Are Manchester City Cheats?
By: Ted Fred Franky, Refuting misinformation, June 6, 2023 1 year ago
The short answer, based on all the available evidence, is no.
So why all the fuss?
What is happening is that clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are threatened by new money. They fear being pushed into obscurity by clubs with wealthy backers. This has happened before, and is the main reason why these three clubs got into their positions of power in the first place.
So they are acting as a cartel, abusing their dominant position in the market, to distort the market. The purpose is to prevent clubs with significant investment (like Chelsea, Everton, Manchester City and Newcastle), from using that investment to compete on an even playing field with them. You can see what the Daily Mail’s Martin Samuel says about it here:HTML LINK – PDF IF HTML DELETED
Of course it could all be a happy coincidence, but some seriously underhand issues are coming to the fore that these clubs (Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United) are going to have to start answering.
Cartels are illegal and abusing a dominant psoition in any market is illegal in England under the Competitions Act 1998 (and also illegal in the EU). The offences are so severe that people involved in them can go to prison and businesses (including football clubs) can be closed down.
It is very difficult to prove that a cartel exists but it is relatively straightforward to prove that businesses are abusing their dominant position in the market.
Example 1: In the UK any business with more than 20% share of the market is considered to have a monopoly and should be split up according to the law. The Monopolies and Mergers Commission is in place to address this (you can find out more about this here). You could argue Manchester United have been in this position for years, possibly Liverpool too.
Example 2: Secondly, if for the sake of argument, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United were all relegated in the same season, how many of their supporters would continue their Sky Sports and BT Sports subscriptions? If each of these clubs accounts for over 20% of Sky’s subscriptions then they have a Monopoly which could decimate the Premier League. These are the most supported teams in England, this could jeopardise the existence of Sky Sports and the Premier League Itself. This is not as far fetched a possibility as it may seem. It is conceivable that the equity finance by owners of these clubs far out ways what has happened at Manchester City. It could see them punished more harshly than Manchester City. Of course this can only happen if the Premier League operates in a fit and proper way and is not heavily influenced by these three clubs. So if you answer the following question you can start to see that there is a real problem with these football clubs: What impact would relegation on the largest clubs have on TV deals?. This should be a concern for every football fan including those of the three clubs mentioned.
It is not just happening in the UK, this is also happening in Europe with clubs like Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus.
The evidence that these clubs are abusing their market position is all around us.
( This letter was originally posted in the Blue Moon Forum )In England:
(Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United)
- The activities of these three English clubs in the 1980s and early 1990s ending up in the breakaway super league. (How did we get here?
- The involvement of these three clubs in the secretive G14/G18 Cartel
- The joint letter sent by these clubs demanding the Premier League introduce FFP style rules into the Premier League (see above image)
- The attempt by the hateful 8 (including these three clubs) to interfere in Manchester City’s successful appeal to CAS over UEFA’s unjustifiable ban.
- The involvement of these clubs in the aborted European Super League.
In Europe:
(Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus)
- The existence of the clandestine G14/G18 and its successes.
- The creation of Financial Fair Play – (Read FFP Background)
- The aborted breakaway European Super League.
- Manipulation and constant bullying of UEFA
You can find out how these clubs became big clubs here
Yes but FFP has been introduced, and Manchester City have cheated by not following FFP?
That’s not true either.
But Surely Manchester City Are Cheats Under FFP?
No they were completely cleared by CAS of all the charges UEFA levelled at them.
Many in the media say City only got off becuase of “Time Barring” – This is not true, these are the 8 reasons why City were cleared by CAS. The most damning against UEFA was that “UEFA didn’t make the case” – what this means is UEFA could not explain to any of the 3 judges on the panel, what it was City had done wrong.
CAS went onto say that the only reason UEFA found City guilty was because of a flawed process where they did not allow City to defend themselves. Had the UEFA allowed CIty to present a defenace, CAS beleives UEFA could not have banned City.
So in short it was a complete stitch up by people with a conflict of interest within UEFA.
You can find the truth here
But what about the Premier League allegations?
These appear to be exactly the same allegations UEFA levelled at City, which were ultimately proven to be false.
