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

Is it not possible that the players could also be in trouble? Wouldn't they be complicit in some way for things such as under the table payments like Mancini?
 
The badge, after some serious thought, should be the city mack daddy sat in the floor in the middle of a room, In the midst of a bukake party, with the words 'in oil we we trust' up top, and the Roman ' maximus wankus' at the bottom.
Not very child friendly that.
I suggested in the newbie forum that it should be the emptihad pitch, with a solitary dog defecating on the centre spot.
Something a bit more fitting for their 'history'.
 
Doubt it.

If it's just for one season, I reckon City will sell a couple of players, loan a few, and keep a team that guarantees promotion. I also believe Pep will stay out of pride, then leave after the promotion.

There'll only be a clear out if it's more than one season sort of thing. No way City would allow it as losing all their stars would set them back a decade.
There would certainly be relegation clauses in all of their contracts. It would be a standard part of business these days and why the contracts they sign are so big and take so long. Literally a clause for everything.

Haaland, KDB, Gvordiol, Rodri, Stones and Ederson will not play in the championship. It just will not happen.

At best they might be able to keep ahold of Grealish, Foden and Walker.
 
If Manchester City is found guilty, the potential punishments are severe. They could potentially face:

  1. Points Deduction: City could have points deducted, which would affect their standing in the Premier League and potentially derail their title ambitions.
  2. Expulsion from Competitions: There's a possibility that City could be expelled from the Premier League or even other domestic and European competitions like the FA Cup, EFL Cup, and Champions League.
  3. Stripping of Titles: The Premier League could revoke some of the titles City won during the period under investigation.
  4. Financial Penalties: Although City’s ownership is wealthy, they could face hefty fines. However, financial penalties may not significantly impact the club's operations due to their strong backing. (this in my opinion would be a total failure and discredit any rules)
On the other hand, if City successfully defends themselves, the case could significantly damage the Premier League's reputation, especially after recent efforts to enforce financial regulations more strictly. The case's outcome could also set a precedent for how financial rules are applied to other clubs, especially those with similarly wealthy owners. Chelsea's case also in my view depends on the larger charges on City. If Chelsea receive hefty point deductions for self reporting, there would be absolutely no chance Manchester City would not be relegated multiple leagues below. If the premier league is very light on Chelsea, this would indicate to me that City will be getting away with quite a lot and I would only expect point deductions (I would assume only 15 points).
 
I'll be incredibly surprised if they're stripped of past titles, as someone above alluded to, that would result in an absolute omnishambles of litigation by all the wronged parties - clubs, players, betting companies, sponsors etc. etc. and so on. The PL will surely be keen to avoid that.
That litigation would surely be directed at City and not the PL
 
I'll be incredibly surprised if they're stripped of past titles, as someone above alluded to, that would result in an absolute omnishambles of litigation by all the wronged parties - clubs, players, betting companies, sponsors etc. etc. and so on. The PL will surely be keen to avoid that.
Even if they're not stripped of titles but still found to have broken FFP and inflated sponsorships etc. They're could still be legal cases from relegated teams, teams that failed to make top 4 etc etc.
 
There would certainly be relegation clauses in all of their contracts. It would be a standard part of business these days and why the contracts they sign are so big and take so long. Literally a clause for everything.

Haaland, KDB, Gvordiol, Rodri, Stones and Ederson will not play in the championship. It just will not happen.

At best they might be able to keep ahold of Grealish, Foden and Walker.

Let’s see how many emulate the Juve legends who stayed with the team when they were demoted.
 
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Not sure if it’s already been said but would the EL kick up a fuss, surely the teams in championship would be a bit pissed off, City would 100% come straight back up which will take a spot off one of the teams wanting promotion
 
If that blessed day came to be, who do we think would escape the sinking ship ? Ederson, B. Silva, KdB, Rodri for sure. Then maybe loan out Dias. Would be curious to see how Haaland escapes it with maybe only Barca and Bayern able to take him on.

