Topic: Man City - cheating bastards rumbled

[Red-Soldier]

Telegraph saying they want to sign Haaland and Grealish, will be another £200m net spend window during the pandemic and no one will bat an eyelid

Their model is just so resilient 

[rob1966]

Their model is just so resilient 

They've owners have got about £40-50 billion dollars in the bank, its a piece of piss for them.

[Bucko - Dubai]

When you actually look into the wealth of Abu Dhabi, it does make top level football almost pointless for the rest of us

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (in the United Arab Emirates) founded for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It manages the Emirate's excess oil reserves, estimated to be as much as $875 billion. Its portfolio grows at an annual rate of about 10% compounded.[1] The fund is a member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and is therefore signed up to the Santiago Principles on best practice in managing sovereign wealth funds.[2]

ADIA has never published how much it has in assets but estimates have been between $800 billion to approximately US$875 billion.[3] The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute puts the figure at US$580 billion

Sheik Mansour is of course on the board

[JRed]

When you actually look into the wealth of Abu Dhabi, it does make top level football almost pointless for the rest of us

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (in the United Arab Emirates) founded for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It manages the Emirate's excess oil reserves, estimated to be as much as $875 billion. Its portfolio grows at an annual rate of about 10% compounded.[1] The fund is a member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and is therefore signed up to the Santiago Principles on best practice in managing sovereign wealth funds.[2]

ADIA has never published how much it has in assets but estimates have been between $800 billion to approximately US$875 billion.[3] The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute puts the figure at US$580 billion

Sheik Mansour is of course on the board

I guess we’re all so lucky that city’s owner doesn’t actually invest any of that money in the club and all city’s money comes from ‘sponsorships’ and ‘football related activities’.

[Chris~]

Telegraph saying they want to sign Haaland and Grealish, will be another £200m net spend window during the pandemic and no one will bat an eyelid

Grealish going there rather than a side he's going to improve is good  I guess.

[Medellin]

Grealish going there rather than a side he's going to improve is good  I guess.

Not sure Grealish would be a good fit for City..he is quality but there is a reason why he is the most fouled player in the prem.

[RedSince86]

Raiola leaking to the press that the potential wages of Haaland will be £600k a week, so that'll be 150k a week on the books then and City wages dept do their wizardry.

[Medellin]

Raiola leaking to the press that the potential wages of Haaland will be £600k a week, so that'll be 150k a week on the books then and City wages dept do their wizardry.

A Paradise papers style wizzkid will blow the lot sky high one day showing transactions to & from.
Mancini '(alleged)' & most likely quite a few more will be in time too.

[Drinks Sangria]

These things tend to come out in time. Calciopoli was exposed largely around 10 - 15 years after it had actually been happening. City have been doing this since 2008 but I do think more will come in time. Hopefully the likes of Der Spiegel haven't been dismayed by the lack of impact on City and will continue to be an extremely hungry dog with an extremely juicy bone.

[JRed]

These things tend to come out in time. Calciopoli was exposed largely around 10 - 15 years after it had actually been happening. City have been doing this since 2008 but I do think more will come in time. Hopefully the likes of Der Spiegel haven't been dismayed by the lack of impact on City and will continue to be an extremely hungry dog with an extremely juicy bone.

I really don’t understand why our media hasn’t gone after them properly.

[Crosby Nick]

I really don’t understand why our media hasn’t gone after them properly.

Expensive lawyers probably.

[lionel_messias]

Watch any big club start talking about Covid austerity this summer, to the backdrop of City dropping £140 million on a Haaland signing.

It's not going to be quiet, that's for sure.

[Crosby Nick]

Watch any big club start talking about Covid austerity this summer, to the backdrop of City dropping £140 million on a Haaland signing.

It's not going to be quiet, that's for sure.

A transfer like that would kick off quite a chain reaction wouldn’t it. There was a good show on TAW about t with Rory Smith a while back.

[Dim Glas]

Expensive lawyers probably.

