Manchester City banned from CL for 2 seasons and fined 30 million euros | CAS - Ban lifted, fined 10 million

[JPRouve]

I was about to edit it to Emirati shortly afterwards, but decided not to because the point was still clear and it's not very relevant. It could be PSG tomorrow.

They aren't accused of lying about the origin of the funding. They are accused of funding the club through sponsor deals. This isn't illegal, although it's clearly cheating UEFA's rules.
But UEFA's rules and punishment won't hold on CAS level. Football, to them, is like any other industry. You can't suspend a company for utilizing their spending power.

They are actually accused of hiding the origin of the funds. Because within FFP rules there is a restrication on how much an owner can directly inject into the club, City decided to deceive the UEFA by using inflated sponsorship deals that would be funded by the owner. This is fraudulent even outside of FFP's scope. As for the second part, it's totally wrong, UEFA competitions are invitation based they can suspend whoever they want and they have already done it, fraud is also illegal in all industries.

The only question here is whether the UEFA can prove it.

 

[Skills]

They are actually accused of hiding the origin of the funds. Because within FFP rules there is a restrication on how much an owner can directly inject into the club, City decided to deceive the UEFA by using inflated sponsorship deals that would be funded by the owner. This is fraudulent even outside of FFP's scope. As for the second part, it's totally wrong, UEFA competitions are invitation based they can suspend whoever they want and they have already done it, fraud is also illegal in all industries.

The only question here is whether the UEFA can prove it.

Yep. I'm wondering if clubs who missed out on CL football (thus income) because of City defrauding the system can sue them for losses?

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Anyone have any posts from bluemoon? That place must be a classic right now

Go back a few pages in this thread... there's several there (in one post).

Basically, they're going to have banners, boo the CL anthem, win the appeal and sue the arse off UEFA. And some other ranting rubbish.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

"Cooked the books" implies something illegal. What City is doing does not breach British, EU or Qatari laws, it's only cheating UEFA's FFP regulations. These regulations, or at least the harshest punishments from UEFA when breaching them, are not recognized by the real authorities. City will easily win the case if they appeal it to CAS, although I really wish they don't.

Financial malpractice and paying people 'off the books' (supporting tax avoidance) isn't illegal?

Now, to be clear, I've got no idea if they did it or if UEFA can prove it but what they've potentially done surely breaks laws?

 

[SeeMe]

They should have banned from epl too

 

[FlapR]

Twitter post.

Savage

(Had to remove because I can't quote media)

 

[0le]

The joy at City losing a CL place quickly dissipates at the thought of Sheffield United beating us to the spot.

 

[NewGlory]

Not without Kane they wont.
If we didnt sign Bruno and Pogba wasnt about to retun I wouldnt give us a chance but we would have to be favourites for 5th surely. Any sort of run would do us

We don't have Rashford and we signed some flop from China as a stand-in striker, so I say we are favorites for 8th place, not 5th. I hope I am wrong

 

[Castia]

Potentially much bigger than just a 2 year ban, how the hell are they supposed to rebuild their side without 'financial doping'

Gotta admit ive been happy as feck since this news broke. Buzzing.

 

[FlapR]

I honestly think Pep was looking to leave anyway. He's clearly intense as feck and needs breaks, regardless of what happens with the appeal he will go.

 

[arthurka]

City to appeal with what ? They did this for a prolonged period and knew what they were doing. I guess being used to throw money and bribes at problems has done well for them in the past there isnt any reason for it not to work now..

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Corruption is strong all around. We can only hope some would wake up from it.

 

[Bastian]

This bit with "they'll be safe after an appeal" - UEFA have made a huge stand here and if this gets overturned FFP is completely finished. I'd be hugely surprised if this doesn't hold.

 

[Tarrou]

Amazing news to wake up too. I disagree with those saying it will definitely be overturned. It might be, but it’s not a foregone conclusion. People said they same about the Chelsea transfer ban right?

Appeal and reduce to one season seems possible too.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Can't wait for us to bottle 5th

So funny how people can be negative all the time, even with good news. Must be fun.

 

[tenpoless]

HAHAHAHA

 

[Kush]

Their statement is plain weird, basically ranting about how the whole investigation by UEFA was unfair as they were leaking stuff prior to the verdict when the whole issue is making up shell companies to divert the funding which was coming from Abu Dhabi in first instance.

