Thanos? Or are Man City heroes for taking on Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool?
Man City are being cast as villains but are they actually the heroes who are taking on the Red Cartel?
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Do you want ALL money out of football or just Man City’s?
Interesting call for City fans to boycott the club (from a United fan who has never been to Manchester, of course).
As a Blue, my standpoint is that I am fully on board with boycotting City, getting City’s owners out of the game etc as yes, money is corrupting football and has been for my whole life.
What I can’t get on board with though is punishing City being the end point, rather than the starting point. If we want big money out of the game, if we all agree that money is ruining football, then let’s get it all out.
City are a symptom of the problem, not a cause and making City poor again won’t solve any of the problems people claim to care about.
If fans of other clubs widened their focus and started campaigning for all big money to be removed from the game (including their own clubs, tv money and all the rest) it might make them sound less full of shit.
It’s easy to have a pop at City fans on a daily basis, call us cowards and demand we do things that you are not prepared to do yourselves. It’s not as easy to follow your complaints through to their logical conclusion and demand big money is removed from your own clubs too.
I fully support getting money out of the game – let’s get together on that and campaign for it, shall we? Or if not, why not? If money corrupts then why is it all money except that which benefits your club?
Alex, Manchester
MORE ON MAN CITY FROM F365:
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👉 Man City explainer: What Premier League rules do they want scrapped? And which rivals support them?
👉 What are Man City’s 115 charges and when will they be punished?
…Funny how it’s always the fans of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool who tell us City fans how we should ‘feel’ about OUR club. About what we should do. About how we should react. It’s also quite curious that these sainted people (none of whom are in our position and ever unlikely to be so) feel able to tell us what THEY would do if they were in our position.
Sanctimonious arses, the lot of them. Even people who’ve never been to Manchester (possibly, the UK) think they can tell us. For me, these people are the cowards because they’ve chosen to support a particular club, above all others, fully expecting their gravy train to continue. Why not support Crystal Palace or Aston Villa or Everton or ANY OTHER CLUB? Nope, it’s the gravy train riding for them. Pathetic. These people have no soul and no balls.
It must be stated that absolutely none of those clubs will benefit from the sanctions that City face if the rules that Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool ensured were implemented, are upheld.
Yeah right.
I’m sure we all remember the howls of indignation, from the fans of other clubs, that accompanied the closed shop that those clubs inhabited, when year after year, those same clubs always qualified for Europe, thereby ensuring that the closed shop, persisted. I speak to many, many, fans across football and Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are widely despised because of the behind the scenes insistence that the League is run on their behalf (Liverpool and United interviewing Richard Masters before he was appointed?? No corruption there, then).
For example, the Hammers fans I was chatting to (after the last League game of the season) were very explicit in their support of what City are doing. Likewise, the barman in the Ealing pub we were in after the FA Cup final. Funnily enough, the bikers at the motorway services on the way back, were ALSO of the same opinion….
So, all you empty vessels, you can jog on. Don’t pretend you speak from an altruistic standpoint, don’t pretend that you’re doing this to save football. You’re doing this because you want English football to go back to the way it was 15 years ago, when you liked it more, when it suited you more, when you used to bend English football to just how you wanted and The Great Disruptors were just another mid table team to push around.
Well, no more. More disruption, please. Bring it on.
Feeling fluffy today.
Levenshulme Blue, Manchester 19
PS. I’m sure you’ve seen that I haven’t addressed the latest shenanigans in the legal world. I would ask, what’s the point? Your standpoints have already ensured that you’ve made your minds up and I put it to you that if you supported a different club, you’d have a different standpoint. So, self interest is the order of the day which is why I continue to not give a chuff what you think.
…City fan here. I’m not going to defend anything (in case you’re wondering) but there are, it seems to me, some salient points that need highlighting.
Firstly, this arbitration business has sweet s*d all to do with 115 alleged offences. Why? Because the 115 refers to the period between 2009-2018. The case next week relates to the latest version of PSR that the PL proposed (or released, I don’t know which) in February in relation to how clubs can and can’t operate moving forward. Entirely separate. Everybody got that? Marvellous. Oh, and don’t take my word for it, this is Kieran Maguire’s clear view, you know, the football finance expert, so ya boo sucks.