Also, such is the lack of moral compass in the media, and in the english tabloid football media more than most, and such is the greed of the various FA’s, they seem content to go with the ‘out of sight out of mind’ approach. Like how they are happy a club in the premier league is onwed by human rights abuses - so long it doesn’t affect them, all good. They are equally happy a club can attract top talent and mangers to it’s league, which they think makes them a better and higher profile league, so they can crow about being ‘the best league in Europe’, which in turn allows them to get far bigger sponsorships and to sell big tv packages.

It’ll only become an issue to them in maybe 4 or 5 years time, when Manchester City are basically the harlem globetrotters and have won their 6th treble in a row.

[Ray K]

If it wasn't for our unbelievably brilliant seasons in 18/19 and 19/20, they'd be on the verge of 4 league titles in a row with barely a challenger worth mentioning, and now they're going to break the British transfer record twice this summer on two of the best young players in Europe.

So (a) why don't the rest of the league give us a modicum of thanks for those two seasons and (b) how are the broadcasters going to react to another probable procession next year?  At some point the viewing figures worldwide are going to suffer amid such predictability.

[Kekule]

If they do win the European Cup this year, a year in which they shouldn’t even be competing in it because they were rightfully banned, do you think the lawyers will be allowed on the podium to pick up their medals too?

They would have played the most important part in the victory after all.

[Dim Glas]

If it wasn't for our unbelievably brilliant seasons in 18/19 and 19/20, they'd be on the verge of 4 league titles in a row with barely a challenger worth mentioning, and now they're going to break the British transfer record twice this summer on two of the best young players in Europe.

So (a) why don't the rest of the league give us a modicum of thanks for those two seasons and (b) how are the broadcasters going to react to another probable procession next year?  At some point the viewing figures worldwide are going to suffer amid such predictability.

I’ve mentioned similar in the Bundesliga thread, but the lack of a competitive title (like this season and last season in the prem - just different teams), or in the sake of Germany - the same winner year on year, may seem like it would kill a leauge  - it doesn’t - viewing figures still very very high. I think maybe cos we’re Liverpool fans, so a lot of us tend to think only in terms of league challenge as being important. But fact is, the majority of other teams’ fans will find other stuff more important or interesting. Like me with Bundesliga - my team will never challenge for the league, so frankly, I take little notice of what is going on at the top.

So I honestly don’t think they care - so long as a club like Man City (and also Chelsea) continue to bring top playeres into the league and sometimes top managers, the positives outweigh the negatives from a financial standpoint.

And from a fan perspective - we know what it’s like here, it’s basically everyone hates Liverpool, so they’ve no problem with a team coming in and basically buying their way to success, at the expense of a club they hate.

What makes me laugh though is how fans of teams like Everton are fine with it - shows how their minds work. Man City have leapfrogged them, not organically or through hard work, but just by paying their way, meaning they have even more teams to contend with as they desperately try and win something and qualify for Europe. But they don’t care, as it stops a team they are obsessed with winning. (Or so they thought).

[rob1966]

If it wasn't for our unbelievably brilliant seasons in 18/19 and 19/20, they'd be on the verge of 4 league titles in a row with barely a challenger worth mentioning, and now they're going to break the British transfer record twice this summer on two of the best young players in Europe.

So (a) why don't the rest of the league give us a modicum of thanks for those two seasons and (b) how are the broadcasters going to react to another probable procession next year?  At some point the viewing figures worldwide are going to suffer amid such predictability.

I can give you over £100 million reasons why the owners of about 16 clubs don't give a flying fuck.

[paulrazor]

Raiola leaking to the press that the potential wages of Haaland will be £600k a week, so that'll be 150k a week on the books then and City wages dept do their wizardry.

i know city are loaded and would afford it unlike everything else but where is he getting 600k from, hes pulled that figure out of his arse

If they do win the European Cup this year, a year in which they shouldn’t even be competing in it because they were rightfully banned, do you think the lawyers will be allowed on the podium to pick up their medals too?

