Ah UEFA, that bastion and overlord of all things football. They’re at it again, I’m afraid.
On Tuesday, they met and proposed a new ruling concerning FFP after potential investors in football clubs around Europe had complained that they were unwilling to invest their money because FFP would grind their ideas to a halt, and as such Financial Fair Play was stifling clubs of new revenue.
Many who had been following the comings and goings of FFP were aware of this, yet UEFA had been acting like the Greek Government and pretending that everything was just fine and dandy.
The new amendment, in the face of the Brussels’s court ruling was a welcome one, and in fact complied with one (just one) measure that supporters of Manchester City and Paris St-Germain had been asking the courts for. However, Jean-Louis Dupont wrote as a right of reply “UEFA is simply moving from an entirely illegal rule to a rule that becomes a little less illegal”. Much like when the United States said that owning black people as slaves wasn’t the right thing to do, but it’s still okay to force them to use different toilets, ride at the back of the bus, and not look at white people.
Then came the sucker punch. Any club, said UEFA, that had been punished under FFP rules were exempt from this new ruling. So the “illegal rule” that had punished Manchester City FC that had now been changed was to further punish the club – now go to the back of the bus Manchester City; you know your place in this World, and stop looking at me!
From a blue-tinted view of the World, many cannot be blamed for thinking that at every step of the way, Manchester City FC have been harassed and bullied by UEFA. Pre-2008, City were for all intents and purposes – at least in the modern era – a nothing club. They didn’t have a pot to piss in, they threatened no-one, and, save for British people, hardly anyone knew they existed. Then in August of 2008 all that changed.
Suddenly everyone knew who they were and they knew how rich they had become. Then other clubs began to worry, and not just those in England. In terms of player power the club was way behind the big guys, and so they began to flex their financial muscle merely to play catch-up. Of course there were calls of “buying the league” and “inflating the transfer market” but Manchester City were merely going down a well trodden path that had been bulldozed by those before them.
Then European clubs began to sit up and notice, and that’s where the problems all started. Football, in general, does not do history particularly well, or at least when it doesn’t suit. When we talk of the ‘historically big clubs’ we speak in terms of the last two decades – three at a pinch – when discussing the relevancy of football clubs, and naturally Manchester City were excluded. The main problem was not who City were buying, but that as soon as the club were even whispered about being in possible contention for a player, even if they weren’t, the price immediately went up forcing other clubs to overspend to get their targets. This was not City’s fault as many agents unfairly used the name of the club to maximise fees and wages. Suffice to say this did not go down well with those ‘historically big clubs’.
And then FFP was brought in. It was, UEFA said, to protect clubs from financial instability, as we couldn’t have another Portsmouth, Leeds, or Glasgow Rangers on our hands. As it was, FFP was only for clubs in European competitions and as such those three clubs wouldn’t have been affected by this new law anyway, much like imposing a driving ban on those who don’t drive.
Manchester City did get to sit at the top table before the drawbridge was raised, sneaking in at the very last second much to the disgruntlement of others. Slowly but surely City’s revenue grew and over the course of six years it increased by 300%, and the commercial partnerships grew by an unprecedented 821%; even football analysts were blown away by this sleeping giant’s progress. But it came at a price: City were haemorrhaging money due to playing catch-up, and it was there where UEFA stepped in. Beforehand City were under the impression and assumption that they were fully complying with FFP and that they would have nothing to fear. And this was true … until it wasn’t.
The reason it wasn’t was because UEFA metaphorically and literally moved the goalposts, when in 2013 they changed some guidance notes backdating them so that it ended with the club failing a ruling that they were previously going to meet, akin to telling your kids to be home at 10pm and then whilst they were out changing that time to 9pm, and grounding them for two weeks when they come home at 9:55. It’s not my fault, son, I clearly crossed out 10pm and wrote 9.
Against better judgement City did not contest the punishment, but their public right of reply was a giant “f**k you”, so that was nice. The club paid the fine (getting most of it back), and reduced the squad to twenty-one for the Champion’s League, which as it turned out wasn’t too big of a deal as they had only used twenty-one players the previous season of their own accord.
Of course, the club continued to grow despite the sanctions (Iran could learn a few things from Manchester City), which brings us back to today, and the aforementioned news that the new ruling will not apply to them as they were punished previously. Yes, we know you’ve complied with everything we’ve asked you to do but we can’t have Karl-Heinz Rummenigge being upset now, can we?
So what of the future? Dupont will continue with his thing at the European High Court of Justice, and City will … well, they’ll toe the line I suspect, knowing that eventually all things come to those who wait and the club will have its revenge.
There is nothing ‘fair’ about Financial Fair Play, and it is a contradiction in terms; an oxymoron if you will. ‘Oxy’ comes from ancient Greek meaning ‘sharp’, which as we know can be deadly, and ‘moron’ is … well, Platini.
A deadly moron; never a truer word has been spoken.
Mike Devlin is the author of Manchester City: The Secret History Of A Club That Has No History and is available Worldwide.
