Oil Money in Football | New City expose

[JamiePollocksOG]

A bit of whatifery here but say the Saudi's buy ouy the Glazers and pump their own oil money into your club would you still support your club or would you walk away cos it's immoral, not fair, etc etc?

Why should fans give up their clubs? We were here, most of us, long before our owner was and probably will still be after he has gone.

We support our clubs, not the people that run them whether that Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales.

I support Manchester City, always have always will. Never have i thought, i loke the owner of that club, I'll support them.

This is unfortunately being used to bash City fans. When truth be told around 40k of us were there before the 'oil money' arrived

 

[padr81]

If we want something to be done about it, we cannot expect Uefa or FIFA to be the ones who do it. It would require the club's to do so, with support from governments and the EU.

The chances are that Uefa and FIFA are likely to be involved in the corruption. It would be like expeftiex Russia to investigate it's own doping or the Saudis to investigate their own murder of a journalist. There's a term for it but it escapes me just now... Kangaroo Court?

The thing is, how clean are the other clubs? Are they clean enough to want independent investigation of footballs affairs? I'm not convinced. I would like to think United were clean but I would not be shocked if we were up to no good.

Nobody is squeaky clean imo but there are levels. Look at the match fixing allegations in Portugal, firstly with Porto, now Benfica. The whole Italy scandal, the doping in Spain... there is corruption everywhere.

It is interesting how big a can of worms this opens tbh... and where it could lead if things blow up.

 

[Irrational.]

You mean City aren't financed by their sold-out games and totally legitimate record breaking sponsorship deals with Aub Dhabi* boxer shorts, Abu Dhabi* toothpaste, Aud Dhaby* noodles and Adu Barbie* butt plugs?

*totes not the same company, I promise.

 

[AP88]

These tyrannical animals should never have been allowed anywhere near football in the first place.

But their charity made City ‘relevant’, so...

 

[padr81]

These tyrannical animals should never have been allowed anywhere near football in the first place.

But their charity made City ‘relevant’, so...

What exactly has sheikh Issa to do with man city? He is our owners brother. If your brother or family member was a piece of shit should I ignore your business because if it or blame you?

 

[JamiePollocksOG]

What exactly has sheikh Issa to do with Man City? He is our owners brother. If your brother or family member was a piece of shit should I ignore your business because if it or blame you?

I tried to reply to that as well but cos i included a link from the original article it wouldnt let me post.

Not once in that video is Mansour named and its his brother in the video. I also pointed out thay while human rights offenses do take place in the UAE, surely people from the UK should worry what human rights offences their own government is producing in the M.E. rather than trying to drag a football club through the political mud.

Like calling me a homosexual cos my brother bats for the other team.

I support Manchester City, whether their owners is Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales. I dont support the owner i support the club. Fans usually stay around long after the owners.

Pretty sure if i tried linking a family member of the Glazers to some article that had clearly nothing to do with United's owners then I'd be gone and quite rightly so.

You got yiur reaction to your ill thought out post, maybe next time youll check your source(s) first

 

[marukomu]

City should be stripped of their titles and they should be given to the team that finished second.

 

[KM]

A bit of whatifery here but say the Saudi's buy ouy the Glazers and pump their own oil money into your club would you still support your club or would you walk away cos it's immoral, not fair, etc etc?

Why should fans give up their clubs? We were here, most of us, long before our owner was and probably will still be after he has gone.

We support our clubs, not the people that run them whether that Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales.

I support Manchester City, always have always will. Never have i thought, i loke the owner of that club, I'll support them.

This is unfortunately being used to bash City fans. When truth be told around 40k of us were there before the 'oil money' arrived

No, City fans aren't being bashed for supporting City though, they're being bashed because what's been said in this report has said quite openly by a lot of posters only to be met with strawman arguments here.

You're also right that the majority of the United fans will also not walk away if the Saudis takeover, that's just how football fans are.

 

[Kostur]

Yeah what's new.

