If other Man Utd players get behind Licha and call out INEOS and Glazers then action will need to be taken.
Right now Wilcox will likely try get Licha gone, but if more players do it then he can't bin off the whole team and they could likely get Wilcox sacked.
Martinez is not the only Man Utd player fuming with INEOS. Bruno feels he's been lied to (not signed that contract), Shaw and Maguire didn't feel they were able to be regular starters and asked for more and Carrick was furious for not getting a LB and CB. Martinez is speaking for most the players at the club.
These players were calling for more in Aug before the window shut because they knew we had an opportunity to close the gap, and watched our ownership lie, make excuses and rubbish PR stories and not do anything to help out. The manager and squad feel betrayed and that mood has leaked into the dressing room and likely impacted the mood and performances this season.
Wilcox needs to go, Glazers need to sell. Martinez is not the only player furious with the higher ups.
An out of form Dalot is the only fit fullback in the United squad right now (with 2 games a week)...
But fans that called for the ownership to do more in the summer and sign a LB got labelled as negative by some on this app. Not signing a LB and CB this summer leaving us with the same back four we had in the 22/23 season is a disgrace.
And people wonder why we are shite? It comes from incompetence at the top of the club.
So they basically are admitting they cheated now but threatening political interference.
Their owners should be banned from football. If they stay the future of football is in a scary place.
City group, Ifantino & Glazers need to be kicked out this sport!
If you are still defending City's owners after everything this week, when it is clear they will do anything to avoid punishment - capped off by blackmailing the UK government - you are part of the destruction of the integrity of football.
This is proof sportswashing works.
🚨💣 THE NEGREIRA CASE — FULL RECAP:
• Between 2001 and 2018, FC Barcelona paid approximately €7.3 million to José María Enríquez Negreira.
• Negriera was the Vice-President of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) — effectively one of the most senior figures inside the Spanish refereeing structure.
• He held that position from 1994 until 2018.
• Barcelona's payments therefore continued for approximately 17 years while Negreira occupied a senior position within the refereeing establishment.
• Payments were made under different Barcelona presidencies:
— Joan Gaspart
— Joan Laporta
— Sandro Rosell
— Josep Maria Bartomeu
• The payments suddenly stopped in 2018 — the same year Negreira left the Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.
• Barcelona's official explanation is that it paid for "technical reports and scouting information about referees" that they handed over to coaches and coaching staffs to prepare for matches
• However, when investigators called up former Barca coaches such as Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde and asked them about these reports, they said they had NEVER seen them or used them.
• Barcelona therefore spent millions of euros on "reports" that they never used.
• When investigators asked Negreira himself what the millions were for, he said "They paid me to ensure refereeing neutrality."
• When investigators then asked Joan Laporta about Negreira saying "he was paid to ensure refereeing neutrality", Laporta said "We never asked him to do that."
• Investigators examined invoices issued to Barça by to Negreira.
• One invoice dated 30 November 2005 was for €60,000 and described the expenditure as "aloe vera gift pack"
• When prosecutor asked Joan Laporta whether invoices such as this were connected to the alleged referee reports/services, his reply was "I don't know."
• Another invoice, for around €139,000, referred to having selected/digitized footage from the South Africa 2010 World Cup.
• The problem? The 2010 World Cup wasn't even played yet.
• This pattern repeated for multiple internatonal tournaments, where invoices were made before these tournaments were ever played.
• La Liga say the reason they are not sanctioning Barcelona for this scandal, is because the statute of limitations is of 3 years only, and the case was revealed in 2023, which means the statute of limitations has passed.
• The case is now in criminal court.
• UEFA have now launched their own investigation, and they could BAN Barcelona from their competitions if they find them guilty.
Manchester City may as well forget the appeal.
The leaked emails show board member Simon Pearce, who CC'd in Ferran Soriano (CEO) saying they should hide the payment routes.
It's not "an opinion" @ferransoriano
Lawyers on £400,000 a week couldn’t defend a single charge of 115 BUT fear not, mcscotty808 has “read the majority of the documents” and has found holes in the case!
A lifeline here for Manchester City!
If nothing else, have to admire Manchester City's ability to be "surprised and disappointed" by things the rest of the world has been talking about for four days.