FFP, like elves, gremlins, and eskimos, was once thought to be make-believe. It existed in some magical universe in which unicorns pooped jellybeans and the Republican Party was the sane, mature one. However—much to our surprise, Everton’s chagrin, and Man City’s disdain—FFP does actually exist. As you surely know by now, Everton have been docked ten points for breaching financial rules. Well done, Premier League. Well done indeed. Now, do 115 alleged financial violations FC, otherwise known as Man City.
It’s one thing to punish a club that’s a clown-show than to punish a club that is essentially a monolith. Everton have hired and sacked eight managers since Moshiri took over in 2016, wasting who knows how much on compensation. Then, there’s been the foolish and feckless transfer business. £40m for Sigurðsson? Look, I like an eth as much as the next person, but ðhat was madness, and it was just the type of ðhe iceberg. Hell, we managed to palm Alex Iwobi off on them for roughly £30m. On top of that, there’s financing that new stadium. Still, it seems that Everton’s biggest gaffe was in cooperating with the Premier League.
By unhelpful contrast, while Man City have been hit with those 115 alleged financial violations, they’ve kicked and screamed and whined, dragging their heels and resisting any request to cooperate—and still any idea of them being sanctioned still feels as real as those aforementioned eskimos. Whereas Everton’s violations took place during the 2021-22 season, the allegations against City bring us way back to the bygone days of yore: 2009-2018. Everton’s cooperation led to a swift and severe penalty that might very well doom the club to relegation. City’s recalcitrance has seem them evade any form of consequence whatsoever, and the more that time passes, the easier it gets for them to claim that it’s old news while they consolidate their power.
If Everton are punished with a ten-point deduction for losing £124m during one season, what would an appropriate punishment for almost a decade of financial malfeasance look like? To see Everton punished this season for violations committed two seasons ago suggests that City’s sanctions, should they ever actually be called to the carpet, will apply to the season in which the sanctions are ever eventually announced. In other words, we’re not likely to be awarded the 2022-23 Prem title retroactively. I’d much rather we be given back the 5-6 points we lost due to incorrect VAR decisions; at least, it would feel like we’d earned it on our own despite City’s massive financial advantages.
Given City’s resources and refusals, it’s unlikely that we’ll see any resolution any time soon. For myself, I find the whole situation especially enraging given how it coincided with our own period of Arsène-imposed austerity. That’s not a criticism of the man; I respected then and still do to this day his commitment to a self-sustaining club. We fast-forward to today, and Stan Kroenke is finally investing in this club to a level that allows us to go toe-to-toe with the deepest, wealthiest, corruptest (?) club in history.
I do hope that the FFP hammer does eventually, finally drop on Man City, and that the hammer is proportionate to that dropped on Everton. Ten points for one season of recklessness? How does that translate to nine seasons of malfeasance? A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, complete with slide-rule, abacus, and sextant, suggests that a 90-point deduction is in order. That’s enough to get Man City relegated. Wouldn’t that be something? It would be almost as magical as those jelly bean-pooping unicorns.
Yeah Jon, Man (115) City will drag this out as long as they can, but I think Chelsea may get some leniency due to owning up before they were even accused of anything, although I doubt if either have any Premier League friends to support them in the final judgements. I do feel a teeny bit sorry for Everton, the club, but couldn’t care less for their rather unpleasant fans TBH.
I was stunned at how heavy Everton’s punishment is, and now they have to worry about cases being brought by clubs relegated in their place. Their troubles may be just beginning.
Time will tell whether anything remotely similar happens to Man City or Chelsea, each of whom are likely guilty of far worse.
Everton owned up in 2019! They were let off punishment on basis they ‘severely restricted’ transfer spending. They did for 12 months then went silly again when Lampard appointed.
Thing is the financial rules they and City are accused of breaking will cease in 2 years. Funnily enough they reckon it will be 2 years before any resolution in City.
The league will say rules changed so give them a warning only I reckon.
The painful lesson Everton are being taught is that honesty gets punished and stonewalling doesn’t. If it’s as you say, CIty need merely to ride this out, which they’ve been doing for quite comfortably for quite some time already.
Thank you for your presumption of guilt. There is obviously no need for an investigation as you know everything and have irrefutable proof, glad you have got it all sorted for everyone
This is football banter dummy! More of the same please Jon
You know me, Jax – I’m always amused when an opposition fan somehow finds this blog. I take it as a sign that it’s growing!
The name of the blog gets you on Newsnow aggregator, and the headline got you onto the Man City page which is probably why you chose it!
