Manchester City banned from Champions League for two seasons

[BCBlues]

I've got headache after watching that

 

[DexterTCN]

I've got headache after watching that

Crazy isn't it...they are totally fucking football.

 

[BCBlues]

Crazy isn't it...they are totally fucking football.

It's been changing over the years but when you delve into what's going on in the background it's making football no more exciting than watching the FTSE index or whatever. Bring back the terraces and pay on the day.

 

[editor]

Totally corrupt. Shameful.

Manchester City European ban overturned - so is FFP dead?

BBC Sport looks at what Manchester City's overturned ban on appeal means for football's Financial Fair Play regulations.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[hash tag]

money talks

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Oh no, there's the Corinthian ideals of the Champions League gone out of the window.

 

[William of Walworth]

More detailed analysis (by David Conn) here

As ever, David Conn has done his research and knows his stuff.
He claims 'Financial Fair Play' isn't fully doomed, but I have my doubts! Worth reading though.

Barney Ronay also knows this is all about money

As a season-ending Uefa showpiece it is hard to imagine a better reminder that this has always been about money versus money : new, old, or even newer. Or indeed that the greatest failure of FFP in the last few years isn’t City’s case, but the absurdity of PSG spending £1bn on transfers, successfully skewing their own domestic league in perpetuity, and still escaping any real restraint.
In the wake of such cases there is a view the greatest legacy of FFP will be to undermine Uefa’s own notions of centralised control, ushering ever closer some kind of private equity breakaway league. This is still some way off. But Uefa’s authority, not to mention its basic sense of competence, is seriously undermined. And let’s face it, fair play was never really a part of this argument in the first place.

 

[RD2003]

At least Gary Neville sees it clearly.

'I said a few months ago, FFP would have prevented Jack Walker doing what he did 30 years ago at Blackburn,' he added.

'It's fundamentally wrong that there are restrictions placed on owners to put money into football clubs. Whether it's Chelsea, Man City or Blackburn, all those stories we've had in the Premier League over the last 20 years or so, the addition to challenging Manchester United, Arsenal and other clubs wouldn't have happened if FFP had been implemented in its truest form"

'I don't believe it's right. There has always been rich owners investing into football clubs and that won't change today. FFP needs changing to a different model.'

 

[The39thStep]

Totally corrupt. Shameful.

Manchester City European ban overturned - so is FFP dead?

BBC Sport looks at what Manchester City's overturned ban on appeal means for football's Financial Fair Play regulations.

www.bbc.co.uk

why is this corrupt , in itself?

 

[RD2003]

Here is the verdict in the court's own words. They've put it in big fuck-off capitals for the confused and the hard of thinking:
www.tas-cas.org FOOTBALL – UEFA COMPETITIONS MANCHESTER CITY FC DID NOT DISGUISE EQUITY FUNDING AS SPONSORSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS BUT DID FAIL TO COOPERATE WITH THE UEFA AUTHORITIES CAS DECISION: EXCLUSION FROM PARTICIPATION IN UEFA CLUB COMPETITIONS LIFTED; FINE MAINTAINED BUT REDUCED TO EUR 10 MILLION.

Manchester City / UEFA decision

www.tas-cas.org

 

[RD2003]

why is this corrupt , in itself?

Those who want to see corruption will find it where they want to see it. So when the likes of City mount a challenge to the supposed elite, that's where you'll choose to see corruption if you support one of the 'elite' clubs (even while pretending that you primarily support another club.) Meanwhile, the real corruption can go ignored. If in any doubt see Martin Samuel's interview of a few years back with the now disgraced UEFA then president, who admitted that he was forced by the elite clubs' organisation the ECA (formerly the G14), into changing FFP from a perfectly reasonable model for fighting debt into one designed to restrict investment so that those clubs with a monopoly on domestic and European prize money can never be effectively challenged. The elite then becomes self-perpetuating.

