Back in 2014, there was a man who was already aware of the irregularities involving Manchester City. That man now runs FIFA. The infamous Gianni Infantino, then UEFA General Secretary, abused his authority, shared confidential documents and, in short, outmanoeuvred the Investigatory Chamber, doing everything in his power to ensure that both Manchester City and PSG would merely receive a fine, avoiding a deeper investigation that could have led to a Champions League ban. All of these details were also revealed through Football Leaks.
Given his actions as UEFA General Secretary and, more recently, as FIFA President, I can only say, in my humble opinion, that Gianni Infantino has become a cancer on football and should have no place in the future of the game.
Surrealistisk läsning som smutsar ner engelsk fotboll något kopiöst. 15 år av ”tävling” har egentligen aldrig varit att ta seriöst. Finns inga straff som är kännbara nog. City som fotbollsklubb har förbrukat sitt existensberättigande och bör aldrig mer få spela Premier League.
BREAKING: The Premier League confirm an independent Commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
The independent Commission found that between Seasons 2009/10 and 2017/18:
"Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.
"The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators.
"Manchester City was significantly in breach of both the Premier League’s and UEFA’s spending limits.
"During the Premier League’s investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld).
"The independent Commission found that Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme, whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club. As part of the scheme, further ‘sham’ arrangements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a ‘sham’ circular arrangement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the club’s players’ image rights, that was funded by ADUG."
The EPL add: "The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the club’s revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than £900 million during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules. The consequence of this, as the Commission found, was that the club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators. The Commission concluded that ‘by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules.
"As a result, Manchester City failed to accurately report its income and expenditure for the purposes of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules and UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Rules. The Commission found that, had all of the relevant agreements been reported accurately in the club’s accounts, it would have been in breach of both the League’s and UEFA’s spending limits by a very substantial amount.
"In addition, during the course of the four-year investigation conducted by the Premier League, the club committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League. The Commission concluded that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation."
Richard Masters: “The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.
“It also vindicates the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City. While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the League has remained determined that the facts be established independently.
“It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the Rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.
“This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans.”
A redacted version of the independent Commission’s findings has been published.
Now that the charges have been proved, the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing.
City has the right to appeal the independent Commission’s findings and has until Friday 2 October to exercise that right.
Coutinho got 8 G/A in 13 games as a scrawny teenager after joining in January.
He was doing things with a football at 19 I’ve never seen Wirtz do in my life.
One of the best £8.5m the club have ever spent, don’t rewrite history to defend a £116m signing.
🗣️ "I don't think Florian Wirtz is in poor form, what we're seeing is what he is"
Jamie Carragher says he is worried for Florian Wirtz and doesn't see how he will hurt teams ⤵️
❌ Nottingham Forest should not have been awarded a penalty at Liverpool for Alisson's challenge on Neco Williams, the Premier League's Key Match Incidents Panel has said.
But the KMI Panel added that the decision did not reach the threshold for a video assistant referee intervention, so Michael Oliver was correct not to send referee Sam Barrott to the pitchside monitor, reports @DaleJohnsonBBC.
https://t.co/55gFwh7Ycz
@joakimjansson@robin_bylund LFC Podden kritiserar Carra för just detta men är precis likadana själv. Ett gäng influencers som letar reaktioner och alltid ska måla fan med stora penseldrag
Since Sweden elected a right-wing government in 2022, shootings are down 80%, inflation has fallen from 10% to 0.3%, and taxes have been cut on work, electricity, pensions, fuel, food, and savings.
Healthcare waiting lists are down 40%, deportations of foreign criminals have increased, citizenship now requires knowledge of Swedish, benefits have been tightened (unemployed immigrants could get twice the median salary), penalties for many crimes have increased, nuclear power is being expanded, the biggest school reform in 30 years has been launched, and Sweden has joined NATO.
Despite all of this, the left bloc is leading the polls. The election is in two weeks.
Highest-rated centre-back in each Premier League season since 2015/16:
🇳🇱 Virgil van Dijk - 2015/16 ⭐️
🇳🇱 Virgil van Dijk - 2016/17 ⭐️
🇩🇪 Shkodran Mustafi - 2017/18
🇳🇱 Virgil van Dijk - 2018/19 ⭐️
🇳🇱 Virgil van Dijk - 2019/20 ⭐️
🇫🇷 Kurt Zouma - 2020/21
🇨🇲 Joel Matip - 2021/22
🇯🇲 Ethan Pinnock - 2022/23
🇳🇱 Virgil van Dijk - 2023/24 ⭐️
🇳🇱 Virgil van Dijk - 2024/25 ⭐️
🇧🇷 Gabriel Magalhães - 2025/26
VVD has finished as the highest-rated centre-back in 6/11 Premier League seasons since his debut. 🤯
@Mathias_1990@Liverpool2097@jeppedabjork Hahahaha kom tillbaka när de har mer än 6 Champions League, de kan ju börja med en 🤏🥹
PS de behöver mer än 20 ligatitlar oxå
Och jag höll på att glömma, arsenal kan aldrig bli större än Liverpool så länge deras fans baxxar alla våra låtar så jävla cringe
Rodri was the best Spanish player this tournament, without a doubt. But he was NOT the best player of the tournament. The golden ball is not a trophy that has to go to the winners, we established that w/ Forlan, Zidane, Kahn, Modric. I do think Messi was clearly the POTT this WC.