 | Forum
Reply | Man City - GUILTY
at 17:18 2 Oct 2026
A few thoughts on this.
First, the EPL Disciplinary Committee. Unsurprisingly, these are not composed of magistrates and members of the Rotary Club. Panel members are chosen from retired: Supreme Court judges, Court of Appeal judges, High Court judges, and leading KC's. They are very good at understanding facts and what is true/untrue - it has been their career.
Second, given the number of guilty findings, possible sanctions range from a large points deduction and fine to relegation or expulsion from the EPL. Expulsion is for the most serious cases. If this is not the most serious of cases, then what is?
Third, the downfall. What is going to wipe City out is not the disciplinary sanction (although, as above, that is going to be severe - assuming that an appeal goes nowhere, the sanction has to be severe - the finding is that this was sustained financial cheating (financial doping), undertaken by minds at the highest level in the Club, with a seeming casual disregard of the EPL rules).
Instead, what is going to wipe City out is the litigation/arbitration for compensation.
If the appeal fails, the argument will be from every club in the EPL for a given season of cheating that they would have finished one place higher in each season of cheating. There is prize money for each place in the EPL and that will need to be made good. For each Club that failed to qualify for a European competition by one place, there will be a claim for compensation. For each club that finished 18th in a given season in the EPL, there will be a claim for compensation based on the loss suffered through relegation. For each manager or player who lost a bonus based on a place in the EPL, there will be a claim. There may also be claims from sponsors who would argue that there has been a moral hazard clause breach in the sponsorship agreement.
The total sums claimed will be astronomical if the appeal fails - they will be in the hundreds of millions.
And paying the money via the owners may then breach the relevant financial rule for the season of payment. Insolvency of the club seems a real possibility, notwithstanding the wealth of the owners And there may well be personal liability for any of the guiding minds who engaged in an unlawful means conspiracy with the Club and/or who induced it to breach the EPL rules.
We can probably also expect the insurers (including the directors and officers insurance) to start reviewing their policies to look for exits.
Fourth, the political fallout. Note the analysis by Chris Mason at the BBC on Andy Burnham and his final two paragraphs "BBC News - Chris Mason: Why Andy Burnham's about-turn on Manchester City matters
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/art
That last line about it not being the last time Burnham faces questions is not an idle comment - there is more to come.
We can only hope that the ride was worth it given the extent of the crash that seems to be coming. [Post edited 2 Oct 17:27]
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Reply | Palace fanatics
at 06:10 28 Aug 2026
Indeed. Stop being a collective of precious tw@ts and enjoy the football. |
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Reply | Summer transfer rumours 2026
at 12:21 10 Aug 2026
I don't think he necessarily helped himself by giving away clumsy penalties in two games last year. Wasn't up to standard at that point. |
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Thread | Rod Liddle - Gone
at 14:24 3 Aug 2026
Not popular around these parts . But now departed |
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Reply | This year's out of the blue signing - Tariq Lamptey
at 17:16 21 Jul 2026
Comment from a very well connected Brighton mate.
He was really good until it turned out that his hamstrings were made of dried spaghetti. The ACL won't be great either for a player who used to rely on explosive acceleration and rapid changes of direction. |
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Reply | Carl Leaburn
at 21:10 28 Apr 2026
I played in a corporate five a side competition in 1991 at Rosslyn Park rugby club. John Hollins was a friend of the Marketing Director of the firm that ran the competition and at the time, he was an agent for Dave Beasant (at Chelshite then but out injured after severing a tendon in his toe by dropping a jar of Hellman's on it), Dean Holdsworth and Carl Leaburn. They all showed up and reffed the games. BBQ at the end and some plastic trophies (one of which I still have in a cupboard somewhere). Great evening. What are the chances of any EPL players doing that these days (they were all First Division players at the time, pre the EPL)? Nil. |
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Reply | Newcastle v Sunderland
at 19:21 23 Mar 2026
Good, very pleased to hear it. He was being shocked when we saw him.
The comment was from the police officer I spoke to outside the ground. |
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Reply | Newcastle v Sunderland
at 19:53 22 Mar 2026
I spoke to one of the police after the game. He said they hadn't seen anything like that for years (even allowing for the fact that the derby has been played for 10 years).
And the guy who had the heart attack died in the street. |
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Thread | Newcastle v Sunderland
at 11:45 22 Mar 2026
Up in Newcastle and have just witnessed what happens in a regional derby where both sets of fans clearly hate each other. Jesus. Riot police. Horses. The Sunderland coach getting pelted with everything coming out of Gallowgate. Sunderland fans getting pelted with cans and whatever is to hand. A Newcastle fan who had clearly had a heart attack in the street with swarms of medics and riot police around him. And his mates then f*cked off to the game. I have never seen anything like it. All in the name of football. |
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Reply | Chair
at 09:50 7 Mar 2026
The same thing crossed my mind |
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Reply | Your top 3 films!
at 21:24 28 Jan 2026
1. The Seventh Seal
2. Metropolis
3. Something About Mary |
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Reply | Awful Christmas Jokes
at 06:11 20 Dec 2025
Why has Father Christmas got no children?
Because he only comes once a year, and that's down the chimney. |
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Reply | Kone MOM?
at 14:45 31 Aug 2025
He's a beast. There's going to be a lot of beaten up CBs on the other side to him this season. As Clive said, he flattened the Charlton CB yesterday. The Charlton guy did the same to him later on in the game and he just took it. He's a proper, hard centre forward.
I suspect he will be the best bit of business we do this window (unless the rumour I was told - you know who you are! - about Edwards comes off - a lot of money on that rumour though) |
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Reply | Julien Stéphan
at 16:27 26 Aug 2025
Managers and coaches will, and frequently do, take on jobs with basket case clubs. Watford is the current prime example (and before them, it was Leeds in the Cellino era, both of which have provided something of a cottage industry to lawyers acting for the manager/coach fraternity).
The reality is that the incoming manager/coach has a free swing. Everyone knows that the particular club has something batshit about it. The only thing that can happen is that a reputation is enhanced as a result of working through the stupidity (see, for example, Leicester's current coach). |
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Reply | RND joins on loan
at 17:54 25 Aug 2025
"He’s a bit of a crock by all accounts."
Of sh !t? Plenty of this on display on Saturday. He'll fit right in.
Looks like we are spaffing the Eze money. |
| | SimplyNico
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