Football's Magic Money Tree

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:11 pm

Interesting decision by the FA to not allow an anti-gambling charity to film an add at Wembley - it was Gamble Aware one of the majors in this sector

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/fa-g ... eo-1556413

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:20 pm

Following that report piece by @MiguelDelaney yesterday and the interest it has generated the Independent have delayed the publishing of it's companion piece until tomorrow - the initial online publication of the report said part 2 would be available today - now they are saying that a companion piece asking what can be done to save football will be published on Friday.

Have I got so embroiled in this kind of stuff that I am sensing conspiracy and a decision not to publish some content for what ever reason

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:26 pm

The Ornstein and Chapman Podcast with Gordon Taylor of the PFA - one of the games most successful recipients from Football's Magic Money Tree

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... mpt=uo%3D4

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:55 pm

The investigation into the claims of West Ham's Owners that were contained in that infamous Sky apology continue to be investigated - this time the investment in scouting

https://twitter.com/mjshrimper/status/1 ... 3411689472

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:26 pm

Having finally won their land dispute with the council and an overseas property developer - it went on for a long time and was looking very grim at one stage - Millwall announce plans for a significant redevelopment of the New Den

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... pment.html

The gladiator inspiration seems appropriate

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:12 pm

Interesting interview in the Telegraph with the chap who essentially negotiated the deal for FSG to by Liverpool - unfortunate title to it though that illustrates how far they have come

'Liverpool's worth? Maybe two billion' Exclusive interview with the man who sold Liverpool to FSG, Sir Martin Broughton
How a complex web of political wrangles and an away victory in the High Court set Liverpool on their way to restoring former glories
By - Chris Bascombe - 13 February 2020 • 12:00pm

Sir Martin Broughton, the man who sold Liverpool to John W. Henry 10 years ago, has been asked what he thinks the club is worth today and offers an eyebrow raise so animated it could have been sketched by Walt Disney.

“It is certainly worth one billion,” he suggests, reclining in his chair in his salubrious office in London's Jermyn Street. “At least that. Possibly two.”

There is a knowing smile. Fenway Sports Group's £300million outlay for Liverpool - the debt of previous owners George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, who famously branded the deal "an epic swindle" - is now proving something of a bargain, and the club's value should only keep soaring as they close in on an end to their 30-year wait for a league title this season.

It is a far cry from the ramshackle mess Broughton inherited as chairman in April 2010. Off the field, Liverpool were riven by splits in boardroom, the dug-out and the stands; on it, they were finishing seventh in the Premier League table - Aston Villa were sixth - and crashing out of the Champions League in the group stage courtesy of defeats to Lyon and Fiorentina.

Into this unseemly mess strode Broughton. His appointment was facilitated by a mutual friend - the ex-owners’ financial advisor Michael Klein - after a £100million bid for 40 per cent of the club by former Hicks’ associate John Muse was recommended and then rejected, with Gillett and Hicks refusing to cede control.

“The bank was furious so Michael told the owners to appoint a chairman with the ability to sell. They did not like the advice but felt it was better than the bank doing it. It was a Sliding Doors moment for me because, by chance, I'd met Michael a day earlier.”

Broughton swiftly realised the sale process was complicated by a myriad of political wrangles.

“I was taken by surprise by how holistically dysfunctional it was,” he says. “I knew of the problems between the owners, and the problem between the owners and the fans, and the owners and the manager, Rafa Benitez. I was not aware there were three groups - the owners, the board members and the manager. It was an unbelievable scene of people in warfare, pushing their agenda against each other.

“The owners had lost credibility - credibility with potential investors, with the banks and, of course, the fans. That is why so many walked away from the process, or chose not to get involved at all. There was scepticism as to whether I could deliver - whether Hicks and Gillett would approve anything. We only ever received two formal bids. That tells you the club was sold for its market price.”

Broughton proved adept at identifying imposters and self-promoters. “I remember 13 indicative bids during my six months as chairman. There were a variety of Walter Mitty types and investors suggesting they could be interested at a certain level and mentioning figures which they hoped would be acceptable if no-one else came along."

There is a roll of the eyes when reciting the story of the Middle East suitor Yahya Kirdi - strongly backed by Gillett - who claimed to represent the wealthy heir to the throne of one of the United Arab Emirates.

“Our private investigators discovered this would have been true but for the fact his father not been overthrown 60 years earlier,” says Broughton, dryly.

At the heart of the Hicks and Gillett case was the phone call that changed Anfield history in August, 2010.

“I was on holiday in Las Vegas when John Henry asked me to fly to Boston for a meeting,” recalls Broughton. “There was one non-negotiable stipulation. Under no circumstances must Hicks and Gillett know about it. The problem with that was that I had a meeting in Dallas with Hicks the next day.”

Broughton offers an expression of zipping his mouth as he recollects those critical hours.

“Hicks later used that meeting to argue a Texan court could claim jurisdiction,” he says. “But I had to keep the secret or Fenway would not have proceeded. I flew from Dallas to Boston to give a presentation at Fenway Park. It became serious pretty quickly when the Fenway representatives flew to London and Liverpool.”