I hope CAS don't overturn this straight on technicality, there are far deeper issues in this case than an investigation being potentially conducted in an unfair and unethical manner. Although, I suspect that's where their lawyers will build their entire case upon.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

So, do they stay in the CL this season...?

If so, do you reckon they'll completely abandon the PL and just play youngsters in it?

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Just imagine some United fans celebrating coming in 5th as a big achievement, Ole punching the air at the Stretford End lapping up the applause. How far has this club fallen.

Seriously, why even bother? What makes you do this?

 

[DON’T PANIC ™]

PSG next hopefully. I can’t see how they can escape if City are penalised.

 

[kouroux]

The joy at City losing a CL place quickly dissipates at the thought of Sheffield United beating us to the spot.

Look at it this way, it gives us a better chance.

 

[Gasolin]

I found that link.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u...rom-champions-league-for-two-years-2020-02-14

The sponsorship was said to generate 67.5 million pounds (about $85 million) annually for City. But City’s holding company — the state-backed Abu Dhabi United Group — channeled 59.9 million pounds back to Etihad, according to Jorge Chumillas, the club’s chief financial officer, in an internal email to club director Simon Pearce.

The leaks showed how City allegedly tried to artificially raise its revenue, in one case by 30 million euros, according to emails from 2013 reported by Der Spiegel. Abu Dhabi United Group was alleged to be sending cash to a shell vehicle which was created to supposedly buy the right to use players’ images in marketing campaigns.

“As we discussed, the annual direct obligation for Aabar is GBP 3 million,” Pearce wrote. “The remaining 12 million GBP requirement will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness.”

If the back channel is true, then for me, this is a bit more serious than just the FFP I think. This would mean the whole income statement disclosure of City should be wrong and misleading, there should be a very serious sanction for this. For a private company, public or not, that would be enough to crush you. Think Enron. It's basically a false sense of the income, especially if it's channeled back to somewhere.

The Sheikh putting his own money, I don't think it's a legal issue. Just maybe KYC / AML compliance and even then, they forgot to mention it but it shouldn't be a big deal from a legal perceptive, unless the Sheikh is on a ban list, which he is not.

 

[momo83]

Hope the ban gets overturned. Honestly teams spending money was never a problem when Real Madrid were signing galaticos after galaticos every year in the early and late 00s using council loans etc. Was never a problem when it was Italian clubs in 80s or 90s or Real and Barca in the 90s. It only became a problem for Uefa when English clubs started doing it, as I recalled they started murmuring a bit when United spent £30m of its own money on Rio Ferdinand. Then when Chelsea got bought by Roman they started shouting, and finally acted once City became big spenders.

Imaging how crap the Premier League would be without owner funded clubs!
Historically the vast majority of title challengers and winners have been clubs that had wealthy owners with a dream backing them.

Blackburn, Newcastle, Chelsea , Man City were all big spenders that, baring Newcastle, won the league against United.

Without them the EPL is basically United dominating completely with no fun for 20 years, with one ‘organic’ challenge from Arsenal and maybe, we could argue, Liverpool winning it much sooner.

So while a United fan. I hate this elitist mentality that aims to keep others from rising. Also I think the problem UEFA have is mostly against English clubs because any laws City have broken im pretty certain PSG would have done it even worse.

 

[momo83]

The joy at City losing a CL place quickly dissipates at the thought of Sheffield United beating us to the spot.

Sheffield United getting a CL spot because of a law that’s meant to keep small clubs down would be ironic.

 

[meamth]

One year ban is disastrous enough, two years however, is the end for them.

No way Pep going to stay for 2 years without CL.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

2 year ban is pretty serious. Sets a precedent, no way does it get completely overturned. Reduced to 1 year and half the fine, maybe.

Like that will make a difference

 

[Maluco]

Man City bench...

Stones, Cancelo, Mendy, Gundogan, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Sane, Jesus

Liverpool bench...

Lovren, Milner, Keita, Shaqiri, Origi

It is absurd, absolutely absurd, the advantages they have had over the opposition for seasons now. They have cheated to have been allowed to maintain a squad that has let them field unbelievable 11’s in domestic cups as other teams struggle and rest players.

Their dominance is directly down to the amount of money they have lied about, be its origin, or the total they have spent.

