Football Leaks: Manchester City accused of using shadow firms to flout rules

padr81

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What's this all about?
The only thing I've even heard about him and cheating is the Boston Red Sox using an apple watch to pass info illegally to on the field players are whatever they are called in baseball..
Nothing on the scale of whats thrown at us (City). I'd be quite happy to know anything more corrupt though.
 

Cheech Wizard

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The only thing I've even heard about him and cheating is the Boston Red Sox using an apple watch to pass info illegally to on the field players are whatever they are called in baseball..
Nothing on the scale of whats thrown at us (City). I'd be quite happy to know anything more corrupt though.
Nothing to do with Liverpool or the owners, it was the coach who was a ringleader for cheating whilst at the Houston Astros. Boston Red Sox immediately fired him when they learnt of this through Rob Manfred, commissioner of the MLB.
 

padr81

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Nothing to do with Liverpool or the owners, it was the coach who was a ringleader for cheating whilst at the Houston Astros. Boston Red Sox immediately fired him when they learnt of this through Rob Manfred, commissioner of the MLB.
I know, I'm just saying thats the only story I've heard of cheating and any club involving your owners. Not your owners cheating per se.
 

stevoc

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It's still possible to be title contenders and have a reasonable net spend. Look at liverpool of the last 2 years. Tottenham in the Leicester year.
Anythings possible Liverpool have done well with their net spend. United under Ferguson won many titles without spending that much relatively.

But the post you quoted me from if i remember correctly was more discussing the possibility of smaller clubs being able to challenge at the top. Not so much much bigger clubs having good net spends while challenging because they managed to sell a player or two for huge fees.
 

tomaldinho1

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So, the leaking of City doing illegal stuff is the problem here, not the actual illegal stuff, am I reading this right?
That is how fecked up the law can be I guess. If anyone's a lawyer it would be interesting to understand how it works but I think because of how Der Spiegel acquired their information, regardless of what it says, UEFA should not have acted upon it.
 

KiD MoYeS

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City could bury UEFA in legal fees I would imagine. A big f*ck you and don't come near us again to UEFA from City.
 

Bastian

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That is how fecked up the law can be I guess. If anyone's a lawyer it would be interesting to understand how it works but I think because of how Der Spiegel acquired their information, regardless of what it says, UEFA should not have acted upon it.
So we should discredit valuable information in the public domain because of how it was garnered? Let's just do away with investigative journalism and whistleblowers all together and rely on government stenographers instead.

I'm sorry, but your opinion is simply wrong. Hate to be that guy. But I had to.
 

adexkola

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So we should discredit valuable information in the public domain because of how it was garnered? Let's just do away with investigative journalism and whistleblowers all together and rely on government stenographers instead.

I'm sorry, but your opinion is simply wrong. Hate to be that guy. But I had to.
You don't have to discredit it completely. But in a more structured setting it introduces questions of whether the evidence is complete... A question you really can't answer if you had to hack a server to get it.
 

cyberman

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That is how fecked up the law can be I guess. If anyone's a lawyer it would be interesting to understand how it works but I think because of how Der Spiegel acquired their information, regardless of what it says, UEFA should not have acted upon it.
Whistleblowers exist?
 

Barnslig

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That is how fecked up the law can be I guess. If anyone's a lawyer it would be interesting to understand how it works but I think because of how Der Spiegel acquired their information, regardless of what it says, UEFA should not have acted upon it.
That's unbelievably stupid.

I don't disagree that UEFA should act solely upon information published in the media, however they should take it seriously and do their own independent probe and find out what is going on, to which UEFA did neither it seems? Haven't heard City being punished for anything?
 

11101

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BBC website reporting that "Man City sought damages from Uefa over FFP investigation"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51483162

The saga continues ..............
It's standard bullying tactics when you've done wrong, go after the accuser to discredit them and scare them away from digging any further. Lance Armstrong did it for years.

Everybody knows it and it's why i couldn't care less if City win every league for the next 10 years. None of them mean anything.
 