But any hopes of a quick, painless sale did not last long. “Fenway came back and made what, frankly, was a disappointing offer, well short of our expectations,” says Broughton. “I was really disappointed because I saw John as an excellent buyer and everything I had seen and read about Fenway told me if they do this, they will do it well, trying to win while retaining the traditions. We tried to talk them up, but they came back with only slight improvement.”

The first £300million bid came from Peter Lim, the Singapore businessman who later bought Valencia and 40 percent of Salford City. Henry matched the offer, much to Broughton's relief.

“I favoured Fenway. John Henry is obsessive. It is either 100 percent or not at all. Once he decided this was an opportunity he wanted to know everything. He did a lot of studying before his purchase and saw the potential.”

Hicks was outmanoeuvred when, upon hearing rumours of talks with investors from Boston, he wrongly presumed it to be Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots.

“Very helpful,” says Broughton. “We had spoken to Kraft earlier, but he was not interested.”

For all the notable victories won under Jurgen Klopp, none would be possible without the away win in Court 16 of the High Court in October 2010.
“Good man, Justice Floyd,” says Broughton of the judge who ruled against Hicks and Gillett's attempts to block the club's sale. “It was an important day in the history of Liverpool. Hicks and Gillett calculated the Royal Bank of Scotland would never act on their threat to put Liverpool into administration, which was a fair assessment for a few years. It changed when the bank realised the fans would accept administration and a nine point penalty to get rid of the owners.”

The club Broughton sees now is unrecognisable, and not just its trophy cabinet - with last year's Champions League proudly on display and space being cleared for the Premier League in May. Anfield itself is transformed courtesy of its new Main Stand, with more expansion set to follow at the Anfield Road End, while Broughton also points out the sense of cultural "unity" at the club which was so patently lacking when he arrived.

For Broughton, however, it is the decisions around the rebuilding of Anfield which were key. “That was the most important decision - to do that rather than go for an Emirates style stadium in Stanley Park. We organised a trip for John (Henry) to the Emirates for a game and the feedback was always how everyone loved the stadium except the Arsenal fans.

“They could instantly see why would you throw away ‘This is Anfield’? The Emirates in Stanley Park just did not feel right. If he had had to build another stadium he would have, but his determination was to do everything to stay at Anfield which was important.

“Fenway had proven they could do it with the Red Sox as previous owners had bought land next door to build a new arena. Fenway said: ‘Why would you throw away all the tradition of the Green Monster?’ The similarities were clear. They got it through and returned it to former glories. Now they have done the same at Anfield.”

Broughton, now 72 and ensconced in a new role as a partner at Sports Investment Partners, declined the offer to remain as chairman. “It was tempting but I had gone there to do a specific role. I could leave on a high having done the job I was asked, or stay for the glamour in a very different role. I decided not to,” he explains.

He still attends the odd game at Anfield, and texts with Tom Werner and Henry, although he freely admits his football heart belongs elsewhere.
“Look, Chelsea is my team. When you have been going to Stamford Bridge for 65 years you can’t just forget that, although I am aware Chelsea are the last opponents at Anfield this season, when the trophy presentation would be."

If that title drought is ended this season, tributes will gush for Klopp, the manager who masterminded it all; for the players who achieved what greats such as Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Luis Suarez could not; and for the owners.

It is unlikely that many will spare a thought for Broughton's role in the triumph, and yet it is not too fanciful to suggest that, without his careful stewardship, Liverpool might never have come to this point.

So, how fulfilled would he feel if the title does return to his old club?

“The sense of achievement comes from the fact that Fenway turned out to be the people I thought they were,” he says. “You never really know. You make your assessment and think they are the right people to own a football club like Liverpool, but you have to see it. They have delivered everything they promised.”

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:30 pm

The Guardian with a piece on ticket resellers - this is a huge market especially in the Premier League

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... full-scale

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:40 pm

Good news for AFC Wimbledon - the bond issue that began at the end of last week looks like hitting it's target - it came after fans rejected offfers of private finance with conditions attached

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... e-stadium-

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:23 am

This article in the Independent asks - What happened to Mathew Briggs, the then youngest ever player in the Premier League

https://www.independent.co.uk/independe ... 32271.html

Regulars to this thread may remember a series of films about Mathew Briggs I posted last May and June - you will find them all linked here http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1477

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:34 am

Following on from that Miguel Delaney article this week about the game being broken - the Indy Football Podcast discusses the article and some of the feedback received along with discussing what can be done, which essentially preempts an article on the same topic that is due to be published later today

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 33896.html

doesn't help the argument that the podcast carries adverts for Paddy Power

It is disappointing to hear that a 3rd companion article in this series will be published next week behind a paywall

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:44 am

on this day in 2012 Rangers went into administration here in an interview in the Telegraph - Craig White tells of his role in it

Rangers, my part in their downfall, by former owner Craig Whyte
Craig Whyte details dark days at Ibrox in his colourful autobiography
By Roddy Forsyth, Scottish Football Correspondent 13 February 2020 • 7:58pm

In publishing, as in gambling and business, timing is susceptible to the unforeseen circumstance, as Craig Whyte should know better than most, on all counts. It was on St Valentine’s Day 2012 that Rangers went into administration, the first stage of the financial meltdown of Whyte’s regime at Ibrox and the plunge of Scottish football’s Establishment club into the fourth tier of the game’s hierarchy, amid a maelstrom of recrimination and self-justification that persists to this day.