 

[Barca84]

A bit of whatifery here but say the Saudi's buy ouy the Glazers and pump their own oil money into your club would you still support your club or would you walk away cos it's immoral, not fair, etc etc?

Why should fans give up their clubs? We were here, most of us, long before our owner was and probably will still be after he has gone.

We support our clubs, not the people that run them whether that Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales.

I support Manchester City, always have always will. Never have i thought, i loke the owner of that club, I'll support them.

This is unfortunately being used to bash City fans. When truth be told around 40k of us were there before the 'oil money' arrived

It'd be another reason to bin it off. Both United and City have lost a lot of long term match going fans due partly to a massive disconnect between the club and it's fans

 

[Wumminator]

I would 100% stop following United if the Saudi lot took us over.

 

[Mb194dc]

Football clubs arn't businesses in the traditional sense. The fans / customers feel like its "their club" as supporters. The owners shouldn't be able to exploit them for profit.

In that sense City's owners are at least putting money in and keeping ticket prices down. Football clubs should all be majority fan owned. Not simple to get to that position, it's something that should happen though.

Having the club you support owned by, profiteering parasites, murderous regimes, autocrats, oligarchs whose wealth has been legally "stolen" from his own countries people shouldn't be able to happen.

 

[OldSchoolManc]

City should be stripped of their titles and they should be given to the team that finished second.

If that were to happen, would we accept having another 2 titles, considering the fact that Liverpool would get one also?
They would never, ever shut up about it...

 

[SER19]

These clubs sounded the death knell for the game. Were united to be taken over by saudi id have the same level of interest as a tennis match. Watch purely to see competitive sport but i certainly wouldn't follow like i do now

 

[Josep Dowling]

Well it confirms what we already knew. Both clubs are starting to get a proper foothold in their leagues and it’s only matter of time until it’s the same in the Champions League as well.

They will turn fans off football. PSG are 12 games unbeaten and have two players in their front 3 costing over £170m each. Each player was bought double what most clubs in the French league are valued. They beat arguably the second best team in France 4-0. The whole things a complete joke.

City fans always defend their club arguing their self-sufficient now when it clearly isn’t true. 84% of sponsors deals are inflated and related parties to Abu Dhabi, just says it all.

And I have always found it curious why their best players are never linked to other tops clubs. If they are going to pay Sterling £300k a week what must the like of KDB and Silva be on? How is that self-sufficient? Cut out the inflated sponsorship they would be losing money easily.

People will say it’s jealously but these clubs are ruining football, slowly but surely. The minute Abramovich pumped in a load of money into Chelsea the FA should have introduced the 51% rules just like Germany.

Will Infantino be sacked? It was obvious he was just as corrupt as Blatter and Platini, he was Platini’s right hand man after all. UEFA and FIFA should have been disbanded years ago, they seem to have so much power with such little responsibility.

 

[SER19]

Pretty appalling theres hardly a whisper of this in british media. The comment of '1 down 6 to go' is disgusting too. A scum club who will inevitably tarnish the value of the champions league soon

 

[Josep Dowling]

And they should imho. It's a very big revelation against a couple of very powerful owners, if its legit fair play to them and I'll be the first in line to take shots at whats happened at City and PSG (albeit I still believe owners who put money in are better than those who take money out), if not someone has made some powerful enemies.

I'd imagine to release something like this someone has some water tight evidence and a whole lot more than Infantino sending emails trying to be polite.

Either way its super interesting to me and obviously huge to the future of City, if it does come out as true, the club could be in bigger trouble than losing the owners and banned from FFP, we could literally end up with a ton of players to pay and no cash and serious financial trouble. Either way I'll take it on the chin like I did with every other way the club managed to feck up throughout my lifetime.

C’mon you know that isn’t the reality of what would happen. UEFA are one of the most corrupt organisations in the world.

It’s all about the money and your owners are some of the most powerful men in the world. They’re use to getting what they want. Nothing will ever change and City will continue spend way beyond their means with inflated sponsorship deals. But you’re a self-sufficient club now I’m sure you’ll proclaim.