They would have played the most important part in the victory after all.

good shout

i wasnt at all surprised they got off the hook

you would wonder if a team that finished 4th in the eredivise or bundesliga for the first time did that would they have gotten away with it? doubt it


as i mentioned id a row on twitter with a few of them over the spending, they honestly think there is no difference between us buying davies and kabak and them buying ake and dias for 100m. by their logic buying those two is no different than chesterfield or wrexham or whoever buying two defenders as well

you give them umpteen examples of how they dipped into the market to buy god knows how many defenders for god knows how much and all they keep saying is "van dijk and alisson" among whatever other childish shit they spew

can someone here tell me is lovren the second most expensive defender we had after van dijk?

ok they never spent 75m on a defender but between 20m lovren and 75m van dijk how many city defenders can you squeeze in there fee wise

there must be at least 10

[Tobelius]

Telegraph saying they want to sign Haaland and Grealish, will be another £200m net spend window during the pandemic and no one will bat an eyelid

Would be only a small departure of their model of modestly buying around 3 £50-60m players a summer every year,i guess that's how 'self sustaining' works now as their influencers keep telling everyone.

2 fantastic players for sure and would make competing another little bit harder for everyone else with the squad depth they have.

[Drinks Sangria]

can someone here tell me is lovren the second most expensive defender we had after van dijk?

ok they never spent 75m on a defender but between 20m lovren and 75m van dijk how many city defenders can you squeeze in there fee wise

there must be at least 10

Happy to accept the challenge, reckon I can get 7 or 8 from memory? Have to forgive the fees- they're ballparks rather than exact, but I reckon they've spent close to half a billion on defenders under Guardiola:

Porro £11m - Has he even played for them? Seemed a dodgy way to potentially give Girona more funds to play with.

Ruben Dias £65m - Fair fucks, he's been immense and made my prediction of him being too slow on the turn to look stupid. Still think Ferro looked the better player when they were partners at Benfica.

Nathan Ake £41m - What was the actual point?

Angelino £5m + £10.5m - (minus) £26m??? - Odd one. Clearly has quality but can't defend for toffee. Paid £5m for him supposedly, as a 16 year old, sold him for the same amount to PSV before he'd ever played a game two years later, Signed him back a year later for more than double the price, then he made four starts (including getting destroyed at Anfield by Salah) then went to RB Leipzig for supposed fee of over £20m. Based on what I haven't a clue.

Cancelo £60m - Most expensive right back of all time. Looks pretty good after a mediocre start. Probably par for the course given the fee. People acted surprised when it turned out he's a good footballer.

Danilo - £27m - Shit. Still shit at Juve.

Zinchenko - £2m - Bit of a bargain this one. More of an LFC style buy.

John Stones - £50m - Finally looks the player they thought they were getting, albeit it's taken him 5 years to get there and he's looked an accident waiting to happen for most of that.

Benjamin Mendy - £52m - Think he was that price. Poor buy. Has looked dangerous on his day but has struggled for sustained minutes.

Kyle Walker - £48m - What's that, another right back? Costing a huge fee? Even though Danilo and Cancelo were signed either side of him for a combined £88m?

Aymeric Laporte £58m - Shame he plays for City because he's a classy, quality footballer who can mix it with the best. Fee seems probably about right.

Probably forgot some, but there's 11 I can remember, feel free to correct any fees I'm way off on, as I own googled a couple. Is that over £400m's worth there? Crazy.

[paulrazor]

about 8 in the price bracket there i was looking for

various degrees of success

also been Lescott, Otamendi and Mangala

I never really rated any of them in all honesty, there are probably more

[Stockholm Syndrome]

I really don’t understand why our media hasn’t gone after them properly.