So it was that the publishers of Whyte’s autobiography chose Feb 14 as the issue date, the eighth anniversary of the epochal event in Govan.
The unpredictable element was that the book would appear in the immediate aftermath of a midweek SPFL card which saw Rangers’ latest attempt to regain parity with Celtic as a football power – on the field, at least – suffer damage that looks close to irreparable in the current campaign.

Until their defeat at Kilmarnock on Wednesday, Steven Gerrard and his players could state truthfully that if should they win all of their remaining league fixtures they would thwart Celtic’s advance on a ninth successive title. Celtic, though, are now 10 points clear with a goal difference worth an extra point. The prize is theirs to lose, even having played a game more than their arch-foes.

If the Parkhead side equal the nine-in-a-row record held jointly with Rangers, it will be the latest title in a sequence that began during Whyte’s tenure on the other side of the city. In his version of events, the genesis of these circumstances was in the bedroom of the 14-year-old Whyte in 1985, where he had installed BT’s Prestel financial markets service on his home computer.

Whyte relates that he bought 10 call option contracts of shares in the GKN engineering company for £2,000, with 14 days to settle the bill. A bull market pumped the share value up to £4,700, whereupon he sold his stock. On settlement day the brokers dispatched a cheque for £2,700 to the teenager.

It was a coup for a boy who bridled at the restrictions of his Glasgow private school, Kelvinside Academy, where he refused to wear the compulsory cadet corps uniform and left just before his 16th birthday, having paid off £2,000 outstanding fees from his accumulation of £20,000 in trading profits.

From this, the child Whyte emerges as father to the man – a gambler with money that he did not possess and an ego hostile to authority. As to the consequences for his parents had the GKN shares tanked – or even the fact that a teenager with no assets could play the markets – Whyte says: “There was none of the nonsense anti-money laundering rules where you have to send copies of your passport and utility bills to confirm identification. I’m not sure there was even an age restriction. I didn’t care.”

Ten years later he started his own plant hire firm with a £20,000 investment and a £60,000 overdraft from the Bank of Scotland. When the recession of the early 1990s bit, a client reneged on a bill. Whyte set up a new company and liquidated its predecessor. He claims that there were no job losses but, of course, there was damage to others – “creditors who didn’t get paid, but equally there were debtors who didn’t pay me.”

Another Whyte enterprise, Vital Security, went bust with £200,000 of unpaid VAT in 2001. He was banned from being a company director in the UK for seven years. “The judgment was bulls---,” he writes. “Anyone with half a brain can get around it and it means the authorities can’t monitor them.”

Whyte’s contempt for regulation is capacious. “Tax havens are completely moral as they stop governments from stealing your money. Governments are basically shakedown operations, like the mafia, but with better manners. They are parasites with no morals whatsoever.”

This, then, was the moral compass Whyte brought to bear on his purchase of Rangers from Sir David Murray. The story has been told often enough and in such detail – much of it by Telegraph Sport – that there is no need to repeat the niceties.

Whyte, of course, does present the tale in depth to the extent that it suits him, with due spin. He makes great play of the fact that some reporters described him wrongly as a billionaire, prompting Rangers to make unwarranted assumptions about his capacity to invest in the squad.

In fact, he claimed then – and maintains now – that he had £1 billion of assets under management at the time. Despite repeated inquiries, assisted by the Telegraph business desk, I was never able to uncover any evidence of such activity. Indeed, Whyte’s website was permanently branded as “under construction” and business addresses, when searched on Google Earth, turned out to be nondescript warehouses and Portakabins in Florida and elsewhere.

His inveterate habit of funding deals with money belonging to other people – in this case, the Rangers support – materialised in a deal to mortgage years of season-ticket money, but despite his self-congratulation at being an accomplished predator, he was a goldfish in a sea of sharks, and no match for Murray, the club’s bankers or Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

Murray wanted to preserve his original business empire as far as possible – as did the bank – but they had to get shot of liability for the notorious Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) tax avoidance scheme for Rangers’ employees and it’s potential debt of more than £70 million in tax, hence the sale of the club to Whyte for £1. Not that Whyte was troubled, because he could fall back on his habit of getting rid of debt through administration.

In this case, it was triggered by HMRC, because Rangers had stopped paying PAYE and VAT. “Whatever your business, it’s logical to stop paying HMRC if the business is struggling for cash,” Whyte writes.

Well, look how that turned out. In November of season 2011-12, Rangers were 12 points clear of Motherwell and 15 ahead of Celtic. The following summer the business was liquidated and Rangers applied to join the fourth division of the newly constituted Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).

Whyte ended up as the accused in a fraud trial in Glasgow and was acquitted after hiring Donald Findlay QC, former vice-chairman of Rangers.
Needless to say, Whyte rails against adversaries, former allies, journalists, Rangers directors, the Scottish Football Association and the SPFL, in fairly entertaining style, it must be conceded.