I play no role in where NewsNow places my posts nor do I consider its possible placement when I write. If I did, I’d be writing a more-general Prem blog rather than one that focuses on Arsenal so as to maximise my reach.
Dummy is a word that fits you far more appropriately.
Claiming ‘banter’ is the last resort of mindless bullies.
It might not be the last resort, but it’s close. I won’t hide behind it. Yes, I started with a clickbait headline, but I’d like to think I offered something more substantial to my target audience without playing to the cheap seats.
I think it’s you who’s rushed to conclusions. I couched all of my language around Man City in hypothetical considerations and hopes. Not once did I state that they are guilty. If I’m guilty of anything, it’s of pandering to my audience of fellow Gooners. I do hope that whatever independent commission investigates Man City finds evidence and recommends suitable sanctions.
“Happens to Man City or Chelsea, each of whom are likely guilty of far worse”
You pre judging? Of course not. Talk about selective amnesia.
“likely guilty” stops quite a bit short of being definitive. Yes, I’m hedging, but I’m firm ground here. I didn’t discuss Chelsea in the post, but stories about Abramovich’s financing are starting to gain momentum.
At a risk of sounding even more confident than before, I would definitely be surprised if Man City escape some kind of sanction. On the other hand, to sound cynical, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the league split the difference between taking action and preserving the status quo. Deducting those ten point doesn’t really change much at the bottom of the table; deducting ten points from City’s current total would definitely shake up the title chase not to mention Champions League considerations. In other words, a hefty fine that they can easily afford, should they be found guilty of course, seems most likely.
Why do you hope the commission finds evidence? Surely you would hope the club have done nothing wrong. I suggest to you that the “corruptest” club in the land is the club that bribed it’s way into the top flight and have been there ever since. You’re nearly as big a hypocrite as Wenger, bleating about “financial doping” whilst selling his players to City for three times their actual worth. Anti competition, protectionist rules are illegal in every other business. Someone’s at it and it’s not City. You need to do some proof reading too.
I’ll concede the proofreading – I’m not normally so sloppy. My excuse is that I’m on holiday and composed late at night after perhaps one too many drinks.
As for the allegation that Arsenal bribed its way into the First Division, there’s no proof (which I understand is not the same as saying proof doesn’t exist). At the time, Arsenal received 18 votes. Tottenham received eight. For Henry Norris to bribe six voters (to reduce our tally to 12 and presumably raise Tottenham’s to 14) means that there are six people out there who all managed to keep perfectly quiet for years if not decades, and that’s difficult to believe. Not one of them bragged to a spouse or close friend? Not one of them turned informer? At the time of the vote, there were no accusations of corruption. If the participants were still alive, we could ask for an inquest. However, the allegations seem to live only in the imaginations of a segment of Tottenham fans.
As for us selling players to Man City for three times their price, I would love for that to be true. The truth is closer to us being abysmal at selling our players for their full value even when the buyer is a club like City that have bottomless reserves.
So sad, banging on about something that happened 100 years ago. Give.It.Up.
The consequences are still with us Jax. Asterisks all round eh? It’s ok for the league to drag alleged stuff up from years past at the behest of the hateful eight? Hypocrites, the lot of you.
the Tottenham representative at the 10 March meeting reportedly stated, “We shall take our defeat like sportsmen.” which is hardly the language of an aggrieved man. That, and the absence of any complaint or demand for an investigation, suggest even if it stops short of definitively proving, that nothing untoward happened. The fact that so many Tottenham fans cling to this more than a century later is amusing. This is the thanks we get for assisting Tottenham in leaving the Southern League and joining the Football League in the first place.
Get a life. The reason I never suported your team is because of whiners like you. You may as well talk about Romans wanting to reclaim Britain. It has about much relevance as the drivel Spurs fans
love to peddle. Jealousy is a terrible thing to carry for 123 years.
Ah look a spud with all the brains of a fried chip… you should look up your FACT about arsenal. If you find any evidence of that ever occurring I’ll apologise. I don’t mean a line in a book 40 years later.
But then everyone, fans, journo’s. bar City fans is 10000% convinced City/Qatar are guilty
Innocents don’t delay beyond the deadline in replying to every request for info
What you would like to be the truth and what is the truth are moot, and there is no high ground for haters and hopers.
It’s amusing to see the Premiership teams praying CITY are punished. CITY are not in debt (the main reason for FFP).
They are just better on the pitch than any other team and the former big boys of the top division don’t like it!
Same with the top European teams trying to maintain the Status Quo.
Inocent until proven guilty still applies.
