Man City - the new bitters?

[Creator Supreme]

Nobody with any connection to Man City or Sheikh Mansour will do a single day behind bars!

 

They probably get a £25 fine, and a 3 game touchline ban for baldy bollocks!

[dave u]

25 minutes ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

Yeah, totally agree. It’s not even about City at that point, or even punishing them, it’s about the credibility of the rules and the sport. They must be stripped of titles and relegated. That can’t stand, otherwise the message is ‘yeah, just do what you want and then factor in the cost of getting caught’. 

 

Exactly.  I'm not impartial here as we have suffered more than anyone else (along with United I guess) and I absolutely fucking despise City and want to see them suffer. 

 

But take that away and nothing changes anyway. If this were happening in another country and had no impact on us whatsoever, and you asked me what should be done about it, I'd be saying the same thing. It's bigger than us and it's bigger than City.

 

You can't have a competition where all but one participant in obeying the rules because it makes a mockery of that competition.

 

The biggest thing about this is it can't be fixed. No punishment undoes the damage caused to the integrity of the competition, and even handing out titles to those who deserved them doesn't make it right. It's a start, but you can't recapture the emotion that would have been felt by those who were denied trophies by City and their cheating.

 

So it can't be fixed, and because of that the only thing left is to ensure the punishment is as strong as it's possible to make it. By that I mean kicking them out of the league (down to League Two at minimum, if not lower) and stripping them of everything they won.  

 

Anything less than that makes a mockery of the whole thing and will have City thinking "it was worth it". Whatever the punishment, it needs to be so severe that they think "it wasn't worth it" and in doing so you set a precedent to stop anyone pulling this kind of shit. If City get away with it then Newcastle will follow suit, and why shouldn't they?

[Poor Scouser T]

If and its a big if they get found guilty companies house, HMRC, etc all jump in and they are just getting on to this on the podcast.

[dave u]

As for Guardiola, he's a fraud and a liar. "They told me they did nothing wrong and I believe them". Mate, they've already been found guilty and they didn't even appeal it. They just said "doesn't matter what your evidence is, you can't use it as it's over five years old". 

 

He knew there and then they were guilty but he doesn't give a fuck. He should quit today if he's a man of his word, but he's not. So he'll stay until either the players revolt and get rid of him (which isn't far off if you believe recent reports) or until the punishment is handed down and he realises he can't play with a stacked deck anymore.

 

[Numero Veinticinco]

2 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

Exactly.  I'm not impartial here as we have suffered more than anyone else (along with United I guess) and I absolutely fucking despise City and want to see them suffer. 

 

But take that away and nothing changes anyway. If this were happening in another country and had no impact on us whatsoever, and you asked me what should be done about it, I'd be saying the same thing. It's bigger than us and it's bigger than City.

 

You can't have a competition where all but one participant in obeying the rules because it makes a mockery of that competition.

 

The biggest thing about this is it can't be fixed. No punishment undoes the damage caused to the integrity of the competition, and even handing out titles to those who deserved them doesn't make it right. It's a start, but you can't recapture the emotion that would have been felt by those who were denied trophies by City and their cheating.

 

So it can't be fixed, and because of that the only thing left is to ensure the punishment is as strong as it's possible to make it. By that I mean kicking them out of the league (down to League Two at minimum, if not lower) and stripping them of everything they won.  

 

Anything less than that makes a mockery of the whole thing and will have City thinking "it was worth it". Whatever the punishment, it needs to be so severe that they think "it wasn't worth it" and in doing so you set a precedent to stop anyone pulling this kind of shit. If City get away with it then Newcastle will follow suit, and why shouldn't they?

Newcastle was who I had in mind. If they get to keep the trophies then they straight up purchased them, not even in a roundabout way; if the punishment is to keep them then they’ve purchased a club, spend crazy money  breaking the rules, and then keep the trophies they bought. Well, that’s only one step beyond buying them on eBay. Newcastle will think, ‘doesn’t matter, just buy everyone and then if we get caught we will block the news back home’. It’d be a complete farce. 
 

That really would make the game pointless to watch. 

[halewood pete]

[El Dangerous]

What are the chances they have a transfer embargo imposed whilst City ties this up in the courts for the next few years? 

[Poor Scouser T]

1 minute ago, El Dangerous said:

What are the chances they have a transfer embargo imposed whilst City ties this up in the courts for the next few years? 

That would open up a whole new legal argument and I doubt the PL would want to go that way. If the PL lost City could then counter claim for damages. From the legal point though such is the seriousness of the allegations if the PL lose I think they are finished, they have no integrity they are better the house. Not sure what happens then. This is beyond huge and goes all the way to governments relations with Abu Dhabi and billions of pounds of trade. PL are calling the directors of City liars and fraudsters.

[Poor Scouser T]

betting not better

[dave u]

16 hours ago, JohnnyH said:

I’d imagine he’s got some integrity, especially after his statement about walking away if anything is proved to be dodgy. 

 

That's some imagination you've got Johnny!

[Pete]

10 minutes ago, dave u said:

As for Guardiola, he's a fraud and a liar. "They told me they did nothing wrong and I believe them". Mate, they've already been found guilty and they didn't even appeal it. They just said "doesn't matter what your evidence is, you can't use it as it's over five years old". 

 

He knew there and then they were guilty but he doesn't give a fuck. He should quit today if he's a man of his word, but he's not. So he'll stay until either the players revolt and get rid of him (which isn't far off if you believe recent reports) or until the punishment is handed down and he realises he can't play with a stacked deck anymore.

