BlueCityBrain

Manchester City is rent free in my brain💙👕I like data and sometimes like to make infographics

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

What started as messy Excel sheets became charts, then power bi dashboards, and now a full platform valuball .co

It’s a bit surreal to be at this point to be honest. Ive poured hours into Excel sheets and Power BI over the years, so this platform’s really been built out of love of this stuff (banter lol 😂). And honestly, who better to build it with than @KieranMaguire someone who’s already led the way on the accounts side.

Here’s what you’ll find on the platform
📊 30+ years of Premier League club accounts
🔁 10+ years of sourced transfer data
🏟️ 105 clubs from the Prem to League Two
📈 10+ dashboard types including simulators, comparisons, league views
💼 20+ financial metrics per club like wages, revenue, amortisation and more
📝 Blogs, blogs more blogs (🔜)

And much more to add as well

Would love any feedback to help us get this kicked off🙏

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@deepcovergecco @SheikhMCI @MattyT_631 @valuball Yes will add it in future - 1-2 months will be ready for 26/27 season. Currently working on developing the app and rebuilding mobile experience which will fit with the above nicely 👌

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

You’re not necessarily wrong but UEFA SCR and the PLs squad cost rules don’t measure take home pay they measure employee benefit expense which by definition includes those employer costs. So for what a player costs the club the £408m is more accurate. But yes if you’re going for “what the player took home” you’re right. It’s something I may add into the equation in future 👌

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@deepcovergecco @SheikhMCI @MattyT_631 @valuball Fair but that’s why we use 75% of the reported number. It’s consistent with the UEFA reports

So I’m using £306m not £355m. That’s how we estimate the wages. It’s imperfect. But there’s no public knowledge of individual players wages thus why it’s all “estimates”

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@deepcovergecco @SheikhMCI @MattyT_631 @valuball Use £408m the total at the bottom for full payroll costs.

Again we use 75% of this number . Go read UEFA reports and their method. City’s wages are actually higher in their reports 😬

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@deepcovergecco @SheikhMCI @MattyT_631 @valuball Your wage numbers are wrong. We paid £408m in 24/25

We use 75% of the £408m (to get down to players only per UEFA methodology) which is about £306m. It’s about ~235k per week per player (at 25 players) that’s the average.

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

Ignore what is reported in the media for player wages.

The average wage based on financial accounts - REAL numbers - alone per 25 man squad is 250k a week PER player at Man City.

So if Guehi is less than 300k cool shift over his 50k to another player. If Savinho and Lewis are lower - also cool shift their amounts to another player as well but you need to hit ~300m in wages for the players.

The idea is to give you a rough guideline of what the squad is actually being paid per season by the books.

What media reports are generally BASE wages and what the agent is willing to share with the media. But football is heavily bonus structured.

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@9320pod Best city pod out hands down. Ive been a subscriber for nearly 10 years!!

[Ninety Three Twenty @9320pod]

🚨All our content is FREE all week. Download our app and check out all our Enzo Maresca analysis as well as last Friday's MARKET pod looking at City's summer transfer window.

IOS https://t.co/mjbKNtgBOT
Android https://t.co/k5gMsuOJu1

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

It’s an estimation from actual account wage numbers. If Donnaruma is on less remove 100k from him and add it elsewhere. It all has to add up. We pay a lot of wages

And yes they would include bonuses. No one knows ACTUAL individual wages so our best is to estimate from actual account data.

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

Not taking the loss well I see.

[Magic hat 🎩 @themagic_tophat]

Job’s done on City and Chelsea. Both clubs are finished. Zombies that don’t know they’re dead yet.

I was going to shut down the account but I can see there’s still one more job left to do first.

It’s time everyone saw just how corrupt PSG+Uefa are. Thread coming soon…

[slbsn @slbsn]

My most boring article to date. Enjoy 👇

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

Big congrats to you Kieran !

[Kieran Maguire @KieranMaguire]

I appear to have just become an official Professor of Football Finance. Never thought it would happen when I started mucking around with spreadsheets many years ago.

Another nail in the coffin of jumpers for goalposts, but I'm over the moon.

Over to Sir Sean Dyche for a proper summary.

[slbsn @slbsn]

🤓These two/others like them have often over the years misrepresented my statements about auditors and/or straw manned arguments on this point so let me try again. This is not an exhaustive response - there are many points but I don't have the time or inclination to write up the position yet again. These two are blocked but not because we disagree - a common lie. I never block anyone just because they disagree.

