07 Feb 2023 19:22:08
The Man Citeh thing has pretty much ruined the EPL.

Whatever happens now the whole thing over the last ten years or so it tainted.

We all suspected that there was financial doping going on.

They have "allegedly" been cheating on an industrial scale.

What is the bloody point of the EPL?

It's just busted and almost meaningless.

No doubt it will drag on for months and goodness knows whether they will be found guilty and suffer a proper punishment.

If Pep was innocent in all of it he should walk now.

Rubbish season just got worse!

Is any professional sport worth following these days?

1.) 07 Feb 2023
07 Feb 2023 19:51:47
I feel your descern Tommy lad and it just shows how useless UEFA and FIFA are if allowing this to happen in English sport for financial gain.

2.) 07 Feb 2023
07 Feb 2023 19:56:45
Nothing will happen ? relax Tom. Somebody somewhere wants some of that Saudi Money, and they do not give a tozz about “punishing” Man City other than money related.
On the other point, I’ve never really got the premier league hype anyway mate. The European Cup is miles better. Old big ears dwarfs the lot in my eyes.

3.) 07 Feb 2023
07 Feb 2023 20:05:01
The FA UEFA and FIFA are more bent than an arabs dagger!

4.) 07 Feb 2023
07 Feb 2023 20:21:13
The worst thing about this is all teams that have been effected by all these financial dealings IF CHARGES PROVE CORRECT.
Everton+Newcastle probably missing out champ league, teams relegated, teams missing out on europe etc. Biggest loser will be ourselves, great shame that our team between 18-22 will never be really recognised as great a team as they should be.3 leagues titles out of 4.the years that we went to 97+92 points, any year with that total you win league easing up, we could've rested key men in league games for champ league games. Whose to say we wouldn't have won another champ league. last season the quadruple which would've cemented team as best ever. I suppose all hypothetical now.

{Ed002's Note - You are making this nonsense up - it is getting really embarrasssing.}

5.) 07 Feb 2023
07 Feb 2023 21:13:20
Not sure how the PL is affected cos one club gets done for cheating and falsifying financial records, if found guilty. Football is going to continue and life will go on regardless of what happens so don’t really understand your logic.

6.) 07 Feb 2023
07 Feb 2023 21:42:22
Imagine an athlete on drugs who wins a medal … and you come second or third to him…. how do you feel when you find out the guy cheated?

Sport has to be governed by rules and if the rules are broken by a competitor to a significant degree then the whole thing really becomes meaningless in a sporting sense.

7.) 07 Feb 2023
07 Feb 2023 23:05:23
Feel the same @Tomny Gunn. Have felt like it for a while. It's not just City, this is just another in a long line of things that puts me off. It's all about squeezing as much money out of every possible orifice. I stopped going to the game this past year and I don't really miss it.
That's not because of our recent form, it's the whole business. The overpriced hotels, the games constantly changing times and the general lack of care for the fans.

I can't see it getting any better, and it's not like it's any easier to watch from home. We have Sky and Bt but still can't watch all of the games.
Football will eat itself.

8.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 00:06:44
Maybe this is the beginning of many things coming out. I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. I find it very interesting that the only top European league not done for match fixing is the premier league. I should add- don’t think any premier league team is throwing games. I just think there are (betting) elements that could be looked at with scrutiny. I just think anything as massive as the premier league is not going to be open to manipulation.

9.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 00:54:18
Honestly I'm kind of getting sick of hearing about "cheating". If they had been paying off refs or paying off opposition or using performance-enhancing drugs then fine. But they were fiddling the books. That's breaking the rules, not cheating in a sporting sense. You can't take away the achievements of those athletes and coaching staff over the last decade because they earned them. It doesn't take away from the fact they have played some truly scintillating football over the last few years. And it doesn't take away from the fact that each time they beat us to the league, there was a better team out there. The sporting achievement is still the same. What they chose to disclose in their finances doesn't detract from that.

{Ed001's Note - breaking the rules is cheating. They had players there simply because they cheated to acquire them so yes you can strip them of titles as they did not earn them. They cheated to acquire them.}

10.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 02:03:45
@aoe, an interesting point you brought up. Just my thoughts on the matter, I think match fixing is rare in the EPL because all the clubs are rich. They would need to be paid a hefty amount for them to even consider to fix matches and that does not make it worth it for match fixers. Smaller clubs in other countries are noticeably less wealthy and that makes them easier targets for match fixing.

11.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 02:40:00
100%, Ed001. Take a look at City’s squad in 2018/ 19, the season following on from the last of the current charges. The sheer number of elite players was absolutely absurd, and unquestionably enabled through illegitimate financing. If found guilty, City simply have to be stripped of those titles. No other punishment, even relegation would be justified.

