Deb

Dull Woman, loves football

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

Lisandro Martinez’s view that Michael Carrick has been sold short and the squad has not been equipped with the depth to fight on multiple fronts is shared by several senior players - and football staff. It has been discussed in the dressing room with the club aware of frustrations around recruitment.

There was a fear ahead of the campaign that the squad would not be strengthened properly - the lack of cover at left-back and striker were major concerns, which is evidenced in how much the need for reinforcements was stressed during pre-season interviews.

Told the driving reason behind Martinez’s airing these grievances publicly is fury that Carrick is likely going to lose his job despite not being given the tools to have a fair crack, and players are sick of reset after reset, without questions asked of the people in charge and what direction they’re taking the club in.

Carrick and the team have faced criticism, accepted it, and owned up to performances being nowhere near good enough.

Where is the accountability from the people who keep leading the club to one doom spiral after another?

[Adam Crafton @AdamCrafton_]

Don’t really see how Martinez’s comments can be questioned for accuracy. It’s obvious the coach & small number of v good players at MUFC were let down in summer. I’d also be curious to know more about a hiring process that led MU to hire so many ex-MCFC into key positions.

[Deb @555Debsie]

@K_Stand_Red @RuudAzz Always say there were never out fought or out thought. That they couldn’t compete properly in Europe was unfair as it stopped them getting recognition deserved

[Joe Rich @Joe_Rich]

BREAKING: ‘Sweetheart deals’ between the Manchester City group and the Labour Council contained tightly-drawn gagging clauses and NDAs to prevent their secret terms from being scrutinised (via @TheTimes) https://t.co/aDVh0BWIgU

[GoonerTalk @GoonerTaIk]

Absolutely bang on from Keane.

How good City’s team is, or how good the individuals are, is a total irrelevance. It was all built on lies. None of it exists without them breaking the rules. Literally every single game they’ve won since 2009 is pointless.

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

How long is the stench of the “sham” going to corrode the meaning, worth, and very essence of the Premier League?

Listening to commentary about Manchester City’s players matching the defiance of their ownership and triumphing in adversity.

Listening to fans chorusing the names of the men running the club, wearing masks or displaying banners of their faces and jibing: “We’re Man City, we’ll cheat when we want.”

Victory being framed as “a lovely moment,” a show of togetherness as though some grave injustice has been imposed on City, rather than their hierarchy being found by an independent commission to have orchestrated financial doping on an industrial scale.

Their opponents and the rest of us wondering if any of this actually matters now and how much of it ever did?

There can be no business as usual pretence. We need a full stop to the absurdity.

[Adam @AdamJoseph]

Sham contracts. Sham club. Sham Premier League.

Every game with them in it further damages a competition with barely any integrity left as is. Their fans know it too & it's why they behave like animals when reminded of their guilt.

This is English football until further notice.

[Bolarinwa Olajide @iambolar]

I shed a tear watching this. I love you, Sir Alex Ferguson. A true father-figure. ❤️

[Cheeses Of Nazareth @OhCheesesChrist]

I have no doubt that some of the indicators Manchester United use to identify touts are working, and I have no issue with genuine touting being tackled.

However, as I mentioned to a few people last night, the issue is that club staff are relying on data analysis they simply do not understand.

One member who received an account restriction earlier this week was told by the club that they had logged into their account 80 times since August, generating 50 different IP addresses. On the surface, that might sound like unusual activity to someone unfamiliar with basic networking, but let us break it down.

80 logins since August averages out to around 1.2 logins per day. For an Official Member actively trying to secure match tickets, where drops and ballot returns can happen unpredictably at any time, checking the site once or twice a day is completely normal, expected behaviour.

As for the 50 different IP addresses, anyone using mobile data on 4G or 5G will have their IP address reallocated multiple times (easily double figures) a day as their phone switches cell towers or reconnects to the network. Factor in home broadband, workplace Wi-Fi, and public networks, and 50 unique IP addresses across 80 mobile logins over two months is not just plausible; it is actually quite conservative.

What the club flags internally as suspicious activity requiring review is standard browsing. Flagging members for simply checking the ticketing portal on their mobile phone shows their automated detection methods are fundamentally flawed.

Will they learn? Past events suggest no.