Anyone buying this as part of a Valentine’s Day surprise for a partner, though, should make sure it is accompanied by a suitable bouquet – just to be sure that something comes up smelling of roses.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 8:58 am

Spurs upset fans by increasing (already wye-watering) season ticket prices (a rare practice in the Premier League - well Jose earns considerably more than Poch you know - from the telegraph

Tottenham face criticism over 'unjustified' increase in season ticket prices
Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust (THST) believe the atmosphere are home games will be compromised
By Mike McGrath and Tom Morgan, Sports News Correspondent 13 February 2020 • 6:45pm

Tottenham’s price increase for season tickets next season has been branded “unjustified” by their supporters’ trust.

Spurs have announced pricing for the 2020/21 campaign with a 1.5% hike from this season, which the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust (THST) argue could be avoided as television money and commercial deals are bigger sources of income.

“We consider any rise unjustified at a stadium where fans already pay some of the highest ticket prices in Europe,” read a statement from the THST.

“Ultimately, it is the club’s place to justify its decision and we encouraged them to provide a full explanation, but we were told the official pricing announcement would be a straight statement with little background detail.”

Spurs, who opened their new stadium in April 2019, say their rise is below the level of inflation and they have also vowed to freeze the price for the 2021/22 campaign “barring any unforeseen or exceptional circumstances”.

The arena has been warmly received since opening in terms of facilities and atmosphere.

THST believe atmosphere could be compromised with price rises as fans will not attend all game.

“We made it clear to the club’s board that we do not support any price rises: rises that will result in more season-ticket holders picking and choosing the games they attend, with the subsequent effect on atmosphere,” they added.

“We pointed out, again, that the cost of a season ticket to most season ticket holders is 19 Premier League home games plus home cup games – at least – and a good run in both domestic competitions and in Europe adds roughly 35-40% to the price of a season ticket.

“In the coming weeks, we will be taking on board the response of members and the wider fanbase as we consider what, if any, further courses of action can be taken.”

Spurs added that they are awaiting a decision on the use of safe standing, adding to supporters: "As we have already installed safety bars in areas of the South Stand, season-ticket holders who bought them in the knowledge that this could be a standing area in the future may find that this is the case next season. A decision is yet to be made and we shall keep you fully informed."

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:22 am

This is really quite informative - @KieranMaguire on the Carlyle Podcast - which is part of a PHD research project which is looking at how the increase in media coverage of the Premier League has led to the increase of foreign ownership of clubs

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t ... 58cb08f5e1

Kieran gets is his lecturers head on and gets into the nitty gritty

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:35 am

The Independent finally publish the companion article to Delaney's broken beyond repair - entitled What can we do to save football? - don't get too excited

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 34826.html

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:03 pm

In what comes as a surprise to no-one - some club owners in the Championship are demanding that should Sheffield Wednesday be found guilty on the charges levied by the EFL then very heavy points deductions should follow

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... n-chansiri

- following last seasons deductions on Birmingham, I am still to be convinced that the EFL would be prepared to relegate a club via such a deduction - though Rick Parry does appear to be overseeing a much firmer approach to investigating perceived transgressions

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:13 pm

It is that time of year again when everyone and his dog releases some kind of report - the latest is the football financial power index by Soccerex (the conference organiser)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -club.html

you can get the full report here - but you have to register for ithttps://www.soccerex.com/insight/articles/2020/ ... cial-power

we are at No 59 on the list - with some strange figures attached to us cash of £38.9m and a net debt of -£5m which I can only assume is for transfers

The other thing that is starkly clear in this report is the growing financial might of the MLS franchises (something I have posted about a few times in this thread) the ruling by CAS last week over the ability for FIFA Article 9 on the need for Promotion/Relegation not having to be applicable in the US/MLS (also posted on this thread) will re-enforce that growth

EDIT changes our reported cash position up from £28.9 - misread 1st time ad also Net deb is a negative - which I take to mean that we owe less than the cash position on transfers
Last edited by Chester Perry on Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:02 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:28 pm

Football Benchmark returns to Sky in Italy - 1st Episode of the new series - The attractiveness of Italian Football to Foreign investment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1uRXW- ... e=emb_logo

as ever English subtitles available on 5th button in from bottom right of screen

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:57 pm

A Legal blog piece on the fierce legal battle between Inter Milan (real name Internazional) and the MLS/Inter Miami over the use of Inter name

https://heitnerlegal.com/2020/02/12/int ... e-forward/

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:17 pm

Posted a number of times on this thread in the last year about Softbank and their Vision fund (which is heavily financed by Saudi Arabia) at one time it looked like they were going to fund the new raft of FIFA competitions, though that pleasure now appears to be China's - This might explain (in part) why

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soft ... ce=twitter

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:39 pm

Wigan have been de-listed from the HK Stock market (as part of the) of Dr Stanley Choi's listed company - taken them privates with a 51% ownership held directly by himself

https://twitter.com/nigelforlan/status/ ... 8641511427

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:41 pm

A good article describing the situation at Newcastle where despite lots of hype and interest no one has bought the club

