Platini: No Ban For Failing FFP This Time Around

[Bianchi on Ice]

it's a fucking joke. The real intentions behind this are incredibly clear. We aren't supposed to be part of Europe's elite.


It wasn't in UEFA's pans

they cant cook up a storm about us then ;)

[Ted Hughes]

Honestly I find this whole thing quite entertaining. The guys running our club aren't idiots, they will get things sorted out in a way that is good for us. And honestly, even if we are being made to enter the tournament with one hand tied behind our back, I find that quite appealing almost. Lets win the thing whilst at a disadvantage to piss them off further.

If it was me I'd just not bother entering the competition and focus on winning the PL year after year. Its really the only one that matters :)

I'm with you mate, not worth us worrying about it.

Ted - who do you mean when you refer to the people that originally drew up the regulations to be working for us now - the Spaniards? I am pretty sure that it was the likes of Gill that were the 'ghost writers'.

'City, already have among their ranks, FFP specialists – Alex Byars and Martyn Hawkins. The two joined the club from the Deloitte sports business, which helped UEFA set up the FFP legislation.'

[Ted Hughes]

And unofficially spread rumours for a breakaway mega league that'll fuck UEFA to history ...

This is an interesting point - although FAs are 'optionally' banned from scheduling matches on nights when UEFA competitions take place, I believe there isn't any restriction on clubs playing exhibition matches outside of the geographical jurisdiction of UEFA.

In a highly extreme (and fanciful) scenario, it could be that several teams would be tempted to participate in an exhibition tournament in cities around the world. Such a competition would not be limited to UEFA member clubs, but also include teams from South America, the USA, etc., who may want a hack at accessing the lucrative global TV & Merch market. Of course, if they qualified for the CL, they could make their entire CL squad available for that competition, but there is no rule stating which players that are under contract to them have to be in the UEFA roster, right?

All matches would be at neutral venues, the bidding process for which would be taken directly from UEFA's plan for Euro 2020. The neutral venue aspect reduces the number of games players have to play, by only including a single leg. The only problem is jet-lag, but this can be overcome (for European clubs, at the very least) by playing morning games in the Americas, and night games in the Far East. National stadiums that are not occupied by club teams in Europe could also be used, I'd guess.

The fact that clubs can't play on UEFA tournament nights pisses all over the excuse that it's an 'invitation only' system which allows them to treat people as they see fit. No it isn't, it's a market we are operating in & have no other option.

[CTID Hants]

UEFA fine clubs 25,000 pounds for Racism.

UEFA fine City 50 million pounds for pumping a billion pounds into club,unemployment,schooling,infrastructure and all this without taking a penny out.



The penalty sounds fair to me.

So just out of interest, IF we have to cough up £50M will the affect our figures next year i.e. have to be shown on the P&L.

(A) if so then it could make us be in the same situation next year
(B) If UEFA say no it won't, then the hypocrisy is there for all to see, i.e. it is just a way of bolstering the their own coffers

If i have read their accounts correctly for 2010/11 season they made a loss of £62.66 Million (Sterling, 92.94 Swiss Francs)

http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Dow ... WNLOAD.pdf

[Socrates]

UEFA fine clubs 25,000 pounds for Racism.

UEFA fine City 50 million pounds for pumping a billion pounds into club,unemployment,schooling,infrastructure and all this without taking a penny out.



The penalty sounds fair to me.

So just out of interest, IF we have to cough up £50M will the affect our figures next year i.e. have to be shown on the P&L.

(A) if so then it could make us be in the same situation next year
(B) If UEFA say no it won't, then the hypocrisy is there for all to see, i.e. it is just a way of bolstering the their own coffers

If i have read their accounts correctly for 2010/11 season they made a loss of £62.66 Million (Sterling, 92.94 Swiss Francs)

http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Dow ... WNLOAD.pdf

It'll show in the P & L but will be discounted for FFP

[Hutch's Shoulder]

Supposedly the 50m is spread over three seasons, if it is true at all

[FA cup winners 2006]

*BEWARE: A complete mind dump below, it makes no structural sense. I got started and just dumped my thoughts*

For some reason this has really got on my nerves today and i have spent a bit of time trawling the internet picking up on others comments and am feeling more relaxed about it now.