You’re misunderstanding FFP. Yes, Everton are being punished for having done into debt- a result of spending more than the club takes in. There’s more to it than that, though. City are charged with funneling money into the club through third parties in the UAE and with concealing payments by keeping portions of players’ salaries off the books, both of which would make it look like the club has been spending responsibly and within FFP’s limits.
UEFA has already ruled that City misstated their annual accounts between 2012 and 2016 to the tune of £200million. This was later overruled because the infractions happened outside of UEFA’s statue of limitations – but that doesn’t affect the Prem’s ongoing, years-long investigation.
A different regulatory body considering different accusations Whilst similar this is a different set of charges eto those that were dismissed by CAS for a variety of reasons some, of which were because the accusations were times out. Let’s wait until the the independent body publish their outcome and then discuss the outcome in an adult manner.
well-said. I didn’t mean to imply that the UEFA & CAS charges overlapped with or was the same as the current set of charges. If it turns out that I’m wrong in this post, I’ll follow with a fulsome apology.
The ridiculous hyperbole, the headline – Man City ‘shocked’ and ‘tremble’ – really?
Then there’s the basis of this rather smug leap to judgement.
It’s a marked deck, the FA are prosecutor, judge and jury and appoint the ‘independent’ adjudicator.
The accused is not permitted the basic rights of jurisprudence. In law an accused is not required to assist the prosecution to convict them. No so with this kangaroo process. The accused has committed a ‘crime’ in the eyes of the system if they do not assist adequately in the opinion of the prosecution. The accused is not provided with the protection of the law in being treated as innocent unless at the final instance the outcome is a guilt verdict. The accused has no right of appeal.
This article contains all of the despicable tribalism that is rank in football.
As the famous. Martin Niemöller put it so poignantly, “First they came for the communists………”
I’m sure it’s not the FA conducting the investigation and bringing charges against City, but their contemporaries in the Premier League. This is where you’ll find out who your friends are. It’s all very well having the best team in the world & the best coach, but if you’ve achieved success after success with unaccounted for multi millions at the expense of your rivals, no one is going to support you, and it will be “bye, bye Bluebirds.”
I hardly think that invoking Martin Niemöller is a fitting way to finish a comment that started off complaining about hyperbole. Last I checked, no footballers or football fans are being rounded up, imprisoned, and executed. As for my hyperbole, yes, I do occasionally lead with a hyperbolic headline. It’s one part tongue-in-cheek to mock those trash blogs that constantly peddled in that kind of yellow journalism without offering anything substantial after ward. Its another part a blatant attempt at bringing in more readers. While this post has attracted a fair number of supporters of other clubs, it’s also attracted a larger number of Gooners. Those visitors who bothered to vote, while representing a small percentage of overall visitors, left an average rating of 4.4, suggesting that my target audience is satisfied (given the number of negative reactions, I suspect that the average rating has been dragged down somewhat by a similar number of downvotes).
shake your head Alphonso…you have the unmitigated gall to play the hyperbole card then end your little diatribe with a quote from a well-known anti-Nazi theologian…you’ve played yourself again, which I’m quite sure comes as surpise to no one
as a lifelong and rather atypically level-headed Arsenal fan I would simply say this, considering the circumstances of our cocking-ups in the business ends of the last two seasons and the seemingly constant needs of both Wenger and Arteta apologists to find conspiratorial-like excuses for our failings, we shouldn’t be the ones discussing such matters, at least in regards to City…in no world do I wish that we’re grandfathered into a title win due to any financial-based investigation full-stop!!
You and I don’t agree on much, AST (for example, I’m not sure I’d consider you level-headed…), but I agree with in saying I don’t want to end up with a consolation Prem trophy given after the fact due to City somehow being stripped of it retroactively.
in light of the fact that you’re a card-carrying member of the aforementioned apologist brigade, I’m not surprised whatsoever that you might question my level-headedness…I’m sure your fellow tin foil hat wearing brethren will pile-on now that you’ve thrown down the proverbial gaunlet lol
Gentlly, AST; gently. My jibe is meant only as a gentle tongue-in-cheek one, or do I flatter myself in assuming you know me better? I’m sure all of us think of ourselves as the level-headed one in the room. For myself, I know that I’m frequently too optimistic, sometimes bordering on (charmingly?) naive, but I still think of myself as level-headed on the whole.
How on earth did you come to think that titles etc would be awarded retrospectively? I’m sure there’ll just be blanks against those years.
Most appropriate punishment for city’s 9 years of breaking ffp rules is to deduct 20 points per season for the next 9 seasons.
I like the cut of your jib.