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/f ... t-17721525

That Immediate cash sum mentioned will make a few sit up with a startled expression

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:11 pm

Following UEFA's Adjudicatory Chambers ruling on Man City it looks like the fact it was based on City's income will force the Premier League to bring Charges that will in all probability lead to Points deduction - in the worse case scenario a points deduction that led to relegation - would see them pushed down to League 2 under new rules put in place last year

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 36946.html

that would see a few cheers across the land I imagine

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:39 pm

Another good Podcast from Football Today - This time looking at Chelsea's seemingly aborted plan to redevelop Stamford Bridge and what the implications of such a decision mean for them in the long term - @KieranMaguire amongst others with the input

https://www.footballtodaypodcast.com/po ... st-century

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by scouseclaret » Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:44 pm

Chester Perry wrote:
Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:11 pm
Following UEFA's Adjudicatory Chambers ruling on Man City it looks like the fact it was based on City's income will force the Premier League to bring Charges that will in all probability lead to Points deduction - in the worse case scenario a points deduction that led to relegation - would see them pushed down to League 2 under new rules put in place last year

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 36946.html

that would see a few cheers across the land I imagine
I read that as saying that they wouldn't be thrown out of the Premier league, and the rule to relegate to League 2 is an EFL rule, so won't apply to City.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:23 pm

scouseclaret wrote:
Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:44 pm
I read that as saying that they wouldn't be thrown out of the Premier league, and the rule to relegate to League 2 is an EFL rule, so won't apply to City.
just read it again and for now I will stay with my first interpretation until convinced otherwise (far from being impossible to do)

- I will say that the EFL have done a lot of work to align their FFP with that of the Premier League in the hope and belief that transgressors of the Leicester, QPR and Bournemouth variety will face penalties in the Premier League - Villa are currently being investigated by both bodies - It does seem that the EFL want to flush transgressors to the bottom of the Pyramid in the hope that the scale of the punishment will deter breaches of the protocols

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Royboyclaret » Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:33 pm

Chester Perry wrote:
Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:41 pm
A good article describing the situation at Newcastle where despite lots of hype and interest no one has bought the club

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/f ... t-17721525

That Immediate cash sum mentioned will make a few sit up with a startled expression
Still remain unconvinced that Ashley genuinely wants to sell the Club.......Is the figure still £350 million?

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:39 pm

Royboyclaret wrote:
Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:33 pm
Still remain unconvinced that Ashley genuinely wants to sell the Club.......Is the figure still £350 million?
more or less £340m is the sum I keep hearing - but it is the all at once (if you want to avoid the niggles in the deal) that people are struggling with plus the initial finance for the first season and transfer window that makes it a blocker

I get the feeling that Ashley wants the club to go to a good owner, not a chancer, as he would get the blame for that too

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:57 pm

Another great article from @MiguelDelaney this looking at the seismic judgement against Man City

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 36976.html

- there are going to be a lot of these in the next few days and I will post as many as I can on here - as much for future reference as for what they will inform us now

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:22 am

@KieranMaguire has been kind enough to post the relevant except from his book on the reason for the Man City charges

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 9256751104

he is also right about his book - being an academic tome it is £40 for the paperback version

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:57 am

This one is from David Conn in the Guardian - he is a life long Man City fan and a very very good journalist

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... are_btn_tw

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:59 am

This one is by Rob Harris for the Associated Press

https://apnews.com/72fee6f54a5c644fa2b33591b3a29c73

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:32 am

Paul Hayward in the Telegraph with his take on the Man City ruling

Manchester City's punishment from Uefa is a turning point – the age of unfettered power for billionaire owners has passed
Paul Hayward - Chief Sports Writer - 14 February 2020 • 8:51pm

These are calamitous times for the giants of English sport. In the space of a month rugby’s champions - Saracens - have been relegated for salary cap violations and now Manchester City, who took the Premier League title in May, may be thrown out of Europe for two campaigns.

Fans of the rule of law may feel that order has been restored, that sport is not the unregulated free-for-all it appears to many supporters, in both codes. With no disrespect to Saracens, whose shaming was a huge story, Uefa’s swingeing punishment of Man City will reverberate around the world, in an industry that has bewitched a global audience, which is accustomed to seeing money and power prevail over governing bodies.

If this is a symbolic sanction, soon to be overturned at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it is nevertheless a turning point in the way English and European football has evolved.

From any rational perspective, the big players in football have become too big to manage. Qatar owns Paris Saint-Germain. Abu Dhabi has sunk hundreds of millions into City as the core of a worldwide sporting empire (to provide relevance beyond oil). Chinese, Russian and American speculators have dwarfed the game’s authorities, turning top-level football into a version of global finance, in which Uefa, Fifa and even governments look like powerless bystanders.

A vital phrase in Uefa’s judgement is that City “failed to cooperate in the investigation of this case.” The apparent sin of inflating the club’s commercial income through deals with friendly partners in Abu Dhabi was the core of the offence. But Uefa are also suggesting City continued to resist the charges against them. Failed to cooperate is lawyer-speak for: tried to make fools of us. A secretariat in a Swiss canton may lack the clout of a vast oil middle east oil state, but it does have its pride, and in this case Uefa were willing to depart from their traditional mission to get as much money into the game as possible by any means necessary.