 

[cyberman]

Pretty appalling theres hardly a whisper of this in british media. The comment of '1 down 6 to go' is disgusting too. A scum club who will inevitably tarnish the value of the Champions League soon

I thought so too but it broke pretty late last night so I'm guessing they'll go big on it for tomorrow?

Also pretty telling that this huge journalistic undertaking doesn't involve one British journo.
Probably didn't want the story to leak by tweet because of Journalistic integrity since the public needs to know /retweets...

 

[Sereques]

Illegal 2.7B Euros? Let me go to a corner and complain why Woodward can't match City's spending.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

It'd be another reason to bin it off. Both United and City have lost a lot of long term match going fans due partly to a massive disconnect between the club and it's fans

Yes, this.

On a slightly different note, I'd never look down on anyone for caring about their football club: I've said this before, but «United» and «City» are ideas that mean something to an individual fan - and something else to another. United, to me, certainly isn't the current owner, nor the current staff. It isn't even Fergie if we're talking about the flesh-and-blood man (Fergie too is an idea of sorts).

But caring about something you've had a connection with for most of your life is not the same as actively supporting the football club in its present incarnation. The latter I would cease to do completely should United become a propaganda tool for the Saudis. It wouldn't be a tough decision at all: I've been less and less inclined to engage in active support for years now anyway - this would be nothing more than the proverbial straw.

 

[Sereques]

Nothing will happen. NOTHING. Media can dig all they want. The world we live in now uncovers scandals about presidents, about brexit about football corruption but nothing happens because guess what, MONEY ALWAYS WINS

History always remember and history will judge them. No matter what a journalist may write in future claiming Man City's greatness, they can't wash away the taint that the club was back with illegal funds.

 

[KM]

Football clubs arn't businesses in the traditional sense. The fans / customers feel like its "their club" as supporters. The owners shouldn't be able to exploit them for profit.

In that sense City's owners are at least putting money in and keeping ticket prices down. Football clubs should all be majority fan owned. Not simple to get to that position, it's something that should happen though.

Having the club you support owned by, profiteering parasites, murderous regimes, autocrats, oligarchs whose wealth has been legally "stolen" from his own countries people shouldn't be able to happen.

Eh they've increased ticket prices in the last five years or so.

When watching City as champions in 2012-13, a mere five years ago, the most expensive seats in the stadium were £750. For next season, that will be a mid-range ticket -- there are 15 areas of the Etihad that will be pricier in 2018-19.

http://www.espn.in/soccer/club/manc...-increase-shows-contempt-for-match-going-fans

 

[JohnnyKills]

Pretty appalling theres hardly a whisper of this in british media. The comment of '1 down 6 to go' is disgusting too. A scum club who will inevitably tarnish the value of the Champions League soon

Noone cares do they. City aren't big enough news. And it seems most journos are quite glad they've knocked United off their perch (even though United's successful run was totally self-sufficient).

 

[Josep Dowling]

A bit of whatifery here but say the Saudi's buy ouy the Glazers and pump their own oil money into your club would you still support your club or would you walk away cos it's immoral, not fair, etc etc?

Why should fans give up their clubs? We were here, most of us, long before our owner was and probably will still be after he has gone.

We support our clubs, not the people that run them whether that Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales.

I support Manchester City, always have always will. Never have i thought, i loke the owner of that club, I'll support them.

This is unfortunately being used to bash City fans. When truth be told around 40k of us were there before the 'oil money' arrived

Of course you would continue to support your club. But my words just say it how it is. We have @padr81 always playing the innocent until proved guilty card. Basically he’s saying until they are proved guilty by law then City aren’t doing anything wrong. We all know that isn’t the reality of life, especially when it relates to Royal family, powerful men and money.

The club has clearly inflated sponsorship to circumvent rules of spending within their means. City have outspent United, Munich, Madrid and Barcelona over the last 10 years. Even Chelsea can’t match your spending anymore.