Many fans of those clubs who are, due to all this, condemned to being permanent also-rans can also comfort themselves with the idea that anybody who challenges this supposedly natural order must have done something wrong, and tell themselves that football is simply a game with a business attached, when the opposite is the truth.

 

[editor]

Those who want to see corruption will find it where they want to see it. So when the likes of City mount a challenge to the supposed elite, that's where you'll choose to see corruption if you support one of the 'elite' clubs (even while pretending that you primarily support another club.) Meanwhile, the real corruption can go ignored.

Man City ARE the elite, not some plucky outsiders fighting the system and challenging The Man.

Manchester City have effectively been named the most valuable football club in the world, after their holding company City Football Group (CFG) was valued at over £3BILLION.

CFG announced on Wednesday morning – the day after City’s dull Champions League draw with Shakhtar Donetsk – that they had received a £389million ($500m) investment from American private equity firm Silver Lake.

The deal gives Silver Lake a stake of around 10 per cent of CFG and values the Abu Dhabi-owned group at £3.73billion ($4.8bn).

Man City now the world’s most valuable football club after $500m investment

Manchester City have effectively been named the most valuable football club in the world, after their holding company City Football Group (CFG) was valued at over £3BILLION. CFG announced on Wednes…

talksport.com

 

[RD2003]

Man City ARE the elite, not some plucky outsiders fighting the system and challenging The Man.

Man City now the world’s most valuable football club after $500m investment

Manchester City have effectively been named the most valuable football club in the world, after their holding company City Football Group (CFG) was valued at over £3BILLION. CFG announced on Wednes…

talksport.com

When did I say they were plucky outsiders? That's the whole issue: the existing elite want to bar entry to newcomers, especially if they're Middle Eastern, and make sure their cosy club is self-perpetuating, shutting out potential challengers forever. It's all about how shares in a lucrative market are distributed. The ECA/G14 thought they had it all carved up between themselves and now their noses have been put out of joint they don't like it.

 

[RD2003]

MARTIN SAMUEL: If City had lost, they would have been CRUSHED

MARTIN SAMUEL - CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: This was a struggle for City's modern existence, not just to be taken seriously, but to be permitted elite access.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Explains it all. Sorry it has to be the Mail, but Martin Samuel (West Ham fan apparently) stands head and shoulders above any other journalist on that paper.

 

[strung out]

When did I say they were plucky outsiders? That's the whole issue: the existing elite want to bar entry to newcomers, especially if they're Middle Eastern, and make sure their cosy club is self-perpetuating, shutting out potential challengers forever. It's all about how shares in a lucrative market are distributed. The ECA/G14 thought they had it all carved up between themselves and now their noses have been put out of joint they don't like it.

In the absence of rules like the Bundesliga that state mandatory majority fan ownership of clubs, I say bring it the fuck on. The more rich owners who come in at the top of English football, the more likely we are to see elite gatekeeping clubs of old tumbling down the tables. It's been brilliant (hilarious) seeing Spurs and Arsenal duking it out for the Europa league this season.

 

[editor]

When did I say they were plucky outsiders? That's the whole issue: the existing elite want to bar entry to newcomers, especially if they're Middle Eastern, and make sure their cosy club is self-perpetuating, shutting out potential challengers forever. It's all about how shares in a lucrative market are distributed. The ECA/G14 thought they had it all carved up between themselves and now their noses have been put out of joint they don't like it.

Just so I get your point: are you asserting that Man City aren't the elite?

 

[tommers]

Just so I get your point: are you asserting that Man City aren't the elite?

They are now. They weren't before.

 

[RD2003]

Just so I get your point: are you asserting that Man City aren't the elite?

No, as I'd assumed the first sentence of my first reply to you makes clear.

The only sense in which City can be considered outsiders is in that which I've described, and Martin Samuel does better: the EC/G14 don't want to be challenged. Ever. City got in just before the drawbridge was raised through the mechanism of the innocuous-sounding but thoroughly protectionist FFP, but they are not wanted there by the others as it means another snout in the trough when they all thought they'd boxed it off for themselves.

 

[belboid]

At least Gary Neville sees it clearly.

