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Der Spiegel Football Leaks revelations

For the love of Spurs

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Mar 28, 2015
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Only if they're all squeeky clean/whiter than white and it's only City who have been up to no good, which given the nature of the business and the amount of money that flows back and forth through it, I find very hard to believe. If the other big clubs push UEFA etc to go after City properly then it could open a pandora's box of sorts and lead to them being looked at in more detail themselves, which I suspect they definitely don't want.

It’s the degree though, if City and for that matter PSG have been going a thousand miles further than everyone else then the punishment will have to fit the crime.
 

'O Zio

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Dec 27, 2014
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It’s the degree though, if City and for that matter PSG have been going a thousand miles further than everyone else then the punishment will have to fit the crime.

Well yes but that's not really my point. I'm not saying City haven't gone further than everyone else, I'm saying if as I suspect that all the big clubs are involved in similar practices to varying degrees, they are unlikely to push for UEFA to investigate City too hard because a genuine reform of the system and increased investigation and control over financial affairs would also come back to bite them as well.
 

thebenjamin

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Jul 1, 2008
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Well yes but that's not really my point. I'm not saying City haven't gone further than everyone else, I'm saying if as I suspect that all the big clubs are involved in similar practices to varying degrees, they are unlikely to push for UEFA to investigate City too hard because a genuine reform of the system and increased investigation and control over financial affairs would also come back to bite them as well.

I think it's the opposite. The big clubs legitimately turn over big money, they don't have to fake it. The entire argument against FFP is that it stops anyone from challenging the status quo. And that's why City have to cheat to compete (that rhymes).
 

'O Zio

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Dec 27, 2014
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I think it's the opposite. The big clubs legitimately turn over big money, they don't have to fake it. The entire argument against FFP is that it stops anyone from challenging the status quo. And that's why City have to cheat to compete (that rhymes).

Of course that's one element of it, but I think you're kidding yourself if you think the traditionally big clubs aren't up to all sorts of things too. There is just too much money flowing through the game and too many ways to exploit it for that not to be the case.
 

thebenjamin

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Jul 1, 2008
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Of course that's one element of it, but I think you're kidding yourself if you think the traditionally big clubs aren't up to all sorts of things too. There is just too much money flowing through the game and too many ways to exploit it for that not to be the case.

I agree with that, for example the transfer bans handed out in Spain. But don't think it's true in relation to FFP. Those with legitimately massive turnover have no reason to fiddle the books.
 

'O Zio

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Dec 27, 2014
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I agree with that, for example the transfer bans handed out in Spain. But don't think it's true in relation to FFP. Those with legitimately massive turnover have no reason to fiddle the books.

Yes and no. They don't have reason to fiddle the books in order to meet FFP requirements, that's true. But like I say that's only one aspect of it all. Pushing for the authorities/UEFA to investigate City's finances and/or other dealings in general, would presumably lead to a can of worms being opened to more than just FFP violations, of which many other clubs would presumably also be less than innocent in. That's my point. It's not just about FFP and whether it's fair, it would inevitably go further than that and none of the clubs will want to encourage an investigation that could potentially lead to having all their affairs gone over with a fine-toothed comb.
 

buckley

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Sep 15, 2012
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I believe that the fiddling the books is more about sponsoring the training gound and stadium and shirt and shirt sleeves these are all things that can be fiddled by paying way over the odds and in all probability by company's that are owned by themselves .
We also know that if FFP rears its head again then they will get one of their owned companies to sponsor a toilet brush for the missing £millions needed.They will only stop when its just Man unt ; Liverpool; Arsenal; Chelsea; Real Madrid ; Barcelona ; Psg ; Juventus ; Bayern and basically the uber rich and oil rich and Russian oligarchs that they deem should be allowed into their world
 

rez9000

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Feb 8, 2007
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This is a good overview:



Pretty shocking that UEFA can't do anything about it even if they wanted


Very depressing really - bread and circuses, that's all it is: bread and circuses.

But it's not the least surprising - this is what the oil sheikhdoms are. They are nouveau-riche. They're like an extremely dark version of Harry Enfield's Brummie millionaire: "Excuse me, I couldn't help but nowtice that oi am considerably reecher than yow."

