00:00 Hello everyone, Adam here again from 442.
00:09 Now if I said the number to you, 115, what would you think of?
00:15 Maybe 10 years ago you'd have thought of Element 115, I think that was a thing.
00:20 But it's probably Manchester City now isn't it, so that's what we're going to talk about
00:24 today.
00:25 Firstly, I feel like before we talk about the 115 charges, it's important to have a
00:29 little bit of a history lesson.
00:32 Obviously you know Manchester City are rich, they were taken over, but a bit of a history
00:36 lesson into their financial misdemeanours and what's happened in the past with them
00:41 and other governing bodies.
00:42 So of course they were bought by Sheikh Mansour and the A-Dub consortium in 2008, which is
00:47 really where the spending started, and then the trophies came up until 2014 when UEFA
00:54 fined Manchester City as well as 8 other football clubs for breaching financial rules.
01:00 Manchester City got fined £60m, paid it, yet did not admit that they had any wrongdoing
01:07 at all.
01:08 So they were adamant that they were on the best behaviour, didn't do anything wrong,
01:11 but they did pay the fine to UEFA of £60m.
01:14 That was in 2014.
01:17 And then in 2018, Der Spiegel, the German newspaper, reported email leaks from within
01:22 Manchester City, and from those email leaks Der Spiegel stated that, and I quote, "The
01:28 club's newfound glory years are rooted in lies."
01:31 Der Spiegel reported that basically City inflated their sponsorship deals so that they could
01:36 spend more money whilst appearing to UEFA and other people like they were spending within
01:41 cheque and keeping everything clean.
01:44 So as a result, UEFA investigated this internally and as a result of that investigation, they
01:49 banned Manchester City from the Champions League for two years.
01:53 City then appealed this, as we all know, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in which
01:57 they were then found not guilty and exonerated and let back into the Champions League, which
02:02 takes us up to now, where the Premier League have dumped 115 allegations on Manchester
02:08 City's head.
02:09 So what are Manchester City's charges, you ask?
02:11 Well, I'm obviously not going to read out a list this big of all of them because that
02:15 would be very time consuming and they're all fairly samey samey.
02:19 They're all to do with financial mismanagement, but the basis of most of them is there's allegations
02:24 that City have failed to fully report financial reports at the end of each year, particularly
02:29 in relation to revenue.
02:31 There is also allegations that City have failed to disclose player salaries and how those
02:35 players are paid, you know, whether that be with offshore payments or, you know, in-house
02:40 things.
02:41 So they've failed to disclose the full way that they pay the wages of their players,
02:44 effectively, and that they have failed to cooperate with the Premier League's internal
02:49 investigation.
02:50 So a bit of an extra slap on the wrist there for that one as well.
02:53 They failed to cooperate with the Premier League, which UEFA also accused them of two
02:58 or three years ago.
02:59 Apparently they failed to cooperate with UEFA as well.
03:01 So there is that too.
03:02 Now, it's important to note that none of these 115 allegations actually have any evidence
03:06 pinned to them yet in the public domain.
03:09 So there's nothing visible that anyone can go online and read that is, you know, cast
03:14 iron that has been presented to court, to the independent commission.
03:17 It's all up in the air and it's all allegations at the moment.
03:20 There's no hard evidence as it stands now.
03:23 And the burden of proof lies on the Premier League at the moment.
03:26 So why is it taking so long when Everton have just been punished like that?
03:30 Well, because Everton have one charge, City had 115.
03:34 The cases in terms of magnitude just don't stack up.
03:36 City's case is absolutely huge.
03:38 There's going to be so many more moving parts, experts, witnesses, statements, documents,
03:43 things like that in this case that it's just going to take so long.
03:47 And when you consider the fact that Everton's case that has just gone was in court a 28,000
03:53 page document that was for one charge.
03:56 If you do the maths on that 28,000 times 115, it's a lot.
04:00 It's going to take a lot of reading and a lot of getting through.
04:03 It's going to be time consuming.
04:04 So that's why the date scheduled is roughly 2025 when we're going to get a verdict and
04:09 the decision on this whole thing.
04:11 So what is the real difference between the Man City charges and the Everton charge?
04:15 Well, the main thing is that Everton actually had an admission of guilt.
04:18 They admitted that they did do what they were accused of.
04:21 So what they were accused of was breaching the Premier League's profitability and sustainability
04:27 guidelines for three seasons throughout the pandemic, ending in the 2021-2022 season.
04:34 So basically the maximum losses allowed in that period were 105 million, to which Everton
04:40 exceeded because they had to sort of rejig their finances with the pandemic.
