Under Their Skin.

[Dameerto]

Utd would have to finish 5th anyway for them to get in if we got kicked out surely? So it doesn't really matter

There are several London clubs with an interest in where we finish - and who would rather get a place in the group stage than have to qualify (or who would rather be involved in CL than Europa L) - the implication is that there could be some kind of 'class action' by clubs finishing below us in the league.
Personally I think it is one or two journalists who like to think they are the intellectual centre of the universe and are assuming they have somehow stumbled on a scenario that our board hasn't considered. (Just like they were assuming we would fail FFP in the first place).

[Ted Hughes]

Utd would have to finish 5th anyway for them to get in if we got kicked out surely? So it doesn't really matter

There are several London clubs with an interest in where we finish - and who would rather get a place in the group stage than have to qualify (or who would rather be involved in CL than Europa L) - the implication is that there could be some kind of 'class action' by clubs finishing below us in the league.

They have a slight problem.

Seeing as UEFA haven't actually told anyone exactly what the punishments are & how they are to be applied, it is going to be a bit difficult for lawyers to accuse them of not enforcing those punishments correctly.

[Dameerto]

The whole premise is that we fail FFP. Which is horse shit. Plain and simple, in two words.

[Benjay]

Who knows what would happen with FFP but whilst the legal teams of rival clubs may be pouring over the smallprint I would hope and guess that a highly paid and efficient legal team at City would be doing much the same. I cannot believe that the board would blindly carry on oblivious to the potential pitfalls of FFP. Besides if anything did happen you could expect appeals galore from City, PSG, Monaco etc.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

The whole premise is that we fail FFP. Which is horse shit. Plain and simple, in two words.

Sums it up perfectly.

[zuricity]

It's not April 1st is it ?

[Two's Kompany]

If there's any indication from Platini, Gill et al they are going to sanction us over FFP, we should go all out to sign Messi. And I mean big offer, very big wages...
Because if we got him could you imagine the sponsors like Ford, Heineken etc saying 'yes that's fine we don't mind being associated with a tournament that doesn't include the worlds best player' ?
They will let the UEFA cronies know who ploughs the money in.
Also TV companies are not going to pay big big bucks if the best are not involved either.
In my opinion Platini and his friends are playing a very dangerous game.

[simon12]

If there's any indication from Platini, Gill et al they are going to sanction us over FFP, we should go all out to sign Messi. And I mean big offer, very big wages...
Because if we got him could you imagine the sponsors like Ford, Heineken etc saying 'yes that's fine we don't mind being associated with a tournament that doesn't include the worlds best player' ?
They will let the UEFA cronies know who ploughs the money in.
Also TV companies are not going to pay big big bucks if the best are not involved either.
In my opinion Platini and his friends are playing a very dangerous game.

Henry Winter said as much this morning. If City win the quadruple and then uefa/premier league ban us from competitions the sponsors would go apeshite

[mcfc1632]

Well it is a big comfort that the vast majority of fans take the simple view that FFPR is just some impotent nonsense and that people that worry are just wimps or not displaying enough confidence in our executives and legal team etc.

Genuinely, this gives me comfort as I would absolutely like to be proven to be in the over-cautious brigade. Still those that are so confident do not seem to offer any 'facts' to support that confidence - seems simply blind 'faith' and comparisons with PSG and Monaco.

Given that the level of effort and detail in the development and planned implementation is significant and given that the recent changes are 'facts' - and also given that our executives seem to take it very seriously - I would have hoped for more 'substantive' (factually based) and reasoned discussion/debate to justify the confidence.

[Blue Since 76]

The first one they'd have to ban is Qatar, sorry, PSG. There's a World Cup coming in PSG, sorry, Qatar in a few years. And no one seems to understand why they were awarded it. However, I imagine there's a few people in Qatar who can remember and might start mentioning it if someone suggests banning their club.

The next request would be for an independent audit of the books of Barca, Real etc. What's worse - convincing a director you know to sponsor your club to meet FFP, or c claiming you paid much less for a player to avoid tax and meet FFP?

Trying to ban anyone other than some Bulgarian side no one has heard of will result in many hours in court and a lot of things being revealed that many would prefer remained secret.

[Rag_hater]

Well it is a big comfort that the vast majority of fans take the simple view that FFPR is just some impotent nonsense and that people that worry are just wimps or not displaying enough confidence in our executives and legal team etc.

Genuinely, this gives me comfort as I would absolutely like to be proven to be in the over-cautious brigade. Still those that are so confident do not seem to offer any 'facts' to support that confidence - seems simply blind 'faith' and comparisons with PSG and Monaco.