Because if they even whisper about Abu Dhabi or their financial clout in anything but a positive manner, their press pass to the Etihad would be revoked. No more talking to the big name players and Guardiola

[Dim Glas]

Happy to accept the challenge, reckon I can get 7 or 8 from memory? Have to forgive the fees- they're ballparks rather than exact, but I reckon they've spent close to half a billion on defenders under Guardiola:

Porro £11m - Has he even played for them? Seemed a dodgy way to potentially give Girona more funds to play with.

Ruben Dias £65m - Fair fucks, he's been immense and made my prediction of him being too slow on the turn to look stupid. Still think Ferro looked the better player when they were partners at Benfica.

Nathan Ake £41m - What was the actual point?

Angelino £5m + £10.5m - (minus) £26m??? - Odd one. Clearly has quality but can't defend for toffee. Paid £5m for him supposedly, as a 16 year old, sold him for the same amount to PSV before he'd ever played a game two years later, Signed him back a year later for more than double the price, then he made four starts (including getting destroyed at Anfield by Salah) then went to RB Leipzig for supposed fee of over £20m. Based on what I haven't a clue.

Cancelo £60m - Most expensive right back of all time. Looks pretty good after a mediocre start. Probably par for the course given the fee. People acted surprised when it turned out he's a good footballer.

Danilo - £27m - Shit. Still shit at Juve.

Zinchenko - £2m - Bit of a bargain this one. More of an LFC style buy.

John Stones - £50m - Finally looks the player they thought they were getting, albeit it's taken him 5 years to get there and he's looked an accident waiting to happen for most of that.

Benjamin Mendy - £52m - Think he was that price. Poor buy. Has looked dangerous on his day but has struggled for sustained minutes.

Kyle Walker - £48m - What's that, another right back? Costing a huge fee? Even though Danilo and Cancelo were signed either side of him for a combined £88m?

Aymeric Laporte £58m - Shame he plays for City because he's a classy, quality footballer who can mix it with the best. Fee seems probably about right.

Probably forgot some, but there's 11 I can remember, feel free to correct any fees I'm way off on, as I own googled a couple. Is that over £400m's worth there? Crazy.

Angelino is a good player, but not in a back 4, he plays very advanced for Leipzig, and is really really good in that role. I think he’s costing them around €18m, which is a good deal for them for an important player.  Just a strange player for Man city to even have, so why they bought him back who knows, although every chance it was for some creative accounting. 

Guardiola has spent close on a billion €’s at Manchester City, and yep, a shit ton of it on defenders.

And of course, has never had to sell to buy.

Same everywhere he goes. 

[Drinks Sangria]

Angelino is a good player, but not in a back 4, he plays very advanced for Leipzig, and is really really good in that role. I think he’s costing them around €18m, which is a good deal for them for an important player.  Just a strange player for Man city to even have, so why they bought him back who knows, although every chance it was for some creative accounting. 

Guardiola has spent close on a billion €’s at Manchester City, and yep, a shit ton of it on defenders.

And of course, has never had to sell to buy.

Same everywhere he goes.

Yeah I like him in the wing back role, but like we saw, susceptible in a 4 like you say. Certainly be quality for Leipzig, very good technically.

about 8 in the price bracket there i was looking for

various degrees of success

also been Lescott, Otamendi and Mangala

I never really rated any of them in all honesty, there are probably more

I was just thinking Pep, I forgot the expensive other additions prior to his arrival. Toure was £30m odd too wasn't he?

[davidlpool1982]

Because if they even whisper about Abu Dhabi or their financial clout in anything but a positive manner, their press pass to the Etihad would be revoked. No more talking to the big name players and Guardiola

Plus the advertising in the papers stops. Papers need advertising money to survive.

[keyop]

These things tend to come out in time. Calciopoli was exposed largely around 10 - 15 years after it had actually been happening. City have been doing this since 2008 but I do think more will come in time. Hopefully the likes of Der Spiegel haven't been dismayed by the lack of impact on City and will continue to be an extremely hungry dog with an extremely juicy bone.

I think the verdict will make Der Spiegel hungry for more. City actually lost the substantive part of the case but got off on a time-based technicality. The process will have taught them (plus CAS/UEFA/FFP) a lot about how to do it better next time.