We have had to sit here, as they have been lauded as some great team, when it’s all been built on false gains and deceitful payments.

The ban should stick and hopefully it means that correct investment is made by these sorts of clubs in the future.

Managers like Wenger and Ferguson sacrificed prizes at times to build for the future and to keep the club on an even keel. Wenger, in particular, sweated about money he spent as he sought to keep Arsenal competitive and build the stadium and the future of the club the right way.

City just made a mockery of it, and their ill gotten gains should be struck from the record too. It’s not about stopping natural growth or keeping smaller teams down, it’s about protecting the integrity of the game and it should have been done a lot sooner.

 

[Gasolin]

Hope the ban gets overturned. Honestly teams spending money was never a problem when Real Madrid were signing galaticos after galaticos every year in the early and late 00s using council loans etc. Was never a problem when it was Italian clubs in 80s or 90s or Real and Barca in the 90s. It only became a problem for Uefa when English clubs started doing it, as I recalled they started murmuring a bit when United spent £30m of its own money on Rio Ferdinand. Then when Chelsea got bought by Roman they started shouting, and finally acted once City became big spenders.

Imaging how crap the Premier League would be without owner funded clubs!
Historically the vast majority of title challengers and winners have been clubs that had wealthy owners with a dream backing them.

Blackburn, Newcastle, Chelsea , Man City were all big spenders that, baring Newcastle, won the league against United.

Without them the EPL is basically United dominating completely with no fun for 20 years, with one ‘organic’ challenge from Arsenal and maybe, we could argue, Liverpool winning it much sooner.

So while a United fan. I hate this elitist mentality that aims to keep others from rising. Also I think the problem UEFA have is mostly against English clubs because any laws City have broken im pretty certain PSG would have done it even worse.

Did you see the link I shared? These guys channeled back the money through the state backed group... it's absolutely mental. To channel back something like £59.9m out of £67.5m in an example, which is like 88.7% of that amount. Then why do a £67.5m sponsorship? Just do a £7.6m sponsorship! But the income is going to be lower, way lower...

For me, falsifying the income statement is a criminal activity, and I cannot believe this would have no legal consequences at all. Can you imagine a company falsifying their financial disclosures?

 

[Amarsdd]

was just listening to the BBC Football daily podcast. The number of hoops the british journos there were going through to defend City or put positive spin on this news was fecking embarrassing. Don't think anyone of them said a single word what City did was wrong.

 

[AR87]

was just listening to the BBC Football daily podcast. The number of hoops the british journos there were going through to defend City or put positive spin on this news was fecking embarrassing. Don't think anyone of them said a single word what City did was wrong.

They're on the payroll

 

[momo83]

was just listening to the BBC Football daily podcast. The number of hoops the british journos there were going through to defend City or put positive spin on this news was fecking embarrassing. Don't think anyone of them said a single word what City did was wrong.

Because La Liga have been the ones petitioning UEFA. The head of La Liga made a boastful statement today. Think about that. La Liga are annoyed about clubs spending money.
Real and Barca been getting council loans to sign players for decades. City have been the one club that Real and Barca can’t poach their star players.... So tbf this should be an England vs Spain / Uefa thing. Because once they beat City next they come against United, ohhh you can’t spend £150m million a year when you have £400m debt or whatever bs

 

[Number32]

Milan‘s Europa League spot was given to Torino after their ban.

it was Parma not Milan. Milan had a successful appeal to CAS and still went to europa.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Have a hard time believing this will actually happen. If it does then hats off to UEFA for finally growing a pair. And that would be the end of Pep's time there. Would give Liverpool a free run at winning the PL for a few years but great that City would be hit bloody hard.

 

[bonothom]

Seriously, why even bother? What makes you do this?

To be fair shouldn't have posted in this thread about Uniteds failings under Solskjaer and I'm mighty pleased that City have been hammered by Uefa, cheating feckers. But if City's punishment is gonna benefit a piss poor United by them sneaking in the Champions League in 5th then I think its not great for United in the long term if it means that Solskjaer keeps his job. They are in 9th for christ sake!

 

[Wooly Red]

Have a hard time believing this will actually happen. If it does then hats off to UEFA for finally growing a pair.

That's exactly what I thought when I read the neews. Is it really happening?

I'm still thinking they'll eventually appeal and something will happen and they'll be let in somehow. Or am I too cynical?