Just admit you aren’t playing by the rules of other clubs. It’s clear as day what is happening except to a few City fans.

 

[JohnnyKills]

A bit of whatifery here but say the Saudi's buy ouy the Glazers and pump their own oil money into your club would you still support your club or would you walk away cos it's immoral, not fair, etc etc?

Why should fans give up their clubs? We were here, most of us, long before our owner was and probably will still be after he has gone.

We support our clubs, not the people that run them whether that Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales.

I support Manchester City, always have always will. Never have i thought, i loke the owner of that club, I'll support them.

This is unfortunately being used to bash City fans. When truth be told around 40k of us were there before the 'oil money' arrived

See what your saying but this is just a strawman, isn't it. This isn't about the identity of City's owners, that's a separate debate (and a lot of us have contributed). It's about allegations that they've bent the rules and distorted the competition.

 

[beedoubleyou]

A bit of whatifery here but say the Saudi's buy ouy the Glazers and pump their own oil money into your club would you still support your club or would you walk away cos it's immoral, not fair, etc etc?

Why should fans give up their clubs? We were here, most of us, long before our owner was and probably will still be after he has gone.

We support our clubs, not the people that run them whether that Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales.

I support Manchester City, always have always will. Never have i thought, i loke the owner of that club, I'll support them.

This is unfortunately being used to bash City fans. When truth be told around 40k of us were there before the 'oil money' arrived

I'd certainly consider calling it a day.

Had a city fan call me bitter yesterday because I wasn't impressed that the 30 Chinese businessmen they were talking to that morning all supported City.

These really the same cnuts who used to mouth off around Burnage in the 90s about United ruining football and selling out?

 

[EyeInTheSky]

A bit of whatifery here but say the Saudi's buy ouy the Glazers and pump their own oil money into your club would you still support your club or would you walk away cos it's immoral, not fair, etc etc?

Why should fans give up their clubs? We were here, most of us, long before our owner was and probably will still be after he has gone.

We support our clubs, not the people that run them whether that Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales.

I support Manchester City, always have always will. Never have i thought, i loke the owner of that club, I'll support them.

This is unfortunately being used to bash City fans. When truth be told around 40k of us were there before the 'oil money' arrived

Because we are a legit club that plays by the rules and generates actual income not artificially injecting owners cash through fake sponsorship or shell companies

 

[Rajma]

Anyone with IQ higher than that of the lemon could tell you as much from afar ages ago. It’s not a secret as it is/was so blatant anyway.

City fans that have denied (or still bury their heads in the sand) this over the years wouldn’t put a penny of their mortgages on them being innocent but they still choose to defend their club no matter what. Just a human nature when it comes to tribal matters.

 

[SER19]

I thought so too but it broke pretty late last night so I'm guessing they'll go big on it for tomorrow?

Also pretty telling that this huge journalistic undertaking doesn't involve one British journo.
Probably didn't want the story to leak by tweet because of Journalistic integrity since the public needs to know /retweets...

Fair point will see tomorrow but something tells me saviour of football pep that we should be ‘grateful’ for having won’t see any criticism of his club

 

[SER19]

Noone cares do they. City aren't big enough news. And it seems most journos are quite glad they've knocked United off their perch (even though United's successful run was totally self-sufficient).

Think you’re spot on

 

[AP88]

I tried to reply to that as well but cos i included a link from the original article it wouldnt let me post.

Not once in that video is Mansour named and its his brother in the video. I also pointed out thay while human rights offenses do take place in the UAE, surely people from the UK should worry what human rights offences their own government is producing in the M.E. rather than trying to drag a football club through the political mud.

Like calling me a homosexual cos my brother bats for the other team.

I support Manchester City, whether their owners is Mansour, Thaksin, Wardle or Swales. I dont support the owner i support the club. Fans usually stay around long after the owners.

Pretty sure if i tried linking a family member of the Glazers to some article that had clearly nothing to do with United's owners then I'd be gone and quite rightly so.