BBRBB

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City are just entering panic mode as final sanctions are getting closer.
UEFA are way too wealthy to be bullied by legal fees.
 

SweetRightFoot

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City could bury UEFA in legal fees I would imagine. A big f*ck you and don't come near us again to UEFA from City.
I believe this was released in one of their emails as their plan, 'Operation Longbow' if my memory serves.
 

Alabaster Codify7

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It's standard bullying tactics when you've done wrong, go after the accuser to discredit them and scare them away from digging any further. Lance Armstrong did it for years.

Everybody knows it and it's why i couldn't care less if City win every league for the next 10 years. None of them mean anything.

Yep, the best form of defense is attack.

Go at them and scare them away from digging deeper. They're scum, and the football world doesnt respect them in the slightest, they are basically Mikey Carroll - all the money in the world but not an ounce of class or respect in their favour.
 

Pass and Move

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Yep, the best form of defense is attack.

Go at them and scare them away from digging deeper. They're scum, and the football world doesnt respect them in the slightest, they are basically Mikey Carroll - all the money in the world but not an ounce of class or respect in their favour.
Try telling Jose
 

JohnnyKills

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What's interesting about City is how rarely you hear that their top players want to leave.

United's top players are often unsettled (Pogba, Di Maria, Lukaku etc) but you never hear a peep out of City's. Yet they all live in the same area, with the same weather and lifestyle.

Of course, the past couple of years have been great under Guardiola, but players like Silva and Aguero have stayed there happily for years, even though they'd have walked into the Barca or Madrid squads.

Makes you wonder about the salary figures they're publishing. City deny any wrongdoing, but the stuff about Mancini certainly raises questions.
 

GenZRed

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What's interesting about City is how rarely you hear that their top players want to leave.

United's top players are often unsettled (Pogba, Di Maria, Lukaku etc) but you never hear a peep out of City's. Yet they all live in the same area, with the same weather and lifestyle.

Of course, the past couple of years have been great under Guardiola, but players like Silva and Aguero have stayed there happily for years, even though they'd have walked into the Barca or Madrid squads.

Makes you wonder about the salary figures they're publishing. City deny any wrongdoing, but the stuff about Mancini certainly raises questions.

Also helps that they have a good team spirit and I imagine a manager that can control them and keeps a good face for the cameras. Compare that to toxic Jose and OGS. No offence to Ole but I can hardly imagine him being able to give a player a good kick up the backside the way SAF did. I might be wrong about Ole, but I just can't imagine him being tough on the players.
 

tomaldinho1

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So we should discredit valuable information in the public domain because of how it was garnered? Let's just do away with investigative journalism and whistleblowers all together and rely on government stenographers instead.

I'm sorry, but your opinion is simply wrong. Hate to be that guy. But I had to.
I'm confused...I was asking a question
 

ArmandTamzarian

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Also helps that they have a good team spirit and I imagine a manager that can control them and keeps a good face for the cameras. Compare that to toxic Jose and OGS. No offence to Ole but I can hardly imagine him being able to give a player a good kick up the backside the way SAF did. I might be wrong about Ole, but I just can't imagine him being tough on the players.
I thought that too until I saw him giving Lingard that right bollocking infront of everyone from the sidelines then hooking him off minutes later.
 

Nou_Camp99

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What's interesting about City is how rarely you hear that their top players want to leave.

United's top players are often unsettled (Pogba, Di Maria, Lukaku etc) but you never hear a peep out of City's. Yet they all live in the same area, with the same weather and lifestyle.

Of course, the past couple of years have been great under Guardiola, but players like Silva and Aguero have stayed there happily for years, even though they'd have walked into the Barca or Madrid squads.

Makes you wonder about the salary figures they're publishing. City deny any wrongdoing, but the stuff about Mancini certainly raises questions.
I've said this all along. There's no way their figures are genuine. City were allegedly paying Mancini an extra £8m per season through a sham company.
 

arthurka

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So we should discredit valuable information in the public domain because of how it was garnered? Let's just do away with investigative journalism and whistleblowers all together and rely on government stenographers instead.