At a fundamental level, that's what the ruling families of the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and their ilk are like. They believe only in money. They have contributed nothing to the world. The UAE is barely even a country - it's a federation of seven tribes. Only 12 percent of the UAE's population is indigenous. 12 percent! And they're not even the largest single ethnic grouping. The Indian population of UAE is twice that of the Emirati population. And they're an absolute monarchy. So not only are their rulers a minority (by definition in an absolute monarchy), the ethnic group they stem from is itself a minority!

And that tiny proportion of that minority rules with an iron fist, just like the other oil sheikhdoms. These oil elites think that because they aren't beholden to any laws at home, it gives them license to flout the rule of law in other parts of the world. Remember the Saudi prince who murdered his servant in a London hotel about ten years ago? He thought he would get away with it because of diplomatic immunity! The judge who jailed him for 20 years said that he (the judge) believed he (the prince) did it simply because he felt like it. Oh, and by the way, the prince is gay. His family in Saudi Arabia execute people for being gay. How come he hadn't been? (Note, I'm not being homophobic and advocating the execution of gay people, I'm just illustrating the hypocrisy - one rule for the rich and one for the rest, etc.). So he comes to London, fancies a bit of brutal murder and instead of maybe showing remorse, tries to the beat the rap on the grounds that he's a Saudi prince.

These oil sheikhs are a dangerous and insidious anachronism: absolute monarchs and their spawn given the freedom to roam a modern world with virtually limitless resources which they use to feed every carnal desire. They jet around the globe drinking, whoring, having same-sex relationships, committing adultery, all in contravention of the laws they brutally impose on their captive, disenfranchised populations. By all means drink, whore, be gay, or sleep around all you like, just don't restrict those you rule from doing so you bunch of hypocritical shits.

They are venal, uncultured, barbaric, savage, hypocritical scum. And like scum, they have risen to the top. We now need to complete the final stage of the scum cycle, which is to skim them off and rid ourselves of them; not in a violent, murderous way - just prevent them from having any involvement in our affairs is what I mean. Just be rid of them.
 
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buckley

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Sep 15, 2012
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The arab oil money took over and now dominates horse racing world wide.
They will not stop until they have done the same to football.
Imoral;crass;only interested in what they want and if it means ruining the game we all love so what.
They will circumvent or break any rules set up by the F.A or F.I.F.A. or E.U.F.A. to get what they want because the have the ultimate edge unending finances which they can use to take any of these age old football authorities into long drawn out court cases; which they will win because it will bankrupt footballs ruling bodies.
What I find the most disturbing thing is not one T.V.football pundit or newspaper reporter has had the gumption or the inclination to come out about city's financial doping in football and the managers they have had and now have have nothing but praise for the city arabs some people have no morals once money is involved .
I find this continuing praise of all things city disgusting and I feel the need to be sick as it devalues great teams of the past Spurs in the sixties ;Arsenal in the graham and Wenger years ; the Clough years and the Everton in the eighties then also Liverpools domination and of course the Fergie United domination.it makes me so angry and sad at the same time.
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
The arab oil money took over and now dominates horse racing world wide.
They will not stop until they have done the same to football.
Imoral;crass;only interested in what they want and if it means ruining the game we all love so what.
They will circumvent or break any rules set up by the F.A or F.I.F.A. or E.U.F.A. to get what they want because the have the ultimate edge unending finances which they can use to take any of these age old football authorities into long drawn out court cases; which they will win because it will bankrupt footballs ruling bodies.
What I find the most disturbing thing is not one T.V.football pundit or newspaper reporter has had the gumption or the inclination to come out about city's financial doping in football and the managers they have had and now have have nothing but praise for the city arabs some people have no morals once money is involved .
I find this continuing praise of all things city disgusting and I feel the need to be sick as it devalues great teams of the past Spurs in the sixties ;Arsenal in the graham and Wenger years ; the Clough years and the Everton in the eighties then also Liverpools domination and of course the Fergie United domination.it makes me so angry and sad at the same time.
You're not wrong, buckley. The reason that the exploitation of football has gone largely, and wilfully, ignored by the media is that the media owners are part of a ruling elite. And that group will always protect one another against the hoi poloi.

The whole point of the press is to speak truth to power, but they don't. Why? Because by supreme irony, what is happening in football now happened in the press a long time ago - take over by moneyed elites. What's even more insidious is that when we hear about some banana republic nationalising their media we get all righteous in our soporific Western liberal bubble. But tell someone that Rupert Maxwell, Inc. has taken over it's 3,000,000th media outlet and no one bats an eyelid.

