Premier League
UNFAIR PLAY AT CITY: MANCHESTER CITY OWNER COOKS UP SPONSORSHIP DEALS!
Manchester City has been accused of cheating as the club owner, Sheik Mansour is alleged to have personally paid sponsorship deals himself to ‘satisfy’ UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules. If the allegations are proven, the club will face UEFA and Premier League sanctions.
The disclosure, according to British Daily Mail, was made by German publication, Der Spiegel. The publication claims that leaked documents show that Sheik Mansour paid large parts of the inflated sponsorship deals to the sponsors for money to be sent back to club.
Manchester City owner, Sheik Mansour (centre) is accused of picking up the tab for inflated sponsorship
dealsAccording to the report based allegedly on more hacked documents from the Football Leaks whistle-blowers, City owner Sheik Mansour paid significant parts of so-called deals with club sponsors in a bid to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
In one agreement with Etihad Airways, it is claimed a staggering £59.5million of the £67.5m was essentially financed by Mansour. The revelations could lead to sanctions from UEFA and the Premier League. Neither would comment on Monday night and there is concern about the method by which the documents were obtained.
If they conclude that the emails have been obtained illegally, City — who were sanctioned in 2014 for a breach of FFP rules — could face no further action.
City reiterated on Monday night that they ‘will not be providing any comment on out of context materials purportedly hacked or stolen from City Football Group and Man City personnel and associated people’.
Yet with yet more revelations due to be published as this week progresses, UEFA and the Premier League are understood to be monitoring the situation, with insiders suggesting sanctions could yet follow.
While UEFA could impose a punishment as severe as a ban from the Champions League, a transfer ban would appear a more likely outcome if European football’s governing body choose to act.
The Premier League would probably follow UEFA by at least examining if the English champions are in breach of their sponsorship rules that demand agreements are set at a ‘fair market value’.
‘At the very least this is embarrassing for City,’ said a senior source on Monday night. ‘Questions certainly need to be asked.’
Doubts over the authenticity of the deals with companies based in the Sheik’s Abu Dhabi homeland have long been raised, and the emails Der Spiegel claim to have in their possession certainly seem to echo those concerns.
One of the emails from 2010, reportedly from board member Simon Pearce communicating with bosses, allegedly discusses a £15m deal with partner Aabar.
‘As we discussed, the annual direct obligation for Aabar is £3m,’ he allegedly wrote. ‘The remaining £12m will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness.’
Der Spiegel say that sentence confirms accusations that Mansour personally paid a portion of the sponsorship money.
In another message, City’s chief financial officer Jorge Chumillas allegedly wrote that the club faced a £9.9m shortfall to comply with FFP thanks to the contract termination of manager Roberto Mancini.
The Italian was sacked in 2013, a year to the day after winning the Premier League title. His giant pay-off meant yet more expenditure on City’s books that had to be covered by income under UEFA rules.
He adds: ‘I think that the only solution left would be an additional amount of AD (Abu Dhabi) sponsorship revenues that covers this gap.’
According to the report, Chumillas goes on to suggest sponsors Etihad pay an extra £1.5m, Aabar £500,000 and the tourism authority £5.5m.
In a further reported email exchange, it is alleged Chumillas asks Pearce if they can change the date of payment from Abu Dhabi sponsors. Pearce responds: ‘Of course, we can do what we want.’
Der Spiegel go on to allege that City’s financial reports are ‘a web of lies’. They say that in another email Pearce allegedly writes that stadium and jersey sponsor Etihad’s ‘direct contribution remains at a constant £8m’ which does not appear to tally with the actual obligation of £35m.
The publication claims that annually, the deal was worth £67.5m but say that Chumillas is alleged to have written to Pearce: ‘Please note that out of those £67.5m, £8m should be funded directly by Etihad and 59.5 by ADUG.’ ADUG stands for the Abu Dhabi United Group, which is City’s ownership vehicle.
The report ends by alleging that internal City calculations noted that by May 2012, when the club won the Premier League, a total of £127.5m had been used to supplement Abu Dhabi partnership deals.
It also said that the total investment from Abu Dhabi into the club in the four years it took to deliver that first Premier League title in 2012 was in excess of £1billion.
UEFA said: ‘We cannot comment on specific cases due to confidentiality obligations which UEFA must respect.’
A statement from Etihad said: ‘The airline’s financial obligations, associated with the partnership of the club and the broader City Football Group, have always been, and remain, the sole liability and responsibility of Etihad Airways.’ Aabar and the Abu Dhabi tourism authority were unavailable for comment.
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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