Man City - the new bitters?

[aws]

One demotion for each of the next 115 years seems fair to me. 

[manwiththestick]

1 hour ago, kemskem said:

City fans out in force on twitter defending the club

 

*Tanoy* "Attention, all fans report to Twitter immediately"

 

 

[Carra_is_legend]

They should absolutely be stripped of the titles and everything else they won during the years they cheated - which is pretty much all of them.

 

And the stripped titles should be given to the team that finished 2nd in the respective years. Why should Gerrard go without a league medal due to their blatant cheating?

[Mudface]

22 minutes ago, Carra_is_legend said:

They should absolutely be stripped of the titles and everything else they won during the years they cheated - which is pretty much all of them.

 

And the stripped titles should be given to the team that finished 2nd in the respective years. Why should Gerrard go without a league medal due to their blatant cheating?

 

And more importantly, Flanagan, Allen, Lucas, Aspas and Cissokho.

[dave u]

2 hours ago, JohnnyH said:

I think they'll get huge fines and I think there's a very real chance they'll be demoted out of the PL.  But, for me, most importantly, it'll be confirmed that they're cheats.

 

That's not any kind of punishment. If that's what happens then we may as well just fuck the whole thing off and stop watching.

 

At the very least they need all of their titles stripping, otherwise it will all have been worth it and a couple of seasons outside of the top flight is the tiniest price to pay.

[Lee909]

Problem won't be the premier league punishing them it'll be the cretins in government wanting to keep the Abu Dhabi lot onside and putting pressure on them to find another solution

[JohnnyH]

1 hour ago, dave u said:

 

That's not any kind of punishment. If that's what happens then we may as well just fuck the whole thing off and stop watching.

 

At the very least they need all of their titles stripping, otherwise it will all have been worth it and a couple of seasons outside of the top flight is the tiniest price to pay.

I did also say in the post you quoted that they may be demoted out of the Premier League. 
 

But a big fine has to happen. That may not be an issue for City but it would be for the next lot artificially inflating their value who don’t have unlimited resources. The punishment for City is also about a warning to others. 

[Section_31]

If they're found guilty it destroys their whole project. The oil state buying them was all about rep. They bought trophies but realised they also had to woo fans around the world and that required attacking football and big names. That's what Gaurdiola was all about. 

 

They're fiercely defensive when it comes to criticism, no doubt they've got some big PR people on retainer, but mud sticks. Once they're branded cheats everything is undone, no little Chinese kids are ever gonna wear that shirt again.

[Bobby Hundreds]

They have to be stripped of their titles you commit fraud you don't get to keep the money. Ben Johnson doesn't get to keep his gold but banned from the next Olympics. If found guilty the only sporting justice is the glory they gained through cheating is removed and they start back at square one with the whole world knowing Abu Dhabi entered the sport and cheated it.

 

They'll get off with it because real justice will hurt the brand and politicians will probably step in to rinse their hands with money.

[Bruce Spanner]

Hearing will be before the season ends and it sounds like they're taking it seriously...

 

'“I can [understand the frustration] but they are very different charges,” he said. “If any club, current champions or otherwise, were found in breach of the spending rules in 2022‑23 they would be in exactly the same position as Everton or Nottingham Forest. But the volume and character of the charges laid against City, which I obviously cannot talk about at all, are being heard in a completely different environment. There is a date set for that proceeding. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you when that is but that is progressing.”'

[Em City]

2 hours ago, Section_31 said:

If they're found guilty it destroys their whole project. The oil state buying them was all about rep. They bought trophies but realised they also had to woo fans around the world and that required attacking football and big names. That's what Gaurdiola was all about. 

 

They're fiercely defensive when it comes to criticism, no doubt they've got some big PR people on retainer, but mud sticks. Once they're branded cheats everything is undone, no little Chinese kids are ever gonna wear that shirt again.

 

I've been in Brazil for the last few weeks, seen plenty of Abu Dhabi shirts over here unfortunately. Sheep, erm I mean people, like winners, even if they are cheating cunts.