I'm sorry, but your opinion is simply wrong. Hate to be that guy. But I had to.
Well that is what is going on in the USA under Trumps leadership.. Spiegel and their whistleblowers are lucky to be based in a country that still values the truth and fairness. But this is the world we live in people are to blind to see what is going on and they are throwing away their rights while they are being drowned in BS propaganda.
 

Teja

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I've said this all along. There's no way their figures are genuine. City were allegedly paying Mancini an extra £8m per season through a sham company.
+1 been saying the exact same thing. Even now, KdB is the best MF on the planet and not a single transfer rumor. Pool just won the CL and are about to win the PL and the Salah to Madrid rumor mill is in full swing. You'll never have that with City.

Pep has been asked about under the table payments by a journo this season and he seemed very offended by the very idea. If you believe him, maybe only a very few staff / players are in on the secret.
 

adexkola

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+1 been saying the exact same thing. Even now, KdB is the best MF on the planet and not a single transfer rumor. Pool just won the CL and are about to win the PL and the Salah to Madrid rumor mill is in full swing. You'll never have that with City.

Pep has been asked about under the table payments by a journo this season and he seemed very offended by the very idea. If you believe him, maybe only a very few staff / players are in on the secret.
Should happen with more clubs honestly.

Are the historical clubs entitled to pick off the best players or at least unsettle them?
 

JohnnyKills

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+1 been saying the exact same thing. Even now, KdB is the best MF on the planet and not a single transfer rumor. Pool just won the CL and are about to win the PL and the Salah to Madrid rumor mill is in full swing. You'll never have that with City.

Pep has been asked about under the table payments by a journo this season and he seemed very offended by the very idea. If you believe him, maybe only a very few staff / players are in on the secret.
And Pep himself doesn't want to go anywhere, even though he only lasted four years at Barca and Bayern...

Anyway, only fair to point out that City have denied everything and this is purely speculation on a football forum :)
 

Bastian

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I'm confused...I was asking a question
Sorry to be direct, but I am generally bothered by this popularised opinion on leaked information into the public domain (if it has importance for the public). I think you said “I think it should...” which sounds to me like an opinion and not really a question, though you did ask for a lawyer’s take.

It’s less a legal question and more a moral one, in my opinion.

What about hacked information on states’ war crimes? Should we discard that?
 

Teja

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Should happen with more clubs honestly.

Are the historical clubs entitled to pick off the best players or at least unsettle them?
Not really, I'm not _for_ FFP and I think football will be more entertaining if you don't stack the deck against the up starts. But under the table payments to players and shady sponsorship deals to show inflated revenues as a way to get around that is not the right way to go about it either.
 

Chesterlestreet

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It’s less a legal question and more a moral one, in my opinion.
As is always the case when dealing with technicalities versus common sense and perceptions about what's right and wrong.

But those technicalities do exist for a reason. Take entrapment, for instance: that could be morally justifiable in some cases, from the viewpoint of an upright law enforcement representative - who has come to realize that the offender (who is guilty of multiple crimes, say) won't ever face justice unless a trick is played.

Can't be condoned, though - can it? The principle is more important than getting it right, morally, in an individual case.
 

Bastian

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As is always the case when dealing with technicalities versus common sense and perceptions about what's right and wrong.

But those technicalities do exist for a reason. Take entrapment, for instance: that could be morally justifiable in some cases, from the viewpoint of an upright law enforcement representative - who has come to realize that the offender (who is guilty of multiple crimes, say) won't ever face justice unless a trick is played.

Can't be condoned, though - can it? The principle is more important than getting it right, morally, in an individual case.
I’d say entrapment is a very different thing. And the US is using it against mentally unstable people who happen to be Muslim in order to look like they are fighting terrorism - justifying the budget and scaremongering (see Chris Morris’ latest film for instance).