army of glory hunters. Until a feckin state bought you without saying a word because the thought of trophies was so sweet. locals who screamed about glory hunting for years and years only to tako that state money and swallow all the way to have trophies. Zero envy, I actually feel sorry for anyone following and supporting it. If you say you are City fan in my country everyone will laugh. Also.. been on many aways but that shit of City stadium wouldn't visit even with a free ticket.

Oil is yours, few billion to lost your soul.

Rant over. Will put a thread on ignore.
 
ArtetasHair said:
Peps confidence seems to be a bad sign for me. I'd think if he knew they were about the punished he'd be making noises about leaving.
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He's a top manager. He knows how to control his emotions and not show weakness in front of the public. Ten Hag didn't know what was happening with his future and didn't let on to the world how he really felt at the time. He stayed strong. Just using Ten Hag as an example.

Pep is a tough character. He can go anywhere he wants. Pep also knows how to handle the media. He knows nothing of what the outcome of the court case will be. He has to stay strong. He has a team to manage and a club to represent. He's not going to show weakness in public.
 
Garnacho Libre said:
He's a top manager. He knows how to control his emotions and not show weakness in front of the public. Ten Hag didn't know what was happening with his future and didn't let on to the world how he really felt at the time. He stayed strong. Just using Ten Hag as an example.

Pep is a tough character. He can go anywhere he wants. Pep also knows how to handle the media. He knows nothing of what the outcome of the court case will be. He has to stay strong. He has a team to manage and a club to represent. He's not going to show weakness in public.
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Poor Pepus :(
 
Something is up anyway, only Gundogan back and buying a pre-arranged Sávio from themselves all summer.

Bracing themselves for something.
 
Maluco said:
Something is up anyway, only Gundogan back and buying a pre-arranged Sávio from themselves all summer.

Bracing themselves for something.
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Plus selling Alvarez
 
Pexbo said:
Plus selling Alvarez
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I suppose they would argue that they have false nined it before with no Haaland, but Walker, de Bruyne and Gundogan are all aging. It smells like short-termism to me.
 
I love how they use things like the sale of Alvarez to justify their position as being a well run self sufficient club.
 
The hearing will determine who wins the league this season. Either they get deducted points/relegated or they'll saunter to a 5th consecutive title.
 
These charges are not going to stop Abu Dhabi plundering the sport. Even if affirmed.

Considering the high volume of our supporters who demanded Qatar take us over, we are in little
to no position to moralise.

We desperately need to stop hanging on to these charges.
 
doubleohseven said:
These charges are not going to stop Abu Dhabi plundering the sport. Even if affirmed.

Considering the high volume of our supporters who demanded Qatar take us over, we are in little
to no position to moralise.

We desperately need to stop hanging on to these charges.
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Oh look, a newbie saying it’s pointless and United are just as bad because Qatar tried to buy United.
 
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