chang wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2026 8:53 pm
Is there any criminal implications with this ? False accounting, hiding huge sums from balance sheets, companies house, HMRC ?
Don’t believe they did any of that
They reported an income of say £300m and paid relevant taxes on it
Just the PL rules say owners can’t pump money in so they dressed it up as ‘sponsorship’ to try and get around that rule
brap2 wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2026 8:47 pm
I can understand it.
Look at the area around the etihad vs the area around old Trafford.
And city’s crime is…flaunting made up rules that were probably a few years old at that point? FFP came into the league in 2011!
Glazers have run united into the pits, old Trafford is a dump as is the area around it, their fans are constantly price gouged in favour of foreign tourists, and they’ve even tried to leave the league…but it’s a bigger crime to…spend your own money as we all did up until about 2009 anyway?
Its hardly Park Lane around the Etihad, but I guess in comparison to Old Trafford it is
I expect that Rui Pinto will now be paraded at all fixtures, post international break, and hailed as the Premier League's hero of the hour, given he was the catalyst behind the exposing of cheating on an industrial scale. And Masters and the EPL will be entirely positive in reference to Pinto. Amazing that one man could do more than all of the organisations involved, in finding such evidence.
Oh, and his witness protection detail has been removed, the day prior to the guilty verdict becoming official...as risk to him is now deemed to be low, despite suffering an assault in April.
I wonder if there will be more charges to come for the period 2019-2025, given Dortmund have come out as said the Haaland deal was £200m more than reported, and City basically told them that part of the deal was to mislead everyone about the cost?
Feels like there's definitely been some financial misdeeds carried out post 2018, and if so they need to be punished for those too.
AjaxAndy wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 6:19 am
I wonder if there will be more charges to come for the period 2019-2025, given Dortmund have come out as said the Haaland deal was £200m more than reported, and City basically told them that part of the deal was to mislead everyone about the cost?
Feels like there's definitely been some financial misdeeds carried out post 2018, and if so they need to be punished for those too.
Depends what it’s in the accounts as surely
They could say it was a fiver, but if it’s £200m in their accounts they’ve done nothing wrong
TheRam wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 6:49 am
A lot of our fans genuinely believe the “cartel” has stopped us from being more successful don’t they.
If anything it's the blue cartel that's damaged our chances - Chelsea and City. Both historically insignificant clubs that wouldn't be competitors to us without insane finances being funneled into them, both now proven cheats for long periods, both crazily inflating the transfer market so that average players are now worth £80m.
In terms of the red cartel, well Liverpool didn't win a title for 30 years, Arsenal didn't win one for 22 years, and Man U haven't won one for 14 years and counting. So if they are a cartel, they're not a very good one.
So what has happened since 2018 with citys finances - are they going to be charged AGAIN right up to this season as they just continue to spend and spend with no limits
are they still committing the same offences as we speak?
even with the very unlikely scenario that city win their appeal and the charges are chucked out by the high court - the prem would surely charge them again for irregularities from 2018 to 2026?
Etihad Airways saying they are looking at potential legal action against the Premier League over the implication of them as being involved in shady dealings, even though they've not been named specifically in any leaked or publicly released documents.
They state they've not been asked to provide any evidence or attend any hearings to put forward counter evidence.
I think the important part of this is that they've not been named, but it shows that Abu Dhabi United Group are going to attack things from multiple angles in the hope that they can legally overwhelm the Premier League and their legal resources.
Looking on the Blue Moon forum it seems they are saying a few emails don't prove guilt, and that auditors checked accounts many many times and all monies were correctly sourced as per the rules. Apparently one of those auditors is now seeking legal council as they may well be implicated in criminal proceedings should the relevant authorities investigate.
Reading Blue Moon is quite funny tbh, as they seem to completely ignore the fact that even if money came to the club from Etihad Airways and other sponsors accounts, it doesn't mean tens of millions or hundreds of millions weren't firstly moved in to those accounts from the Adu Dhabi United Group's accounts first.
Even if the evidence is purely circumstantial, there's so much of it that guilt is practically impossible to argue against.
Cods wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 3:26 am
I expect that Rui Pinto will now be paraded at all fixtures, post international break, and hailed as the Premier League's hero of the hour, given he was the catalyst behind the exposing of cheating on an industrial scale. And Masters and the EPL will be entirely positive in reference to Pinto. Amazing that one man could do more than all of the organisations involved, in finding such evidence.
Oh, and his witness protection detail has been removed, the day prior to the guilty verdict becoming official...as risk to him is now deemed to be low, despite suffering an assault in April.
Can see Pinto “committing suicide” or having a car crash, in the not too distant future.