Finally, in the event that City DID win next week’s legal equivalent of WWE Smackdown, (and financial bods like Mr Maguire thinks it unlikely) then I’m sorry to tell you that Armageddon will not follow the day after. No horseman of the Apocalypse riding down your high street, no fire and brimstone etc. All that would happen is that the PL would have to toddle off and re-write their APT rules differently to achieve the same outcomes they are aiming for now.
So, whilst I’m indebted to the likes of James Outram (First letter on the subject in Wednesday’s mailbox. Who’d have thunk it?), Ryan in Bermuda, Sean, Dublin, Alex LFC and (my personal favourite) Zdravko can I say sincerely that I hope that the act of firing off heated missives before even attempting to properly understand the subject matter, is the only area of your lives that you are (ahem) premature in?
More broadly, this whole Man City situation is, to me, the natural course of events after a bunch of clubs decided to break away from the FA and form their own League. A ‘Super League’ if you will. And why did they do that folks? For the good of the game, obviously. Only kidding. Moolah, dosh, readies, big bucks, and lots of it. Thereafter, when the Sky money wagon rolled in, and got bigger and bigger every time the TV rights were up for grabs, then all sorts of weird and wonderful characters and organisations started entering the fray. Like flies on a huge pile of dog poop. I’m thinking Mike Ashley, Gilette and Hicks, The Glazers, Thaksin Shinawatra et al. All cruising through whatever the PL laughingly called/calls the ‘fit and proper persons’ test.
Anyhoo, all was moving along swimmingly, and tons of money made until a chap called Roman rocked up at Chelsea, after which, and to quote journalist and massive City fan Bill Burrows, the PL properly sh*t the bed. This when they realised just how much he was determined to pump into CFC. And, suddenly, boardrooms across the Prem were full of owners, Chairmen and Execs saying “Wait, what? Haaaang on!” Because, you see, this Roman chap had sums at his disposal that the rest could only dream of.
And lo, the first version of FFP was born. Not to keep the game ‘fair’ or ‘equal’ much less to ensure clubs didn’t go bust (yeah, right) but to protect the status quo and to stop any Abramovich clones out there getting any funny ideas and thinking “I’ve got squillions, I’ll go and do a Roman.” Which, again, worked for a while until some other Johnny Foreigner, with a personal wealth that made Roman look like Harold Steptoe (there’s one for the kids) turns up, with the top two execs from Barcelona and buys (checks notes) Manchester City. The PL has to change their collective bedsheets once more, and FFP is adapted yet again, but the new guy isn’t having any of it and KCs in London start rubbing their hands in gleeful expectation of the fat fees inevitably coming their way.
Still, couldn’t get any worse for the Pl now though, could it? What’s that? The Saudi PIF are buying Newcastle? Crap. Never mind new bedsheets, now the PL has to buy a whole new mattress, and fast. We’ll call this PSR and now the Prem want to look like they’ve grown a pair and start dishing out points deductions to clubs quick-smart which, in turn, had absolutely nothing to do with politicians sticking their oar in and threatening to impose an independent regulator.
And that, boys and girls, is why I say that the current situation, that of state-owned Football Clubs and all that goes with it, is the natural evolution that occurs when PL clubs are all fighting for the biggest piece of the filthy lucre pie and have been since the league was formed. Man United in their pomp had limits as to what they could realistically spend. Even Abramovich did. Manchester City’s and Newcastle’s owners do not. And whose fault is that? The clubs belonging to, and the body responsible for running, the Premier League since its inception.
See? Natural evolution.
Mark (Do you know, after reading Zdravko’s mail I was THAT far away from wiping my arse with my autographed Colin Bell photo in protest against our owners. But then I thought I should sit down and think about it first. Unlike him!) MCFC.
…City fan here (hopefully again in the same mailbox). I wrote in yesterday blissfully unaware that an afternoon mailbox had been produced until later in the day. Having read that also however, I’m going to stick with my original post (assuming it will be printed) but will double down on one point and just add one other.
Firstly, and with apologies for the ‘white noise’ but:
THE ARBITRATION HEARING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH 115 FFP CHARGES!