'I said a few months ago, FFP would have prevented Jack Walker doing what he did 30 years ago at Blackburn,' he added.

'It's fundamentally wrong that there are restrictions placed on owners to put money into football clubs. Whether it's Chelsea, Man City or Blackburn, all those stories we've had in the Premier League over the last 20 years or so, the addition to challenging Manchester United, Arsenal and other clubs wouldn't have happened if FFP had been implemented in its truest form"

'I don't believe it's right. There has always been rich owners investing into football clubs and that won't change today. FFP needs changing to a different model.'

This is wrong though. City won their last appeal on specifically those grounds and ffp was adapted so that a big investment like theirs (or Blackburn’s or Chelsea’s) would still be possible.

This year it has been decided that it is okay to fiddle the figures, submit fraudulent accounts and not cooperate for as long as is necessary in order to time out the other charges! Trebles all round.

 

[RD2003]

This is wrong though. City won their last appeal on specifically those grounds and ffp was adapted so that a big investment like theirs (or Blackburn’s or Chelsea’s) would still be possible.

This year it has been decided that it is okay to fiddle the figures, submit fraudulent accounts and not cooperate for as long as is necessary in order to time out the other charges! Trebles all round.

Another one who doesn't know what he's talking about. Sigh.

 

[William of Walworth]

Interesting answer to one of the questions following Martin Samuel's article (sorry to have to quote the Mail again -- something I never do normally ) :

WERE THE PREMIER LEAGUE NOT ALSO INVESTIGATING CITY?
Yes, over alleged financial and youth recruitment issues. They have similar FFP rules and it will be interesting to see their next move.

The Premier League does not have a statute of limitations and will be loath to dismiss the work already undertaken, which is said to be substantial. Regardless, CAS's finding will do City no harm.

I wasn't really aware of the Premiership's involvement .....

 

[editor]

Another one who doesn't know what he's talking about. Sigh.

So they did none of the things cited in that post and are as pure as the driven snow in all their business practices? I still don't know why you were banging on about elites earlier, either,

 

[RD2003]

So they did none of the things cited in that post and are as pure as the driven snow in all their business practices? I still don't know why you were banging on about elites earlier, either,

City have just been cleared of a host of charges, hastily cobbled together on the basis of stolen information taken out of context, at the behest of a cabal of clubs worried about their own shrinking share of a particular market, by a panel of independent judges at the highest court of arbitration for sporting matters in the world. That is all that matters.

City are as pure as their rivals, I guess, and as everybody knows the world is run on purest of motives and principles and always has been.

The thing about football's self-declared elite is... (here the poster loses the will to fucking live in midst of typing.)

 

[Wilf]

Fwiw, I hoped citeh would be banned and not just on grounds of schadenfreude. Even beyond the links to human rights abuses in the UAE - quite a big 'even' - I do think the 'rich man gives a club untold riches' is the worst route to success, particularly as its a form of sportswash. But that's the level that this is at, is it worse than sponsorship deals, tv rights and inflated ticket prices? In this case it almost certainly is worse, but the bigger picture is about oligarchs of one sort or another parachuting billions in vs a corporate model of huxter finance capitalism. All a matter of degree, there are no healthy ownership models on display in any of this.

Of course as a Man U fan, we have the opposite, a club that makes masses of money itself but passes it on to some American bloke.

 

[sleaterkinney]

I mean, everyone knows that city's owners have been pumping money in, right?

 

[editor]

There's zero morality in the shitty Premier League and the Champions League. It's just a money making machine for cunts, with fans torn between wanting 'deserved' success and an often inexplicable loyalty to clubs who regularly shaft them, while doing their best to ignore the horrendous financial inequalities, the dubious mortality of club owners, the parasite agents, rip off prices and the whole stinking empire on which these leagues have been built.

I couldn't give a shit if the whole lot came crashing down.

