Oil Money in Football | New City expose

The most interesting element of stage 3 of the report is that an outside unconnected party paid £7M p./a. for a region restricted advertising deal. Regardless of how much was or wasn't subsidised in the Etihad deal, I'm struggling to see how anyone can suggest the true market value of the Etihad deal (the only value UEFA are concerned about in situations such as these)) is just £8M p.a.
 
I agree. There won’t be. Because they couldn’t give a shit about morals or ethics , and therefore should be called out. I guarantee you if a poll was done here , would you take a title in next 2 years funded by Saudi investment, there would be a resounding no.

As I’ve said before, if the Saudis come anywhere near owning United, I’ll be out campaigning, rioting and generally being completely against it!
 
City spent more that we did when Fergie took over. Nobody begrudged them that, sadly for them it didn't work out but there was no crying on any side about it. Same as when Leeds or Liverpool when crazy with the cash in the 00's. Part of the FFP thing is to do with clubs like Leeds who were royally screwed by financial mismanagement, and clubs like Portsmouth, Valencia and Monaco where the spending was unsustainable and the owners got cold feet then asset stripped the shit out of the clubs to get the cash back.

The funny thing is, the way we spunked money so very, very badly in several false (early) dawns pre-takeover was far more dangerous and unsustainable than the post-takeover cash injections. In the case of Shinawatra, if we hadn't sold to the arabs when we did, the club would quite literally have collapsed - we were just days or possibly hours away from that
 
This bit was interesting.

"....a journalist from the Sunday Mirror wrote that Man City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain had met with Guardiola in Barcelona and speculated that a deal was in the making between Pep and City. It was, of course, inaccurate: The deal had already been signed. "I'll call him and tell him we want it removed," team spokesman Simon Heggie wrote to team officials. Later, he wrote another message informing them that the article had been taken offline. "I'll send a note around to other media to tell them to ignore it."

Is it that easy to get the media to back off? They leave inaccurate stories and speculations all over the place, yet were happy to assist City..
 
I agree. There won’t be. Because they couldn’t give a shit about morals or ethics , and therefore should be called out. I guarantee you if a poll was done here , would you take a title in next 2 years funded by Saudi investment, there would be a resounding no.
Ask that question 20 years from now on when we still havent won another title and the answer will be very different.

I've come to the sad conclusions that principles rarely hold against desperation.
 
This bit was interesting.

"....a journalist from the Sunday Mirror wrote that Man City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain had met with Guardiola in Barcelona and speculated that a deal was in the making between Pep and City. It was, of course, inaccurate: The deal had already been signed. "I'll call him and tell him we want it removed," team spokesman Simon Heggie wrote to team officials. Later, he wrote another message informing them that the article had been taken offline. "I'll send a note around to other media to tell them to ignore it."

Is it that easy to get the media to back off? They leave inaccurate stories and speculations all over the place, yet were happy to assist City..
You too can receive such favourable treatment all need is to be backed by a nation state and an army of lawyers.
 
Ask that question 20 years from now on when we still havent won another title and the answer will be very different.

I've come to the sad conclusions that principles rarely hold against desperation.

20 years from now football as we know it won’t be recognisable
 
As much as I hate City, their fans and everything about them. I think it's unfair to take a stab at their fans morals. Offer their exact same lottery win and success to any Championship club and 99% of their fan base would bite your hand off for it. They only care about success and football, they couldn't (and shouldn't) give a shit what goes on behind closed doors. Football fans are fans of football, they're not trying to make political statements.

I do think the club should be punished but there's no need to call out their fans as if that will change anything. Even if they're all a bunch of cnuts.

Except the City fans that wore those Catalan Independence symbols last season
 
Disagree. Many might take the lottery, many might even take it from somewhere as dodgy as city get it, but defending it so vehemently when presented with the things we’ve seen in recent days? That’s just blind stubborn idiocy. (On the basis these allegations are verified.) I suppose supporters of match fixers, dopers etc shouldn’t care? Sport is not immune to morals and conscience, the reason football is such a mess is because too many people think that way. City fans are not helping. There’d be mass protests at Old Trafford if Saudi were to buy, city fans and fan groups should be demanding answers about how their club is run, not cheerleading like little sheep because they get bought everything they want.
There is a guy over on the City thread now who has examined the history of our club in great detail and declared that we were in fact the first club in history to be saved by a sugar daddy so "it's all relative really." We haven't a leg to stand on. We have bought our subsequent success because a local brewery owner injected some cash (literally hundreds of pounds) into an ailing Newton Heath in 1901 (one John Henry Davies.)
So that's it, our treble in '99, our 3 European Cups, 20 top tier titles, all tarnished by beer money! City have done nothing wrong folks and still have the moral high ground!
Of course the elephant in the room is conveniently ignored but no doubt further meticulous and unbiased research will yield sordid details about the late brewer's human rights record.
We should all hang our heads in shame!
 
