The Premier League has charged Manchester City with more than 100 breaches of its financial rules following a four-year investigation. It has referred the club to an independent commission over alleged rule breaches between 2009 and 2018. It also accused City of not co-operating since the investigation started in December 2018. Will they do anything... probably nothing...maybe a slap on the wrist fine, and a transfer embargo for a few hours
I wonder if the fact that his birthday, Xmas, transfer window wish lists are all under nominal threat is the reason why Guardiola is now throwing his toys out of the pram spectacularly. Don't really know what he is worried about because the authorities would rather throw the investigators and football under the bus than actually do something positive to make football competitions competitive again as opposed to a corrupt money making scam for the benefit and pleasure of a few billionaires. Window dressing I fear. Until we see the likes of City and Chelsea held to account for the excesses of their owners. Like us and Luton who couldn't afford to fight back.
Chelsea surely need reining in otherwise FFP is a sick joke. Only the smaller clubs get the biggest penalties...
This will drag on for ages, don't expect a quick resolution. It's taken 4 years for them to finally bring these charges against City, and with the lawyers they will employ to fight it, expect it to take as long again before any verdict is forthcoming !
As you say, over a prolonged time, they will be handed down a fine ................... which, over much legal wrangling, will be reduced to sweet FA! Meanwhile, clubs like Queens Park Rangers, who have been forced to feel the full brunt of the raft of non descript & meaningless charges in the name of fair play hogwash, are fcuked year after year from those who preach football righteousness from the pulpit. Summary - As in football life, there are always two sets of rules, one for the rich ................. and one for the mega rich!
Our owners are wealthy but they have stopped throwing coin at us, whether that’s because of FFP rules or not is debatable. They once threw the kitchen sink at us but because of their lack of knowledge & business acumen on anything football, they made very ooor decisions which in turn, spat the dummy out, took their cricket bat and went home.
That's true but in relative terms only Mittal was mega rich. Fernandes and the others that share most of the club are millionaires not billionaires, Mittal's divorce and drop in Steel ownership more than halved his fortune so don't expect him to be putting **** all into the club ever again.
Why? The PL is wholly owned by the twenty clubs which make up the PL. On an equal basis. And always has been. “Clubs have the opportunity to propose new rules or amendments at the Shareholder meeting. Each Member Club is entitled to one vote and all rule changes and major commercial contracts require the support of at least a two-thirds vote, or 14 clubs, to be agreed.” Citeh have no more influence than any other club. More of a clash if Sky or the BBC was a shareholder
If they had really “stopped throwing coin at us” and thrown a hissy fit the club would be in administration. They subsidise the club, a chronic loss making enterprise, every month, by topping up our pathetic revenue streams, not just paying players wages, but also groundsmen, cleaners etc, spending enough on the stadium to stop it falling down completely (just), paying for a new training ground, and accepting a £42m fine though converting debt to worthless shares which they would struggle to give away. A completely thankless task. OK they dug the hole for themselves, but Fernandes and Ruben at least have stepped up to the plate and accepted responsibility, even though their own personal wealth has taken a big hit over the last few years. Mital lost interest very early, it was only ever a plaything for his son in law, his holding is down to 3% which means he’s not putting very much in to keep us afloat. What Bhatia contributes is beyond me. Who do you think would want to buy a club like this? Only asset a dilapidated stadium which only has value as real estate and some land near Heathrow. Small fan base. Huge local competition.
The key thing in there is the fact that Mittal only owns 3%. He is by far the richest of all our owners but he is never going to bankroll any business that he only has a very minor shareholding in. Had he ever acquired a controlling interest then we might have seen some serious investment. As it stands he has probably written of his stake as really only ever was a wedding present.
If that’s what you want to do, fine. It strikes me that the vast majority of clubs are in a very similar position to us, and there is no reason we can’t be competitive with them. In a good year we might fluke a play off place, and then who knows? I can still get plenty of enjoyment from following a team in this situation, even if it’s a bit grim at the moment. If the only way into the PL is to buy your way in, and if the only way to win it is to spend more than the rest (and even that doesn’t guarantee you the title - Utd have spent more than Citeh over the last ten years for nowt) I think that the whole thing is degraded and devalued anyway. Of course I’d still like us to be in it…… I haven’t followed this club for over 50 years in the expectation, or even hope, that we will win anything, or be the biggest spenders, or whatever, but I’ve still had a good time, mostly. No reason that can’t continue. I’ve abandoned my one dream of seeing us play away in Europe (even that new Mickey Mouse competition would do)…………but then again…..
I was reacting against the ‘we don’t spend enough/ no ambition’ tendency and trying to point out to Aussie that the owners, whatever their faults and poor decisions, have not walked away from the club. It could have been a lot, lot worse if they had.
The question is how much would they want if they were going to sell ? Who's to know whether they've flouted the idea to various buyers but haven't had a call back at their asking price !