This case is just as botched as the UEFA one. For example City three of the charges relate to rule E60. This rule relates to adjusting your allowable losses because you were playing in the Championship. How on earth could City have broken this rule? more here
On top of this the Premier League Rules were changed in 2022-2023 to allow the Premier League to use unsubstatiated evidence (ie Der Spiegel’s Football Leaks), to investigate breaches of their rules, which previously they cold not. It is not clear whether this rule change actually makes any difference though.
Then they appointed a possibly bias Arsenal man (Murray Rosen KC) to appoint a panel to determine whether City were guilty of the alleged offences.
It is clear these charges will also fail in the courts (if we get that far) and thaat this will lead to a football regulator. However that’s not the point….The point is to damage the reputation of Manchester City FC
You can find out what we know here:
- The Credibility of Der Spiegel
- The Credibility of Rui Pinto
- The Two Premier League Allegations = 115!
- The Punishments City Might Face
Surely there’s no smoke without fire?
There are large numbers of people in the media and in influential positions saying City are cheats in the hope that if you say it often enough people will believe it. After all these clowns believe it themselves.
This is done by misreporting whatever they can and not being challenged over it. Reputable outlets like the BBC with Dan Roan (Liverpool fan) and The Independent with Miguel Delaney (Liverpool fan), deliberately giving a false impression of the truth.
We also have Simon Jordan on TalkSport (who claims he does his research but clearly does not). He constantly says City only got off the UEFA FFP Ban because it was time barred which is not true. He also can’t help spouting 115 Charges whenever he is given the opportunity without any idea what they are, I would love his explanation of how City have breached rule E60 which represents 3 of the charges?
Then we have Mark Saggers, who is can’t help but have dig at City’s owners regarding human rights and sportswashing. I really don’t get this angle, but hey Mark Saggers has a TV show on Liverpool TV, so he has to keep his audience sweet.
Fortunately, there are journalist like Adrian Durham (Peterborough fan) at Talksport and Martin Samuel (not known) at the Daily Mail who put forward a more balanced and objective view.
You can find out about the Bias Media Influence here
UEFA and now the Premier League have been put under huge pressure from the other big clubs to launch false cases against Manchester City. People from these clubs have infiltrated influential positions at both these organisation to pervert interpretation of the rules. For years football fans of rivals will quote all these allegations as if they were fact. One day the truth will come out as to how they have manipulated this situation.
One of the most comical critics of Manchester City was Arsene Wenge when he managed Arsenal, part of his criticism was to cover up the utter pigs ear of a mess he had caused at Arsenal by moving to the Emirates Stadium. The other to explain why Arsenal couldn’t compete anymore and why FFP was so important. Arsenal fans lapped it up and spewed out his criticism with fervour. In his next job, working at UEFA, trying to develop the game across Europe, Arsene Wenger realised how stupid FFP was. he has since heavily criticised it citing all the benefits of it (which he had claimed as an Arsenal manager) as the things that were wrong with it! This is what The Guardian has to say.
Will it change anything?
Professional football is corrupt especially within the FA, UEFA and FIFA. You could write an encyclopedia on corruption: whether its the brown paper bags full of cash that Alex Fergusson, Harry Rednap and Brian Clough were exposed on TV for using to lure players to their successful sides with their bungs; the Louise Edwards affair with Manchester United, serving rotten meat to school children in Greater Manchester (I was a victim), Lancashire and Cheshire in the 60s and 70s to raise money for their illegal slush fund to attract young players; how the France 98 draw was fixed to help France win it; or even the referee admitting he was bribed by UEFA to ensure Barcelona came back from 4-0 down to win a tie in the Champions League; match fixing in Italy; or the USA arresting and prosecuting Sep Blatter for the dodgy way world cups were awarded; and now Michel Platini. The list just goes on and on.
So it’s not surprising when people with vested interests like Yves Leterme, Rick Parry, Rui Pinto et al behave in equally vindictive ways to attack Manchester City. There is obviously something in it for them!
In short, it’s all about racketeering, making money and promoting the interests of the club you support.
