[Football] Abu Dhabi Europe ban lifted

Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊



father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,652
Under the Police Box
This. If what happened to Man City happened to us I would have to very carefully consider my support for the club. It is all so false. Football needs regulation. Personally in the current circumstances, I'd like the bigger clubs to sod off so that the rest of us could have more meaningful and honest competition.

This! A European Super League with the 'top6' plus top clubs from Spain/France/Germany all having a closed shop love-in with their Middle/Far East fanbases while the rest of domestic football gets on with the business of entertaining fans, in stadia rather than on sofas.
 




Perfidious Albion

Well-known member
Oct 25, 2011
6,373
At the end of my tether
This from the BBC.
"The language that Cas uses is important. Uefa noted that Cas found "insufficient conclusive evidence" to uphold all of its conclusions, not 'no evidence'. And some allegations were dismissed because they were more than five years old. And, because City were found to have failed to co-operate, this falls short of a full exoneration."
.......
So it says they are crooks that exploited legal loopholes to get away with it
 




Kalimantan Gull

Well-known member
Aug 13, 2003
13,449
Central Borneo / the Lizard
Well personally I'm not a fan of FFP anyway - all it does it perpetuate wealth for the existing elite.

Man City have broken into that elite by spending obscene money, but it isn't all on players wages - it also goes into local infrastructure creating local jobs. Put it this way, how on earth is any club supposed to compete with the old guard unless they have an injection of capital that temporarily outstrips wages?

Allowing unlimited spending can’t be the answer. Otherwise we will get more clubs bought up by the unlimited wealth of the Middle East and China and the consequence of sporting mismatches like Saturday night. We need more regulation not less and today’s decision is a bit of a disappointment in that regard.
I suppose we have to ask ourselves how would we respond if Tony ever sells out to one of these characters. Personally I would cancel my season ticket and watch non league football. Judging by Abu Dhabi FC’s desperate advertising for fans to fill their stadium I reckon a few of theirs feel the same. Their club has gone.

I have to agree that I dislike FFP in its current form. At the moment it's based around spending what you raise through gate receipts, media deals, sponsorships and merchandise - it's a system designed to keep the rich and famous winning and everyone else making up the numbers. City could never have caught up with United by following these rules.

I believe there should be a form of FFP, but one based around spending within your income, whatever your income might be and wherever it comes from - but which restricts borrowing to spend on wages. The biggest problem facing football clubs is debt. Clubs should demonstrate liquidity to cover the full length of contracts.

If we want to put limits on the amounts washing around football, then have a single spending cap that applies equally to all clubs, but don't put caps on injections of capital or all you are doing is maintaining the status quo forever.

As for cancelling your season ticket if we're taken over by a big-spending rich new owner who splashes the cash and takes his club to new heights? Errr, we were, about ten years ago, and we're all still here?
 
Last edited:






southstandandy

WEST STAND ANDY
Jul 9, 2003
6,048
Presumably this now means we can break FFP rules if we wish, and Tony can splurge more of his cash if he so chooses?
 


allystrat

Well-known member
Dec 19, 2011
275
Just makes the club even more despised in my book. I really do not know how any true City fan can take much pleasure in supporting a club with this modus operandi.
 


Kalimantan Gull

Well-known member
Aug 13, 2003
13,449
Central Borneo / the Lizard
Tony is a Brighton fan. Makes a huge difference to me.

And to all of us, although I'd venture its more that we're not worried about him buggering of and leaving us in debt, or asset stripping or any of those things that dodgy rich owners can do and which we're well experienced with.

But otherwise, and I'm in agreement here, what you're really saying is that it's the person, not the process that matters when it comes to rich owners taking over and investing their wealth.

We know that Leicester have grown to love their Thai owners in the same way that we've grown to love TB. City's owners seem a bit faceless, it's true, but I don't know enough about them. We know that Sheffield like their Saudi Prince and Chelsea Abramovic, whereas Newcastle fans can't stand their British owner.

I'm pretty sure that if it had been a SE Asian or Middle Eastern or Chinese billionaire that had taken us over ten years ago and built the Amex and taken us to the Premier league, he'd have the freedom of the city.
 




Braggfan

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded
May 12, 2014
1,985
Something that may solve this issue is salary caps. Obviously elite footballers won’t be in favour of that, but it would level the playing field virtually over night.

The problem as I see it is that the big elite clubs want to maintain there position at the top so would be against such wholesale reform of the game.

There are so many things that could be done to make the league more competitive, unfortunately though the game has gone too far now for things like a salary cap or a draft system like they have in American sports. The evidence of that is all around us from Man City getting off the hook, to the premier league restarting amidst a global pandemic. As you say, the big clubs and money men would never let it happen now. In a bizarre twist of fate, I think the only way things like that could possibly be introduced is if there was a second wave in the pandemic that forced next season to be postponed/cancelled. With the risk of lots of clubs going into administration that might be the only way a restructure would ever be considered.
 








BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
18,216
This! A European Super League with the 'top6' plus top clubs from Spain/France/Germany all having a closed shop love-in with their Middle/Far East fanbases while the rest of domestic football gets on with the business of entertaining fans, in stadia rather than on sofas.
The mistake at the root of this problem was the FA allowing the big clubs to threaten then with the European Superleague. The decision should have been 'see you later' instead of giving them the premier league, and relinquishing any power they had to distribute wealth fairly.

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk
 


Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top