It will be interesting to see how they re-negotiate a stadium sponsorship deal, as I think the 10-year contract with Etihad is up in the summer. £400m to acquire the naming rights and shirt sponsorship in 2011 was a scandal - called out by clubs across Europe. That's £100m more than it cost to buy our entire club in the same year.

Even during the CAS trial, the Head of La Liga was vocal about City's spending, and that's in a league with two of the biggest spending clubs over the last 20-30 years that have a combined current debt of £1.7 billion.

I think if someone eventually brings City down, the rest of the football world will enjoy watching them burn.

[JRed]

If it wasn't for our unbelievably brilliant seasons in 18/19 and 19/20, they'd be on the verge of 4 league titles in a row with barely a challenger worth mentioning, and now they're going to break the British transfer record twice this summer on two of the best young players in Europe.

So (a) why don't the rest of the league give us a modicum of thanks for those two seasons and (b) how are the broadcasters going to react to another probable procession next year?  At some point the viewing figures worldwide are going to suffer amid such predictability.

True. If it wasn’t for Klopp’s genius then Abu Dhabi would’ve now strolled to FOUR titles in a row by around 20 points a season. If we can’t get back on track then they will likely win the next four or five by similar margins. What is the point of football when that happens? Their state funds are turning what was once one of the best leagues in Europe to nothing more than the French league, which coincidently has also been ruined by Middle East state funds.

[Red_Rich]

Grealish going there rather than a side he's going to improve is good  I guess.

They'll spend what they want. It's their own money.  Ditto Chelsea.

Empty seats banter aside, they can easily pass off the lack of matchday revenue during this pandemic as a minor inconvenience.

[decosabute]

Raiola leaking to the press that the potential wages of Haaland will be £600k a week, so that'll be 150k a week on the books then and City wages dept do their wizardry.

A Paradise papers style wizzkid will blow the lot sky high one day showing transactions to & from.
Mancini '(alleged)' & most likely quite a few more will be in time too.

Careful not to say any of this to Neil Atkinson. He's upset with anyone questioning poor City's honesty over how they pay their players and staff. They're so honest and above board that respectable journalists from the Associated Press decided to grill Guardiola about how he was being paid after a game where they'd secured a domestic treble. That happens because nothing they do on the pitch matters when it's all the result of cheating and fakery.

[vivabobbygraham]

Careful not to say any of this to Neil Atkinson. He's upset with anyone questioning poor City's honesty over how they pay their players and staff. They're so honest and above board that respectable journalists from the Associated Press decided to grill Guardiola about how he was being paid after a game where they'd secured a domestic treble. That happens because nothing they do on the pitch matters when it's all the result of cheating and fakery.

Mate, they are a gang of cheating c*nts but they're all at it, they all want in, the Saudi's, Russians even the Yanks, God bless 'em. Why? Because it's bent as fuck, cleans money up big time. Sportswash the shit out of it, get the press in your pocket, get lawyered up and away we go

[A-Bomb]

Mate, they are a gang of cheating c*nts but they're all at it, they all want in, the Saudi's, Russians even the Yanks, God bless 'em. Why? Because it's bent as fuck, cleans money up big time. Sportswash the shit out of it, get the press in your pocket, get lawyered up and away we go

Oh mate we can agree on this! A complete gang of cheating twats - Makes fucking them over all the more satisfying.

[J_Kopite]

Every. Single. Year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56591844

The comments are a laugh though

[JRed]

Every. Single. Year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56591844

The comments are a laugh though

Wouldn’t be surprised if they did win buy it this year .

[Zlen]

Loving this subhead on the BBC article.
'City flexing their financial muscle'
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56589278

That's where we are now.
Financial powerhouse they are.

[Drinks Sangria]

Be interesting if Haaland stayed one more season, they got Kane and his ankles finally turned to the powder they're on their way to being.