No one will take it on and sort it out because to get into a position to do so, you have to be equally corrupt yourself.
Enter US Law Enforcement. They took on Sepp Blatter, they took on Platini and in a few years have done more to rectify corruption in professional football than our government, the EU or any European government ever has.
The bottom line is this:
- Manchester City were bought in 2008 by the richest man in the world, Sheik Mansour, who intended to turn them into the biggest and best football club in the world. To date Sheik Mansour has delivered everything he has ever promsed.
- The people who own and run the big European clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus) and the big English clubs (Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United), don’t like it because it upsets the apple cart.
- So these clubs have set about manipulating UEFA and the Premier League to do what they can to undermine Manchester City.
That is all there is to it.
This is how Martin Samuel at the Daily Mail described FFP and the attack on Manchester City:
Financial Fair Play: UEFA protection racket – payback clubs hate Manchester City
“It is possible to acknowledge City’s wrongdoing but still hold nothing but contempt for the system that has found them guilty. For the secret briefings, the pressure placed on UEFA to ring-fence their primary competition for the select few.”
“Financial fair play was corrupted from birth by those at the top, warped into the most naked protectionism. It was supposed to be about debt, but ended up placing limitations on owner investment. A club loaded with debt, like Manchester United, is fully compliant; a club without debt, like City, is not.”
“It is intended to cement a handful of elite clubs in place and shut the rest outside, unable to grow, to present a sustained challenged, even if they want to or are successful. Fairness is just the sell. Don’t be fooled. It was never meant to be fair.”
“In that way, at least, FFP is working. Indeed, it has worked beautifully for those that devised it, that shaped it, the established elite.”
“It has achieved its intention, to protect those clubs who see a place at the top table as theirs by right. All those meetings, all those briefings, all of the skulduggery that is perfectly legal, at least it wasn’t in vain.”
“United and Liverpool even got to vet Richard Scudamore’s successor at the Premier League, it is claimed. It seems some clubs really are more equal than others.”
Whilst Martin Samuel doesn’t think this is illegal, it clearly is.
If as Martin Samuel alleges that Manchester United and Liverpool have a veto on who the CEO of the Premier League is, that is proof of these clubs abusing their dominant position in the professional football market. What other hidden powers and vetos have they retained since they set the Premier League up? – I have looked into this here.
Either way, we need a football regulator:
- to investigate these allegations; and
- to review all the public and private contractual agreements including shareholder agreements to see what is going on.
If Manchester United and Liverpool (or any other clubs) have additional powers, surely this distorts the competitive landscape and could be proof of criminal activity under competition law.
These clubs are using their position of market dominance to manipulated the market ie the football, and this is criminal activity outlawed in England under the Competition Act, and in every single country in the European Union, in fact this legislation is a requirement of any country wishing to join the European Union.
- You can find out about the truth about FFP here
- You can find out about the truth about how English footballs biggest clubs have abused their position of dominance here – How the big clubs took over football.
- You can find out about the truth about the cartel called the G14 then G18 here
It is truly breathtaking, the amount of misinformation and deception out there that is being aimed at Manchester City. I have tried to sort and cover all these points in a logical order, or you can pick out the individual points from the menu.
Fairness:
Is it fair that Manchester City have more money than anyone else?
No it isn’t fair, who would suggest it is? But this is how professional football is and how it has always been. It is part of the “romance of football”. At the end of the day there will always be teams with far more resources than others and these clubs will be more successful. There are no mechanisms built in anymore to level the playing field and make it fair, because the cartel of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United have done everything they can to get rid of them – here.
Football is entertainment, no one says it is unfair that the British film industry cannot compete with Hollywood budgets, but they still produce decent films worth watching.
Football is cyclical, and Manchester City will not be on top forever. Maybe the owners will make mistakes, maybe Newcastle United will come to the fore or Manchester United will sort themselves out, perhaps someone else?
If however we end up with a situation where City win the league every year, it won’t be any different to any other European league. This has happened in Ukraine France, Spain and Germany for years. If fans lose interest then the people running these competitions might look to American-style professional sport, and build fairness into the competitions so the same team cannot win all the time. This is what we need to do.