I’d imagine that there are enough clauses in the player contracts that see the players able to walk due to breach of contract.

City certainly wouldn’t be able to pay them, without, erm, cheating.
 
Let’s see how many emulate the Juve legends who stayed with the team when they were demoted.
All eyes will be on Foden if they get relegated. I’ve heard so many City fans use him as the proof of them producing their own.

It will be a funny time if they get relegated and Foden is linked to every other major club.
 
Not sure if it’s already been said but would the EL kick up a fuss, surely the teams in championship would be a bit pissed off, City would 100% come straight back up which will take a spot off one of the teams wanting promotion
To really punish them it has to be more than one division relegation, maybe kicked out of the football pyramid itself. So it takes them 4 or 5 years to get back to the PL, and by that point most of their players will have left, and both of their fans would have found jobs.
 
To really punish them it has to be more than one division relegation, maybe kicked out of the football pyramid itself. So it takes them 4 or 5 years to get back to the PL, and by that point most of their players will have left, and both of their fans would have found jobs.

City can secede to the SPL
 
Ronay in the Guardian today has a stab at the issue. The fate of the league hangs on this; the Prem is threatened if either of two scenarios emerge. The first - according to him - is a big punishment for being found guilty. The basis of this (jeopardy for the Premier League) seems to be a loss of credibility (?!!**^) for the league ‘product’. (But surely showing you are prepared to enforce rules, even belatedly, is a good thing, Barney?). Second of his likely scenes is the scum getting off Scot free. That’s no good (for the league) either. BR advocates a better, compromise solution; a fudge. He says such an ending is a good bet.
Thanks for the tip, old chap. I'm sure the oil chiefs would chew your arm off for such an outcome right now. Clever, and a not completely rubbish article, but just a little too obsequious towards the cheats in my view. “Accounting irregularities- spare me”, spouts lad-down-the-pub Barnay. Well, alright then.
 
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It will be interesting to see what sort of leaks we hear between when the hearings finish and the verdict is delivered.

I don't imagine there will be much from the Premier League but I imagine we will start to hear a little bit from those with connections at City about how they think the state of play is.
 
Ronay in the Guardian today has a stab at the issue. The fate of the league hangs on this; the Prem is threatened if either of two scenarios emerge. The first - according to him - is a big punishment for being found guilty. The basis of this seems to be a loss of credibility (?!!**^) for the league ‘product’. (But surely showing you are prepared to enforce rules, even belatedly, is a good thing, Barney?). Second of his likely scenes is the scum getting off Scot free. That’s no good (for the league) either. BR advocates a better, compromise solution; a fudge. He says such an ending is a good bet.
Thanks for the tip, old chap. I'm sure the oil chiefs would chew your arm off for such an outcome right now. Clever, and a not completely rubbish article, but just a little too obsequious towards the cheats in my view. “Accounting irregularities- spare me”, spouts lad-down-the-pub Barnay. Well, alright then.
I think that’s a sensible analysis by him. I alluded to his first point before. The harsher the penalty would be, the worse those in charge will look. Big institutions tend to do whatever is in their power to avoid that. Punishing City adequately would mean an admittance, that the PL failed to protect the league for more than a decade and that a cheating operation was allowed to corrupt every aspect of the game. That’s a horrible look, even if that’s obviously the truth.
Even though I disagree that a large punishment would threaten the league. It wouldn’t. It would threat the reputation of the people in charge, who refused to act.
 
