City and Financial Doping | Charged by PL with numerous FFP breaches

TheReligion

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Really think a lot of people are missing the mark here.

This isn’t a slap on your wrist thing this is 10+ years of cheating. Keeping players by essentially bribery backhand payments the lot.

The premier league would not take it lightly to prosecute currently their best team in the past x amount of years.

This has to be dealt with seriously or the integrity of the league is done.
Totally agree

I don’t think its sunk in for some just how serious and unprecedented this actually is
 

DJ_21

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Be good if they relegated them from the league. The most likely punishment if any is probably gonna be deducted points and a fine.
 

pratyush_utd

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How long before UAE lowers the gas and oil price especially for UK and this goes away?
 

HTG

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Yes exactly, that's why I'm surprised. Maybe the problem is that all the other leagues are cribbing about PL club spending and they need to do something to appease La Liga / Bundesliga / Serie A etc. It's not a very satisfying explanation though.

I still predict that nothing happens - maybe a slap on the wrist but nothing serious like titles being taken away.
I think the reason for the investigation, the findings coming out of it, are quite simple. Some people within the responsible bodies of football did their job. They looked through the books, did their research, collected evidence and then they did what the rules say: they charged City for their wrongdoings. I don’t believe there are any sinister motives at play for what has unfolded today. Up until right now, the investigation has probably progressed the way it should or close to it.
But now that the investigation is being handed over, that’s where the games really start, or better said, escalate. Because in the background, City won’t have stood still. They will have prepared. They will have hired the right law firms, consultants and private investigators. They will likely have conducted their own surveillance, gathered kompromat, bribed the right people, and created monetary and institutional dependencies and developed all sorts of relations to people in power.
And now they will start to bring all this together. They will activate their political capital, their own findings, all these dependencies and so on and incredible pressure will be put on those in charge of the decision making.
And that’s where the investigation will start to crumble, where the sentencing will start to become a farce and where they will ultimately prevail.
What people need to understand is the scale of what the whole of English football is up against. This is not a club. And it’s not a business or billionaire. This is a whole country. A country that sees sportswashing as a central tool for their foreign policy, their defense and their business relations. This has absolutely nothing to do with football other than that it is a tool to achieve their goals.
And from their perspective, they depend on it. They need it. The money they spent on it, both officially and behind closed doors, serves a purpose that’s borderline existential in their minds. They will pull any levers at their disposal. Activate any political contacts they have. And once that happens, I see barely any chance for English football to win this thing. They are outmatched. They lost this fight the second they allowed sportswashing into the league. Now far too many people depend on the money, the power structure and all other things Abu Dhabi brings to the table.
 

UnitedSofa

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Agueroooooooooo No more? - I would love it if that got erased from PL history

It’s now getting even more serious…..

 

TheReligion

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I think the reason for the investigation, the findings coming out of it, are quite simple. Some people within the responsible bodies of football did their job. They looked through the books, did their research, collected evidence and then they did what the rules say: they charged City for their wrongdoings. I don’t believe there are any sinister motives at play for what has unfolded today. Up until right now, the investigation has probably progressed the way it should or close to it.
But now that the investigation is being handed over, that’s where the games really start, or better said, escalate. Because in the background, City won’t have stood still. They will have prepared. They will have hired the right law firms, consultants and private investigators. They will likely have conducted their own surveillance, gathered kompromat, bribed the right people, and created monetary and institutional dependencies and developed all sorts of relations to people in power.
And now they will start to bring all this together. They will activate their political capital, their own findings, all these dependencies and so on and incredible pressure will be put on those in charge of the decision making.
And that’s where the investigation will start to crumble, where the sentencing will start to become a farce and where they will ultimately prevail.
What people need to understand is the scale of what the whole of English football is up against. This is not a club. And it’s not a business or billionaire. This is a whole country. A country that sees sportswashing as a central tool for their foreign policy, their defense and their business relations. This has absolutely nothing to do with football other than that it is a tool to achieve their goals.
And from their perspective, they depend on it. They need it. The money they spent on it, both officially and behind closed doors, serves a purpose that’s borderline existential in their minds. They will pull any levers at their disposal. Activate any political contacts they have. And once that happens, I see barely any chance for English football to win this thing. They are outmatched. They lost this fight the second they allowed sportswashing into the league. Now far too many people depend on the money, the power structure and all other things Abu Dhabi brings to the table.
Lots of speculation here
 