Etihad will just go and sponsor UEFA and FIFA with eyewatering amounts.

This will be forgotten by next week. Right or Wrong, Nothing will come out of this.
 
There is a guy over on the City thread now who has examined the history of our club in great detail and declared that we were in fact the first club in history to be saved by a sugar daddy so "it's all relative really." We haven't a leg to stand on. We have bought our subsequent success because a local brewery owner injected some cash (literally hundreds of pounds) into an ailing Newton Heath in 1901 (one John Henry Davies.)
So that's it, our treble in '99, our 3 European Cups, 20 top tier titles, all tarnished by beer money! City have done nothing wrong folks and still have the moral high ground!
Of course the elephant in the room is conveniently ignored but no doubt further meticulous and unbiased research will yield sordid details about the late brewer's human rights record.
We should all hang our heads in shame!
Do they still not realise there is a difference between a sugar daddy and a country?
 
Shouldn’t this be a huge story? It’s barely being covered by the press in England. Not a single mention on Sky and half the tabloids websites.
 
As much as I hate City, their fans and everything about them. I think it's unfair to take a stab at their fans morals. Offer their exact same lottery win and success to any Championship club and 99% of their fan base would bite your hand off for it. They only care about success and football, they couldn't (and shouldn't) give a shit what goes on behind closed doors. Football fans are fans of football, they're not trying to make political statements.

I do think the club should be punished but there's no need to call out their fans as if that will change anything. Even if they're all a bunch of cnuts.

I disagree. Not a Championship club but you only have to look at the reaction to our own Saudi takeover rumours to see that not all fans are happy to sell themselves out like that.
 
There is a guy over on the City thread now who has examined the history of our club in great detail and declared that we were in fact the first club in history to be saved by a sugar daddy so "it's all relative really." We haven't a leg to stand on. We have bought our subsequent success because a local brewery owner injected some cash (literally hundreds of pounds) into an ailing Newton Heath in 1901 (one John Henry Davies.)
So that's it, our treble in '99, our 3 European Cups, 20 top tier titles, all tarnished by beer money! City have done nothing wrong folks and still have the moral high ground!
Of course the elephant in the room is conveniently ignored but no doubt further meticulous and unbiased research will yield sordid details about the late brewer's human rights record.
We should all hang our heads in shame!

Yes some City fans on the caf have previously brought up these financial dealings from the turn of the 20th century, and the birth of professionalism, as some sort of equivalent to what City are up to now. I think they're schooled in this info over there at an early age to deflect form the criticism levelled at them.
 
Have they mentioned the current accounts?

City generated commercial revenue of £232m in the last accounts. Liverpool generated £136m and Chelsea £133m in their last accounts from commercial revenue.

Realistically a club like City would be behind both clubs for many reasons so I'd say City should generate commercial revenue of around £120m.
 
Last edited:
That was in yesterday's leak (Part 2). They basically sold out the VIP boxes at huge prices yet they were never full.

Fairly sure they used give normal tickets away to schools or buy 1 get 1 free to fill the stadium too. Tiny club, sure.

They keep them back for visitors from the UAE apparently, somewhere to the tune of around 10k tickets which is a perfectly reasonable estimation of the amount of visitors they can expect from the UAE for a game vs Cardiff. I think they will release these tickets if anybody shows any interest in them. But even the school kids don't want to go, even if they are free. All those sold tickets certainly help with FFP though.
 
The funny thing is, the way we spunked money so very, very badly in several false (early) dawns pre-takeover was far more dangerous and unsustainable than the post-takeover cash injections. In the case of Shinawatra, if we hadn't sold to the arabs when we did, the club would quite literally have collapsed - we were just days or possibly hours away from that

Quite, and you're an arab spring away from having the rug pulled out from under you at some point in the future. FFP is there to protect numerous things, the vested interest of the elite admittedly but also the viability of clubs in the long run.
 