(Sheesh).
Secondly, for all those screeching about City creating an unassailable monopoly, might I ask what happens if the current PSR rules are NOT challenged? That is to say, in what some believe to be an ‘equitable’ league, how can the likes of Palace, Fulham, Brentford, West Ham or Bournemouth, for example, ever hope to be anything other than mid to low table teams? They’re certainly never getting a sniff of the ultimate (money-wise) goal of CL football, are they? And why not?
Because the current rules are there to ensure they could never outspend the likes of United, Arsenal or Liverpool (and, indeed, City for that matter) and I don’t find it at all surprising that the afternoon’s mailbox had plenty of supporters of the ‘red cartel’ shouting the loudest about the impending doom sure to follow should City prevail in the arbitration case (Odds are they won’t).
The PL has had a monopoly since it was created. That was the whole point. Break away from the FA to make more money. As was the attempt to create the ‘Super League.’ Absolutely no difference.
This isn’t rocket science. It’s just the ‘old’ monopoly desperately trying to fend off the ‘new.’
Special mensh to Dave LFC who wrote:
“If City win this then football in this country is being put on life support and the grave of our beautiful league as we know it has been dug.”
Mark (Dave. It’s never been a ‘beautiful league’ and that grave was dug when the PL was formed.) MCFC
Fair play to Man City
Have to take my hat off to Manchester City. Standing up to the Red Cartel that think they own the Premier League.
Maybe some of the ignoramus’ in earlier mailboxes might actually take 5 minutes to read up on the actual case they are bringing. It is in relation to a change brought in, in 2021. It has the absolute square root of 0 to do with their 115 charges.
It was all good and well when United, Arsenal, Liverpool were throwing around money like it was going out of fashion, but then Chelsea and City and then Newcastle got more money than them and suddenly things had to change. It wasn’t fair anymore, as if it had been fair since 1992 when the cartel screwed the football league.
I hope City win and get massive costs and compensation VS the PL. Let the meltdown continue from the spoilt fans of the authors of this downfall.
Weldoninhio, BAC
…I am not a City supporter, but readers furious about the club’s ATP suit may want to consider that City could have a case. While regulating City’s economic behavior seems reasonable, it’s extraordinary for a sports league to place limits on player fees and on non-football businesses’ transactions that don’t directly involve the league itself.
And targeting Middle-Eastern-owned clubs actually does appear discriminatory enough that the league may have to prove that it’s not. In the US, I could honestly imagine them winning. I’m not arguing that they *should win, mind, but it’s worth considering what will happen if they do.
Chris C, Toon Army DC
Villa are getting smashed too
Surely FFP or whatever called now is being completely destroyed by fact that clubs (my own is Villa) have to sell youth players for pure profit and now dealing with low ball offers for established elite players (Dougie Luiz) as everyone knows we are close to a breach.
Make Champions League and then sell best players? It’s as if the PL want to protect the Sky|Football365 Top 6.
Paul
This is a dangerous time for the Premier League
I really hope all fans put aside their tribalism and address the Thanos-level threat that the Premier League faces.
Firstly, I want to say it is tragic to watch a historic club become a puppet, tool in the hands of a foreign entity.
See this for what it is – a state nation owned club attempting to use it’s power to get its way by any means necessary. ‘Tyranny of the majority’ is their authoritarianism vs their attempt to destroy the Premier League’s democracy. They are not oppressed, nor victims of ‘discrimination’ – they are looking to circumvent the rules they signed up for because it doesn’t suit them, have been caught breaking & now seek to destroy any remaining semblance of competitive balance there is left.
Utilising the political strategy of claiming to fight the establishment as a plucky underdog when you’re actually a state owned sportswashing project is also a considerable reach. Threatening to make their own fans pay if they don’t get their way in the form of increased tickets prices, cutting women’s football, youth development & community programs as further punishment.
You also shouldn’t need to challenge financial rules if you are so adamant that you have so successfully operated within them. They are a stain on the game who belong in the amateur leagues as punishment for what they have done. Well done to the 10-12 clubs who had the courage to stand against them, further reminder that everyone knows exactly who City are – corrupt cheats who have ruined English football. If you cannot see now how dangerous this is as a threat to the league itself, you are not worried enough.
