James Dolan

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@henrywinter Once again, Henry no mention of the 115 charges against Man City. You call out the unfairness of WBAs points deduction, but still no comment about City.
Silence = complicity.

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@henrywinter Henry
How do Arsenal compete with those clubs that break the rules.
Man City bought Semenyo and Giui in the January transfer window. Paid the transfer fee with little or no negotiation, then gave the players what they wanted.
Arsenal criticised when they negotiate.

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@henrywinter What about the 115 charges against City Henry?
Why so quiet?
Will they suffer points deduction?
Will they be let off like Chelski?
Come on, Henry, let's have SOME comment.
Good journalists like you have a duty to talk about this important matter.

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@henrywinter Arsenal played in Portugal in the week. Bournemouth had WEEKS to prepare. Yes, Arsenal were lethargic but similar to Premier League teams playing a demanding fixture list. Contrast this with PSG getting the weekend off Ligue1 agreed to rearrange Lens game. Why?

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@yousef_ki1 .

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@ghadaa231 .

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@yousef_ki1 .

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@yousef_ki1 ...

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@HasanEssam29636 @ThatTimWalker .

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@RealGaryWebster We can't tackle!
When we try to tackle, we foul. We have coaches for corners throw ins goalkeeping, you name it. What we need desperately is a tackling coach.

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@henrywinter When the 115 charges against City are finally resolved, perhaps attitudes about City will change. You report favourably about City but overlook what lurks in the past. A relatively quiet transfer window City are the big spenders which leads to suspicions about their finances.

[Topskills Sports UK @topskillsportuk]

🚨 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐃: The real reason Chelsea walked away from Marc Guehi — after he completed his move to Manchester City yesterday!

Understand Guehi had given his word to Chelsea and was pushing for a swift transfer this window.

Crystal Palace, however, demanded £30m (including add-ons) to let him go.

His agent insisted on:

— £350k weekly salary
— £1.4m net monthly
— £16.8m annually
— £84m total over 5 years

(Note: The proposed contract was for 7 years, which would have cost Chelsea £117.6m in wages alone.)

Add the £30m fee to #CPFC — #CFC saw it as terrible business and pulled out.

Manchester City spend £120M to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace.

£20m to CPFC and £100m for Guehi over his contract with MCFC. 🔵💰

[The Rev. Anton Mittens 🌹👮🎓 @MittensOff]

The Tory Party did not formally suspend the whip from Andrew Rosindell while he was under investigation for alleged sexual offences between May 2022 and February 2024. Instead, he entered a "voluntary agreement" with the party whips to stay away from Parliament while the Met Police conducted their investigation. The investigation, concluded with the police stating the evidence did not reach the necessary threshold for prosecution. In Rosindell's case, the police concluded that even with the evidence they gathered, the high standard for a "realistic prospect of conviction" (the threshold) was not met, so no charges were laid.
When the police decide not to charge because the threshold test is not met, it does not imply the suspect is innocent or that no crime occurred. It simply reflects the evidential position at that moment; this could change if new evidence comes to light. Of course he may be innocent, and no such evidence ever materialises, but that’s a problem for Nigel Farage now. #ReformUK

[Adam @AdamJoseph]

🧵 THREAD: Manchester City, the charges, the evidence, & how justice was delayed.

Manchester City weren’t charged because rivals complained or because they 'spent big'. They were charged because evidence shows a decade-long system designed to hide owner funding, inflate revenue & deceive & obstruct investigations.

The Premier League’s case didn’t appear overnight.
It began in late 2018, triggered by Football Leaks documents - internal emails, invoices, contracts - that contradicted what City had been telling UEFA & the Premier League for years.

Those emails are the backbone of everything that followed. At the centre of the case is a simple allegation: Manchester City repeatedly disguised owner funding as commercial revenue.

FFP rules require sponsorship income to be real, independent, and market value. What the emails suggest is that City’s biggest 'sponsors' weren’t paying what City claimed - Abu Dhabi was.

Take Etihad as an example. Leaked emails show City executives discussing Etihad paying only a fraction of headline sponsorship deals, with the shortfall quietly topped up by Abu Dhabi government-linked entities.

One email explicitly references ensuring funds 'come through the correct channels' so they are not detected as separate sources of funding. That is the definition of disguised equity. This wasn’t a one-off.

Emails show Etihad deals where shirt sponsorship, stadium, training kit & campus naming rights were all inflated wildly out of line with the market at the time - later confirmed in the actual contracts, not just drafts.

The numbers in the leaks weren’t hypothetical. They were real. UEFA auditors suspected this as early as 2013–14.