Ronay in the Guardian today has a stab at the issue. The fate of the league hangs on this; the Prem is threatened if either of two scenarios emerge. The first - according to him - is a big punishment for being found guilty. The basis of this seems to be a loss of credibility (?!!**^) for the league ‘product’. (But surely showing you are prepared to enforce rules, even belatedly, is a good thing, Barney?). Second of his likely scenes is the scum getting off Scot free. That’s no good (for the league) either. BR advocates a better, compromise solution; a fudge. He says such an ending is a good bet.
Thanks for the tip, old chap. I'm sure the oil chiefs would chew your arm off for such an outcome right now. Clever, and a not completely rubbish article, but just a little too obsequious towards the cheats in my view. “Accounting irregularities- spare me”, spouts lad-down-the-pub Barnay. Well, alright then.

Fun fact: The Guardian will delete your account if you mention city or newcastle's owners in a match report. Which is funny considering the reasons they advertise for a paid subscription include 'fighting sportswashing'.

One can reference 'Brexit Jim' until the cows come home, though. city and newcastle fans can contribute their 'red cartel' conspiracy theories ad hoc with impunity.

Yesterday, the grauniad had a 'Ten Things To Look Forward To This Weekend' article in which a poster was 'picked', i.e. visibly endorsed by the editorial, for suggesting our game versus Palace would determine the 'bragging rights for SouthLondon/Surrey'.

A poster bemoaned it being picked for obvious reasons (using a place as an insult), only for the editorial to remove the 'pick' and then, hours later, the objector.

Best avoided.
 
Ronay in the Guardian today has a stab at the issue. The fate of the league hangs on this; the Prem is threatened if either of two scenarios emerge. The first - according to him - is a big punishment for being found guilty. The basis of this seems to be a loss of credibility (?!!**^) for the league ‘product’. (But surely showing you are prepared to enforce rules, even belatedly, is a good thing, Barney?). Second of his likely scenes is the scum getting off Scot free. That’s no good (for the league) either. BR advocates a better, compromise solution; a fudge. He says such an ending is a good bet.
Thanks for the tip, old chap. I'm sure the oil chiefs would chew your arm off for such an outcome right now. Clever, and a not completely rubbish article, but just a little too obsequious towards the cheats in my view. “Accounting irregularities- spare me”, spouts lad-down-the-pub Barnay. Well, alright then.
Just read the article. Complete waste of time. Speculating like anyone else can whist telling us nothing we don't already know about the case. Why even write it?
 
Ronay in the Guardian today has a stab at the issue. The fate of the league hangs on this; the Prem is threatened if either of two scenarios emerge. The first - according to him - is a big punishment for being found guilty. The basis of this (jeopardy for the Premier League) seems to be a loss of credibility (?!!**^) for the league ‘product’. (But surely showing you are prepared to enforce rules, even belatedly, is a good thing, Barney?). Second of his likely scenes is the scum getting off Scot free. That’s no good (for the league) either. BR advocates a better, compromise solution; a fudge. He says such an ending is a good bet.
Thanks for the tip, old chap. I'm sure the oil chiefs would chew your arm off for such an outcome right now. Clever, and a not completely rubbish article, but just a little too obsequious towards the cheats in my view. “Accounting irregularities- spare me”, spouts lad-down-the-pub Barnay. Well, alright then.

Ronay is a good writer, but he very often has absolutely nothing to say. Dictionary definition of style over substance.

The loss of credibility point though is absolutely valid though. If they find City guilty they admit the last 10 years are a sham and that is hard to recover from. The obvious example here is cycling which now has good drug testing and is widely considered a sport infested by cheaters because they catch them; in contrast football has testing widely considered to be a bit lax and rarely catches drug cheats. The conclusion? Football almost uniquely amongst competitive sports is not seen to have a PED problem.

The problem with that argument though is it’s too late. By charging them everybody already thinks they did it, they can’t find them guilty but fudge the punishment (although I suspect they may try) without the loss of credibility that comes with it anyway,
 
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Just read the article. Complete waste of time. Speculating like anyone else can whist telling us nothing we don't already know about the case. Why even write it?
It’s an opinion piece written by someone who people enjoy reading articles by? It’s not a news article really, it’s not there to bring you the latest news.