[taylorb1991]

Disqualifying Events
F.1. A Person shall be disqualified from acting as a Director and no Club shall be
permitted to have any Person acting as a Director of that Club if:
F.1.1. in relation to the assessment of his compliance with Rule F.1 (and/or any
similar or equivalent rules of The Football League or The Football
Association) at any time, he has:
F.1.1.1. failed to provide all relevant information (including, without
limitation, information relating to any other individual who
would qualify as a Director but has not been disclosed, including
where he or they are acting as a proxy, agent or nominee for
another Person); or
F.1.1.2. provided false, misleading or inaccurate information
F.1.2. either directly or indirectly he is involved in or has any power to determine
or influence the management or administration of another Club or Football
League club;
F.1.3. either directly or indirectly he holds or acquires any Significant Interest in a
Club while he either directly or indirectly holds any interest in any class of
Shares of another Club;
F.1.4. he becomes prohibited by law from being a director (including without
limitation as a result of being subject to a disqualification order as a
director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (as
amended or any equivalent provisions in any jurisdiction which has a
substantially similar effect) (“the CDDA”), or being subject to the terms of
an undertaking given to the Secretary of State under the CDDA unless a
court of competent jurisdiction makes an order under the CDDA permitting
an appointment as a Director);
F.1.5. he has a Conviction (which is not a Spent Conviction) imposed by a court of
the United Kingdom or a competent court of foreign jurisdiction:
F.1.5.1. in respect of which an unsuspended sentence of at least 12
months’ imprisonment was imposed;
F.1.5.2. in respect of any offence involving any act which could
reasonably be considered to be dishonest (and, for the
avoidance of doubt, irrespective of the actual sentence
imposed); or
F.1.5.3. in respect of an offence set out in Appendix 1 (Schedule of
Offences) or a directly analogous offence in a foreign
jurisdiction (and, for the avoidance of doubt, irrespective of the
actual sentence imposed);
F.1.6. in the reasonable opinion of the Board, he has engaged in conduct outside
the United Kingdom that would constitute an offence of the sort described
in Rules F.1.5.2 or F.1.5.3, if such conduct had taken place in the United
Kingdom, whether or not such conduct resulted in a Conviction; 



Has anyone ever taken the time to read the Premier League Owners and Directors test? That last section seems particularly relevant......Engaged in conduct outside the United Kingdom that would constitute an offence in the UK......

Imprisoning homosexuals?
Torturing political rivals? 
Tortuting prisoners?
Human rights violations against migrant workers?

Seems like the Premier League violated their own rules whe they allowed the Al Nahyans to purchase City. Again, I can't believe the press in this country aren't questioning this and putting the Premier League and FA under pressure.

[Raid]

Surely Haaland wouldn't accept a move to Abu Dhabi following his support of the football human rights campaign last week?

Or will he just accept the wage like Gundogan.

[Dim Glas]

Surely Haaland wouldn't accept a move to Abu Dhabi following his support of the football human rights campaign last week?

Or will he just accept the wage like Gundogan.

I fully expect him too, if that’s the club he wants to sign for and they offer a deal he and his lovely agent deem big enough.

It is what it is, players will follow like sheep with these little hollow protests, but they will also do what is best for themselves in a short playing career and not bat an eye. 

Guardiola is the biggest hypocrite in football - and it’s barely mentioned, it’ll be no problem for a player to go that route - no one cares.

[Gray Hamster]

I fully expect him too, if that’s the club he wants to sign for and they offer a deal he and his lovely agent deem big enough.

It is what it is, players will follow like sheep with these little hollow protests, but they will also do what is best for themselves in a short playing career and not bat an eye. 

Guardiola is the biggest hypocrite in football - and it’s barely mentioned, it’ll be no problem for a player to go that route - no one cares.

It’s ugly though isn’t it.     Can’t believe that everyone has a ‘price’ whereby their willing to sell their souls to the devil.  Must be some out there with some decency, integrity, good sense and better judgement.