[coachpotato]

43 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

Hearing will be before the season ends and it sounds like they're taking it seriously...

 

'“I can [understand the frustration] but they are very different charges,” he said. “If any club, current champions or otherwise, were found in breach of the spending rules in 2022‑23 they would be in exactly the same position as Everton or Nottingham Forest. But the volume and character of the charges laid against City, which I obviously cannot talk about at all, are being heard in a completely different environment. There is a date set for that proceeding. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you when that is but that is progressing.”'

The 12th of never?

[Jairzinho]

16 minutes ago, Em City said:

 

I've been in Brazil for the last few weeks, seen plenty of Abu Dhabi shirts over here unfortunately. Sheep, erm I mean people, like winners, even if they are cheating cunts.

 

Fucking Marco Polo over here.

[Barrington Womble]

8 hours ago, JohnnyH said:

 

The reason I think they'll be punished is there is no way the Premier League would go so far as to have 115 findings against their own competition without full knowledge in what they were finding against.  This wasn't an external group making findings that the PL would want to go away.  This was the PL openly embarrassing themselves saying their own competition has been corrupted for years and listing their findings.  Also, the time it is taking, while pissing off others, is giving me confidence that they are doing this properly.

 

As for the punishment?  I don't think we'll see titles stripped or anything like that.  I don't want Liverpool getting back dated titles so I'm not arsed about that anyway.  I think they'll get huge fines and I think there's a very real chance they'll be demoted out of the PL.  But, for me, most importantly, it'll be confirmed that they're cheats.

I disagree the premier league drove this. The hacking event drove this. UEFA charged them, city didn't deny the contents of the hacks, they merely complained that hacked information should be inadmissible. They broadly escaped due to time bar. The premier league had no such time bar, so bad nowhere to turn. They had to act in what appears an open and shut case of fraud. 

[TheDrowningMan]

4 hours ago, Section_31 said:

If they're found guilty it destroys their whole project. The oil state buying them was all about rep. They bought trophies but realised they also had to woo fans around the world and that required attacking football and big names. That's what Gaurdiola was all about. 

 

They're fiercely defensive when it comes to criticism, no doubt they've got some big PR people on retainer, but mud sticks. Once they're branded cheats everything is undone, no little Chinese kids are ever gonna wear that shirt again.

I’m not sure about that. A season in the Championship where they win every game followed by an immediate Premier League title and the narrative will be that Pap, loyal to a fault, took being dealt a bad hand in his stride, knuckled down and returned them to hard-earned glory. The press and pundits are complicit in the City story, and I have little doubt that they will continue to be in the event they’re found guilty.

[an tha]

I don't think there is a cat in hells chance that they suffer any sort of meaningful punishment and I feel they will tie the PL up in litigation for ages.

 

Their owners will see it as a money no object job to drag it on interminably and will refuse to accept any sort of wrong doing and punishment.

[col06]

17 minutes ago, an tha said:

I don't think there is a cat in hells chance that they suffer any sort of meaningful punishment and I feel they will tie the PL up in litigation for ages.

 

Their owners will see it as a money no object job to drag it on interminably and will refuse to accept any sort of wrong doing and punishment.

Then its all over the other clubs will surely kick up a fuss cant see them just being allowed to continue as they have otherwise whats the point

[Tj hooker]

This is a decent read ffs 

[an tha]

20 minutes ago, col06 said:

Then its all over the other clubs will surely kick up a fuss cant see them just being allowed to continue as they have otherwise whats the point

I hear you but i have zero faith that justice will be served in all of this.

 

Only time will tell of course.

[Code]

3 hours ago, Em City said:

 

I've been in Brazil for the last few weeks, seen plenty of Abu Dhabi shirts over here unfortunately. Sheep, erm I mean people, like winners, even if they are cheating cunts.

To be fair, they have had Robinho, Elano, Fernandinho, Ederson, Gabriel Jesus, Maicon, Sylvinho etc, etc playing for them, so Id say its only natural. 

