| Man City - GUILTY 14:45 - Sep 25 with 35072 views | Northernr |
On all charges. Punishment? Errrrr, haven't decided yet.
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| Man City - GUILTY on 09:18 - Oct 1 with 1576 views | TK1 |
The Burnham intervention is the thin end of a wedge that could do real damage to him. Worth looking at Melissa Reddy's X for links to the sweetheart property deals his Manchester gave to Abu Dhabi. It's shocking.
In the Guardian yesterday there was a column by Liew which highlighted the huge mess both the PL and HMG have got themselves into by allowing nation states to buy English football clubs and invest so much.
Two quotes leapt out:
1/ "Just last month, Bloomberg reported UAE officials warning that an adverse verdict against City could threaten billions in Emirati investment in the UK. Bilateral trade between the countries nudged above £25bn in 2025."
So, yes, the day after Andy Burnham's unveiled at conference some ambitious if precariously funded social care programs, he's going to be "really concerned" if the UAE owners of City leave.
2/ Good luck too, PL, with applying those sporting sanctions:
"At this point we should probably recall that this is a football club majority-owned by a country that, according to the UN’s own reports, is defying arms embargos in Sudan and Libya.."
https://www.theguardian.com/co |  | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 09:18 - Oct 1 with 1573 views | E17hoop |
| Man City - GUILTY on 08:57 - Oct 1 by KensalT |
That link didn't work for me.
Says "Page not found" |
Can't get the links to work - likely disabled on his side.
https://taxpolicy.org.uk/ |  |
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| Man City - GUILTY on 10:18 - Oct 1 with 1404 views | KensalT |
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| Man City - GUILTY on 10:20 - Oct 1 with 1383 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
| Man City - GUILTY on 10:18 - Oct 1 by KensalT |
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Unsurprising, particularly when you have the unelected PM defending them. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 10:25 - Oct 1 with 1374 views | KensalT |
The PL really has tied itself in knots with its greed 
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| Man City - GUILTY on 11:22 - Oct 1 with 1229 views | Bluce_Ree |
Football is such a disgusting, bloated thing now. A right nest of rich c*nts.
As a society, we're just too comfortable with a small amount of people owning everything. |  |
| Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. He runs like a cheetah, his crosses couldn't be sweeter. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. |
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| Man City - GUILTY on 11:37 - Oct 1 with 1205 views | daveB |
One thing I think is that are we really to believe other clubs don't do the same, not on this scale but they are all at it, Stoke and their bet365 sponsoring everything. I'm not overly convinced that Man Utd actually earn as much as they say they do either and thats what this has done, it's taken away all the trust and integrity of the whole league and the cause of that is the clubs coming up with ridiculous unworkable rules that they have all had to lie and cheat to get around.
It's the biggest act of self harm in football history |  | | |
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| Man City - GUILTY on 11:39 - Oct 1 with 1201 views | PlanetHonneywood |
Given the level of investment from the Emirate of Dubai, I wonder what conversations are going on at the Arsenal? No doubt the cousins in Abu Dhabi will be looking to call in those favours for bailing our Dubai!
The more I think about this, the more the onus might be on former and current Premier league clubs to pursue civil claims and for UEFA to apply the pressure their end. |  |
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| Man City - GUILTY on 11:47 - Oct 1 with 1183 views | KensalT |
| Man City - GUILTY on 11:39 - Oct 1 by PlanetHonneywood |
Given the level of investment from the Emirate of Dubai, I wonder what conversations are going on at the Arsenal? No doubt the cousins in Abu Dhabi will be looking to call in those favours for bailing our Dubai!
The more I think about this, the more the onus might be on former and current Premier league clubs to pursue civil claims and for UEFA to apply the pressure their end. |
Yeah.
It wouldn't be a huge surprise if the two "unnamed clubs" Sky are saying think booting City out of the PL would be commercial suicide turned out to be City and Arsenal.
The rest of the PL might not see it that way.
Apparently Arsenal's Emirates deal is worth £70m per year.
Which raises an interesting question over whether Arsenal should be allowed to vote if there is a vote around expelling City. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 12:42 - Oct 1 with 1080 views | CiderwithRsie |
| Man City - GUILTY on 10:20 - Oct 1 by Wegerles_Stairs |
Unsurprising, particularly when you have the unelected PM defending them. |
Could we discuss Man City and football finance without a load of constitutionally ignorant political bollocks, please. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 13:02 - Oct 1 with 1034 views | TK1 |
| Man City - GUILTY on 11:37 - Oct 1 by daveB |
One thing I think is that are we really to believe other clubs don't do the same, not on this scale but they are all at it, Stoke and their bet365 sponsoring everything. I'm not overly convinced that Man Utd actually earn as much as they say they do either and thats what this has done, it's taken away all the trust and integrity of the whole league and the cause of that is the clubs coming up with ridiculous unworkable rules that they have all had to lie and cheat to get around.
