…and a lying weasel too.
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It is still classed and punished under the proceeds of crime, so doesn’t change the fact that the gains were made illegally
I actually believe him when he says he wants it resolved quickly. He has seen that pretty much no-one gives a shit about this season’s title and rightly so. It’s tainted as fuck. If he really did say 24 hours ( 
) then its clear he doesn’t want the CL win to be tainted as well. But as you say, not very bright because he knows what his club have been doing, hence why the club are trying to drag this out as long as possible.
Ownership and Pep’s interests aren’t aligning right now.
There was certainly will within UEFA to hold them to account. They hit them with a fine and a ban from European competition.
Their escape wasn’t because UEFA bottled it, or anything like that. They exploited a loophole in UEFAs rules. And even then, plenty of legal commentators expressed disbelief that CAS could fine them for obstructing the enquiry and then exonerate them from the rest of the charges because they had obstructed the enquiry.
If they get away with it, it won’t be because the Premier League are lacking will. They have hit them with 114 charged. That’s not lacking will.
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It’s the Premier League not the FA which has charged them which is of course run and owned by the participating clubs. Being judged by their peers makes it much more satisfying…hopefully.
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HMRC may have an interest here too.
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Yep, and I said a while back that they could be a key player.
If they decide to really go after City, they are the ones that have the power to wind the club up like Bury
Good luck with hoping they give a shit about nailing anyone other than small fry individuals
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Shhhhhhhhh…
You might upset any lurking rangers fans,
By calling there club small fry
History has form for this kind of things. If you think of the reigning family of Monaco for instance: they are the inheritants of generations of pirates who enriched themselves by plundering merchant ships. Then, at some point, they negociated their position with France and became legitimate.
The Saudi princes wouldn’t be able to exert a religious dictatorship over their country if they hadn’t negociated their legitimacy with the US. Same goes of course for the Abu Dhabi cheaters, and all other reigning families in that region.
So, it’s only natural that they try the same thing elsewhere. The real idiocy has been and still is to let them do what they wish, instead of cracking down on them and showing them that this kind of behaviour won’t be tolerated within a liberal democracy.
Hypocrisy of the highest order. He knows very well that the club won’t do what he says.
They will punish them. With a nominal fee, and maybe a small points reduction, at a moment when it won’t hurt them. If everything comes together, they will maybe be barred from transfers during a transfer window or two, like what happened to Chelsea a few years ago.
But I don’t believe that there is any genuine willingness to hit them really hard, because that would mean stripping them from their titles, or relegating them by force, or forcing the club to change ownership. You and I know that none of this will happen.
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There is an argument that this is a reasonable comment (albeit not the stupid timeline) that I have seen in a few places. Of course, the thing that needs to be reiterated everytime this guy speaks is that he knew of these accusations when he took the job, which is why he was asked pointedly about them. His defense was he asked his bosses and they told him it was lies.
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I do wonder how Pep will take it when his reputation gets tarnished.
That’s something that’ll be completely independent of any punishment City receive.
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If there was no willingness to hit them hard why would they bring 114 charges against them?
Surely they’d just let them crack on?
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The common answer you will receive is “so they are seen to be doing something”. This ignores the fatal hit to their authority that will come from bringing this number of charges and being shown to be powerless to make any of them stick.
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I don’t get @Hope.in.your.heart’s angle on this. The Premier League have absolutely thrown the book at them, and we’re now in a phase where City have to mount a defence which they are naturally dragging out as far as they can.
It seems to be based on UEFAs previous inability to do them, while ignoring that it was CAS that allowed City off the hook.
We just need to be patient and wait for the process to work out. It might take a while, but I am cautiously optimistic. City have gone from puffing their chest out about irrefutable evidence to moaning about the Premier League’s KC being an Arsenal fan.
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Yeah, and I get the frustration on that given how many forks in the road there have already been where they took the wrong one.
However, in the interest of respecting the maxim that if best time to act was yesterday, the next best time is now, we at least have to acknowledge they are now shown to be moving.
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Well Boris Johnson just sacked his solicitors because well it’s Johnson and Johnson probably didn’t read the documents.
He’s the same solicitor I believe, saying that it’s hard to polish a turd.
My angle is simply that I don’t see the English authorities being strongwilled enough to make an example out of them. We’ll see how wrong I am, and if that is the case, I’ll be the first to be happy about it.
But I’m curious: what do you think will be the punishment then, beyond the possible actions I already listed above?
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