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Fair shout.
I think weāre all just frustrated by it. Itās taken so long just to get to this position when we all knew what was going on way, maybe 10 years ago, possibly more.
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The frustrating part, and the bit where the league has really fucked up is that this stuff should be happening live in real time. Itās been transparent for years. Everyone knows what they have been up to. And the league chose to wait, allow them to build up a head of steam, and then go after them retrospectively.
One big learning point from this is that the league should not be allowing clubs to breach, and then trying mop it up after. This needs to ge real time. No, lads, sorry. You canāt register any more players. You are over your limit.
Bang on.
Which is why Iām advocating that if theyāre found guilty, and they should be the punishment should literally bury them. Sadly, that is now extremely hard to push through
Can you simply get your feeder team to buy them and do a loan? Probably too much of a stretch for honest hard working clubs.
Unfortunately as everything in life, the second you tell the truth, you are on the hook. Lie continuously through your teeth and youāll probably get away with it. Sad but true.
Not the sort of lesson Iām ready to teach my kids yet.
3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Man United: theyāre on a roll (Sausage, I believe might be ham as well)
Nice and depressing article not shy about pointing out eventually, this is not a football matter.
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Barnie shows how little he cares for football.
Donāt see much objectionable about what he said to be honest
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Not sure what to make of the article. Ronay got a couple of zingers in there about Man City, and how cold it all is. He also said well what do you expect, when you assemble the best of everything, no expense spared, no jeopardy, etc.
But overall it sounded ominous.
He talked about nation states owning football clubs, and all the investment by Abu Dhabi into the UK, and how government is involved in this. He seemed to be setting it up as if to say thereās no way some football administrators will prevail in a fight against a government.
Part of me thinks the die is cast. Either Man City will be punished quite severely, ie ejected from the Prem, titles stripped, that sort of thing; OR the Premier League itself is in danger of ceasing to exist. By that I mean if cheats arenāt dealt with, the Premier League will be bypassed and a new thing will emerge.
From a Liverpool perspective Iām confident that we will be in the thick of the new thing, whatever that looks like, should it come to that.
If it was sports, and sports alone, I would fully expect Man City to get their comeuppance, big style. But the government interference, and the billions Abu Dhabi is putting into the UK, will probably protect Man City, which is why I think a new thing will emerge.
It was all so avoidable.
The key paragraph:
Manchester City is not a football club in this context. It is an arm of a highly influential nation state, with whom the UK did Ā£25bn of trade last year. Two years ago the UAE, led by Abu Dhabiās state fund Mubadala, agreed a multibillion-pound investment in British infrastructure. The chief executive of Mubadala, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, is also chairman of Manchester City.
And this is why Manchester City will get away with it. Again.
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Strangely they seem to be kicking up a fuss on this take over of the telegraph.
I think I agree with you, that they will get away with it, and the punishment will be soft, relatively speaking. But itās what will come after that. At that point I fully expect a new thing to emerge, and the Prem to be bypassed.
If they do get away with it, I fully expect Liverpool and Man Utd to lead a breakaway. And I suspect the Premier League is well aware of this. Man Utd and Liverpool are, by a long distance, the leagues big draw. Put bluntly, they bring the big numbers. Which is why the idea of Man City outstripping both in terms of commercial income (and Bayern, Real, Barca and Juve into the bargain) is obviously a fucking joke.
While I expect it will get messy, ultimately I go back to my starting point. The easy way out for the league would have been to brush the investigation under the carpet. Instead they slapped the charges on them.
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Unfortunately yes.
As mentioned previously, itās more likely the Premier League in itās current branding will cease to exist than City being punished beyond a token points deduction which will only affect one season
i agree with what you say, but i would like to see fans get more involved,
large orangised peaceful protests during games by both sets of fans
protests that will be beemed all over the world and embarrass the EPL to do something
imagine Man Utd v Us at Old trafford, full houses and all the fans doing a silent protest when the match is been beamed around the world, the commenators would have to talk about,
the pressure to do something would mount on the EPL
Let the fans sort out the beautiful game!
anyway time to wake up and stop dreamingā¦
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Most fans wonāt do this if their club is performing well under the owners.
Arsene Wenger was right about this way back when. Nation States with unlimited resources should not be allowed to own football clubs. It really is as simple as that.
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