My main gripe was always that we were getting the same penalty as PSG, which would be ridiculous, and many seem to be pointing out that the Press Association have picked up the sanctions from a french article that only mentions PSG with no mention of us, but somehow the PA have included us and it has ran in all the national outlets. City or UEFA have said nothing at present.

Also, if the french article has any grain of truth, it looks like UEFA has determined that the true worth of PSG's deal with QTA is worth €100m per year. This is still a huge amount of money for nothing, If UEFA have set the benchmark, there is nothing stopping city from entering a similar agreement.

A few forums seem to indicate that we were not expecting any punishment, or a suspended punishment at worst, but that we are not happy about what UEFA have proposed. This would worry me, especially if UEFA try to reduce our squad numbers for the CL, this would be more damaging than any fine.

Whatever is happening we need it sorted. There is no point in telling UEFA to go F**k themselves or waiting for a court to decide (players wont wait around for that). I suspect UEFA will have to come out of this looking like the boss and we will have to look like the scolded child. But that could play into our hands, and UEFA's. If UEFA were to suspend any punishment for 3 years on grounds of us only slightly missing out on spending limits and on how we have at least tried to reign in our spending while increasing our turnover, then we could turn out to be the poster boys of the FFP system. "Look how Man City reduced their wages, reduced their transfer spending, increased youth development and increased turnover and still improved on the pitch". If UEFA go the other way and the punishment mentioned is true, then they have set a precedent that anyone even marginally failing will get this punishment.

Another reason why i am beginning to think that this leak is bullshit is because why would UEFA come down so hard when they have admitted themselves that they are not sure if this would stand up to a court challenge. Would Bayern Muncih be happy if UEFA wanted to investigate their deals with Adidas or Audi as being related party transactions.

If the punishments are true then i see City and PSG feeling aggrieved, they might try and take UEFA on, but not directly. More likely we could set up a lucrtive friendly system. Qatar invite City to Qatar for a one of friendly paying £100m and Abu Dhabi do like wise for PSG. SInce it is not a related party transaction, it cannot be investigated for fair value by UEFA.

[Ted Hughes]

UEFA fine clubs 25,000 pounds for Racism.

UEFA fine City 50 million pounds for pumping a billion pounds into club,unemployment,schooling,infrastructure and all this without taking a penny out.



The penalty sounds fair to me.

So just out of interest, IF we have to cough up £50M will the affect our figures next year i.e. have to be shown on the P&L.

(A) if so then it could make us be in the same situation next year
(B) If UEFA say no it won't, then the hypocrisy is there for all to see, i.e. it is just a way of bolstering the their own coffers

If i have read their accounts correctly for 2010/11 season they made a loss of £62.66 Million (Sterling, 92.94 Swiss Francs)

http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Dow ... WNLOAD.pdf

It'll show in the P & L but will be discounted for FFP

There are some suggestions that the Sheikh might be allowed to pay in effect. Don't know how true that is but I don't even trust the 'fact' that we even have this fine. There is no source for it.

If the Sheikh was allowed to pay it over several years though, it wouldn't actually be that far away from the suggestion by Jean-Louis Dupont, that UEFA use a tax system for club owners who 'overspend' rather than employing sanctions.

[City64]

Fuck Off Platini You Bent Cunt , Fuck Off UEFA You bent Bastards.


Timing somewhat stinks aswell .

[Socrates]

UEFA fine clubs 25,000 pounds for Racism.

UEFA fine City 50 million pounds for pumping a billion pounds into club,unemployment,schooling,infrastructure and all this without taking a penny out.



The penalty sounds fair to me.

So just out of interest, IF we have to cough up £50M will the affect our figures next year i.e. have to be shown on the P&L.

(A) if so then it could make us be in the same situation next year
(B) If UEFA say no it won't, then the hypocrisy is there for all to see, i.e. it is just a way of bolstering the their own coffers

If i have read their accounts correctly for 2010/11 season they made a loss of £62.66 Million (Sterling, 92.94 Swiss Francs)

http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Dow ... WNLOAD.pdf

It'll show in the P & L but will be discounted for FFP

There are some suggestions that the Sheikh might be allowed to pay in effect. Don't know how true that is but I don't even trust the 'fact' that we even have this fine. There is no source for it.