AJ VII

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Something like 15 points deduction would be nice, although they'd still be ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool
A 15 point deduction would be a complete and utter joke. Cheat your way to become the by far most dominant club in England for 15ish years, get one season semi ruined. Would just give every UAE country the incentive to do this. They should get relegated to the conference and the owners should get stripped of their ownership.
 

bosnian_red

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I know, Delaney, but I think it's pretty fair. I'd be surprised if found guilty if they were stripped of titles (or if they were, that the titles would go to 2nd)... But i could see them being relegated which obviously would have severe consequences. The key point is this is the most serious offence and charge the premier league has ever announced, so if they aren't able to follow through then it makes a mockery out of it. When UEFA did it, at least there was the time barred argument where they just couldn't act on the offences. This is different now.
 

Solius

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Something like 15 points deduction would be nice, although they'd still be ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool
It would do nothing and only benefit Arsenal. Why should the team currently trying to win the league benefit from investigations going back 9 seasons that affected many other clubs and prevented them from winning silverware?

It should either be big points deductions and transfer bans from next season or retrospective stripping of titles + points deduction this season.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Sorry but why is it being called allegedly by the media reports? The Pl have done their fact finding and concluded right?
 

frostbite

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I know that the Italians relegated Juventus in the past. I don't know if the FA has done something similar to any top team, for any reason. Have they?
 

HTG

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Lots of speculation here
Definitely. I’ve based most of this on what I’ve read on Qatar and the way they use sportswashing. Which is quite well documented, actually and similar to what has been happening at City. Now I obviously can’t predict the outcome, that’s my cynical self speaking. But their modus operandi is as I’ve written. They have created dependency throughout any level of sports and government and now is the time to use it.
 

Bepi

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So they got all those titles back off Inter and were financially compensated for the relegation season?
All the following compensation claims and requests were postponed one by one by courts until being declared inadmissible in October 2022. Sporting justice, on the other hand, started retaliating with any sort of accusation every six months (starting from Conte’s betting scandal in 2011) until they struck gold two weeks ago, actually opening a Calciopoli II war.
 

HTG

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Sorry but why is it being called allegedly by the media reports? The Pl have done their fact finding and concluded right?
Because a single mistake will result in them being sued into oblivion. They have to be incredibly careful.
 

FeedTheGoat

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As I said earlier on, I hope if we are found guilty we are punished a way that fits the crime, be it severe or not so severe. But I just want to point out that the reaction to this shows how pointless discussing it is. People want stripping off titles or a point deduction that is not pre-determined by the severity of the breaches in that period, but determined by where it would take us in the table, based on not even knowing what the breaches actually are for. That is completely normal fan behaviour, but it just shows that when the case gets to court, the only acceptable outcome for people would be if the club gets punished on the sporting side of it, and prefferably that other teams get an advantage because of it. But none of us are in a position to know whether anything other than a hefty fine is reasonable.

We may well be crooked to the ears, there is usually no smoke without fire, but I'm not even going to try and pretend that I understand the reach of the situations. The breaches are out there, information on how they are breached is incomplete and at this moment has to be considered vague. I want us to be fully exonorated, not on technicalities but because the club I support actually is innocent. If (and this is still a big if at the moment, despite peoples conviction that we must have cheated in some way) we are systematic cheaters we definitely need to get the book thrown at us, and I hope all the anger from me and my fellow fans gets directed at the people responsible for putting our club in the mud. There is nothing else that can be said at this point.

But I will point out that I believe allthough the amount of breaches seems massive, I'd wager quite a lot of Premier League teams would have gathered up a massive amount of breaches themselves IF subject to a 4-year extensive search going back in time. Doesn't mean we don't deserve what is coming, but since we are playing the guessing game anyway
 
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TsuWave

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No, I wouldn't class this the same as bribery or match-fixing.