Has it died a death now? I haven't seen anything on tv or the main outlets.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There is a guy over on the City thread now who has examined the history of our club in great detail and declared that we were in fact the first club in history to be saved by a sugar daddy so "it's all relative really." We haven't a leg to stand on. We have bought our subsequent success because a local brewery owner injected some cash (literally hundreds of pounds) into an ailing Newton Heath in 1901 (one John Henry Davies.)
So that's it, our treble in '99, our 3 European Cups, 20 top tier titles, all tarnished by beer money! City have done nothing wrong folks and still have the moral high ground!
Of course the elephant in the room is conveniently ignored but no doubt further meticulous and unbiased research will yield sordid details about the late brewer's human rights record.
We should all hang our heads in shame!

Ive seen that here before :lol: city fans turn into some low budget private detectives on here. The posts often take the same tone and reek of denial. Unaware also that their golden points are painfully thin.

Seems to be

Man united got rich due to luck of timing and the manager they had- they were hugely succesful and got even more wealthy- we despise it. But we should be allowed to cheat to catch up and wave a middle finger at every body while we do it.
 
This is all a load of tosh. The rules themselves, specifically financial "fair play" are the problem here. They're a poorly constructed ridiculous farce. First thing that needs to be done is immediately abolish the current rules as they're not fit for purpose. They're not fair in any way and have been circumvented with ludicrous ease.

Second step is for UEFA to decide what they're actually trying to do. If they want football to be a sporting competition rather than an economic one, (which it should be IMO) then introduce a UEFA squad salary cap and transfer value cap. Only need one sanction for it, if clubs are caught breaking the rules then they get disqualified for that season. Financial level playing field is easy if that is what they actually want.

If they're just trying to entrench the current big clubs in their current positions forever, they should come out and admit it. Give those clubs a higher cap as they generate more revenue due to bigger fan-bases. At least then it's clear for everyone what they're doing.
 
UEFA are in a bit of a tough spot.
It's like sentencing a killer to 30 but without the victim's body.
Only a few years later finding the body and realising the murder was far more gruesome than initially thought.
UEFA's pov might be that they have already punished City for infringement during this period and they would be right.
We are just learning the extent of that infringement.
 
This is all a load of tosh. The rules themselves, specifically financial "fair play" are the problem here. They're a poorly constructed ridiculous farce. First thing that needs to be done is immediately abolish the current rules as they're not fit for purpose. They're not fair in any way and have been circumvented with ludicrous ease.

Second step is for UEFA to decide what they're actually trying to do. If they want football to be a sporting competition rather than an economic one, (which it should be IMO) then introduce a UEFA squad salary cap and transfer value cap. Only need one sanction for it, if clubs are caught breaking the rules then they get disqualified for that season. Financial level playing field is easy if that is what they actually want.

If they're just trying to entrench the current big clubs in their current positions forever, they should come out and admit it. Give those clubs a higher cap as they generate more revenue due to bigger fan-bases. At least then it's clear for everyone what they're doing.

Having a problem with rules is not justification for breaking them. Tell that to clubs who made sacrifices to get their house in order while city blew every team out of the water. Sick of this excuse they are two separate issues.

Yes, they are. Want a conversation about changing them? Go for it. Want a conversation about a team breaking them willingly and blatantly? We're having it
 
I agree. There won’t be. Because they couldn’t give a shit about morals or ethics , and therefore should be called out. I guarantee you if a poll was done here , would you take a title in next 2 years funded by Saudi investment, there would be a resounding no.

That's true but only because it's a hypothetical question. Hypothetical questions are just asking for virtue signalling. If that was to become the reality, some people would protest, most stay, life would move on. Bevause United fans are no different to other football fans.
 
Are we really supposed to believe that their PR bloke just rang up a journalist and asked him nicely to remove the story re Pep's hiring and said journo goes, 'No problem'? There must be more going on that the leaks haven't revealed which is maybe what was being alluded to yesterday.
 
"Under MbZ's rule, the UAE has become a brutal, torturing police state at home and a perpetrator of war crimes abroad" says Nicholas McGeehan, a native of Scotland who worked for Human Rights Watch for years and has been a consistent critic of the Manchester City owners. "The situation in the UAE is appalling." He says there isn't a single human rights activist in the country any more. "I remember asking colleagues at Human Rights Watch if there is any other country with that situation, with nobody in the country who you could talk to," McGeehan says. "And they said: North Korea and Turkmenistan." Those who dare to say anything negative about the ruling family are arrested.

But MBZ pales into insignificance next to that John Henry Davies.
 