Financial Fair Play is the macabre legacy of the disgraced former Uefa president, Michel Platini. The anomalies remain. The Glazers are free to take money out of Manchester United but Sheikh Mansour is not at liberty put money into Man City - or, not beyond a specified level. City have always seen FFP as an attempt to protect the old guard from new money: from countries and sovereign wealth funds - which it is. But City’s problem is that they signed up to it, and then apparently tried to circumvent something they agreed to.

The guilty verdict appears correct. The battle now will be over the punishment, and whether it fits the crime. If Cas uphold it, City’s power is broken, for now. They still have this season’s Champions League title to aim for but the next two seasons will feel hollow. Pep Guardiola and City’s star players will not want to be confined to domestic action, especially with Liverpool now the dominant force in the land.

But we should guard against the claim that this was a kangaroo court. Uefa have sent a message that the age of unfettered power for billionaire owners has passed. Football is not the plaything of nations looking for relevance post-oil. With the fine, and the lost Champions League revenue, City’s financial punishment stretches beyond £100m. Less important than the money though is the block it places on Abu Dhabi’s ambitions, and the opprobrium it exposes them to in the court of world opinion.

The lawyers will take over now. In the meantime perhaps City could have a cup of tea with Saracens and moan about the system. Do the governing bodies not know that money is power? Unless City can demolish Uefa’s case, they are disgraced, and will play the victims, in the absence of anyone in Europe to play against.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:38 am

Telegraph again -

Manchester City's Uefa ban Q&A: What exactly is it claimed City did wrong?
Tom Morgan runs through the ins and outs of Manchester City's Uefa ban
By Tom Morgan, Sports News Correspondent - 14 February 2020 • 9:07pm

The Club Financial Control Body's (CFCB) adjudicatory chamber had been considering its sentence since May following a long-running investigation into an alleged £60million deception. City have consistently insisted they were "entirely confident" the ban can be overturned.

What exactly is it claimed City did wrong?
The club has been investigated by Uefa since documents obtained by the website Football Leaks, which cast doubt on their FFP probity, were published by Der Spiegel magazine in Germany in November 2018. Senior Uefa officials - who previously launched sanctions against City in 2014 - were particularly enraged by leaked files from 2015, which claim almost £60million was paid directly into the club by their billionaire Arab owners but declared as sponsorship.

The documents, allegedly obtained by illegal email hacks, were previously said to show £59.5million that was supposed to have come from City's principal sponsor, Etihad Airways, was paid directly to the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group.

To put that into context, City's record signing is Riyad Mahrez, who cost £60million from Leicester City. In Football Leaks, City owner Sheikh Mansour was accused of funding significant parts of so-called deals with club sponsors in an attempt to escape Uefa sanctions.

Der Spiegel also alleged that City set up a secret scheme called "Project Longbow", which effectively hid about £40million in payments to players, after the club had agreed a 20 million euro fine as a settlement for FFP breaches. Among other potential breaches of Uefa rules, Der Spiegel published emails from 2010, reportedly from board member Simon Pearce communicating with colleagues, in which it is claimed he discusses a £15million deal with partner Aabar.

"As we discussed, the annual direct obligation for Aabar is £3million," he allegedly wrote. "The remaining £12million will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness [Sheikh Mansour]."

In another message, City's chief financial officer, Jorge Chumillas, allegedly wrote that the club faced a £9.9million shortfall to comply with FFP thanks to the contract termination of manager Roberto Mancini. The Italian was sacked in 2013, a year to the day after winning the Premier League title. His giant payoff meant yet more expenditure on City's books that had to be covered by income under Uefa rules. City were also accused of manipulating other sponsorship deals by backdating them.

Der Spiegel reported that City and Paris St-Germain breached FFP rules by 188 million euro and 215million euro (£192million) respectively in 2014.

Does this match precedent for clubs facing sanctions over financial deceptions?
No, it's dramatically bigger than any punishment ever handed out before. Financial Fair Play sanctions were first applied in September 2012, ranging from withholding of prize money to fines and bans from European competition.

Queens Park Rangers were fined £17 million in July for breaking spending limits on their way to promotion to the Premier League in 2014. Turkish clubs Besiktas, Galatasaray and Bursaspor have all received bans from European competition for FFP breaches, but AC Milan avoided suspension after a successful appeal.

Javier Tebas, president of Spanish football's top division and a long-standing critic of City, has previously expressed doubts over whether City or Paris St-Germain would face sanctions because of a tangled web of financial relationships between the clubs and Uefa. The majority of cases get settled before reaching the adjudicatory chamber, which has a track record for following the advice of the investigation panel.

Jose Narciso da Cunha Rodrigues, a Portuguese judge, was the chairman and looked at the case with three of its four members - vice-chairmen Christiaan Timmermans, of the Netherlands, Switzerland's Louis Peila, English QC Charles Flint and Adam Giersz, Poland's former sports minister.

