New: Sources from three countries confirm that the Trump Administration has advocated Viktor Orbán for UN Secretary-General. The US has encouraged Orbán to enter the race, even bringing him the initial idea of a joint U.S.-Russia-China candidacy. WSJ: wsj.com/opinion/viktor-orban…

⚖️ 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆’𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦… 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺’𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵. We know that at the 2024 Independent Commission for their “115 charges”, Man City presented their “irrefutable evidence” in support of their defence known as the “CPC Explanation”. In short, Man City acknowledged the leaked emails stated they were transferring funds from the corporate owner, ADUG, to sponsors but that all the authors of those emails were just “confused” and made “false assumptions” for 8 years. Man City’s defence was that the money flows being described in the emails and documents actually related to money flows from the central government of the UAE (a.k.a. the Crown Prince Court, a.k.a. CPC). The Commission decided this defence and “irrefutable evidence” in support of it was all fake - a “concoction” after the fact. This alone will backfire heavily. It creates serious aggravating factors for any sanction, which really should lead to a recommendation to permanently expel this ownership. But had it worked, they still had a challenge… Man City would have still breached all the same PL rules! You see, there’s no realistic possibility that Man City’s CPC Explanation could have succeeded AND at the same time, not led to Man City and its Abu Dhabi state-owned sponsors being determined Related Parties (something that the Commission found to be the case anyway). As Related Parties, the relationships needed to be reported (they weren’t) and Fair Market Value (FMV) be assessed for each RPT (they weren’t). RPT stands for Related Party Transaction. So, why do it? Why risk further sanctions and even criminal prosecutions for no real gain? Well, this was only part 1 of their defence strategy. The second part was happening concurrently in another, different proceeding between Man City and the PL. In 2021, the PL updated its rules regarding RPTs and changed them to Associated Party Transactions (APTs). This was because they had learned (from the evidence Man City was finally forced to hand over by the High Court in 2020) that autocratic nation states like the UAE could readily hide the true nature of Related Parties to by-pass the rules. Newcastle was about to be acquired by Saudi Arabia at this time too and the PL realised they had to act quickly before they risked the possibility of more nation-state cheating. The APT rules widened the definition and made it much harder for nation states to by-pass the rules and repeat Man City’s cheating. In early 2024, when Man City was preparing its defence for its “115 charges”, the PL clubs voted to tighten the APT rules even further, once again making it even harder to cheat them. In reality, they went too far on one modification that required the clubs (instead of the PL) to prove FMV whilst at the same time, not granting the clubs access to the database used to determine FMV. It was unfair and opened up the rules to challenge (whichever lawyer wrote the amendment was an idiot). The impact of the amendment was that it would make Man City’s excessive, non-commercial APTs (like their proposed Etihad deal) much harder to get approved. Man City launched a Section X challenge against the APT rules in early 2024 with a number of different aims…

“In late spring 2020, a source I knew to be reliable called me with a story,” writes Matthew Cole. “The Dutch government had hacked into Jared Kushner’s phone and monitored him as he accessed a Dubai-based bank account. What was odd, the source said, was that the money in the account—hundreds of millions of dollars—had come from a bank in Azerbaijan. Most importantly, Kushner appeared to have transferred significant amounts of money from the Dubai account to other individuals, including a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man. The story sounded preposterous, I told my source. And yet. Six months later, I found myself speaking with someone else about the UAE government and their use of mercenaries in conflicts around the Middle East and Africa when I asked, on a whim, whether they knew anything about Kushner and bank transfers from a UAE account. My acquaintance grew quiet. Then they replied, ‘Yes.’” Kushner’s lawyer denied the bank account existed. Read an exclusive excerpt from Cole’s book, ‘Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East’: vanityfair.visitlink.me/Q5_W…

Manchester United. Still not very good. youtube.com/@transferspodcas…

Audit regulator takes control of inquiry into Man City accounts ft.trib.al/cJnBcNz

⚖️ 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆’𝘀 “𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲” A 5,800-word article that relies on the leaked emails & the 2020 CAS decision to explain why no person of sane mind and rudimentary intelligence would buy Man City’s defence. Link below.

Interesting to see a lot of people so concerned about the integrity of the league welcoming the sort of deduction (probably a fair one, imo) that would turn all of City's games after it into a farce.

Manchester United. Still not very good. youtube.com/@transferspodcas…

albachiara.net/journal/oh-i-… When someone who has been with you all your life passes on, you stand up to say what they meant to you. This is my eulogy for football, for George Malone. A natural companion to GOG with @ttmygh

7️⃣ Enzo Maresca, the first manager in the Premier League history to win all his first 7 games in charge.

FIFA reiterates the comments made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino on 6 July: “I have seen the public comments regarding the decision of the independent FIFA Disciplinary Committee related to the suspension of Folarin Balogun, and I would like to reiterate a fundamental principle of FIFA’s governance. “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously, apply the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations and the specific facts before them. Their independence is essential to the credibility and integrity of football, and this must always be respected. “Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues. During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold. “I read the decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee when they are issued. Sometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree. “What I always do, however, is respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them. Whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant. Respect for independent institutions and the rule of law is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of FIFA at all times.”

Gianni Infantino, the Greatest ! An astonishing performance in Zurich: Infantino, apparently a good Catholic, confesses his sins and then promises 25 million. Confession, indulgence and absolution — all in one appearance! The Pope would love it. But in football, as in the Church, credibility cannot be bought. #Fifa #GianniInfantino #indulgence #absolution #ThePope

For years people would say PSG can’t win the CL because Ligue 1 isnt competitive enough. Now they’ve found a way of winning in both – through clever recruitment, exceptional coaching, and intelligent squad management – the experts would have you believe their success is down to the weakness of Ligue 1. So which is it? This ‘huge squad depth’ I keep reading about is a fallacy. PSG’s squad is in fact dangerously thin because Luis Enrique wants to work with a core of 16-17 players (unlike City or Arsenal who have 24-25). The truth is they are a Pacho injury away from being in big trouble. Same with Vitinha (they have 4 midfielders to fill 3 positions) or Hakimi (who literally doesn’t have a replacement). Last season, PSG had 63 games. Dembélé, Nuno, Hakimi, Neves, Ruiz, Kvara, Marquinhos all had multiple injuries. Luis Enrique had to manage the bodies and minutes – and did so brilliantly. It’s ok to not like PSG, or to not like their ownership model. It’s ok to not rate Ligue 1 (even if you dont watch games so don’t really know). And yes, it is true that PSG don’t have as many tough league games as City (although City can also rotate and win a good number). That helps them. Of course it does. But to suggest that PSG’s European success is down to their crazily big squad and terribly weak domestic league is quite simply wrong.