Warren Staley

Sussex, Sydney, now Sunny Coast of Australia. Always the Albion!

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@ManCity So if I buy a £68 ticket, do I pay £10 and the Abu Dhabi government pays the other £58 for me?

[TheBrightonBard @TheBrightonBard]

DENY, DENY, DENY.

(THEN THREATEN, THREATEN, THREATEN.)

WHY MANCHESTER CITY’S TACTIC IS INDICATIVE OF BIG BUSINESS (AND A MORAL VACUUM).👇🏻

The truth doesn’t matter.

Seriously, it’s an irrelevance.

As this is the world of billionaires, PR companies and lawyers.

And, of course, egos.

It’s 06:30 on Saturday morning, and yet I’m so angry at the distain with which the City’s owners treat the truth, as well as the lengths they will go to save face, here I am writing this when I could be enjoying a lie-in.

And that’s because the sport I love is being damaged because the opportunist moneymen who bought a ticket to the party, cheated, and were found out, are now throwing their toys out of the pram and creating an international diplomatic incident fuelled by their greed and corruption, but delivered through threats and intimidation.

Make no mistake, right now and behind the scenes there is a highly orchestrated campaign in motion.

And parts of it are sinister.

‘Onside’ journalists being briefed with stories they gaslight all of us.

Calls to UK politicians or their aids quietly but very clearly and in no uncertain terms, outlining the financial impact if the guilty verdict is upheld on appeal. (In essence a bribe.)

The UAE’s national airline has already threatened to sue the Premier League.

The guy that leaked the initial emails was under police protection until recently and says his life in still in danger.

ANYTHING that saves face.

For they CANNOT lose face.

I’ve worked with people with this mindset and seen it first-hand.

And it’s because the truth doesn’t matter.

The only thing I can say remotely in their defence is that they don’t even recognise the truth. In one sense they are built so differently to most of us that it’s possible they are unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

It’s fascinating psychology - the world they have lived in for so long has programmed them differently and the facts don’t even register with them anymore.

It’s all about reputation, and of course money.

Because morals don’t matter to those up there in the celebrity world of power either.

That was clear by the PM’s initial statement where he said he’d be “really concerned” if City’s owners were to sell up and leave. What?! Shouldn’t he be “really concerned” at the £800m+ sham sponsorships contracts that have destabilised the top tier of England’s national sport!?

Politicians (of all sides) are desperate to keep people like City’s owners happy and stay in their good books.

And will sell their soul to do so.

And it’s pathetic.

I suspect us ‘normal’ people would be aghast if we knew the truth about the world these people operate in.

Some call them the ‘global elite’.

Elite? Blimey, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to morals and decency.

I try to keep this account positive and politics free, but if you’ve seen my video from Wednesday, you’ll know how passionate I am about the situation.

I mean, we’ve all seen the emails, why on earth are they claiming ‘irrefutable evidence’ exists.

Stop gaslighting all of us.

My prediction is that this is far from over.

The political pressure, the threats, the intimidation will only increase.

The only hope is that they DO sell up and piss off.

Although, unfortunately, there are many more owners like them.

Which begs the question, why did the Premier League allow them to become owners in the first place?

I fear we’ve sold the soul of our national game to the highest bidders.

With the lowest morals.

And now there’s no going back.

[We Are Brighton @wearebrighton]

Brighton & Hove Albion dominate the Premier League - and without needing an airline to take legal action or a government attempting blackmail by threatening to pull investments out of the UK

This is what a real football club looks like #BHAFC

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

Lots of scaremongering since the Man City verdict. States invest where they expect a return, not out of generosity. If enforcing football's rules genuinely threatens wider UK investment, there is a conflict that shouldn't exist.

[TheBrightonBard @TheBrightonBard]

BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION - THE BEST RUN CLUB IN THE LEAGUE?
⚽️💙

We’re owned by a local lad
What a huge stroke of luck
(Not by an oil-rich Sheikh
“Financial rules? I don’t give a f*ck”)

Clean sweep on awards
A month to remember
Lewis, Fabian and Pascal
What a September!

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@alexwickham @AlexDooler @DNair5 So they can do what they want, just because they invest in the country. Maybe we can do without investors like that.

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@RobHarris @etihad it would be more helpful if you explain the rationale for agreeing a record-breaking sponsorship amount for Man City in 2011, when City were not a big or successful club in England or Europe? What was the business case for paying a large premium over deals with big clubs?