It's the biggest act of self harm in football history |
There is a reasonable chance that this collapses the entire Ponzi scheme of PL football and beyond. Self-interest may prevail, but if Abu Dhabi so choose, they could kamikazi the whole thing in retaliation. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 13:16 - Oct 1 with 981 views | KensalT |
| Man City - GUILTY on 13:02 - Oct 1 by TK1 |
There is a reasonable chance that this collapses the entire Ponzi scheme of PL football and beyond. Self-interest may prevail, but if Abu Dhabi so choose, they could kamikazi the whole thing in retaliation. |
Would they though?
They got into football to sportswash the image of the nation as a fun place to visit and do business with.
They would trash all of that if they tried to pull down the whole PL.
Besides, there's a lot going on in the Middle East right now. The smaller states can't afford to go around making enemies when they really need friends. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 13:32 - Oct 1 with 930 views | TK1 |
| Man City - GUILTY on 13:16 - Oct 1 by KensalT |
Would they though?
They got into football to sportswash the image of the nation as a fun place to visit and do business with.
They would trash all of that if they tried to pull down the whole PL.
Besides, there's a lot going on in the Middle East right now. The smaller states can't afford to go around making enemies when they really need friends. |
There's enough material out there about Shiekh Mansour and Al Mubarak to suggest these are not people who will meekly accept the kind of sanctions being described. What was it Mansour said about UEFA according to the hack? "I'd rather spend £30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years."
That sports washing thing now is up in smoke. There's no getting back to it for them. They'll want some kind of refund. Burnham knows it for one. Sports washing is not just about advertising a nation, it's also about buying political influence and power: that's being exercised now. [Post edited 1 Oct 13:35]
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| Man City - GUILTY on 13:50 - Oct 1 with 887 views | Northernr |
I for one am stunned that the United Arab Emirates didn't want to buy Manchester City purely for the love of the game. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 14:27 - Oct 1 with 782 views | KensalT |
| Man City - GUILTY on 13:32 - Oct 1 by TK1 |
There's enough material out there about Shiekh Mansour and Al Mubarak to suggest these are not people who will meekly accept the kind of sanctions being described. What was it Mansour said about UEFA according to the hack? "I'd rather spend £30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years."
That sports washing thing now is up in smoke. There's no getting back to it for them. They'll want some kind of refund. Burnham knows it for one. Sports washing is not just about advertising a nation, it's also about buying political influence and power: that's being exercised now. [Post edited 1 Oct 13:35]
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Abu Dhabi ranks sixth in the world for oil reserves. They're sitting on roughly 115 billion barrels of the stuff.
With that much oil you don't need to buy a football club to exert political influence. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 15:08 - Oct 1 with 651 views | TK1 |
| Man City - GUILTY on 14:27 - Oct 1 by KensalT |
Abu Dhabi ranks sixth in the world for oil reserves. They're sitting on roughly 115 billion barrels of the stuff.
With that much oil you don't need to buy a football club to exert political influence. |
And yet that's exactly what they (and Qatar, Saudi) did. That the UAE's trade is worth £25b a year to the UK means they have massive political influence, with the City group at the sharp end.
Abu Dhabi Group invested billions into City, regenerated East Manchester to a previously unimaginable degree (at laughably advantageous rates) all the while currying favour of the garrulous mayor, A Burnham.
If at that the end of all that, the footballing body of England that they have - in their eyes - bankrolled and promoted with their expensive sexy football then sanctions them with relegation, eye watering fines and perhaps even banishment as individuals from the sport...well, money doesn't fix that alone. Political influence does.
Andy Burnham's whole brand is about being a good guy in tune with the country and the common man, all about fairness and saying largely what people want to hear. Other than City fans *nobody* wanted to hear Burnham say he would be "really concerned" if the UAE leave City. That's political influence.
Look, I have no idea what's going to happen. But it's potentially very ugly and not just for the City ownership group. The sponsorship deals at Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle will all be thrown under the spotlight. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 15:13 - Oct 1 with 625 views | Northernr |
| Man City - GUILTY on 15:08 - Oct 1 by TK1 |
And yet that's exactly what they (and Qatar, Saudi) did. That the UAE's trade is worth £25b a year to the UK means they have massive political influence, with the City group at the sharp end.
