Liverpool FC Forum

I’m reading that Abu Dhabi are threatening to pull investment and/or further investment in the Uk if charges are brought, it’s probably in the tens of billions. Let’s see if integrity is valued higher than money. This is only going to get uglier and I’m not surprise as I said many times, these people feel clever when they buy their way out of trouble.

From a government level the UK needs Abu Dhabi more than Abu Dhabi needs the UK, but from a private individual point of view the Abu Dhabi citizens need Uk more than UK needs them. That said if they do blackmail the UK government then do what they did with the Russians, Rich Abu Dhabians need their safety net and properties in London. I just hope the UK government shows its balls as it’s bigger than football.

The problem the premier league have got is if they don't throw the proverbial book at City, especially after issuing such a withering statement then its going to look like they were leant on by politicians who people will naturally assume were leant on by City's owners which is just going to make the corruption look systemic.
Whether people get leant on behind the scene's or not to the outside world that's how it will look, that's how it will be perceived. Instead of just being a case of one rogue club the whole league is going to look rotten to the core.
Say for arguments sake City do remain in the prem, what are people going to think next time a big VAR decision goes their way like the Rodri handball or Doku's Bruce Lee kick on Macca? What happens if City win 4 of the next 6 titles? A few days ago the premier league told us City have been cheating on an industrial scale for a decade, City players dancing around waving trophies in everyone's faces squirting champagne everywhere is the last thing the football world wants to see right now, it would be a PR disaster for the premier league and probably Sky too. People aren't going to want to watch that, they'll be switching off in their droves.

I don't know how long the appeal process will take but yeah I also agree this all should be sorted soon so the rest of the EPL can get back to playing football without cheaters. Imo they will definitely get punished, if there was some payouts in the background then the 114/115 guilty charges wouldn't have been that steep. The report used strong language showing the severity of this case.  This needs to get sorted in our current season and  as early as possible, No matter who City play or how a game actually finishes, every single fixture is completely overshadowed by the elephant in the room—the feeling that we're playing against an asterisk. Any loss against City will just feel like an unfair playing field where every opposition could even potentially contest. It just make the EPL a laughing stock if I'm honest, lets just get back to proper football and kick out the cheats.

In 2020, UEFA banned City from European competition for two seasons over alleged Financial Fair Play breaches, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban. Importantly, CAS did not simply declare that nothing had happened: some alleged conduct was ruled time-barred, other allegations were not sufficiently established on the evidence, and although City were still found to have failed to cooperate with UEFA’s investigation, they got away with it.

Fast-forward to the Premier League case. City were charged in February 2023 after a lengthy investigation and have now been found guilty by an independent commission of the serious financial-rule breaches, although City deny wrongdoing and are appealing.

One of the interesting arguments now concerns procedure. The Premier League subsequently introduced much tighter “fast-track” disciplinary timetables, designed to stop financial cases dragging on for years. City are challenging aspects of the process and have lodged an appeal alleging significant legal and factual errors, in essence they will argue that a speeded up process would be unfair.

So there is an obvious irony: City previously benefited when UEFA’s case ran into limitation and evidential problems, while today their lawyers are challenging the fairness of a Premier League process operating under rules designed to make financial enforcement faster and harder to delay.

After they lose the appeal they will take it to the High Court and argue the PL process was unfair. I think the more this drags on and the nastier it gets will make the relationship with PL untenable, How could they possibility continue playing in the PL?

UAE reportedly threatens Andy Burnham
According to Bloomberg, sources have told them that the UAE has warned Prime Minister Andy Burnham that the Manchester City case could have an influence on bilateral relations between the two countries.

The pressure from the UAE, follows on from a statement from the Prime Minister who said he would be "really concerned" if the club's owners were forced out of the Premier League.

The report says the nations has put £30bn into key UK sectors, such as defence, while also investing in life sciences and technology.