If the Sheikh was allowed to pay it over several years though, it wouldn't actually be that far away from the suggestion by Jean-Louis Dupont, that UEFA use a tax system for club owners who 'overspend' rather than employing sanctions.

If it doesn't count for ffp then in effect he could pay it simply by putting in more equity to cover the payment...

[Lee_R]

Go on UEFA.. shoot yourselves in the foot. Fine us 50m.. we will go out and buy Messi and then make it back by winning the CL! Tossers.

[Benjay]

Has this Messi thing actually got any legs? I would be amazed if it happened.

[Dameerto]

Every English piece I've seen seems to be based on the L Equipe article, so the question is how credible is that? It might be possible it's someone inside PSG but how would they know what was happening to us? Also, 85m (half of PSG's yearly Qatar deal) is supposed to be acceptable, but City's 40m a year Etihad deal isn't? Both the timing and the details stink.

[Benjay]

UEFA fine clubs 25,000 pounds for Racism.

UEFA fine City 50 million pounds for pumping a billion pounds into club,unemployment,schooling,infrastructure and all this without taking a penny out.

The penalty sounds fair to me.

Amen. When you put it like this its a total disgrace. Frankly if it was United getting the fine you would have to come to the same conclusion. Get your priorities right.

[patrickblue]

Every English piece I've seen seems to be based on the L Equipe article, so the question is how credible is that? It might be possible it's someone inside PSG but how would they know what was happening to us? Also, 85m (half of PSG's yearly Qatar deal) is supposed to be acceptable, but City's 40m a year Etihad deal isn't? Both the timing and the details stink.

I agree, the journos are clutching at straws at the moment. I personally think City aren't having any of it, having tried to comply, then being lumped with PSG, who've made no effort at all.
Time will tell.

[lets all have a disco]

Maybe the Sheikh can find a bank to LEND us a billion quid and we can pay it back bit by bit lay all the debt on the club and negotiate a good rate and service it.

Hey debt is cool.

[Ted Hughes]

IF, they are allowing 80 odd mil for PSG, then they have no grounds to declare our deal as being worth less & penalise us.

i can't see any possible way they could do that & get away with it, even in their own court of choice. I don't even understand why they would try, as it's so obviously wrong & brings the whole thing into disrepute straight away, even open to corruption accusations due to Platini's connections to PSG & Gill's to Utd.

I'm calling definite bullshit on that part of the story.

I can imagine that they could have found a problem with our 'intellectual' rights & image rights deals, perhaps if we have backdated them. IF, the 50 mil fine is genuine, I would bet that is the contested area, not the Etihad deal.

But I don't believe the 50 mil either.

[The Original Special One]

IF, they are allowing 80 odd mil for PSG, then they have no grounds to declare our deal as being worth less & penalise us.

i can't see any possible way they could do that & get away with it, even in their own court of choice. I don't even understand why they would try, as it's so obviously wrong & brings the whole thing into disrepute straight away, even open to corruption accusations due to Platini's connections to PSG & Gill's to Utd.

I'm calling definite bullshit on that part of the story.

I can imagine that they could have found a problem with our 'intellectual' rights & image rights deals, perhaps if we have backdated them. IF, the 50 mil fine is genuine, I would bet that is the contested area, not the Etihad deal.

But I don't believe the 50 mil either.

The latest I'm hearing - and reading between the lines - is that it's being forced on UEFA by the same 'cosy cartel' that forced FFP on them in the first place.
And that they'd be quite happy not to penalise City and other 'nouveau riche' clubs, but they'd prefer some outside arbiter to prevent them from doing it.

FFP is a busted flush - even Hoeness, Rummenigge and the most pigheaded of Arsenal supporters realise it was a dumb idea to begin with - but they need a dignified exit

[michaelcityfan]

Who would be the nine locally coached players? Is that nine out of a 21 man cl squad?
Sounds like eufa bollocks also if we said Fuck off would they be able to sell the tv coverage especially if we united with the other "bad" clubs.Finally what if we challenge this under eec free trade laws or go to the arbitration court and win what then? Even if we have their stupid punishment if it's open to appeal by lower clubs and that could lead to further punishments thatscrap too. Imagine going to court getting fined then your neighbour appealed. What utter shit. Any views?

[Hutch's Shoulder]

I'm not going to worry about it until I see an official statement