Appeals are common. CAS did uphold a Europa League ban for Turkish club Bursaspor in 2015 when it appealed. But two seasons ago, AC Milan's ban from the Europa League for breaching FFP and licensing regulations was overturned by CAS, which told Uefa that the punishment was not proportionate and that the adjudicatory chamber had not properly assessed some "important elements".

In February last year, Galatasaray also won a challenge at CAS against the adjudicatory panel when it reopened an investigation into the Turkish club. The following month, CAS also upheld Paris Saint-Germain's appeal against Uefa reopening a probe into their finances up to June 2017. This will perhaps give Man City some encouragement, but those cases would appear to be very different to theirs - based more on technicalities and time limits.

Do City believe they have been stitched up?
Yes, documents from a previous CAS appeal reveal a bitter fallout with Yves Leterme, the chairman and chief investigator of Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body. He went on record in January last year to confirm that the club face "the heaviest punishment".

The club said in a statement that the suggestion those involved in the investigatory process, overseen by Leterme, the former Belgian prime minister, had already found the club guilty of breaking financial fair play regulations was “extremely concerning”.

City claim the allegations against them are “entirely false” and that there is “comprehensive proof” otherwise. The club were particularly angry at leaks published by The New York Times last May stating that Uefa financial investigators had already agreed to recommend a one-year ban. The club never in their worst nightmares anticipated a two year ban, however.

All Uefa sanctions are frozen while the appeal takes place.

How much could this cost City?
Potentially billions. As well as a costly appeal process, missing out on Champions League football will cause the most dramatic hit imaginable to the club's extensive coffers. To add to the headache, they still remain under separate investigations relating to their finances and transfer dealings by Fifa, the FA and the Premier League. It promises to be a busy spring for their lawyers.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:51 am

The UEFA judgement on Man City -

UEFA Statement

https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/ne ... 38659.html

Man City official statement on the judgement

https://www.mancity.com/news/club-news/ ... -statement the aggressive/dismissive tone continues

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:02 am

The Independent on why City have been banned and what happens next

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 36926.html

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:08 am


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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by RammyClaret61 » Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:28 am

Could this be the catalyst that finally brings these clubs into line? Or is the fact that players and agents are so greedy that it will continue?
Chester Perry, do you think city will go through with the treat of just appealing their way out by outspending both UEFA and the premier league?

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:22 pm

City will use every legal device they can find - pretty sure of that - If CAS reduce rather than remove the ban then they will appeal it - the combination of a culture of face, entitlement and ultra-capitalism at the core of their being will ensure that (they need a diplomat in the senior role and don't have one

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:42 pm

Martin Samuel in the Mail - he is no FFP fan and has long been a critic of the naked protectionism of the European elite - on the Man City verdict

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -City.html

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:46 pm

An article from the independent that recognises that Man City's war with UEFA has only just begun

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 37326.html

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:59 pm

Simon Chadwick on the Uefa/Man City decision and situation - essentially reiterating everything he has taught us over the years

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/statu ... 0953350146

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:03 pm

@Marcotti on what City's ban means and what is likely to happen next

https://www.espn.com/soccer/manchester- ... appen-next

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:17 pm

A great thread from @SportingIntel on the City verdict and the origins of FFP (not the prevailing perception)

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 9218924545

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 7:18 pm

Ian Herbert in the Mail does not hide his feelings on Man City

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... lings.html

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:55 pm

following his article last night - David Conn offers this opinion piece on the City/UEFA fallout in the Guardian - again remember he is a life-long city fan - it is pretty damning of those that run his club and their approach to this investigation and judicial process

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... SApp_Other

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:16 pm

We have seen it at clubs like Bolton, Bury and Macclesfield that players can walk away from their clubs and become free agents after breaches of contract by the club (failure to pay wages in those instances) but it transpires that it is possible that City players and staff could do the same should the clubs appeal fail

https://twitter.com/JohnMehrzadLaw/stat ... 7064341505

that might explain why club officials were so keen to bring together the squad last night

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... n-ban.html

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:48 am

@RobHarris in the Associated Press with an analysis piece on Man City's tatter reputation and uncertain future following that ban

https://apnews.com/5aa12daf939698f4d914463178e2e803

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:06 am

@RorySmith on why Man City are compelled to continue their fight against the charges and the ban - from the New York Times

Manchester City Vows to Fight, Because Losing Is Unthinkable
Suspended from the Champions League for two seasons, a team declares it will clear its name. But City, and European soccer’s governing body, both know the stakes are much bigger than that.

By Rory Smith Feb. 15, 2020, 2:00 a.m. ET

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City needed only a few minutes to come out swinging. It has been that way right from the start, right from the moment Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, started publishing the series of exposés that became known as Football Leaks.

City responded to the allegations contained in those leaks — not just of breaching the financial rules that govern all teams playing in Europe-wide competitions, but crucially of deliberately providing investigators with misleading information — with fire and fury. The leaks, the club said, again and again, were part of a “clear and organized attempt” to smear its good name.

That fury has only mounted with time, a fire that burns ever brighter, ever hotter. City has vented in public at every step of the subsequent investigation into the accusations, raging that “irrefutable” evidence was being ignored, that UEFA, the governing body for soccer in Europe, was not running a fair or impartial process, that the outcome was predetermined.