04:45 They changed the way that they structured their youth development programme, for instance,
04:48 and that's really why they've been slapped on the wrist.
04:51 And the independent commission deemed Everton to have had an unfair sporting advantage.
04:57 So Everton went, "Yep, we do."
05:00 So that's kind of what happened.
05:01 But I think Everton may well appeal it now because they feel they've been hard done by,
05:05 but that's a separate discussion.
05:07 But the admission of guilt really is the difference between this case and Man City's 115 charges.
05:14 If you think about it in very simple terms, like let's say there's two court hearings
05:18 for separate burglars and they've burgled two different houses, but burglar A is Man
05:23 City, burglar B is Everton, and burglar B has gone, "Yeah, I actually did rob that house,
05:28 Your Honour."
05:29 Well, that court hearing is going to be a lot quicker because not as much evidence is
05:32 needed to prosecute burglar B who has said that he's done it.
05:37 Whereas burglar A is standing firm, so you've got to go find the evidence to prove that
05:40 he did.
05:41 That's kind of how it is.
05:42 But 115 charges as opposed to one, so a lot more paperwork as well.
05:46 So what might happen?
05:47 That is the big question really, isn't it?
05:49 Well, nobody really knows, but you can assume given that Everton seemingly have been made
05:53 an example of with a 10-point deduction for one charge that the Manchester City punishment
05:59 and possibly the Chelsea one as well, if that happens, will be draconian.
06:03 I don't think it will be a case of, you know, if it's 115 charges, then City will be docked
06:08 1,150 points.
06:09 I don't really think that's how it's going to work.
06:12 Otherwise, I'd be having a kick about at Sunday League with Harland if they fell that low.
06:16 It's not going to be that bad.
06:18 But a relegation and huge points deductions, massive fines seem like a real possibility
06:23 if City are charged.
06:25 The main issue I think with all this is timing and let me explain why.
06:28 So there's no definitive date on when the decision is going to be made by the independent
06:32 commission with Man City yet.
06:33 They assume it's going to be 2025, but they don't know exactly when.
06:37 So let's say that, I don't know, for example, at the end of the 24/25 season, so in like
06:44 June 2025, that's when Manchester City are accused of this and charged.
06:49 Let's say they're docked 100 points or relegated to League One or something like that.
06:53 City would then obviously appeal this and then they'd be going into the new season playing
06:57 in League One.
06:58 Problem is then with an appeal that might get heard in October, November, December in
07:02 2025 and the verdict will be reached from the appeal to which then you'd have to restructure
07:08 the whole English pyramid if Manchester City then got away with it.
07:11 So it's going to be a tricky one to punish them very harshly because of the restructuring
07:15 of English football that's going to need to take place.
07:18 And the fact that if they are charged, that's not the be all and end all because City may
07:21 well appeal it and be able to overturn that after the punishment has been issued, if you
07:26 understand what I'm saying.
07:27 So it could cause some real problems for other clubs if City are punished so severely as
07:33 and when it happens.
07:34 It'd be also interesting to see what happened really if this punishment was brandished mid-season
07:39 to City and they were sort of on like minus 80 points mid-season.
07:43 It'd be like watching 11 of the best players in the world play the most futile football
07:47 ever because it's nothing to play for.
07:49 So yeah, it's going to be interesting.
07:52 City will appeal it if they are deemed guilty and then that's going to cause a whole different
07:56 problem for the EFL, for everyone really involved in English football because of the restructuring
08:01 that may have to take place and the fact that they may have to restructure it and then go
08:04 back on that restructuring depending on the appeal.
08:07 It's very, very convoluted what could end up happening in a couple of years time.
08:11 But for now, we do not know, do we?
08:13 We're just going to have to wait and see.
08:14 I'm sure this story is going to come up time and time again in the months going by leading
08:18 up to 2025 and I'm sure more evidence will be presented as time progresses.
08:23 But as of now, there is none.
08:25 It's purely allegations.
08:27 So we'll have to wait and see.
08:28 But you can let me know in the comments what you think either Manchester City deserve, whether
08:32 Everton were treated too harshly and made an example of what you think of FFP as an
08:38 introductory thing that came in 10 years ago.
08:40 I think it was in there to kind of keep the status quo at the top of the game.
08:44 Those teams that make revenue from their past successes and to try and stifle new teams
08:49 from prospering really with new investors.
08:51 It's to kind of keep them at bay at the time.
08:54 That's my take on it.
08:55 But you can let me know what you think about all those things regardless.
08:58 Don't forget to subscribe.
08:59 I've been Adam.
09:00 I hope you've had a very lovely day and I'll see you very soon.
09:04 Goodbye.
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