 

[belboid]

City have just been cleared of a host of charges, hastily cobbled together on the basis of stolen information taken out of context, at the behest of a cabal of clubs worried about their own shrinking share of a particular market, by a panel of independent judges at the highest court of arbitration for sporting matters in the world. That is all that matters.

City are as pure as their rivals, I guess, and as everybody knows the world is run on purest of motives and principles and always has been.

The thing about football's self-declared elite is... (here the poster loses the will to fucking live in midst of typing.)

Thanks for copying the MCFC press release, but it really is a crock of shit. City were only let off most of the charges because they were out of time. They were found guilty of obstruction - almost definitely because of the bull you repeat pretending that some emails were ‘stolen’ (lol) and out of context (double lol).

It’s another significant step on the way to a breakaway league and to cement the ‘fact’ that top level football is just for multi billionaires. Lie and cheat all you like, as long as you obfuscate long enough, you’ll get away with it. And it’s fine cos leveraged buyouts are shit too, so it’s only fair really.

 

[RD2003]

Thanks for copying the MCFC press release, but it really is a crock of shit. City were only let off most of the charges because they were out of time. They were found guilty of obstruction - almost definitely because of the bull you repeat pretending that some emails were ‘stolen’ (lol) and out of context (double lol).

It’s another significant step on the way to a breakaway league and to cement the ‘fact’ that top level football is just for multi billionaires. Lie and cheat all you like, as long as you obfuscate long enough, you’ll get away with it. And it’s fine cos leveraged buyouts are shit too, so it’s only fair really.

No press releases from anybody but CAS been posted on here as far as I can see. The rest of what you say is merely the famiiair prejudiced and ill-informed toss.

But just for clarification, we have 2 contrasting exhibits:

1. www.tas-cas.org FOOTBALL – UEFA COMPETITIONS MANCHESTER CITY FC DID NOT DISGUISE EQUITY FUNDING AS SPONSORSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS BUT DID FAIL TO COOPERATE WITH THE UEFA AUTHORITIES CAS DECISION: EXCLUSION FROM PARTICIPATION IN UEFA CLUB COMPETITIONS LIFTED; FINE MAINTAINED BUT REDUCED TO EUR 10 MILLION

2.

Thanks for copying the MCFC press release, but it really is a crock of shit. City were only let off most of the charges because they were out of time. They were found guilty of obstruction - almost definitely because of the bull you repeat pretending that some emails were ‘stolen’ (lol) and out of context (double lol).

It’s another significant step on the way to a breakaway league and to cement the ‘fact’ that top level football is just for multi billionaires. Lie and cheat all you like, as long as you obfuscate long enough, you’ll get away with it. And it’s fine cos leveraged buyouts are shit too, so it’s only fair really.

 

[RD2003]

I mean, everyone knows that city's owners have been pumping money in, right?

'Pumping money in' has no meaning in this context. If you mean doing it against the highly dubious and self-serving FFP regulations then CAS do not agree. Their judgment matters. As in, I suspect, most areas of your life, yours, like mine, does not. End of story.

 

[belboid]

No press releases from anybody but CAS been posted on here as far as I can see. The rest of what you say is merely the famiiair prejudiced and ill-informed toss.

But just for clarification, we have 2 contrasting exhibits:

1. www.tas-cas.org FOOTBALL – UEFA COMPETITIONS MANCHESTER CITY FC DID NOT DISGUISE EQUITY FUNDING AS SPONSORSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS BUT DID FAIL TO COOPERATE WITH THE UEFA AUTHORITIES CAS DECISION: EXCLUSION FROM PARTICIPATION IN UEFA CLUB COMPETITIONS LIFTED; FINE MAINTAINED BUT REDUCED TO EUR 10 MILLION

2.

Good job it was in block capitals to make it easy for you to read. Only sorry you clearly couldn’t be arsed to read the rest of it.

The CAS award emphasized that most of the alleged breaches reported by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the CFCB were either not established or time-barred.

And you can’t begin to deny that it is another step to a super league kept only for the super elite.

But you’re part of that elite now, so you don’t care.

Money doesn’t talk, it swears.