Abu Dhabi Group invested billions into City, regenerated East Manchester to a previously unimaginable degree (at laughably advantageous rates) all the while currying favour of the garrulous mayor, A Burnham.
If at that the end of all that, the footballing body of England that they have - in their eyes - bankrolled and promoted with their expensive sexy football then sanctions them with relegation, eye watering fines and perhaps even banishment as individuals from the sport...well, money doesn't fix that alone. Political influence does.
Andy Burnham's whole brand is about being a good guy in tune with the country and the common man, all about fairness and saying largely what people want to hear. Other than City fans *nobody* wanted to hear Burnham say he would be "really concerned" if the UAE leave City. That's political influence.
Look, I have no idea what's going to happen. But it's potentially very ugly and not just for the City ownership group. The sponsorship deals at Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle will all be thrown under the spotlight. |
It's going to get super ugly. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 15:17 - Oct 1 with 619 views | Northernr |
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| Man City - GUILTY on 15:20 - Oct 1 with 605 views | BostonR |
| Man City - GUILTY on 13:50 - Oct 1 by Northernr |
I for one am stunned that the United Arab Emirates didn't want to buy Manchester City purely for the love of the game. |
You make a great point albeit in a lighthearted way. It does make you wonder why the PL and the government didn’t clip the wings of these nation-state investors.
We allowed £BNs of dirty Russian money to infect the City institutions and few got wildly rich on the back of it.
Clearly successive governments have turned a blind eye to corruption at the expense of taking untold riches but at what cost?
You feel for honest investors like Ruben who is throwing £Millions at us in an honest and open way and trying to get the club self-financing. What chance do 90% of English clubs actually have if this crass cheating is allowed to go unpunished?
It won’t take much to collapse the whole PL if there is a multi-£Million pile on against City and the PL.
Is it possible Sky where in the know? |  | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 15:41 - Oct 1 with 546 views | numptydumpty |
| Man City - GUILTY on 15:13 - Oct 1 by Northernr |
It's going to get super ugly. |
Hey, we may get in the Prem after all, with ten teams being forcibly demoted in the coming years.
Football at the highest level has become painfully corrupt though, and there was never a world that could exist with wages increasing so exponentially so far as Tottenham spend £300 million on players that wouldnt get first team starts at our club, let alone random other premier league outfits.
The wage increases have to stop some day.
First signs of the massively inflated bubbles beginning to burst. Its essential for the future of the sport that correct decisions are made and brought in as soon as.
Personally though, i am extremely doubtful punishments will be fair, just or indeed honest !! [Post edited 1 Oct 15:45]
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| Man City - GUILTY on 15:56 - Oct 1 with 497 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
| Man City - GUILTY on 12:42 - Oct 1 by CiderwithRsie |
Could we discuss Man City and football finance without a load of constitutionally ignorant political bollocks, please. |
Unfortunately, not. Burnham was the mayor of Manchester from 2017 until 2026.
A lot of the regeneration of Manchester, which he has taken political credit for, was bankrolled by the UAE.
You don't build 6k houses, etc, for the love of it. It whole thing stinks, and Burnham then makes that statement.
Corrupt, the whole thing. | |
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| Man City - GUILTY on 16:01 - Oct 1 with 484 views | daveB |
This weeks Stick to football was superb, long but well worth a watch. Jil Scott makes a prat of herself but the KC and David Ornstein were both superb | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 16:14 - Oct 1 with 444 views | TK1 |
| Man City - GUILTY on 16:01 - Oct 1 by daveB |
This weeks Stick to football was superb, long but well worth a watch. Jil Scott makes a prat of herself but the KC and David Ornstein were both superb |
Just watched it, really good insights and fantastic not to have so much Disney and other product placement in an edition for once. | | | |
| Man City - GUILTY on 16:27 - Oct 1 with 407 views | TK1 |
| Man City - GUILTY on 15:13 - Oct 1 by Northernr |
It's going to get super ugly. |
Burnham had an atypically good week for a British PM at Labour Conference, praised even by right-leaning journalists...
Two days later he felt compelled to offer that comment in support of the City ownership group who've just been found guilty of incredible cheating. Why? Why not just offer "no comment"? Because he is obliged.
So, today on BBC Politics Live they are not talking about his Conference win. Matthew Syed obliterates him, leaving the Labour MP next to him drowning in deep water, spluttering about Southend (!) and eventually forced to say his PM should clarify his comments.
Incredible own goal scored by Burnham against his own run of play. He's in big trouble. Watch...
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