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

Right now they are 11:1 to be relegated this year, so the money and all the maths analysts at Paddy Power think it’s just under a 10% chance of serious sanction.

It really does make the whole thing look ridiculous and wil hang over the title race most of the season (again). The premier league need to make a strong and fair decision quickly and let City sue or appeal. At least then they are on the back foot.
 
That’s the point, they don’t care about the game, only rigging everything in their favour. Breaking the rules , cheating and trying to intimidate anybody or any institution that tries to put manners on them. Wonder if it’s why journalists don’t go in hard on them, we know what happens to Journalists who upset the Saudis.
I find it baffling that people can support a club who does this. If I found out United were rigging everything in their favour, cheating to win and bullying anyone who opposed them like Abu Dhabi do, I'd stop being a fan immediately.

Yet their fans just dont care, as long as they get their precious victories. City seem to attract the worst human beings for fans.
 
Right now they are 11:1 to be relegated this year, so the money and all the maths analysts at Paddy Power think it’s just under a 10% chance of serious sanction.

It really does make the whole thing look ridiculous and wil hang over the title race most of the season (again). The premier league need to make a strong and fair decision quickly and let City sue or appeal. At least then they are on the back foot.
Not really. There’s a good chance a sanction could be imposed next season.
 
I'm sure I heard Simon Johnson trying to defend them on his section of the Talkshite sports bar
 
I find it baffling that people can support a club who does this. If I found out United were rigging everything in their favour, cheating to win and bullying anyone who opposed them like Abu Dhabi do, I'd stop being a fan immediately.

Yet their fans just dont care, as long as they get their precious victories. City seem to attract the worst human beings for fans.
I think of it like Trump supporters, he doesn’t even try to hide what a massive piece of horrible sh*t he is and yet half the voting population will vote for him.

People will suit themselves, like religious people ignoring abuses within their church , a lot of people are incapable of engaging in meaningful self reflection and honest assessments of situations.
 
They're getting off. Surprised anybody thinks otherwise

They will. Easier to find them not guilty than to find them guilty and then have to come up with a suitable punishment.

The most I think they'll get is guilty on say 10-15 charges, not guilty on the rest or maybe some bullshit with some around "not proven" rather than not guilty, some language around mitigating circumstances and then a 30 point deduction. And we all move on.

One thing guaranteed - nobody is going to be happy with the outcome. Not City, not anybody else.
 
What’s even worse is that teams like fecking Bolton Wanderers or Stoke City consider us their biggest rivals when we couldn’t give a flying feck about them. Even up here in Scotland, where we have our own football system, you have people who hate Man United.

I was at Annan Athletic Vs Inverness CT a couple of weeks back. In the stands I heard one lad proudly declare that City had equalised to his mate who was clearly more interested in the actual match in front of us. Then after the match they had the Community Shield penalty shootout on the TV in the bar, a middle aged man in his Annan top could not contain his joy when Evans missed his pen :lol:
 
They will. Easier to find them not guilty than to find them guilty and then have to come up with a suitable punishment.

The most I think they'll get is guilty on say 10-15 charges, not guilty on the rest or maybe some bullshit with some around "not proven" rather than not guilty, some language around mitigating circumstances and then a 30 point deduction. And we all move on.

One thing guaranteed - nobody is going to be happy with the outcome. Not City, not anybody else.
I think this sounds about right. The biggest issue will then be that that deduction will be across 2 seasons so they are guaranteed CL football.

They will forgo the league title for this year and next year with a 15-point deduction once the results are out and then start on -15 next year.

Plus a massive, massive fine.

It can then be argued that they’ve had ‘unprecedented’ punishment and nobody can (or should) argue about it.

No way they get anything too heavy
 
They will. Easier to find them not guilty than to find them guilty and then have to come up with a suitable punishment.

The most I think they'll get is guilty on say 10-15 charges, not guilty on the rest or maybe some bullshit with some around "not proven" rather than not guilty, some language around mitigating circumstances and then a 30 point deduction. And we all move on.