City are welcome to create their own league and set whatever rules they want and can pick and choose what to follow when. They simply cannot be a dictator in the Premier League. For them, equality feels like oppression, let alone accountability for misbehaviour.
I hope the English government looks at this seriously.
Harish Rajagopalan ( AFC, but will loudly Cheer on even Tottenham if they are City’s biggest contender if UAE gets its way)
…A lot of Man City must be saying to themselves: “Oh Christ, we ARE the baddies.”
Mike, LFC, Dubai
…If 115 FC wish to engage in an arms race of spending why don t they sod off to a new league of rich egotistical owners and allow the EPL to have some pretence of competitiveness. They do not make the rules and will not be missed. This is LIV version of football and is as ill advised as the Super League.
Ted Bythesea
…As a Man United supporter from the mid seventies, winning a couple of FA Cups and no one minding that, to then my kids growing up in an ABU world, all a bit weird this.
But are we now the second most hated team in Manchester? Or maybe city have become so bitter about their relevance they want to be the most hated club in the world.
I understand Barcelona and Real Madrid (and Juventus?) may still have some super league thingy or other going on. Off you pop.
Ged Biglin
Why don’t Man City go to UAE?
JazGooner’s suggestion of Man City moving to the French league is obviously ridiculous. A far better idea would be for them to move to the ADNOC Pro League in the United Arab Emirates.
It would have so many advantages. The tyranny of the majority which has caused them so much bother in England would be replaced by the tyranny of (checks notes) the guy who owns Man City and whose family controls the company after which the league is named. I’m sure City’s owners would have no trouble at all securing the “bit more sensibility in regulating” they say they’re seeking. And surely all this “frustrating referencing” (no, me either) that the Premier League insist on would be but a distant memory once they completed the switch.
It might take City a while to match Al Ain’s record of fourteen titles and become officially the Best Team Ever in The League Ever. But, thinking about it, a league run by people with more sensibility and less frustrating referencing would surely see the wisdom in awarding perhaps three or four titles per year to allow City to recover quickly from the historic injustice of not being allowed to compete in that league until now.
In all, it seems the perfect plan. City get the maximum 110% winning their owners seek, with no pesky rules or level playing fields to worry about. And English football fans get rid of City. Everyone, apart perhaps from Al Ain fans, is a winner.
Tom YNWA
Or just send them down to the bottom…
To pick up on Nick in Woking’s idea about Club 115 being ejected from the league and all the clubs relegated or who missed out on Europe etc seeking compensation… there’s only one problem. City don’t have any money.
The owners will immediately leave – by choice or not – (along with Pep, Haaland, KDB and many others) and all those invented revenue streams will suddenly dissipate. The club could even fold entirely to avoid paying up those legal cases, before being re-established as a new club. (That would be a shame, the fans – terrible as many on here are – don’t deserve it.)
Now, let’s be realistic. According to my terrible maths, there are 12 charges relating to FFP, each of which worth 10 points deduction for a total of a 120 point deduction; that’s basically relegation regardless. (Yes, Everton’s were reduced to 6 points on appeal but they had transparency and willingness in their favour.) The rest of the charges probably fines. But the overall collection for persistent rule breaking and attitude could result in a single larger punishment. A transfer embargo would be a given.
On the one hand it seems unlikely that such draconian measures would happen, because money. But, arguably, the PL and FA could recognise that the best way to uphold the value of it’s league pyramid product is to punish the club properly and send them back to the bottom. They’ve already gone hard with Everton and Forest for relatively low transgressions, so how can they turn back? Harsh punishment happened with Juve for cheating, it happened to Rangers for money issues (IIRC). It was required to ensure the league carried on. You can bet most of the clubs would demand it.
Mmmmm
Sorry, I’m just taking a moment to imagine how full the City of Manchester Stadium (presumably no longer called The Etihad) would be in League 2 with all those famed loyal local fans. And how many of their players would stick around to rebuild the club?
On the positive, maybe some of that world famous academy will finally get a path to the first team.
Badwolf