 

[Amarsdd]

Because La Liga have been the ones petitioning UEFA. The head of La Liga made a boastful statement today. Think about that. La Liga are annoyed about clubs spending money.
Real and Barca been getting council loans to sign players for decades. City have been the one club that Real and Barca can’t poach their star players.... So tbf this should be an England vs Spain / Uefa thing. Because once they beat City next they come against United, ohhh you can’t spend £150m million a year when you have £400m debt or whatever bs

are you sure you understand what City are being accused of? spending large amounts of money is not the problem here, falsifying accounts to get around the FFP rules is. If Madrid and Barca are proven to be breaking rules in that manner since the FFP rules were implemented (2011 I think?) then they should be punished as well. Feck'em all who are breaking rules that were agreed upon.

 

[Dan-Utd]

It is absurd, absolutely absurd, the advantages they have had over the opposition for seasons now. They have cheated to have been allowed to maintain a squad that has let them field unbelievable 11’s in domestic cups as other teams struggle and rest players.

Come off it,

We spent £89 million on Pogba, £60 million on Di Maria, £75 million for Lukaku, £50 million for Wan-Bissaka, £80 million on Maguire and a handful of other players all around £30 million each.

We've spent tons of money too and had we of spent all that money on better quality players or had a manager who was capable of motivating / improving them we would be up there competing.

If City have been fiddling the books then they deserve the punishment, however the constant press leaks from UEFA shows what a poor outfit they are, I thought they would have started acting more professional after the bung payment scandals that tarnished the reputations of them and FIFA a few years ago.

One thing I find absurd is people moaning that City got a bigger fine than Bulgaria, this should in no way be compared to a racism fine.
It's a completely different thing, I don't think clubs should be fined for a fan being racist, how is a club to know that one day fan A is going to shout something racist.

Punishing a club does not stop the racist fans attending, IMO the money a club gets fined could be used to install better cameras around the ground to help identify the racist fans - this enabling the club to hand out more lifelong bans.

Racism doesn't influence a team winning a trophy, racism isn't caused by a club, what City have done is caused by the club and gives them an advantage in winning a trophy... so City's fine is rightly so bigger than Bulgaria's.

 

[Dargonk]

While good news in a way, I won't be getting excited about it, as the likelyhood it gets overturned on appeal is fairly good.

 

[momo83]

are you sure you understand what City are being accused of? spending large amounts of money is not the problem here, falsifying accounts to get around the FFP rules is. If Madrid and Barca are proven to be breaking rules in that manner since the FFP rules were implemented (2011 I think?) then they should be punished as well. Feck'em all who are breaking rules that were agreed upon.

Yeah I understand. But UEFA only started making noises about money when Roman took over Chelsea and they only implemented FFP as a direct result of City getting bought by Mansour. It’s genuinely an anti English thing. Then Italian clubs spending Mafia money in the 80s and 90s was never a problem, Real and Barca using council loans since the 90s was never a problem... first time I heard money being a problem in football was when United signed Ferdinand for £30m. I remember realising then UEFA had an anti English agenda.

Just have to go back to Haysel... very tragic and those responsible deserved prison. But how does something which 1) there is still to this date doubt about who provoked it. Resort in all English clubs getting a ban. If it was proven that it was entirely Liverpool fans fault, which there are conflicting accounts, then ban only Liverpool, if not ban both clubs. When English fans gets attacked and killed by foreign fans do those clubs get any punishment. I know nothing has ever happened on that level. But one life is still
one life to many but to UEFA action never seems to be taken.

Uefa are very corrupt and driven by whoever lobbies them the most. Hence why racism isn’t taken seriously. Because if they took it seriously Spain would have to come under fire.

 

[Canadianred17]

Because La Liga have been the ones petitioning UEFA. The head of La Liga made a boastful statement today. Think about that. La Liga are annoyed about clubs spending money.
Real and Barca been getting council loans to sign players for decades. City have been the one club that Real and Barca can’t poach their star players.... So tbf this should be an England vs Spain / Uefa thing. Because once they beat City next they come against United, ohhh you can’t spend £150m million a year when you have £400m debt or whatever bs

City committed accounting fraud. Do you not understand how corrupt that is? Precisely the reason corporations like Enron and others went under. City deserves every punishment that comes their way.