Essentially don’t let this drag out, we need closure as soon as possible because even this season is tarnished by it. Don’t let ManC carry this on for years more.
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I’ve commented on it a few times but Ive seen it play out with my dad. He wasn’t always sold into what was happening. He went up and down over the first few years, initially skeptical and didnt like the club being used as a play thing of someone with their own interests in making City powerful, but then massive buoyed by the first FA cup and title. By the time of the Pellegrini era he had come to feel it was all a bit tainted though. At some point in the Pep era though he became full fan boy. Red cartel this, the authorities cannot hold us down that. I dont know with it was the way the conversation changed after the initial Der Spiegel reports that radicalized him, or just a general SM thing, but I’ve essentially been unwilling to talk football with him for about 10 years now. And I cannot describe what a monumental change that is our relationship. Dont get me wrong, we’re still close, but one of the things that was such an important shared thing in our relationship for decades now just doesnt exist.
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Sorry for the wuss but I didn’t call you an apologist. They won’t lose all their revenue from multi year contracts, they will still have merchandising and ticketing, they can participate in trophies. They will have to trim that 250m wage bill for sure and that’s tough luck. The idea that the sheiks can’t afford to keep the club afloat is ludicrous. It’s chump change for them.
:0)
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It’s not that they can’t afford it, more will they want to?
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I don’t think they will want or afford to walk away tbh. At the end of the day it’s still an amazing sportswashing edifice for them and they will rely on people’s short memories and see it through. They probably already have their marketing bods on it, drumming up ideas and reality tv shows charting their amazing comeback from being broke and in the National League. If the banks can do it, so can they.
I think those would be disproportionate. But who cares. Let that be done , they didn’t think twice when they attempted to price the football league out of other clubs reach.
Make them to release all those players on a free. After they are relegated.
And also ties in to why City wanted maresca. No other coach would touch them while the ruling on this charges stood.
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I think this is a huge part of the potential ramifications that are coming. It has been an exercise in soft power, or sports washing, all along for Abu Dhabi. They are associated with the glamour of the Premier League, and their well funded team has played lovely football, enjoyed lots of world class talent, and won titles aplenty.
However… and it is a big however!
They are now proven to be cheats. (Notwithstanding the very unlikely overturn of 114/115 guilty charges on appeal).
And if the penny drops, and they realize that cheating and scandal are the first things that come to mind for most people when they think about Man City, then the sports washing enterprise has been an abject failure. In fact, at that point it would have made their reputation worse.
The more I think about it, the more I see them pulling out.
There will be no shortage of takers for Man City if they are put up for sale under normal circumstances. But what would the new owners be buying? A disgraced team with titles stripped? A relegated team? A squad that is unrecognizable from the current one, as they will all leave? A financial nightmare, as their true financial level cannot possibly fund it? An army of angry litigators coming after them for compensation?
So it might not be business as usual, and potential new owners will want to see how the dust settles before getting involved.
It’s all hypothetical, as there will be twists and turns to come, but I think one of the likely outcomes of all this is Abu Dhabi will leave Man City and leave the Premier League. Their reputation is not washed but rather worsened, in light of their involvement.
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I think you need to look at it with the case of sports washing.
If whatever money they fed into city , did it result , directly or indirectly in much favourable outcomes for their country etc.
More investment, more data centers, more profitable weapons deals , better prices for oils , enhanced reps.
I wonder if any of the more recent signings have any sort of get out clause in their contracts? I say more recent, but is there anyone in the first team other than the academy grads for whom this wasn’t already a live issue when they signed?
As an aside, I am making things up that these issues were already in the discourse long before the Rui Pinto leak and Der Speigel report? That is definitely the way I remember it, with that part of the story just being the first on record documentation of what people had already been talking about for years. There is definitely a story of Henry himself publicly throwing shade at City’s financial dealings. I think the famous comment was “What was the losing bid?” in response to one of City’s absurd Etihad sponsorship deals (I think their first shirt one).
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I think it did play a part in FSG wanting to exit as well. Henry just chose the best of the available options.
There’s no way that a honestly run club can compete against clubs which are backed by nations.
Yep, I would imagine the potential sports washing benefits go beyond trying to foster a good reputation, and while there won’t be a direct correlation, it probably helps to grease the wheels in other ways.
Still, if the main thing people think about is that they are cheats, then I don’t see much of a future where they will continue to put their money into football. Just a hypothesis, but if the sanctions come down hard, I think it starts the clock ticking toward their exit.
But the gains would have already been realised.
The FTA etc that countries would negotiate with each other. People simply fail to realise that UAE taking over a football club would have that profit for them as well.
It’s not just about whitewashing a regime.
I definitely do think that the city owners wanted a larger pool of the money that was in football. But there are other angles to think on too
Well, they knew no later than 12th August at any rate.
My bet is that they pull out whilst throwing allegations of prejudice, xenophobia, witch hunt, bias, etc etc
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I know most of you fellow posters are confident City will be dealt with - me personally not so much tbh.
Pep departure was announced end of May. By then they surely already knew they will be found guilty on some of the charges.
‘Independent’ Panel makes a verdict, informs the criminal party in this case but has no intention to make it public.
In the meantime City can have another major rebuild without public distraction.
How would we feel about their summer business had the leaks happened in July?
To me it feels like City have enough allies (in panel, FA, media, politics) in this whole thing to get out of this with a soft punishment.