If the Glazers employed questionable accounting practices and shady financial deals to clear our debt and allow us to spend mountains of cash each summer, you'd think we should be relegated, titles stripped and long term bans from European competitions?
:confused: Yes???

But it does though? Match-fixing is clearly more blatant cheating, which is what I believe is the only thing that would ever result in stripping of titles. That was the point I was making in my initial post and why I think it'll be most likely a points deduction and a fine.

You can't say; If City didn't inflate X or Y sponsorship deals this or that year, or if they payed all wages above board, then they couldn't buy this or that player, who ended up scoring X or Y amount of goals and that enabled them to win this the PL in years 14, 17 & 18 or whatever it is.

Doesn't quite sound the same as bribing officials or match fixing does it?
You lost me at “more blatant cheating”. It’s either blatant cheating or it isn’t. There aren’t levels to what’s “more blatant” as blatant is already the qualifier.
 

amolbhatia50k

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I know that the Italians relegated Juventus in the past. I don't know if the FA has done something similar to any top team, for any reason. Have they?
FA doesn’t have it in them to strip of titles or relegate. It’ll be a financial fine or a current season points dedeuction both of which won’t affect City much
 

siw2007

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Everyone knows City have bent rules to get where they are and it would be justice if the PL came down hard on them. However, City is ran by very intelligent and wealthy people, they would have broken these rules knowing that they could get away with it or could fight any sanctions (like last time). So I’m skeptical as to whether the PL has any incriminating evidence against City that will stick.

At this point in time, I imagine City will get off with a modest sanction at worst. But, this investigation has been going on for 4 years so it must be thorough. Finding the evidence must be like finding a needle in a haystack but give it 4 years with a good team you probably good do it.
 

amolbhatia50k

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No, I wouldn't class this the same as bribery or match-fixing.

If the Glazers employed questionable accounting practices and shady financial deals to clear our debt and allow us to spend mountains of cash each summer, you'd think we should be relegated, titles stripped and long term bans from European competitions?
I’m not sure about relegation but account and financial fraud is no different in principal from match fixing as it’s aimed to benefit the club financially in order for it to be more successful on the pitch.
 

SalfordRed18

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The likes of everton and Leeds will be looking at this closely too, depending on the punishment.

Suspect they'll want an outcome by the start of next season.
 

amolbhatia50k

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They've been charged by the Premier League, their guilt will be determined by an idependent review body.
Ah okay. Chances of anything meaningful are even slimmer. If guilty the punishment is as per whose regulations?
 

TheReligion

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Everyone knows City have bent rules to get where they are and it would be justice if the PL came down hard on them. However, City is ran by very intelligent and wealthy people, they would have broken these rules knowing that they could get away with it or could fight any sanctions (like last time). So I’m skeptical as to whether the PL has any incriminating evidence against City that will stick.

At this point in time, I imagine City will get off with a modest sanction at worst. But, this investigation has been going on for 4 years so it must be thorough. Finding the evidence must be like finding a needle in a haystack but give it 4 years with a good team you probably good do it.
Very naive view mate
 

Hughie77

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Nothing will happen except maybe a fine
Thats what most probably will happen it will be a Administrative error sorry we will pay the dodgy FA and premier league Millions that they can afford.
I would realy like the FA and premier league have some balls and at least dock them points .
 

mav_9me

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I don't know the details well, but I am extremely doubtful anything will come out of this. People seem to think this is genuine and there is high potential for actual punishment. I am open to correction but I highly highly doubt anything substantial will come out of it. At best a few million pounds fine, cost of doing business.
 

TheReligion

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That's what they did to Juventus for one breach, they have 100. It wouldn't make sense.
Exactly. Even if they get found guilty of half the breaches or a third it will still be the most ever seen in world football.

That’s why relegation/expulsion on top on bans seems the most likely when you think logically about it.
 

NLunited

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Put them in league one. And dock Arsenal 15 points for being wankers.