Manchester City’s two-year European ban: The unanswered questions
Written by News on 17/02/2020
It is the story that has shocked the world of football.
Manchester City have been hit with a two-year suspension from European competition by UEFA after being found guilty of Financial Fair Play rule breaches, a ruling the club intend to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
- Guardiola and Sterling planning Man City stay
- Gerrard ‘interested’ to see if PL punish Man City
- Man City banned from all UEFA competitions
Pep Guardiola’s side could also lose their 2014 league title if a separate Premier League investigation found that they breached financial rules – which City deny – and deducted points retrospectively.
Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol takes a look at one of the biggest football news stories of the season and answers all the pertinent questions.
Will the ban be overturned?
“I think Manchester City have a good chance of overturning the ban. They are going to CAS, and they said in their statement that they’re going to CAS ‘in the first instance’, which would seem to suggest that even if they lose at CAS, they are going to carry on by going to other courts. They could go to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
“What we’ve got to bear in mind is that City are richer than UEFA. They can afford to have better lawyers than UEFA. In the PSG case with CAS, where PSG turned up with eight lawyers and UEFA didn’t send any lawyers at all, so I think there’s still a good chance that City can get this overturned.
“UEFA have given them a two-year ban, so you would think that there’s a good chance that it could be reduced to one. In the past, we’ve seen bans reduced by CAS, so if I was a Manchester City fan this morning, I wouldn’t be getting too down and despondent.”
Will Guardiola and key players leave?
“Pep Guardiola has never broken a contract before in his management career – and he has told his players that he will not be leaving before his current deal expires. His contract at Manchester City runs out at the end of next season, although he’s said to have a break clause in it this summer. That’s never been confirmed by him or the club.
“He spoke to his players at the training ground on Saturday and he told them that they were all in this together, to stay united. He didn’t give the players any kind of impression he was planning on leaving the club. As far as the players are concerned, Man City pay some of the highest wages in the world. I don’t think players are just going to walk away from the club because they’re not going to be getting Champions League football.
“Obviously it’s going to be a concern for some of those players, but I think that at the moment, the squad are united. They trust in the people above them at City to deal with all these kinds of issues. They will just be focusing on the football, and specifically on the game against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
“Creating a siege mentality on the pitch where it’s ‘us against the world’ could prove beneficial. But there’s no feeling that he’s going to walk away from City. He’s very close to the sporting director Txiki Begiristain and chief executive Ferran Soriano so I’d be very surprised if he left. From a PR perspective, it would terrible if he walked away at this point.”
Will the 2013/14 title be taken away?
“I would be very surprised. It’s unlikely to happen. Once you start doing things like that – changing results from the past, you’re really opening up a can of worms. But the Premier League are investigating FFP rule breaches.
“They have FFP rules that are very similar to UEFA’s but I don’t think the Premier League will be doing anything until City have exhausted the appeal process, starting at CAS.
“If the Premier League were to do anything, I think it would more likely be a points deduction as we’ve seen happen in the EFL. Whether that will relate to this season or next remains to be seen.”
What would be the worst case scenario?
“That would be if the ban is upheld, with Guardiola and a load of players leaving as well/ We’re talking about Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling. I would be surprised if that happens.
“With a lot of these things, it comes down to how good your lawyers are. Man City are richer than UEFA. Their owner Sheikh Mansour is one of the richest people in the world. There’s now way he’s going to take this lying down.
“But if you look on the CAS website, there’s only limited instances where you can appeal a CAS decision. It’s mostly to do with processes, and as part of the ECA (European Club Association) City have signed a memorandum of understanding with UEFA which said that they wouldn’t go to international courts to settle disputes.
“So they would abide by CAS decisions… but City are going to do what they want. They will fight and fight this for as long as possible and draw it out. Khaldoon Al Mubarak said the club would “sue UEFA for the next 10 years” if we have to with 50 of the best lawyers for the next decade.
“In a way, I think it would suit UEFA if the ban was overturned at CAS, because if they hadn’t banned City, the FFP rules wouldn’t have been worth the paper they were written on. This is the worst example of a club breaking the rules.
“Something had to be done to send out a strong message, but do they want to get embroiled in a massive legal battle with City? I don’t think so.”
When will the appeal take place and a verdict made?
“What UEFA don’t want is for the integrity of the Champions League to be questioned, and for there to be questions all through the summer over whether – hypothetically – it’s going to be Sheffield United or City in the competition.
“With CAS, they’re very mindful of the sporting calendar. So they will try and hear appeals quickly and they are capable of doing this quickly. The important date as far as UEFA are concerned is July, with the Champions League qualifiers starting.
“They will be looking to get it settled before then, but would it be in Manchester City’s interest to have it settled quickly? It might suit them to drag it out for as long as possible. In a lot of these cases, money does come into it, and I think t’s a matter of honour for Sheikh Mansour. To be accused of ‘cooking the books’ does not look good for him or for Abu Dhabi.
“I’m sure they’re going to fight this for as long and as hard as possible. I don’t think we’ll know which English clubs are going to be playing in the Champions League next season until the summer.”
How much could the ban cost City financially?
“It’s difficult to quantify exactly, but we’re looking at £100m per year at least from not being in the Champions League based on broadcasting money and prize money.
“But then you have to factor in all the commercial deals which are dependent on being in the Champions League. It’s going to cost them at least £200m, and then when it comes to the players, a lot of them will have clauses that are dependent on being in the Champions League – they get appearance, goal bonuses.
“With FFP rules going forward, they’re still going to have to comply with them so Sheikh Mansour can’t just pump a load of money into the club.”
What will happen to the Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto?
“He’s in prison in Lisbon at the moment having just lost an appeal. He’s facing multiple charges of forgery, hacking and fraud.
“A lot of people think he’s a whistleblower, but as far as the Portuguese prosecutors are concerned, he has also been accused of bribing people over the information that he has.
“He got in touch with Doyen Sports, the management company, to ask how much the hacked material was worth. So if he was trying to make money out of it, is he really the freedom fighter that people are making him out to be?
“But if it wasn’t for him, this wouldn’t have come out at all. He’s taken down one of the most powerful clubs in the world.”
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Manchester City’s two-year European ban: The unanswered questions