[TheDrowningMan]

1 hour ago, Tj hooker said:

This is a decent read ffs 

Yeah, I think the political element will, in effect, ensure that nothing much is done. The government simply will not allow it.

[Bobby Hundreds]

If city get a punishment that doesn't involve them being stripped of the honours they cheated to win, no opposition fan should go to games when their side faces them. Make them a public pariah if the authorities don't have the balls too. Let every televised City game show the world Abu Dhabi cheated fans so fans won't participate in the charade.

[JohnnyH]

9 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

I disagree the premier league drove this. The hacking event drove this. UEFA charged them, city didn't deny the contents of the hacks, they merely complained that hacked information should be inadmissible. They broadly escaped due to time bar. The premier league had no such time bar, so bad nowhere to turn. They had to act in what appears an open and shut case of fraud. 

I didn’t say the Premier League drove it. The evidence clearly drove it. But the Premier League have acted, and acted very significantly, in following up the evidence with actual charges, and then adding further charges around obstruction to make the overall group of charges the biggest ever seen. Whether they had “nowhere to run” to run or not, they’ve acted and issued an extensive list of charges that simply can’t be blown over. 

 

 

7 hours ago, an tha said:

I don't think there is a cat in hells chance that they suffer any sort of meaningful punishment and I feel they will tie the PL up in litigation for ages.

 

Their owners will see it as a money no object job to drag it on interminably and will refuse to accept any sort of wrong doing and punishment.

The can only tie up the PL in litigation for so long. The courts have to act on fair questions from the defence but when they start clearly just trying to delay then the court can immediately put a stop to that. The City claim that the lead investigator wasn’t impartial because he supported Arsenal was an example of this where they were rebuked and were clearly coming to the end of the line in their delay tactics.  The courts can, and will put a stop to their delay tactics quite easily. 

 

I get that fans, like people everywhere, are extremely negative about everything and so the natural position to arrive at is that nothing will happen. But all evidence points to severe punishment. The last time they were found guilty they were thrown out of the Champions League. A technicality from an outside court got them back in. Everton are then found guilty and have been given a significant points deduction that the PL would have thought was going to relegate them, and still might, and that’s for much lesser charges. 
 

This is no longer about us missing out on a few titles, or even fully about City anymore. They’ve already ruined the last 10 years. This is about the future and ensuring this can’t happen again.  Thus, again, why the punishment will be severe. 

[Harry's Lad]

2 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

If city get a punishment that doesn't involve them being stripped of the honours they cheated to win, no opposition fan should go to games when their side faces them. Make them a public pariah if the authorities don't have the balls too. Let every televised City game show the world Abu Dhabi cheated fans so fans won't participate in the charade.

I've said it before, every opposition club should refuse to play them.

That would be a massive threat to the Premier League's product and if that doesn't send a message to the authorities and force them to act I don't know what would.

 

 

[Barrington Womble]

35 minutes ago, JohnnyH said:

I didn’t say the Premier League drove it. The evidence clearly drove it. But the Premier League have acted, and acted very significantly, in following up the evidence with actual charges, and then adding further charges around obstruction to make the overall group of charges the biggest ever seen. Whether they had “nowhere to run” to run or not, they’ve acted and issued an extensive list of charges that simply can’t be blown over. 

 

 

 

I'm not sure the PL had any choice but to act though. You mentioned they've done it despite potential embarrassment. But it's no more embarrassing than doing nothing. In fact more so. The PL would have happily ignored this whole thing and ticked the box on Abu Dhabi compliance as they have every season submitted outside of these charges. 

 

As for the outcome, for what it's worth, I've posted here before, a mates son is was on the PL legal team. He's shared very little (as he said his dad would tell everyone, which he would!), but he did say he doesn't believe there will be an outcome to the charges, because the league and city are negotiating a settlement - city and the PL know this can be tied up for years, neither wants it but to Abu Dhabi it's preferable to guilty. So I don't know about the idea the charges simply cannot be blown away. There's a long way to go and there's every chance they will be just that.