Looking at this situation. Kinda wondering will Man Utd find themselves in this position if the Saudi Arabia guy tries to buy us? I don't mind if they did, but the money will need to be 100% legit. But with these Oil billionaires are corrupted as feck. Rather keep the Glaziers. Devil you know and all that. It is fun hearing PSG and City are being accused of failing FFP. Even though it will probably be nothing done.
 
Looking at this situation. Kinda wondering will Man Utd find themselves in this position if the Saudi Arabia guy tries to buy us? I don't mind if they did, but the money will need to be 100% legit. But with these Oil billionaires are corrupted as feck. Rather keep the Glaziers. Devil you know and all that. It is fun hearing PSG and City are being accused of failing FFP. Even though it will probably be nothing done.

If they takeover, I'll start following Chorlton & Didsbury FC and leave United well alone.
 
The article mentions Pep had signed a contract with City whilst under contract under Bayern. Isn't that illegal? Do Bayern have a right to sue considering he was already under contract? If it was a player that would be tapping up.
 
Looking at this situation. Kinda wondering will Man Utd find themselves in this position if the Saudi Arabia guy tries to buy us? I don't mind if they did, but the money will need to be 100% legit. But with these Oil billionaires are corrupted as feck. Rather keep the Glaziers. Devil you know and all that. It is fun hearing PSG and City are being accused of failing FFP. Even though it will probably be nothing done.

Imagine the supporter chants back and forth regarding whose human rights record is worse though. Forget singing about actual football. Makes the whole thing worthwhile IMO.
 
Are we really supposed to believe that their PR bloke just rang up a journalist and asked him nicely to remove the story re Pep's hiring and said journo goes, 'No problem'? There must be more going on that the leaks haven't revealed which is maybe what was being alluded to yesterday.
Well this is what I'm wondering.
They probably receive 'gifts'..... no way the media does that meekly without something in it for them. I can't believe it's only because City serve good food or whatever as that would make the journalists look pathetic. Got to be receiving something substantial for all their arse licking imho.
I hope they remember the Bribery Act is in place...
 
The article mentions Pep had signed a contract with City whilst under contract under Bayern. Isn't that illegal? Do Bayern have a right to sue considering he was already under contract? If it was a player that would be tapping up.

Wouldn't have thought so, in pretty much every job you'd sign a contract with your new employer before telling your current one you are leaving. Given the start date would be after the end date of his Bayern contract, I can't imagine it would be an issue.
 
Looking at this situation. Kinda wondering will Man Utd find themselves in this position if the Saudi Arabia guy tries to buy us? I don't mind if they did, but the money will need to be 100% legit. But with these Oil billionaires are corrupted as feck. Rather keep the Glaziers. Devil you know and all that. It is fun hearing PSG and City are being accused of failing FFP. Even though it will probably be nothing done.

We don't need the Saudi's dirty money, though. If we get bought by SA, it will free up all profit to spend on the club as opposed to servicing a debt loaded unfairly on the club by the Glazers and of course, the millions they take a year for paying themselves.

In theory there would be no more penny pinching by Woodward because the Glazer don't want to spend. It (in theory) would be a case of; ''Here's our yearly profit which is your entire budget, do what you want with it''.

I believe the Glazers have taken over a billion out of this club between debt and payments. To put that into context, we could have had a new stadium or two world class stating XIs.
 
People with that much money always think they can get out of any problem by throwing more money at it. Seems to be what happened with the original UEFA investigation. Down the line I'm sure we'll hear that Infantino and/or his friends and family got a nice little earner out of it. Platini we already know is a crook.
I'm sure the ethics of it don't even come into it for the owners, its just a discussion about how they can get around the rules and who needs to be paid what to make it happen.
Nothing will happen, regardless of what is discovere because the people in power in UEFA are all on the take too, its corrupt from top to bottom.
 
That's true but only because it's a hypothetical question. Hypothetical questions are just asking for virtue signalling. If that was to become the reality, some people would protest, most stay, life would move on. Bevause United fans are no different to other football fans.

My post was based on my feelings having discussed football here alot and citys ownership being discussed at length here. It might be just the posts i read or way i interpret them but i gauge the mood to be very much anti saudi/sugar daddy ownership. Thats what i posted about.

Your last sentence is also hypothetical. Should united be bought out, behave as city have and united fans adopt an equally arrogant or head in the sand attitude, we should also be called out. Right now its the city fans who should be rightly condemned and the united ones who have an oppotunity to learn about the moral or unsporting pitfalls of this type of ownership.