Today's Football

[firlandsfarm]

How to win friends and influence people (not), especially when those friends and people are your regulators. City's club statement here will just put UEFA's back up and if not this time then they will just look for another opportunity to screw them next time. I don't think the punishment is too harsh but it's maybe the wrong punishment. The fans are the most innocent but as usual they suffer. It's the directors and owners who are to blame. They thought they could spend their way to success and that the rules wouldn't apply to them. It is they that should be banned. The club should be ordered to sell players to bring their spending retrospectively in line with the regulations and the directors and owners should be banned from the game for 2 years. The first part reverses any advantage gained from the irregularity and the second part punishes those who broke the regulations. They should also be told that if they are found to break the regulations again they will be banned for life. €30 million is peanuts to the owners but should stay as well

[wearthefoxhat]

Who's next...?

Hmmmm let me think... PSG?

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[Kai]

Who's next...?

Hmmmm let me think... PSG?

PSG got away with their own financial doping on a technicality. In short, I think UEFA didn't have enough proof at first and wanted to investigate further but they took too long (2 months instead of the 10 day deadline) so CAS saved PSG and stopped further investigation. They have since closed that loophole, since more clubs like Galatasaray tried using it as well. Also worth mentioning that the PSG chairman somehow ended up joining the UEFA executive committee amidst this FFP drama, so yeah Plus, Qatar and UAE in general practically hate each other, so much so that the countries severed all diplomatic relations between them. PSG only got hit financially previously for breaching FFP rules but they don't care about millions.

I remember Milan having a messy FFP investigation, don't remember all the details, iirc they got banned from Europa and then CAS overturned it but the following year they got banned from Europa again.

[Kafkaesque]

Also really interesting scrap for 5th now, Sheff Utd, Wolves and Everton would have a genuine chance of Champions League football. And ironies of ironies Man Utd could be thrown a lifeline! The kicks in the nuts could keep coming for City fans!

It may not be that straightforward Pat … have a look at this article from The Sun about last year's situation. I'm not going to profess to understand it and could not find anything in the various "rules of qualification" to be found on the Internet. It's the last paragraph that could be the sting, I have heard before that a missing slot can be handed to another country. I guess it could depend upon the difference on interpretations … "England should have 4 teams in the CL therefore someone replaces MCity" or … "England have 4 teams that qualified but one is banned so they cannot play therefore we, UEFA, have a spare slot which we will pass on to the next deserving country". If anyone can explain The Sun article please bring it on!

My clear understanding is that England has four slots to nominate regardless, and there's nothing in the article to suggest otherwise. I wouldn't know if UEFA has some paragraph they can use, where say half the teams in a league gets done for matchfixing, and they don't want the 9th placed team taking a CL slot. Not the case here though, and common sense would dictate that UEFA would want four teams from the most marketable league in the World.

[Kai]

The idea is to punish the club, not the country and other clubs. In Milan's case, their Europa league spot went to Torino instead.

[Kafkaesque]

Who's next...?

Hmmmm let me think... PSG?


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Good shout, clearly. As Kai have already said, they're tip-toing the line and has probably crossed FFP line.

A few things to note, purely on the transfers. The Mbappe deal was structured weirdly to accomodate FFP, and most of Europe doesn't have the same restrictions of third-party ownership of players that the PL has, so there'd be a lot more to untangle. In short, imo PSG are trying to circumvent the rules just like City, but the main difference being that PSG are doing it, even if blantantly and exploiting grey areas, above board and for all to see, where City tried to hide the cheating.

[Kai]

The next big question for City is whether they should be punished domestically as well, now that they've been labelled as FFP cheaters, and whether there's any valid grounds to strip away some of their trophies or even send them to League Two like some of the rules suggest.

Easy to forget that Juve had to go through a similar ordeal after their corruption scandals, they were stripped away of their titles and relegated, which didn't really stop them from completely dominating Italian football afterwards.

[Kafkaesque]

The next big question for City is whether they should be punished domestically as well, now that they've been labelled as FFP cheaters, and whether there's any valid grounds to strip away some of their trophies or even send them to League Two like some of the rules suggest.

Easy to forget that Juve had to go through a similar ordeal after their corruption scandals, they were stripped away of their titles and relegated, which didn't really stop them from completely dominating Italian football afterwards.

As you insinuate, it likely wouldn't stop City bouncing back. At least if it's "just" one division like Juve, and not all the way to League 2 as you mention.

The Juve comparison is an interesting one - should a relegation come to pass. Juve had a few men's men with integrity, like Del Piero, Buffon and Nedved, who stuck around. Clearly, we can only speculate to their motivations, but it shows character imo. I'd venture City has a lot more, if not only, Zlatan's (who left) than Del Piero's.

[firlandsfarm]

My clear understanding is that England has four slots to nominate regardless, and there's nothing in the article to suggest otherwise. I wouldn't know if UEFA has some paragraph they can use, where say half the teams in a league gets done for matchfixing, and they don't want the 9th placed team taking a CL slot. Not the case here though, and common sense would dictate that UEFA would want four teams from the most marketable league in the World.

I don't see the article as clearly as you Kafkaesque. I know I've seen it somewhere before that the 'missed' slot does not necessarily stay with the country but it was only of passing interest so I have no record and cannot vouch for it's authority. Maybe have a look at Evolution of UEFA club competitions for 2018-21 cycle, it's from the horses mouth and clearly states … "The top four clubs from the four top-ranked national associations will now qualify automatically for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League". It doesn't say the 5th team cannot join in the fun but it also doesn't say they automatically will in such a situation as this.

I take Kai's point on Torino replacing them but that was for the Europa League … is the Champions' League the same other than league places and cup winners. I guess the rules didn't envisage there would be a banned team and maybe after AC Milan they targeted to adapt them after the current cycle ends next year. You may well be right and it will drop down to the 5th spot but it's not 100% clear. I can't see a Market for CL qualification, just top 4, I think CL qualification would be much more fun just now!

[firlandsfarm]

The idea is to punish the club, not the country and other clubs. In Milan's case, their Europa league spot went to Torino instead.

I don't believe the 'club' should be punished it's those who own and run the club that should be punished. The 'club' includes the fans … they should not be punished. As I previously proposed the advantage gained should be removed and the directors/owners punished.

[Vladimir CC]

I've read news that Ronaldo is out of the squad for tonight's game against Brescia. Might be something for a L2B trade before KO. Juve are currently at 1.2.

[Kai]

As I previously proposed the advantage gained should be removed and the directors/owners punished.

They can appeal all they want but only one man can save them now : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfRKv3JDZO4

Better call Saul as well, just in case Bob is not actually real.

But let's see how their appeal turns out, shouldn't take more than a few days.

[Kai]

And so it begins.

Bernardo Silva: “I feel a void inside me. I left Benfica too soon and now I want to come back. If they want me there I’ll return.”

[jamesedwards]

And so it begins.

Bernardo Silva: “I feel a void inside me. I left Benfica too soon and now I want to come back. If they want me there I’ll return.”

Apparently that interview was over a week ago so not connected.

[wearthefoxhat]

And so it begins.

Bernardo Silva: “I feel a void inside me. I left Benfica too soon and now I want to come back. If they want me there I’ll return.”

Apparently that interview was over a week ago so not connected.

Maybe...the squad have known this was likely for a long while.

Man City weren't surprised when the ruling was made and it could explain why some of the performances have been below par.