I find his writing shite and boring for the record.
 
Just read the article. Complete waste of time. Speculating like anyone else can whist telling us nothing we don't already know about the case. Why even write it?
people moan that nobody in the media is willing to discuss the 115 charges, and when they do they get shit on.

Could it not be that until we know the outcome, there isn’t really much to discuss?
 
Listening to Kieran Maguire on Norwegian tv, he very much doubt City will be expelled, but rather financial punishment or points deduction the most likely outcome
 
Punishing a cheating team who used their money to feck the PL up and them getting out of it by giving the PL a load of money would be hilariously tragic. “You bad boys for using all the dosh, as punishment give us some please”.
 
Listening to Kieran Maguire on Norwegian tv, he very much doubt City will be expelled, but rather financial punishment or points deduction the most likely outcome
One man’s opinion that carries mo more weight than your average poster on here tbh
 
Ronay is a good writer, but he very often has absolutely nothing to say. Dictionary definition of style over substance.

The loss of credibility point though is absolutely valid though. If they find City guilty they admit the last 10 years are a sham and that is hard to recover from. The obvious example here is cycling which now has good drug testing and is widely considered a sport infested by cheaters because they catch them; in contrast football has testing widely considered to be a bit lax and rarely catches drug cheats. The conclusion? Football almost uniquely amongst competitive sports is not seen to have a PED problem.

The problem with that argument though is it’s too late. By charging them everybody already thinks they did it, they can’t find them guilty but fudge the punishment (although I suspect they may try) without the loss of credibility that comes with it anyway,

Yep spot on, the third option in the article for everyone 'fudge it' due to the massive damage a guilty or not guilty charge will do to the PL was lost when they brought the charges in the first place.

Ronay lures you in when you read his articles, but he doesn't say what damage this will do in the long run if they try this approach, as it could easily do more harm rather than them just dealing with them and their owners properly now, (or if they find them innocent show us why they got 115 charges so wrong).
 
Part of me hopes they get zero punishment. Surely that would force other clubs to do something. Boycott their matches, play kids and reserves against them, let them go unbeaten for a couple of years. Make it so ridiculously painful to watch the PL is forced to act.
 
Part of me hopes they get zero punishment. Surely that would force other clubs to do something. Boycott their matches, play kids and reserves against them, let them go unbeaten for a couple of years. Make it so ridiculously painful to watch the PL is forced to act.
What? Why? The PL is acting?
Do you like to have pain inflicted?
 
Listening to Kieran Maguire on Norwegian tv, he very much doubt City will be expelled, but rather financial punishment or points deduction the most likely outcome
I’ve heard him interviewed a few times on Stretford paddock. He readily admits he isn’t a lawyer, he’s a teacher etc so isn’t qualified to comment, yet when he says yeah they could get docked points everyone runs with it anyway :lol:
 
I’ve heard him interviewed a few times on Stretford paddock. He readily admits he isn’t a lawyer, he’s a teacher etc so isn’t qualified to comment, yet when he says yeah they could get docked points everyone runs with it anyway :lol:

It’s also based on nothing. He has no idea as this is unprecedented and he’s also not a lawyer. Guessing like any of us.
Alright guys
Was just summarizing what he said.
Didn't actually know who he was before today
 
Alright guys
Was just summarizing what he said.
Didn't actually know who he was before today
I wasn’t having a pop at you really, more so the outlets/channels that credit him as someone who can comment on this stuff with some insight - when he himself admits he doesn’t have the faintest idea!

Financial matters though, he knows his stuff. He’s usually consulted about PSR stuff, which is usually how city comes into the conversation.
 
Is it not possible that the players could also be in trouble? Wouldn't they be complicit in some way for things such as under the table payments like Mancini?

Nah - because this is going back so far back, I doubt any of the current players are involved. I don't think City is doing anything highly questionable today - but they cheated to get to a position where they didnt have to cheat anymore.