On to the substance:

1. Auditors are not responsible for nor find all fraud. Nobody would ever suggest they were or did. I do not suggest I am expert on audit (I am a lawyer by training) but I do have much expertise on being subject to audits, the fall out from faulty historic audits in high profile situations and an understanding of how it can happen.
2. My argument is not that big 4 consultancies (he means auditors) found no issues although it is true that the accounts of all of the companies involved have always been given unqualified audits by the full range of auditors (the companies involved all have different firms - some Big 4, City BDO).
3. It is very concerning that an apparent CEO and a regulated accountant appear to believe it is "extremely easy" for a group of companies plus a middle man to engineer long term fake £300m+ sponsorships. I disagree. On the contrary, this kind of conspiracy is rare and is not easy for obvious reasons. It needs contracts to be signed, lawyers to be involved, multiple internal operatives to comply, finance people at all levels involved to comply and then represent to the auditors, shareholders, debt providers and other stakeholders that all was legitimate. It needs express, outright lies and, importantly in this situation, for those parties to all double down and lie again when put to them in investigations and under oath. The fact that Enron happened is not a counter argument - major accounting fraud happens but the fact we know the handful of names tells you how rare it is.
4. A cursory look at Etisalat, Etihad, CFG, their directors, their auditors, lawyers, banks, advisors, investors, debt providers and each of their respective regulators will tell you instantly that these are not the most likely co-conspirators to fake agreements worth £10ms year after year before, during and after UEFA, Der Speigel, PL, and media allegations.
5. Even if BDO could not identify any issues prior to 2018 (and given a lot was laid out well before 2018, I doubt BDO never asked any relevant questions about CFGs biggest and obviously highly material contracts and counter parties), once 2018 and the various investigations and charges were laid, BDO would have had no option but to ask difficult questions relating to the charges, documents, allegations, media commentary, maybe even MHs forensic document analysis etc. The local audit team would have, in all likelihood, been asked by their superiors whether they were sure they were not sitting on a time bomb and what procedures had satisfied them as auditors. The idea an auditor could not ask questions about allegations of off book payments or disguised equity is just not true. In the face of the allegations, professional scepticism if nothing else demands it. So at least 5 (its more but stick with 5) full audit processes have taken place with these allegations (the ones MH says are blindingly obvious) in full sight and with the PL in particular providing a catalogue of questions for the auditors. The same concerns could also have been raised at some of the alleged co-conspirators (we know Etihad's CEO expressly dealt with the allegations in interviews). Questions of related party issues will also have been dealt with multiple times.
6. Of course, people like these two believe City's directors and all the other alleged co-conspirators lied originally so would simply keep lying for a decade to cover up these conspiracies. Presumably they also think that all of the formal director's representations to auditors and all other parties that asked questions related to these matters were also all lies - year after year including after the documents became public and after formal investigations were launched.

They are entitled to that view (although it may turn out to libellous), but it all seems rather unlikely to me as I have explained all the way through this.

It is true that accountants like MH are adamant that accountants are not capable of asking difficult questions to uncover wrong doing and believe that I am naive for believing they can. A lot of accountants seem to have a dim view of their fellow professionals which is concerning but my experience in 30 years of professional life is that people and systems generally work, that people aren't generally idiots and don't generally outright lie. This is also any tribunal's starting point.

Where it lands, we will see soon enough. As ever, if there has been a multi-year, huge conspiracy, with outright dishonesty, the punishment will be severe.

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@CWeatherspoon_ So you don’t think Downman is on £350 a week 😂?

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

Gotta laugh when people get got by fake accounts lol

[The Football Era @Footballera0]

Yeah they’re jumping a sinking ship, I reckon they’re all aware now that the sanctions for the 115 allegations are around the corner, this is why their boss Pep fled. That relegation to league one will hit like crack.

They’re about to have a fire sale, Arsenal need to make a cheeky £50m bid for Haaland, take Doku and maybe on or two ore players off them.

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@Man0nEarth But that’s what I mean you’ve kind of got a set squad? What would you need maybe LW?

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

Yeh 2 of those seasons was on the back of a treble and winning 4 in a row then a full rebuild of the team. One of those seasons city lost their best player for the season and proceeded to have their worst season in 10 years on the back of 4 titles in a row.

From that treble team only 3 players remain (5 if you can count 2 that will be sold/let go this summer)

Arsenals team right now is in their “peak”. You’re not rebuilding its built. As for spending we don’t have the 2025/26 numbers yet and I expect Arsenal to be really close to City.

City’s rebuilt multiple times and this team now is close to go again.

[Magic hat 🎩 @themagic_tophat]

Arteta accumulated more PL points than Pep totalled over the past FOUR seasons.

This is despite Pep spending 30%+ more in real terms and having had a far more valuable squad before the start of those 4 years.

Arsenal is about to break the PL revenue record this season…

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

@Man0nEarth We won’t need to reach peps “peak” I don’t think there is a team like that anymore anyways. There’s no 18/19- 21/22 Liverpool to compete with. We just need to be good again and we’re really close.

New manager though so nothing is certain

[katie @feigenation]

genuinely the nicest thing i’ve ever seen watching football i was in tears

[BlueCityBrain @BlueCityBrain]

Peps so insane if you see below there is 6 out of his 9 seasons (25/26 not mapped yet). All sit in the top 25 all time seasons performance wise from 1969/70 to 2024/25. (Performance score is a massive formula using a ton of data to map out each and every season to compare them against each other in a meaningful “success score”)