You got yiur reaction to your ill thought out post, maybe next time youll check your source(s) first

Mansoor is nothing but a figurehead to pretend that it’s an individual investment venture and not a collective Abu Dhabi state ownership.

And such human rights violations are default in that very state - to assume otherwise is naive.

 

[golden_blunder]

History always remember and history will judge them. No matter what a journalist may write in future claiming Man City's greatness, they can't wash away the taint that the club was back with illegal funds.

Nah. We live in a world now where no one cares. It’ll mean nothing more than banter

 

[Adisa]

Feck how much they invested,the bigger deal here is bribery.
Any chance this will be investigated?

 

[RedRover]

Playing devils advocate, has this type of investment not made the game more competitive and better to watch?

The PL was, in my opinion, less enjoyable to watch when it was United and one other competing for the title.

I’ve said it before on here but United and the other clubs who were at the forefront of globalising and monetising the game started this whole process. They made it business and that attracts other wealthy people in time.

And I also think it’s easy to ignore other big clubs over the years who’ve been backed by rich or influential owners. Real were practically state sponsored, Juve funded by Fiat, Berlusconi in Milan. All clubs who spent mega money on players long before the new money from oil.

 

[Lmarco]

Not sure what all the fuss is about with 'oil money'. It's a global epidemy of fiscal tax avoidance, doping, state-funded sponsorship, children slavery and so on. Everyone watching and paying for modern football is supporting its business model and excesses.

Barcelona => Neymar transfer fraud + illegal under 18 buyings + fiscal fraud regarding its company status
Real Madrid => fraud sale of its training center to Madrid city + fiscal fraud regarding its company status
Valencia, Hercules, Eiche => fraud loans from Valencia community
Bilbao, Osasuna => fiscal fraud regarding their company status
FC Sevilla => illegal TPO
Real Sociedad => using tax fraud to pay players

AC Milan => illegal TPO (Pato for instance)
Juventus => doping system at club level (1996 for instance) + fixed games system (2006) + transfer fraud (for instance Pogba)

Man City => illegal TPO (Mangala for instance) + overvalued state-sponsorhip
Arsenal => offshore tax avoidance

PSG => overvalued state-sponsorship
Lille => tax fraud and offshore funds
Monaco => illegal TPO linked to Mendes
Lens => illegal transfer actions to avoid bankruptcy

FC Twente => illegal TPO

Ronaldo, Mourinho, Messi, Beckham, Platini, Alexis Sanchez, Carvalho (etc.) => tax fraud
Di Maria, Pastore => offshore money from sponsors leading to tax fraud
Higuain, Falcao (etc.) => tax fraud from transfer commissions
Mendes => tax fraud for many clients
Raiola => tax fraud
D'onofrio => illegal TPO
Zahavi => illegal TPO
Pinto da Costa => forged invoice
Doyen Sports => illegal global TPO system​

And so on. Now what's clean, fair and economically reasonnable in this sport today, who is playing by the moral, legal and financial rules ? As if none of these big worldwide corporations would mimic the financial twistings of the regular worldwide corps.

 

[WensleyMU]

Playing devils advocate, has this type of investment not made the game more competitive and better to watch?

The PL was, in my opinion, less enjoyable to watch when it was United and one other competing for the title.

I’ve said it before on here but United and the other clubs who were at the forefront of globalising and monetising the game started this whole process. They made it business and that attracts other wealthy people in time.

And I also think it’s easy to ignore other big clubs over the years who’ve been backed by rich or influential owners. Real were practically state sponsored, Juve funded by Fiat, Berlusconi in Milan. All clubs who spent mega money on players long before the new money from oil.

No, the PL user to be much, much better. It put forward more challenges in Europe and is the basis of the massive global appeal of the Premier League.

 

[cyberman]

Not sure what all the fuss is about with 'oil money'. It's a global epidemy of fiscal tax avoidance, doping, state-funded sponsorship, children slavery and so on. Everyone watching and paying for modern football is supporting its business model and excesses.