This is the world we live in. We are tiny cogs in the wealth funnelling machine. Doped on cheap consumer goods and flashy entertainment, we pour our hard-earned cash into the pockets of a select few, because seeing right done is just too haaaaard and the Fury-Wilder fight is on pay-per-view and I have a Tesco ready-meal ready to zap in the new microwave I bought on Amazon using my zero-balance transfer credit card... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Manchester City's hackery, the tacit endorsement of it by the media and the complete inability of governance to rein them in is a perfect reflection of what the world is really like. It's a shame we're all too bloated and apathetic to do anything about it.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
What I find the most disturbing thing is not one T.V.football pundit or newspaper reporter has had the gumption or the inclination to come out about city's financial doping in football and the managers they have had and now have have nothing but praise for the city arabs some people have no morals once money is involved .
I find this continuing praise of all things city disgusting and I feel the need to be sick as it devalues great teams of the past Spurs in the sixties ;Arsenal in the graham and Wenger years ; the Clough years and the Everton in the eighties then also Liverpools domination and of course the Fergie United domination.it makes me so angry and sad at the same time.

I get what you're saying but I'm in two minds about it really. On the one hand I agree it's ruining the competition so needs to be commented on, but at the same time I feel like the pundits and sports writers are by and large there to talk about the football rather than the business side of things. Therefore I think it's partly because that's not really their area of expertise. For example, while they're both good football pundits, I don't think either Carragher or Neville is really in any way qualified to discuss accounting anomalies in global corporations. Anything they could say about it would be low-level "I just think it's wrong Gary" stuff so wouldn't be a particularly interesting discussion. Also when your typical fan turns to the back pages/puts on the football, they do so because they want to watch or read about the football, not about complicated financial wizardry that is completely over most people's heads. If they were after that they'd have bought the FT or something.

So if their job is to talk about things purely from a footballing perspective, then there's really no denying that they have a fantastic team made up of umpteen absolute superstar players, for from a footballing standpoint they're right to praise City. Whether or not they've achieved this through ill-gotten gains is, I suppose, a different issue as far as the pundits are concerned and not really their brief.

Also you have to remember that at the moment these are just allegations/rumours. It may well be that, for the moment at least, the bosses at Sky/BT etc. have told their match-day teams to just avoid the topic as much as possible to avoid putting their foot in it and ending up with a bollocking from City's expensive lawyers.
 

buckley

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Sep 15, 2012
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I don't know the exact quotation but "evil will flourish if good men do nothing" I am only paraphrasing but its a real cop out if nothing is said by any media reporter written ; spoken; or Televised . No guts no morals no hope.
City will eventually beat all opposition and make football not worth watching because the outcome will be known.
 

spursfan77

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Aug 13, 2005
46,680
104,956
All teams should agree to stop selling players to Man City and PSG. What would they do then? Its the only way to actually stop them. They'd only then be able to sign free agents.
 

rez9000

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Feb 8, 2007
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All teams should agree to stop selling players to Man City and PSG. What would they do then? Its the only way to actually stop them. They'd only then be able to sign free agents.
You see, THAT would work. But they won't do it.
 

rez9000

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Feb 8, 2007
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The fans have some power, if they could co-ordinate: a concerted effort by opposition clubs whenever they play Man City with chants from the stands. Do that for five, ten, fifteen games and then we'd see how well the sportswashing works.
 

hellava_tough

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Apr 21, 2005
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The fans have some power, if they could co-ordinate: a concerted effort by opposition clubs whenever they play Man City with chants from the stands. Do that for five, ten, fifteen games and then we'd see how well the sportswashing works.

Take it a step further

It'd be really funny if no fans turned up to City games, home or away

They'd be travelling around the country encountering empty stadiums for their away games and their home games would be odd without away support, and the banter with the City hard-core

Lol you could even ignore the City results and celebrate a title win if your team came second :LOL:
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
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Take it a step further

It'd be really funny if no fans turned up to City games, home or away

They'd be travelling around the country encountering empty stadiums for their away games and their home games would be odd without away support, and the banter with the City hard-core

Lol you could even ignore the City results and celebrate a title win if your team came second :LOL:
Pfft. The first idea would have been beyond us! :LOL:
 
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