They found £47m of 'intellectual property' sales boosting income, a £5m 'win bonus' paid for an FA Cup final City lost & sponsorships from Aabar and Etisalat above market value.

City were fined & restricted - but crucially, UEFA never saw the full records. Why? Because City refused to provide them. This becomes a pattern.

When UEFA charged City again in 2020, they imposed a two-year Champions League ban. City appealed to CAS & had it overturned. City fans shout 'INNOCENT', shared out of context screenshots. They're wrong.

CAS did not rule that City were innocent. CAS ruled that UEFA could not meet the burden of proof - largely because City did not co-operate. City were fined €10m specifically for obstructing the investigation.

Even City's own expert witness was denied access to key information that could have disproved disguised funding. 'No evidence' doesn’t mean nothing happened. It means the evidence was withheld.

CAS explicitly stated that disguised equity funding could not be excluded - only that neither side could conclusively prove their case. That vagueness was entirely engineered.

After CAS, new emails emerged suggesting Simon Pearce, a senior City executive & Sheikh Mansour adviser, had given misleading testimony under oath. City declined to comment. Again.

While all this was happening, the Premier League had already been investigating City for years. City’s response? Delay. Delay. Delay. Obstruct. Litigate.

Court filings later revealed City challenged the legality of the investigation itself, filed repeated procedural applications, refused to hand over documents, forced arbitration, then challenged arbitration & tried to keep the entire process secret.

A High Court judge called it out in 2021. “It is surprising, and a matter of legitimate public concern, that so little progress has been made.” That’s legal spiel for stonewalling.

This obstruction accounts for 35 of the 115 charges alone & that’s before we get to the secret payments.

City declared Roberto Mancini's salary as £1.45m per year. On the same day he signed with City, he also signed a “consultancy” deal with Al Jazira - a club owned by the same man who owns City - worth £1.75m per year. That deal was explicitly marked confidential.

Emails show City executives arranging the payments. Same signatures. Same people. Same day. The allegation is obvious: City paid Mancini off the books.

Leaked documents allege undeclared payments for Yaya Touré, including via third parties. These aren’t rumours. They’re contracts, emails, invoices. This is why there are 14 charges relating to manager and player remuneration.

Then there’s image rights. City told UEFA they sold player image rights for a £24.5m lump sum to comply with FFP. Later, they quietly resumed earning millions from image rights again.

The buyer? A company whose directors included City’s own senior legal officer. Independent journalists couldn’t even establish its genuine commercial purpose.

All of this feeds into the core allegation across 54 charges: City failed to provide accurate financial information in good faith. Not once. Not twice. But repeatedly, over nearly a decade.

Now add politics. UK government departments discussed City’s charges with the British embassy in Abu Dhabi. Those communications are sealed - because releasing them could 'damage relations with the UAE'. City insist they are not state-backed. Then why is the state involved?

Yet still, the delays continue. A 12-week closed-door hearing. Half a million documents. Years of silence. City remain 'innocent' - not because the evidence disappeared, but because the verdict hasn’t landed.

This is why the case matters. If City walk away with a fine, it tells every club to cheat cleverly, obstruct endlessly, spend on lawyers, not compliance.. & the rules collapse.

This isn’t about jealousy. It isn’t about success. It’s about whether financial regulation in English football is real - or optional for the richest club in the league.

The evidence exists. The emails exist. The delays are documented. Now only one question remains, do the rules apply to City or not?

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@henrywinter Why the silence about the 100+ charges Man City face?
Why are respected journalists like you not constantly drawing attention?
Supposedly, Semenyo nailed on for £65m transfer and eyebrows not raised! Come on, Henry, why are your journalistic skills not focused on FFP?

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@HdNe313081 @anniesmusingson @ArnouxCarrie @arraIives @Blaze_Knight95 @BraydenSylva @donkrocs_ @FellyCy @gabethegun__ @FulennMunSigra @jermaBong .

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@DanNeidle @campbellclaret What happened as a result of the stamp duty holiday 4 years or so ago. House prices spiralled. In the end, no one saved anything it just created another boom. Who won?

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@GaryLineker @alanshearer @MicahRichards @RestIsFootball Referees are a constant problem.
What is your opinion on top European refs in charge of games. Our refs would benefit refereeing in Europe?
Currently,it's like a club where they have too much influence. They come to games with too much baggage. Refs shouldn't be in charge of VAR?

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@RealGaryWebster @Arsenal Same old at NUFC.
Physicality and aggression ignored by the ref. Gabriel lucky. Gyorkeres treatment by NU defenders should've been punished. Win against all odds. Ref badly influenced by the fanatical home fans. As said before, we need Refs from Europe to do some of these games.

[James Dolan @JamesDo92779740]

@McFaul Absolutely right, Michael