Manchester City to appeal guilty Premier League verdict, faces potential £800m bill

Canaries Caption It9

Mason is terrible (obviously) but I do think it fair and incumbent on journalists to probe and ask questions about Burnham's time in Manchester when he embraced the sports-washing by Abu Dhabi via the state-owned football club at the heart of the city.

Claire S (UK not USA)6

You haven't been paying attention then, this is the sort of claptrap Starmer was subjected to daily, usually based on unnamed sources. It was an ill advised remark by Burnham which he later clarified.

Dr Eric Farmer4

The TV licence fee is £180. It takes over 3,800 of us to pay Mason's and Kuennsberg's salaries, and that excludes overheads.

Crednes Cod Peace3

Were you asleep during the Corbyn years?

Andy Taggart3

Pretty much sums up why I've stopped watching/reading BBC news

Marit 👹8

Not state owned, so why does the Emerati officials try to blackmail the UK? 🤔

vtorphoto.bsky.social7

They are throwing billions into the black hole thst is football for this very precise reason. They buy influence and leverage. If it was for me F*%k right off they go.

John Rob7

They've clearly had the country's bollocks in the palm of their hand for quite some time now. With a less than subtle threat that they're more than happy to grip a little tighter, if we don't play ball with them.

dudlyboy.bsky.social6

Tell the arabs to fuck off. Like we should everytime the lock someone up for nothing.

Lazy-Activist6

if they don’t invest, some other despots with nasty human rights records will fill the gap, why would we worry? Let’s call their bluff.

Death Star for Cutie4

They are hoping the definition is enough to trigger a retrial or whatever you’d call this type of hearing, and waste another 3 years

makemufcgreatagain.bsky.social3

Yeah it’s bollox.. there’s a reason it was declared as sponsorship payments and not from the Abu Dhabi government

Brian Larkin2

Someone is gonna get their hands chopped off for all this

magnificentseven67.bsky.social2

You can make it up and the crooked bastards did.

Ian Andrews1

You'd think that somewhere, someone with a brain would be whispering in to Man City's ear... "for christs sake shut the fuck up! Why did you even say that?"

randomname99.bsky.social3

I want them kicked out of the league and the whole pyramid. I want them so far from the football pyramid, that they're not even in the football Egypt any more. They denied honest footballers so many victories. Denied honest fans so much happiness. They corrupted every kid you see in a city top 🤮

Ed Wilkinson2

I think care is the wrong word. Will we support their expulsion? Yes. Will we be happy if they are expelled? See previous answer.

michuk.bsky.social1

True. If there's one word that sums up most football fans' feelings towards Man City and PSG, it's apathy. As heartbreaking as it is for the fans and players, the owners really do have to accept they were guilty, not go full Donald Trump/Nigel Farage and pretend otherwise.

Ｒ.  Ｊ.  ＭＡＣＲＥＡＤＹ11

The problem with lying so much, is remembering which lie you told, to whom and when.

Mark10

How are City supposed to get away with this if pesky journalists keep finding contradictory past statements?

feelbee.bsky.social5

This is just outstanding work Phillippe, from both you and David. Thanks for keeping us all up to date (and probably ahead of most) on this.

Baron of Haringey5

Philippe, maybe I'm daft and missing something, but I can't see how the City defence stands up? I mean, even putting to one side how the Abu Dhabi govt and associated City-related 'businesses' are essentially linked, surely huge sums from a foreign govt topping up 'sponsorship' is a bit suspect?

Gina Lawless3

Would you mind just forwarding this to the appeal guys? Thanks a bunch.

Docker10

I'm sure other clubs *did* notice though. If you're involved in securing sponsorship deals and finance at a club, you'd have looked at Man City and known the numbers were dodgy. But almost impossible to prove without *those* emails.

T, Shrewsbury Spur6

Other thing surely is that this whole case is based upon a certain 9 year period from several years ago.....what has been happening in more recent years? How can those figures be suddenly trustworthy?!

Olmo5

There's also the more cynical view that they knew about it but let it go on for business reasons

aldoblu.bsky.social2

I think questions need to be asked of Richard Masters and those at the top of the game as soon as.

minion of midas1

Basically checking if records were formally complete and came out on the required sum, not if they were true.

🤎💛 Duchess 💛🤎2

We need to make the punishment more severe than the crime. If people are actually held to account, they'll think twice before they act. I propose a no-judge-can-impose-otherwise mandatory fine that doubles what they've misappropriated. Maybe then they'll reconsider stealing.

Jus 🇮🇪 🇪🇺 🚜 🌲1

It's bonkers...methinks HMRC know when they start their eventual investigations 🔎...it'll be a Pandora's box and there will no hope at the bottom 🤪

Boiled Like Frogs1

Get the feeling that HMRC spend the majority of their time taxing pensioners, getting it wrong, over taxing, under taxing, and ignoring the double irish with dutch sandwiches, for multinationals and billionaires!

Bern1

I like my football teams with chairpersons who don’t have diplomatic immunity.

Llanc1

I don't know what HMRC does all day, but they are very lax on collecting tax from corporations and the rich.

Mark Maynard2

But not the one with the bottle. Fuck that guy.

Toby Morgan1

Get Lisa Nandy in until the end of the season.

mcornbeef.bsky.social1

No one knows what is going to be the punishment. But everyone agrees it should be severe because the scale of cheating and refusal to cooperate.

Dr Headgear1

If City fans are proper fans than they'll be City fans when they're in League 2 or wherever. Every moment of ecstasy they had was stolen from fans of other clubs, who got a moment of despair instead. City cannot be allowed to continue to profit from their past misdeeds. Their current status was ...

Jonathan Marsland1

The best way to punish City would be for Abu Dhabi to be kicked out and replaced by The Glazer Family purchasimg the club via a leveraged buyout!!!!!

Mandeville was cavendish_maid 📎 🇺🇦1

Because it’s Manchester City and they seem to get away with everything? 🤷🤬

The Big Snit 1

Nothing major will happen. The PL won't turn off that Saudi money tap.

Merry Christmas, as in the other place.1

Because big money talks Mimi, and out Teams did nit have that much big money.

Zevon451

Because their UAE puppet masters say so

Nicky5

He spoke like a man who didn’t know they’d been found guilty of 119 breaches of the rules (and worse?) by an independent body. Shocking from a PM.

astina72.bsky.social3

A non story, and typical BBC News output. Used by the Uriah Mason to deflect from the much bigger issues Burnham addressed at the conference.

g-unna.bsky.social2

Correct; he of all people should defer comment until the due process is completed.

Claire S (UK not USA)2

Well gosh who knew eh, he isn't the Messiah either.

Alison Flower2

It was a misstep and he shouldn't have compared it to Everton but Mason is making a scandal about a non story. I couldn't care less, full disclosure here, I support Man U.

Gareth Murtagh2

The chutzpah in thinking that the sportswashing project of an authoritarian petrostate is some how standing up for the little guy 🤦‍♂️

Frank McGahon1

No. 10) is certainly not true. There’s no way they would have “won it any way” without the cheating. It didn’t just shortcut success, it made it possible at all. And as for 19) there’s no reason why punishment has to be deferred pending appeal. They can appeal from the National League if they want.

Matt Severn2

They cannot cope psychologically with even the concept of scrutiny or accountability

MarvinPA4

Swindon were dropped two divisions for a relatively minor offence, were they not?