One thing guaranteed - nobody is going to be happy with the outcome. Not City, not anybody else.

id be stunned if they get a 30 point deduction. they'll then appeal it and we'll be in a title race with nobody knowing who's top of the league. this will be brushed aside
 
I was at Annan Athletic Vs Inverness CT a couple of weeks back. In the stands I heard one lad proudly declare that City had equalised to his mate who was clearly more interested in the actual match in front of us. Then after the match they had the Community Shield penalty shootout on the TV in the bar, a middle aged man in his Annan top could not contain his joy when Evans missed his pen :lol:
Good fecking grief! That is beyond pathetic. That’s genuinely just sad at this point, and also really embarrassing.
 
United-Chelsea rivalry wasn’t bitter at all. It was competitive but rather friendly, certainly in comparison with the United-Arsenal rivalry. I don’t remember ever seeing any drama or any particular hatred or disdain from either side during the years we were regularly fighting each other for the title.

I’d say most Chelsea fans would have United down in 5th or 6th in a list of teams we dislike/hate, and I suspect the feeling is mutual. I rarely meet United fans in real life who particularly care about Chelsea one way or another.
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!
 
id be stunned if they get a 30 point deduction. they'll then appeal it and we'll be in a title race with nobody knowing who's top of the league. this will be brushed aside

That would be the end for Premier League as a competition, may as well not bother if they allow cheating to be punished so lightly
 
That would be the end for Premier League as a competition, may as well not bother if they allow cheating to be punished so lightly
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.
 
Have it on good authority they are intimidating anybody involved in the case. Does that really surprise anybody?

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.
 
If they get done over in England would they move their primary setup to Girona, and move a few top contracted players over?

I do wonder how Barca and Real would react to Girona suddenly dominating Spain.
 
That’s the point, they don’t care about the game, only rigging everything in their favour. Breaking the rules , cheating and trying to intimidate anybody or any institution that tries to put manners on them. Wonder if it’s why journalists don’t go in hard on them, we know what happens to Journalists who upset the Saudis.

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

:confused:
 
So frustrating seeing them sweep aside a newly promoted team who have a fraction of their budget, when we all know about the 115 charges (and the huge financial power they have even before that)

Need the book to be thrown at them but unfortunately I can only see them getting a fine, because their lawyers will be so powerful
 
Nah I have mates who support Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke, West Ham, Derby County, hell even a lad who supports Wealdstone, what’s the one thing they all have in common? They absolutely detest Utd. They don’t want to see us win, don’t want to see us succeed, it’s deep rooted. Maybe that’s just my age group of mates (24-30 yrs old) that grew up watching Utd dominate, but whatever the reason it’s bizarre. No other club in the country gets that much hatred from fans of other random sides. No other club gets such coverage for the smallest of crisis. Obviously as a big club, you can ways expect some level of distaste from certain fan groups, but in England at least, Utd are so clearly the least well liked club.
Got mates the exact same, Rochdale, Oldham, Stockport County fans etc all absolutely detest United but don't give a crap about City. Weird really given we haven't won or even been close to winning the league for 11 years. Maybe it's the age thing as you mention. United players definitely get that bit extra from the away crowd compared to other top clubs, we're still THE team everyone wants to beat. Think the problem with some players United have had is the lack of character in away games. Should use the abuse for adrenalyn but some shy away.
 
So you think Journalists aren't criticizing City because they are worried they'll get chopped up?

:confused:
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.
 
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!
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.
 
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.
Wasn’t old enough for that I’m afraid! But yeh doubt I’d have liked them.
 
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.
Do you have a link?
 
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.

I doubt they are worried about anything physical. They may be worried about legal consequences and losing access though.
 
I doubt they are worried about anything physical. They may be worried about legal consequences and losing access though.
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?
 
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?

Oh they would have no problem dealing with journos in whatever way they see fit to get message across
 
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.
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?
 
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?

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.
 
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.
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.
 
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.

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.