[1990sUtd @1990sUtd]

Pretty much everything the Abu Dhabi puppet Richard Leese says in this BBC report is a lie 👇 as we can see from @ManCityCouncil's 2014 'Ancoats and New Islington Neighbourhood Development Framework' document...

https://t.co/VDxwDsJGyP

1/

[1990sUtd @1990sUtd]

Hello @andyburnham,

How much involvement are Abu Dhabi-linked companies being lined up for in the property feeding frenzy that is the redevelopment of Old Trafford you've been relentlessly pushing? 🤔

[Cheeses Of Nazareth @OhCheesesChrist]

Here we go again...

Remember the wave of restrictions slapped on Season Ticket holders over the summer? The club is now targeting Official Members.

They aren't even calling it "suspicious activity" anymore; they’ve rebadged it as "activity that requires further review."

We all want touting tackled, but dropping restriction emails on a Monday at 18:00 with a deadline of Wednesday at 08:00 gives fans barely 38 hours, effectively one single working day to respond.

This is completely unacceptable for innocent supporters. One fan who contacted me is travelling all the way from Spain and now has no idea if his ticket for Saturday will even work at the turnstiles.

If United are taking this heavy-handed approach, their detection needs to be bulletproof. We all know how flawed the club's data matching can be, yet they clearly haven't learned from summer's mistakes.

Worse still, this directly violates the club's own published Club Sanctions and Appeals Policy, which contractually guarantees supporters a fair 14-day window to appeal any initial sanction decision. Slashing a two-week policy down to one working day is a blatant failure of due process and breaches the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which protects paying consumers from unfair terms and one-sided ultimatums. The club cannot bypass its own written rules simply because a fixture falls within that 14-day window.

If you’ve been hit with one of these emails, submit a response before the Wednesday 08:00 deadline so your ticket isn't automatically cancelled for Saturday, but state clearly in writing that you are replying strictly under protest and duress, reserve your full 14-day right to reply, and will escalate any wrongful cancellation to the Independent Football Ombudsman.

The Sanctions process is broken, United are unfairly treating supporters, and they need reporting. You can do this through any or all of the following:

Independent Football Ombudsman (@TheIFO): For direct breach of their own published 14-day sanctions policy and lack of procedural fairness.

Citizens Advice / Trading Standards: Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for unfair commercial practices and unreasonable deadlines on paying customers.

The FSA (@WeAreTheFSA): Log your case with the Football Supporters' Association, they are collecting evidence on unfair club sanction regimes.

Information Commissioner's Office (@ICOnews): If they use vague digital tracking/profiling and refuse to provide your data under a Subject Access Request (SAR).

If you are a member who has received one of these restriction emails, please get in touch.

The way you treat us is a disgrace.

[Joshi Herrmann @joshi]

"What if Burnham’s magic potion for revitalizing Manchester was not, in fact, the region’s get-up-and-go attitude [...] but an excessive dependence on foreign money from people now embroiled in one of the world’s greatest sporting scandals?" 👀

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

The relationship between UAE, Manchester City Council and Andy Burnham is a story that is getting murkier by the day…

[Joshi Herrmann @joshi]

The eye-popping deal that gave Abu Dhabi ‘right of first refusal’ over large stretches of Manchester is on the Sunday Times front page - with a credit to @ManchesterMill where @jackdulhanty broke the story.

[Joshi Herrmann @joshi]

The inside story of Manchester's relationship with Abu Dhabi: I've written a big piece with @jackdulhanty and @AlecHerron about the scandal engulfing City and how it forces Andy Burnham to embrace Real Manchesterism...

https://t.co/ufuMqKI8ay @ManchesterMill

[Liam Byrne MP @liambyrnemp]

1/. The #ManchesterCity judgment potentially raises very serious questions about how alleged accounting failures went undetected for 9 years.

Today, I’ve written to the Financial Reporting Council asking what it will investigate, how quickly it can act, and whether it has the powers and resources it needs.

[James Ducker @TelegraphDucker]

From Etihad Airways 60-page submission to John Kerry, US Department Secretary of State, Antony Foxx, US Department of Transportation Secretary and Penny Pritzker, US Department of Commerce Secretary on May 31, 2015

[Rob Harris @RobHarris]

NEW: Financial auditing and accounting regulator urged to investigate 'serious failure of scrutiny' of Man City's accounts - in letter from the chair of the Commons business committee @liambyrnemp
https://t.co/FAPLrfKrsk