Given that the level of effort and detail in the development and planned implementation is significant and given that the recent changes are 'facts' - and also given that our executives seem to take it very seriously - I would have hoped for more 'substantive' (factually based) and reasoned discussion/debate to justify the confidence.

I think that some people can see this as a infringement of both EU competition law and the right to free movement (of workers, services and capital) thus rendering it unlawful along with UEFA proposed punishments which seem to be a disproportionate response and that there are more effective alternatives such as allowing over-spending if fully guaranteed; establish a "luxury tax"; or change the model of revenue sharing with regards to the UEFA club competitions.
I think this has been said already.

[blues2win]

See you in court Gill and Platini. Make our day.

[FA cup winners 2006]

I agree with the earlier poster who said that some fans are too over confident in relation to FFP. Although I do think that we will be able to show we are moving towards a more sustainable footing and our revenues are due to increase significantly, I would still have a few concerns.

If I have read it right, the new regulations (introduced this year) only allow clubs directly affected by the non sanction to another club can object to City's involvement, so that would be whoever finishes 4th, 5th and 6th in the PL. also the way I understand it is, 1st of all the club has to be sanctioned, then that club can plea bargain, if accepted, another club directly effected can object. so lets say the following scenario arises. Both PSG and City fail FFP (which we will) and are sanctioned and both appeal (plea bargain) the punishment and both are allowed into the CL, then clubs directly effected can object, in our case it would be probably Liverpool, Spurs and Utd. (4th, 5th and 6th). In france it would be Lille, st. Etienne and Marseille, I know who it would be easier to shut up. So you would have it where Platini's hands are clean. he can point to the fact that City are not been picked on as PSG were also sanctioned, got their plea bargain like City but no one on France objected to it so PSG were allowed to play while in England 3 clubs did object and thus City were banned.

It probably looks like we are going to fail round 1 of FFP, but by how much depends on the outcome of an investigation into some of our income. If our intellectual property rights are passed and all of our campus development costs can be accounted for last year including discounting the £10m paid to Mancini as a once off extraordinary payment, then we might come close to the cut-off point where the most extreme punishment would not seem feasible.

We seriously delayed releasing our figures this year with no apparent explanation, why?

Just to add, I have full faith in the City management team to sort this, but it was always going to be done with creative accounting techniques.

[stevefromdonny]

can we just win the champs league and then see what the French tosser will do. I don't think he would ban the winners and in the top 4 in the best league in the world

[Beefymcfc]

can we just win the champs league and then see what the French tosser will do. I don't think he would ban the winners and in the top 4 in the best league in the world

Can we just go back to watching football instead of worrying about a shit rule made up by shit twats to keep their shit clubs ahead of the game?

I never heard of protecting clubs from themselves until the Sky 4 started to be disbanded by other teams and never heard a even heard anything when the likes of Leeds and Portsmouth were going to the wall.

Although it grates the crap out of me I rest easily knowing that the club have everything in-hand.

Beaudiful.

[Dameerto]

We seriously delayed releasing our figures this year with no apparent explanation, why?

Just to add, I have full faith in the City management team to sort this, but it was always going to be done with creative accounting techniques.

Delayed them according to who? By my understanding we had until the end of this month.
Also, we are playing within their rules, and within their definition of their rules.

[blues2win]

If we get banned we'll go to court straightaway and ultimately win. FFP is blatantly illegal; a clear restraint of trade. We have to make a decent show of compliance and Platini has to lay off. That's the deal. If we were really that worried do you think we would have offered a very large sum indeed for Mangala and Fernando? Our pockets are much deeper than UEFA's; we could bankrupt them.

[Ted Hughes]

I think it's a bit ridiculous that one or two people on here are worried because the rest of us aren't panicking enough.

Those who prefer to panic perhaps can explain exactly why, the rest of us having faith in the City management, is a bad thing, & if we are wrong, what fucking difference does it make that we're not panicking now ?

If we all decide to worry about it, things will be better ?

[Twobob]

From what I've read, there's a great deal of 'could do this', 'reported to be considering that'

And so on and so forth - a non story made up by a journo who's read into sone rules and interpreted them to suit his own agenda before he gets docked wages and bumped down to current fashion.

Full of journo speak for 'I've made most of this up'

[Rag_hater]

While Abu Dhabi adds money directly to NYCFC’s coffers, City gets some FFP flexibility they wouldn’t get if their owners were merely writing checks to the club.
Under FFP, UEFA has the power to investigate these shady dealings. The problem is, on the books, this won’t look shady. City will loan the players to NYCFC and have their wages covered by their partner. NYCFC will simply pay for them and either not have to explain that Abu Dhabi simply shifting money from one pile to another or confess that’s what’s happening while asking ‘why shouldn’t we be able to do this?