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

Massive own goal by the PM

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

“I would be really concerned to lose them.” Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the possibility of Manchester City’s owners selling up. What?! These are owners found guilty of serial breaches of the Premier League rule-book by three judges on an independent commission after a lengthy investigation. Owners who outraged other clubs and countless fans by flouting the rules and inflating sponsorship income with the Disguised Funding Scheme.

Owners who misled auditors and regulators, who threaten to bring this Premier League season – and, potentially, future seasons - to a standstill by their appeal, deny, delay tactics. Owners who are patently not proper custodians of a famous, historic club. Owners who many hope will sell up and ship out after bringing such shame and sham contracts to the game.

So these are astonishing, alarming comments from the PM. “I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn't just put into the Etihad and the campus around it but also into the city," Burnham told the BBC’s Chris Mason.

Come on, PM. Read the room. Read the commission’s report. Read the belligerent statements from the Abu Dhabi owners and their chief executive like Ferran Soriano. Rather than thank CFG, perhaps thank the diligence of the Premier League in seeking to enforce its rules and protect the national sport. Perhaps thank the three judges for their pain-staking work in sifting through reams of evidence and coming to their considered conclusion.

Burnham spoke as a politician seemingly with one eye on diplomatic and trade links. He spoke as a former mayor whose city benefited from investment in east Manchester by Abu Dhabi. “They've been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.” And how was that building financed?

Burnham spoke as a politician and not the football fan that he truly is. The lifelong Evertonian is usually pretty sound on football matters. He misread the mood of many fans not wanting the possible return of drinking in Premier League stands but that was a rare misstep. This is far worse. This makes him look out of touch with the prevailing mood. He was speaking at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Maybe he should head to Anfield on Sunday week and witness the anger felt towards City.

Burnham did add that he wasn’t getting involved in the process and that City had a right to appeal if they felt harshly treated. But how does the PM’s sympathetic words for controversial owners help the independent football regulator charged by Government with leading the fight against those who risk the credibility of their club, who play fast and loose with the rules and who damage the integrity of the national sport?

How frustrating if Burnham’s words embolden City's owners and Soriano further. Bit of an own goal by No 10.

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@TheAthleticFC Here we go 🤮

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@martynziegler This is the first real test for the football regulator. If the Premier League claims are as stated today, then surely the ownership and key people are not fit and proper, so maybe that should be the focus of the sanctions.

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@Priceless_MCI Broke the rules multiple times? Created an unfair advantage against others playing by the rules? Failed to cooperate with investigators?

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@RuiPinto_FL @OllieHolt22 Fit and Proper? Football regulator you decide

[Sheldon Miller @SheldonMiller]

I am a Forest fan and I can tell you straight, if Forest were ever found to be pulling the sort of caper Man City have, I wouldn’t be on social media trying to defend it, playing the victim.

I’d be saying we broke the rules, we deserve the punishment.

Football, sport, business, politics - you name it - should all be on a level playing field.

I wouldn’t want to support anything that is rotten.

City fans: Man up; take it on the chin, take the punishment, clean the house, clean the slate, learn from it and go again.

All this whining is not a good look.

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@OliverKay There should be a focus on whether the owners and key decision makers are fit and proper, and if not that should be a priority in the sanctions.

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@ManCity @KieranMaguire Just accept the verdict from the independent panel and let the football world move on.

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@ManCity

[Kieran Maguire @KieranMaguire]

Manchester United to sell 7cm squares of Old Trafford grass for £125 each.

Should be noted that last week most of the pitch was owned by Pascal Gross.

https://t.co/Q9itZZTxIw

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

@BrettMendoza_ The Hurzeler press may enable us to break down those teams that sit back and have frustrated us in the past?

If we play like the last few games, I reckon everyone will struggle against us! We just need to keep it up! 👊

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

….and a day to say

‘Thank you Tony Bloom’

@BHAFC #bhafc

[Brighton & Hove Albion @BHAFC]

Looking back on 125 years of our club... 💬 Tony Bloom's programme notes on a special day. 📖

[Warren Staley @Sunny_Seagull_]

The press.
The strength.
The finishing.
The quality.
The teamwork.

The future is looking very, very bright. 💙🤍 #BHAFC