12.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 06:10:53
Drafted wins worst take award…
Breaking the rules is being offside. Diving is cheating
Spending more than allowed is breaking the rules. Hiding that fact is cheating.

Anyways I don’t like the olympics analogy. Cos in that one you know that the cheating athlete shouldn’t have been competing so you can then assume that they weren’t there so you pawn off the medals to other athletes. Whereas in this case, City would still be there, perhaps not quite as our of this world good, but you can’t assume that they’d suddenly become a mid-table team if they weren’t cheating.

{Ed001's Note - but if those athletes were not there, USA for example, would have someone other than Carl Lewis competing and so might still have won medals. So it is a closer analogy than you realise.}

13.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 07:29:23
Dracred. A fair point. I don’t actually think it’s the clubs doing it mate. I’m talking about the possibility of officials.

14.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 07:44:02
Jesus, just think, if this is true Jurgen will look like a saint compared to what City have been getting up to. That would be City of Ed002s Christmas Card list ??.

15.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 08:16:38
@aoe: I didn't see it that way, my bad. Tbf, the officials in the epl are so incompetent, I'm even sure they can fix matches!

16.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 08:40:55
Kompany’s comments this morning are just so dumb. Basically saying “people in glass houses” and pointing the finger at every other club in the league, while saying “football shouldn’t point too many fingers”.

17.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 09:36:02
Blimin’ page just auto reloaded in the middle of an extended reply. Grrr.

The gist…

Absolutely nothing will come of it.

18.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 10:34:15
I can’t see anything coming of it either. City will have the best legal team money can buy. Also they don’t need to do anything underhanded now because they can sell players for big money and buy new ones, without pouring in billions. They got here by cheating but now they’re on top it will be very difficult to bring them down.

Chelsea basically started it they had a £1.5bn rolling debt to the Russian’s. Now they’ve found another way to get round it. £700m spent in 6 months, that’s not sport.

We are not whiter than white of course but meeting VVD on the waltzes is not the same.

19.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 10:39:21
Hopefully City are docked 20 points this season. That means we go from 10th to 9th.

20.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 10:59:39
Nothing will likely happen that will have any tangible affect on us or benefit us in any way. We’re just as well to focus on ourselves and getting to the end of this catastrophe of a season. The only take out we’ve got from this is some schadenfreude if City are penalised severely, but let’s be honest, it’s most likely to be a slap on the wrist with no actual penalties. Just tough talk and posturing from the PL.

21.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 02:09:01
Nevermind that ridiculous little club is that a new thumbs up icon for the eds? Just noticed it, how long has this been going on? I'm startled and slightly concerned, I won't sleep now, had to press it though, looks a bit matey, I'm not sure maybe it'll grow on me . maybe.

{Ed033's Note - Yes, new thumbs up just to thumb up an Ed's Note.

22.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 11:26:35
If nothing happens then the Premier League and the officials running it will have a huge credibility problem. They simply will never be taken seriously again.

If Kompany says all the clubs do it, where is the evidence? Where are the facts that show other clubs have bought players beyond their means under FPP? Why is it only ManCity in the Premier League that gets caught at it, then?

23.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 11:26:35
If nothing happens then the Premier League and the officials running it will have a huge credibility problem. They simply will never be taken seriously again.

If Kompany says all the clubs do it, where is the evidence? Where are the facts that show other clubs have bought players beyond their means under FPP? Why is it only ManCity in the Premier League that gets caught at it, then?

{Ed002's Note - The decision is not in the hands of the Premier League.}

24.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 13:07:48
what happened, the local post office run out of brown envelopes then, had to happen, using so many ha .

25.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 15:02:04
So ed2, have city cheated or not?

{Ed002's Note - I would get away from the word "cheated" as such, but the independent commission will look at each of the charges (which in the main relate to financial irregularities) and (eventually) make a finding based on the evidence already provided, discussions and any new evidence that comes to hand. They will decide the punishment, if any, and any further recommendations which they wish to make to the Premier League.}

26.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 18:09:56
If you ain’t following the rules as they are set then, you’re cheating. The End.

27.) 08 Feb 2023
08 Feb 2023 22:00:41
Ffp needs to be adhered to work

Basically city are signing on and working at the same time
How can another team that are doing one or the other compete financially.

The truth is they can’t .

I really think nothing g will happen as money talks and city have lots of it .

28.) 10 Feb 2023
10 Feb 2023 08:59:17
will the independent hearing release parts of the investigation kinda like how the January 6 investigations did? lol some of those were hilarious, but also cool to see what the evidence was to make their case.

{Ed002's Note - No. The reason is as demonstrated in the posts on the Liverpool page that there is a clear lack of understanding about what the punishments coiuld be and the impact of those punishments and a continued misunderstanding about all matters financial.}