💙 #MCFC 🅰️➖ 250💉❣️@NorthDerbysMCFC Chairman
Buxton, UK
Joined February 2009
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Bertie 🐝 retweeted
If you look closely at the decision document, I think the PL strategy starts to become clear.
I think the PL knew proving the sponsorship deals were "shams" would be almost impossible on its own because, as a private regulator with zero subpoena powers, they couldn't compel foreign third parties like Etihad to testify under oath (And by framing the lack of counterparty evidence as a failure on our part, it neatly masked the limits of their own investigative powers.)
I think this is why the PL bundled everything into one massive 115-charge case, using paper-heavy charges like the Mancini and Fordham contracts to build a general narrative of non-disclosure (I do think they have a pretty solid case there to be honest but it is pretty small fry). By getting the panel to doubt the club's credibility in one area, they may have created a "where there’s smoke, there’s fire" mindset.
That spillover may have allowed the panel to bridge huge evidential gaps on the sponsorship deals. Instead of direct testimony, they relied on internal spreadsheet shorthand like "ADUG" to guess what happened, and then fell into a circular paradox argument on concealment: ( i.e. assuming a cover-up over funding origins because we did not disclose them to the PL despite there being no explicit PL rule requiring a club to disclose the internal finances of an independent sponsor at the time). You can't logically conceal something you were never legally required to declare. They then used this underlying concealment argument to essentially dismiss all of our evidence.
I think the PL ran a tactical, narrative-driven case that pushed well beyond their actual regulatory power, and the media treated complex civil arbitration like a soap opera. We don't need to get dragged into online arguments or panic over sensationalised claims. The legal facts tell a very different story, so let's keep our heads, stick together as fans, and keep full belief in the club. Hopefully we will get a positive result in the appeal and the we can get back to enjoying the actual football again
CITD 🩵🩵🩵
Bertie 🐝 retweeted
Matchday competition
Win one of our retro City T-shirts
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Good luck and cmon City
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Bertie 🐝 retweeted
In case you do not understand the origin and nature of the so-called “115 charges” against Manchester City, allow me to clarify it for you. The English Premier League was formed in 1992. The purpose of the association was to create, centralize and distribute revenues for the member clubs. For the first 19 years of the Premier League's existence, the so-called “Red Cartel,” (Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United) dominated the Premier League and collected the vast majority of revenues. The Red Cartel clubs won 15 of the first 19 Premier League championships.
Then something happened. In 2012, Manchester City, the so-called “noisy neighbors” of Manchester United, won the Premier League title. The following year, Manchester United was able to scrape back a narrow victory in the Premier League but have never come close since. In 2014, Manchester City again won the Premier League.
Manchester City, owned by a rich Arab Prince named Sheikh Mansour, had put together a world caliber team using his own money. He did not spend more money than the Red Cartel clubs. He just spent it better, on better players, and started to win trophies. Around 2014, the Red Cartel clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, then complained to the Premier League and pushed for new financing rules which were referred to as “financial fair play.” These rules were specifically designed to prevent a club owner from spending their own money to improve their football club.
Yes. You read that correctly.
In reality, these rules were nothing more than a straightforward “get Manchester City” scheme. They were designed to specifically target Manchester City’s revenue streams, effectively banning City from competing at the highest levels of the sport.
It did not work. Over the course of the next 10 years, Manchester City won 6 more Premier League titles, the Champions league, and the so-called “treble;” The Premier League, the Champions league, and the FA Cup in the same year, becoming only the second club to ever do so.
Manchester City had set up an arrangement which was legal under the Financial Fair Play rules. This involved the government of Abu Dhabi investing in advertisers, who then subsequently advertised with Manchester City, giving them revenue that they could then spend on new players. This was 100% legal under the Financial Fair Play rules.
However, in a case brought in 2018, the Premier League created an “independent commission,” which ruled that Manchester City had violated the byzantine Financial Fair Play rules. The so-called “independent commission” actually consisted of various officials who had either financial or cultural ties to the Red Cartel clubs (Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.)
Since 2012, the only non “Red Cartel” teams to win the Premier League title are Manchester City, Leicester City, and Chelsea Football Club.
Only two other Premier League winners besides Manchester City have ever been accused of violating the financial fair play regulations. Those other two clubs are Chelsea Football Club and Leicester City FC.
I hope this explains it.
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Bertie 🐝 retweeted
🎙"There is clear indication #ManCity are a targeted club"
"The hacker said he had 70 MILLION documents on EVERY team.. only ONE was singled out!.. Is there an interest to probe these other teams?" 🤔
◼️ In-depth info Re: charges in second half of vid - deffo worth a listen 👀
In his capacity as MANCHESTER MAYOR.
And how many meetings with Sir Jim to get Utd a new stadium FOR FREE?!
Another non story.
🚨Now it's SIX Meetings With Man City, Not the One He Told Parliament
Andy Burnham told MPs he had only one significant meeting with Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners while mayor. The Sun has now counted at least six contacts with the club's hierarchy.
Two dinners with chairman Khalsa on Al Mubarak in 2017 and 2018, a 2019 stand-side chat, the 2021 summit he later called his sole significant meeting, a 2023 sit-down with CEO Ferran Soriano, and a 2025 meeting with former COO Roel de Vries. The dinner entries then disappeared from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority website.
Burnham says the dinners were ordinary hospitality, that City's financial case was never discussed, and that he is happy for a full trawl. Fair enough - if the public is expected to accept that a prime minister's earlier relationship with owners now found guilty of almost every one of 115 Premier League charges was purely incidental. The gap between "one significant meeting" and six is not a rounding error. It is a credibility problem
Bertie 🐝 retweeted
Neither Cartier-Bresson, Banksy nor Cold War Steve could have come up with such an image. Absolutely perfect composition and lighting (even the road signs are perfect)! 😍
And somehow in all of this, City are the bad guys 🙄
Bertie 🐝 retweeted
Man City haven’t ruined football. Man City haven’t ruined the premier league. Football and the Premier league has been ruined by a handful of teams who have too much say as to how the league is run. It’s been ruined by the Anti Competitive rules that have been put in place
Bertie 🐝 retweeted
3 adults together for Ipswich. Row 13, 018 South Stand. £42 each. Memberships required
Bertie 🐝 retweeted
Slowly dawning on fans that most ‘rich’ owners see their clubs as money making vehicles
Think of your club as an ISA or high interest savings account. #EFC
The case with almost all PL club
Ironically,an exception is Man C where they try to find ways of putting 💰into the club
🚨 EXCL: Everton put up for sale by The Friedkin Group. #EFC owner already seeking investment but now ready to exit if/when right buyer emerges. TFG intend to maintain full support in meantime after stabilising club + completing stadium move @TheAthleticFC nytimes.com/athletic/7672592…
