Whose Football Is It Anyway

In case you do not understand the origin and nature of the so-called “115 charges” against Manchester City, allow me to clarify it for you. The English Premier League was formed in 1992. The purpose of the association was to create, centralize and distribute revenues for the member clubs. For the first 19 years of the Premier League's existence, the so-called “Red Cartel,” (Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United) dominated the Premier League and collected the vast majority of revenues. The Red Cartel clubs won 15 of the first 19 Premier League championships. Then something happened. In 2012, Manchester City, the so-called “noisy neighbors” of Manchester United, won the Premier League title. The following year, Manchester United was able to scrape back a narrow victory in the Premier League but have never come close since. In 2014, Manchester City again won the Premier League. Manchester City, owned by a rich Arab Prince named Sheikh Mansour, had put together a world caliber team using his own money. He did not spend more money than the Red Cartel clubs. He just spent it better, on better players, and started to win trophies. Around 2014, the Red Cartel clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, then complained to the Premier League and pushed for new financing rules which were referred to as “financial fair play.” These rules were specifically designed to prevent a club owner from spending their own money to improve their football club. Yes. You read that correctly. In reality, these rules were nothing more than a straightforward “get Manchester City” scheme. They were designed to specifically target Manchester City’s revenue streams, effectively banning City from competing at the highest levels of the sport. It did not work. Over the course of the next 10 years, Manchester City won 6 more Premier League titles, the Champions league, and the so-called “treble;” The Premier League, the Champions league, and the FA Cup in the same year, becoming only the second club to ever do so. Manchester City had set up an arrangement which was legal under the Financial Fair Play rules. This involved the government of Abu Dhabi investing in advertisers, who then subsequently advertised with Manchester City, giving them revenue that they could then spend on new players. This was 100% legal under the Financial Fair Play rules. However, in a case brought in 2018, the Premier League created an “independent commission,” which ruled that Manchester City had violated the byzantine Financial Fair Play rules. The so-called “independent commission” actually consisted of various officials who had either financial or cultural ties to the Red Cartel clubs (Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.) Since 2012, the only non “Red Cartel” teams to win the Premier League title are Manchester City, Leicester City, and Chelsea Football Club. Only two other Premier League winners besides Manchester City have ever been accused of violating the financial fair play regulations. Those other two clubs are Chelsea Football Club and Leicester City FC. I hope this explains it. @ManCity @ManCityUS @RealTalkMCFC @ManUtd @City_Xtra @cityreport_ @LCFC @ChelseaFC @premierleague @Arsenal @liamgallagher @LFC @piersmorgan @Erling