Debt to Equity and The 'New' Man City

[Ted Hughes]

Yeah - I hope you are right and the rules are being diluted to the extent that the Sheik can do a little dabble etc -but I remain still concerned that the detail will not be so positive towards us - there are too many groups that would like to see us not be able to dominate - do not want to (Chelsea) or can not afford to (Scum/Liverpool) put the money in to stay with us.

I will be very glad to be wrong

I think the problem they were always likely to have is how to enforce sanctions to stop the Sheikh from investing without closing down most other clubs avenues of investment or leaving themselves open to all manner of legal challenges that they're acting unfairly towards us & in the interests of others etc. Scudamore & Khaldoon made comments early on about it being impossible to enforce & it may well be that having spoken to people who actually know what they're talking about as opposed to Platini, the lawmakers in UEFA have written off the idea.

Tbh I don't think they could even enforce this rule either but it may be something we're happy to go along with.

[john68]

Sorry Ted, I misunderstood what you meant by catching them.
I don't think that, as things stand, the gap between us, the rags and Arsenal is that significant on the pitch or in the banking halls.

Much of their huge turnovers is taken by servicing their debts, whereas we don't have that problem. For us, a much smaller turnover would mean having the readies to spend, should our owners want to us to be financially self sufficient in the future. We wouldn't need to triple our turnover to match them in the transfer market.

[Ted Hughes]

Sorry Ted, I misunderstood what you meant by catching them.
I don't think that, as things stand, the gap between us, the rags and Arsenal is that significant on the pitch or in the banking halls.

Much of their huge turnovers is taken by servicing their debts, whereas we don't have that problem. For us, a much smaller turnover would mean having the readies to spend, should our owners want to us to be financially self sufficient in the future. We wouldn't need to triple our turnover to match them in the transfer market.

Possibly not now that the rules have been diluted but the initial aims would have screwed us.

Our turnover's about 80 odd mill quid. Real Madrid's was 407M euros. They can pay for big signings over a few years & stay within Platini's limits but we'd actually struggle to pay the wage bill without the Sheikh's help. Arsenal's turnover was £313 M so they're way way ahead too. Even allowing for the rag's debt, if the books had shown them making a £50 M profit they'd be ok to spend it wheras we'd have been using all our money to pay the wage bill. If Platini had got his way & stopped the Sheikh from investing we could never have caught these people. If we did catch them on the pitch, the money we'd get in just a few years of Champ's lg football would still be largely swallowed up & then we'd need to re build the squad but not have the money to do it.

Luckily, as usual, Platini was talking through his arse so we cannot be stopped. Clubs like Aston Villa however will really struggle to bridge the gap so his main aim of protecting the Chump's lg elite's yearly places while they pay off their debts will largely work I recon. Absolutely disgusting.

[john68]

I agree Ted.