It has been no more conciliatory in the more private, more refined surroundings in which it pleaded its case: court documents released by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday showed the club’s considerable legal team had leveled all of the same charges at UEFA there, too, in the hope of having the investigation annulled. The court found that it could not overturn any punishment, on the grounds that City had not, at that stage, been punished.

Late on Friday, when UEFA’s Adjudicatory Chamber — the body that will determine exactly how City should be sanctioned — revealed that it had decided to ban the club from the Champions League for two seasons, and fine it $32.5 million, the cold fury reached its pitch.

The process was “prejudicial,” the club said. It was “disappointed, but not surprised” by the ruling. It always knew it would “need to seek out an independent body and process to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence in support of its position,” it said in a statement.

And so now, the fight begins. First, an appeal “at the earliest available opportunity” to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If that fails — though there is no guarantee it will — that may not be the end of it. As one email produced as part of the Football Leaks trove made clear, City’s hierarchy has the money and the appetite to spend millions on legal fees rather than wear any punishment. The Swiss Supreme Court would be the next step. Beyond that, who knows? The United Nations? The World Trade Organization?

City would not take this stance frivolously. The club, like UEFA, knows that what is ultimately at stake matters: more than whether City misses a couple of years of European competition; more than whether it has some bearing on the career plans of Pep Guardiola; more than whether some of the club’s glittering array of stars may seek to leave. It is not just the future of UEFA’s financial fair play legislation that is on the line, but the very locus of power in European soccer.

For UEFA, it is only a slight exaggeration to say the battle is existential. Defeat would mean effectively admitting that Europe’s biggest, richest teams are now too big to tame, and that the body theoretically in charge of corralling them is, in reality, nothing more than the organizer of the occasional glitzy draw event in Monte Carlo.

For Manchester City, it is, primarily, a chance to prove that it is the clubs who make the rules now, that it is not UEFA’s job to dictate who can invest money in the sport, to demonstrate that financial fair play is nothing more than a device to lock in soccer’s status quo, to keep out the young and the daring and the ambitious.

The club can take that stance, of course, because soccer is — like all sports — inherently tribal. Few, if any, of its fans blame their team for any of this. On social media, as on match days at the Etihad Stadium, it is hard to find any sense of disappointment that City may have bent the rules.
Instead, wagons have been circled, lines drawn. City’s fans have long booed the pompous anthem that blares out at the start of Champions League games — something that predates the current investigation — but, when it next plays at the Etihad before the visit of Real Madrid next month, expect a torrent of hostility. City’s fans are arrayed behind their club: UEFA is against them; it is a witch-hunt; it is time to drain the swamp.

But the reason the club has no choice but to fight, and to fight for as long as possible, is different. City may want the charges to be overturned because it believes in its own “irrefutable” innocence, but the anger with which it has reacted at every stage speaks to another motivation: not the need to vindicate its loyalists, but to maintain the validity of the project for those who it was designed to win over.

Whatever the source of its funding, it should hardly be controversial to suggest that what attracted Sheikh Mansour, City’s ultimate owner, and his Abu Dhabi United Group to a Premier League soccer team in the first place was the blue-chip prominence it brought. City fans might reject the idea their club is being used as a “sportwashing” vehicle by a state with a questionable record on human rights, but the idea it is a marketing ploy is self-evident.

Manchester City gives Abu Dhabi a platform: not just to attract tourists and investment as the United Arab Emirates seeks to diversify its economy; not just to become a significant landowner and real estate developer in the city of Manchester; but to embed it in the global public consciousness. It is precisely the same logic that inspired Qatar Sports Investments to buy Paris St.-Germain.

The whole concept rests, though, on positive associations: beautiful, successful soccer; clean, admirable values; an air not only of glamour, but class, too. It is why, in part and on a much smaller scale, the club could not tolerate players as gifted, but as challenging, as Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevéz. That was not the image Abu Dhabi wanted to cultivate for itself.

Nor, of course, is the stain of cheating — the intimation that City has not done things in the right way — something that can be tolerated. City must not just prove its innocence on some technicality; it must demonstrate that the allegation itself was in some way corrupt and that the body making it is illegitimate.

That brings with it a risk, of course: appealing to C.A.S. may well result in details of the breaches — and misdirection — City is said to have committed becoming public. The club, though it is confident of ultimately proving its innocence, will presumably be aware that even then it may not come out of the whole thing smelling of roses in the eyes of the wider world.

City has clearly decided the principle is worth the risk of some sort of reputational damage. There will be those who see in that no little honor, a self-sacrifice to bring down the flawed framework of financial fair play. But that is not why City has to fight, and to fight with fire and fury, until the bitter end. It does not, ultimately, have a choice.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:13 am

More on why City's argument that illegally obtained documents cannot be used as evidence is flawed

https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1 ... 9813632000

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:44 am

Now we have had a raft of why and what next articles including various legal implications/precedent type pieces on the Man City ban, I am expecting a series of pieces on the financial implications which so far have been mooted at a high level but had no real meat of detail - This by @SportingIntel in the Mail is a starting point

https://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/fo ... s-ban.html

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