Barcelona => Neymar transfer fraud + illegal under 18 buyings + fiscal fraud regarding its company status
Real Madrid => fraud sale of its training center to Madrid city + fiscal fraud regarding its company status
Valencia, Hercules, Eiche => fraud loans from Valencia community
Bilbao, Osasuna => fiscal fraud regarding their company status
FC Sevilla => illegal TPO
Real Sociedad => using tax fraud to pay players

AC Milan => illegal TPO (Pato for instance)
Juventus => doping system at club level (1996 for instance) + fixed games system (2006) + transfer fraud (for instance Pogba)

Man City => illegal TPO (Mangala for instance) + overvalued state-sponsorhip
Arsenal => offshore tax avoidance

PSG => overvalued state-sponsorship
Lille => tax fraud and offshore funds
Monaco => illegal TPO linked to Mendes
Lens => illegal transfer actions to avoid bankruptcy

FC Twente => illegal TPO

Ronaldo, Mourinho, Messi, Beckham, Platini, Alexis Sanchez, Carvalho (etc.) => tax fraud
Di Maria, Pastore => offshore money from sponsors leading to tax fraud
Higuain, Falcao (etc.) => tax fraud from transfer commissions
Mendes => tax fraud for many clients
Raiola => tax fraud
D'onofrio => illegal TPO
Zahavi => illegal TPO
Pinto da Costa => forged invoice
Doyen Sports => illegal global TPO system​

And so on. Now what's clean, fair and economically reasonnable in this sport today, who is playing by the moral, legal and financial rules ? As if none of these big worldwide corporations would mimic the financial twistings of the regular worldwide corps.

They've bribed / threatened UEFA and FIFA into submission and are approaching untouchable status within the game.
How is your post relevant to any of this?

 

[Lmarco]

And where did you see any proof of bribery ? They approached an official institution for a mutual agreement like in any legal conflict nowadays and UEFA made the mistake to bow down. Untouchable status ? PSG have seen their QTA sponsorrship and other Qatari sponsorship reduced heavily, they got fined like City and from 2019 on they have to stop the QTA agreement which accounts for roughly 100M€ per year in their books.

Don't get me wrong i see your point but where i'm going at is that football globally just needs to rethink itself ot it won't get elsewhere than big corporations doing what big corporations do everyday. At least, they need to adress transfers which are at the root of most issues : transfer fee skyrocketing ; secret and illegal transfer commissions ; third parties investing into players for ROI ; agents diverting money ; under18 used as assets and transfered although forbidden. You fix the current transfer/loan sh*tstorm, you end the stupid competitions for the sake of money (European nations league and so on) and maybe, maybe, things will evolve positively.

But yeah we can all babycry on PSG and City while juste everyone is fixing games, doping, tax avoiding... football has lost its head for a while, that's it. Just lookt at the shambles that Man Utd is while pouring millions and millions into a thing that is labelled as a team but can barely pass the ball forward. Yeah it's all about money and power, maybe the solution must come from redefining the common rules and goals because everyone at some level is just playing by its own rules and saying f** you to regulations.

 

[RedRover]

No, the PL user to be much, much better. It put forward more challenges in Europe and is the basis of the massive global appeal of the Premier League.

I disagree. The first decade of the PL was generally a two horse race each year - United and one other. There wasn't a "top 6" there was, maybe a top 3. The modern PL has better players and in my opinion, is better to watch. Post Abramovich - the first of the oil money, PL teams have been more competitive in Europe.

The development of the PL obviously isn't just down to investment by City and Chelsea's respective owners but in my opinion, that is a much a symptom as a cause, but more money brings better players, more competition and more marketable games and that brings in even more money.

 

[carvajal]

In the end Tebas was the only one who denounced it publicly.

Unfortunately I think our clubs, Madrid, United, Bayern etc. were aware of the cover-up.
Maybe because they have something to hide, or because their new super league is enough reward.
Many commissions, from which all benefit. Curious too about the doped player