 

I reckon Pep is a bit pissed off as there's a new baldy weirdo in Manchester and his ego can't take it.  

[dave u]

In terms of the punishment, future points deductions should not be on the table as that doesn't help anyone who suffered from the cheating and it basically means it was all worth it from City's point of view. A few seasons where they start with a 12 point deficit or whatever, so what? They won't care as they'll have a decade's worth of ill gotten trophies in the cabinet.

 

Transfer embargoes are pointless too.

 

Any points deductions should be applied to the seasons where they were proven to be cheating. I don't know how you can do that fairly. One thing I thought was that all of their results are expunged from the record and the league table recalculated without them in it. But then that might affect who finished in the bottom three and that's a whole can of worms being opened there.

 

All of this merely shows once again that the punishment needs to be so draconian that everyone looks at it and goes "yeah the crime wasn't worth the time". Otherwise what's the point? If its going to be future points deductions or one season in the Championship or a transfer embargo, there's no point even charging them. May as well just let it go.

[Poor Scouser T]

2 minutes ago, dave u said:

In terms of the punishment, future points deductions should not be on the table as that doesn't help anyone who suffered from the cheating and it basically means it was all worth it from City's point of view. A few seasons where they start with a 12 point deficit or whatever, so what? They won't care as they'll have a decade's worth of ill gotten trophies in the cabinet.

 

Transfer embargoes are pointless too.

 

Any points deductions should be applied to the seasons where they were proven to be cheating. I don't know how you can do that fairly. One thing I thought was that all of their results are expunged from the record and the league table recalculated without them in it. But then that might affect who finished in the bottom three and that's a whole can of worms being opened there.

 

All of this merely shows once again that the punishment needs to be so draconian that everyone looks at it and goes "yeah the crime wasn't worth the time". Otherwise what's the point? If its going to be future points deductions or one season in the Championship or a transfer embargo, there's no point even charging them. May as well just let it go.

This isn't even 1 years cheating it's 9 years. Its deliberate, fraudulent and coordinated. They can't possible stay in your competition under those conditions. Then there is fit and proper ownership which I don't know can be applied retrospectively but Abramovich is a precedent. Would the EFL accept them as? Huge.

[Pidge]

Interesting parallel with Saracens' financial doping in the rugby. They actually couldn't revoke the titles won during the offending period. Which is mad to me.

 

In that case Exeter would have been the most likely winner (top of the table and runner up in the final both years), but understandable that they couldn't be awarded it in Saracens' absence because the playoff and final structure means they may not have won it regardless.

 

Chief Darren Childs admits Premiership Rugby can't strip Saracens of their titles | Daily Mail Online

[TheHowieLama]

59 minutes ago, dave u said:

You can't have a competition where all but one participant in obeying the rules because it makes a mockery of that competition.

 

Like a Rico post in the Transgender thread this.

[gkmacca]

1 hour ago, dave u said:

As for Guardiola, he's a fraud and a liar. "They told me they did nothing wrong and I believe them".

 

 

Same with Eddie Howe - 'I don't know any of that there poh-litical stuff, ooh no, I'm just a humble football man, but they told me they were luvverly and that'll do for me'. Funny how trusting these managers get when the owners are billionaires. When it's some old used car salesman in charge of a third division club you'll suddenly get managers marching off at the slightest suspicion of dodgy dealings.

[manwiththestick]

Mad that this massive story has been pushed right down the bottom of the BBC's football page.

[gkmacca]

6 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Mad that this massive story has been pushed right down the bottom of the BBC's football page.

 

And when the Super League threatened the PL's own nice cosy financial arrangement they and their cheerleaders were on it like a flash, even that bloated contrarian Martin Samuel, they were all at it, all guns blazing, 'to hell with how rich and powerful the clubs concerned are, to hell with what lawyers they might hire - we won't stand for this and we'll shut it down NOW!' They're deeply conflicted when it comes to sportswashing because the clubs bring in the big name players, throw money around the league and add to the international power of the brand. I doubt the PL is even that sure what it is they're really against here.

[ZonkoVille77]

38 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Mad that this massive story has been pushed right down the bottom of the BBC's football page.

 

You can be sure as shit that if it was us at it there would be uproar and non-stop coverage from the BBC.

[Poor Scouser T]

4 minutes ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

 

You can be sure as shit that if it was us at it there would be uproar and non-stop coverage from the BBC.

Nothing else to report, Would just be opinion.

[Mook]

49 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Mad that this massive story has been pushed right down the bottom of the BBC's football page.

 

C'mon man, some women's team have probably sacked their manager or something.

[John102]

I see the latest article on Sky says ''There is a feeling that taking away City's titles retrospectively would be meaningless and cause confusion".

 

How would taking titles off them, which they have cheated their way to, be meaningless?

[bossy]

While I don’t think the punishment will fit the crime, Blue Moon is frothing with conspiracy and hatred for all. One poster asked, and I paraphrase,  ‘lots of fans are anxious and unable to sleep because of this, would they be able to sue the PL for bringing on mental health problems?’ Most amusing. 

[SlugTrail]

https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1622938225772724224?t=BA1fRag7519XDJswE7GxZQ&s=19

[manwiththestick]

22 minutes ago, SlugTrail said:

https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1622938225772724224?t=BA1fRag7519XDJswE7GxZQ&s=19

Might be amnesty worthy but I quite like Simon Jordan when he's taking on clowns like that City fan.