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Replying To Seniorleague: "I dont know enough about ffp rules to agree or disagree with them. They certainly havent stopped utd accumulating a debt thats bigger than many countries annual budget. How many clubs in the football league are even solvent anyways?" Basically, no matter how wealthy your owners are, the amount you can spend on transfers is tied to the revenue you generate in a year. City were guilty of grossly over-exaggerating their revenues over a sustained period. To the point where their annual revenue figures were equalling or surpassing the likes of Barcelon and Real Madrid. Ludicrous stuff really. They also had "dual contracts" in place. So on the books for example, manager Roberto Mancini's contract might have said he was on "only" £2m a year. But he was also being paid a separate salary, off the City books, as an "ambassador" or a "consultant" for Abu Dhabi worth maybe £8m a year. All designed to keep the costs in the club books low, and ultimately boosting their bottom line revenue figure. I would say most clubs are guilty of similar clever accounting. But City really took the biscuit over a sustained period. They also used every legal trick and obfuscated as much as they could for years. Meanwhile, lesser resourced clubs such as Everton and Forest were wrapped on the knuckles, received fines and points deductions for lot less. City have to be hammered for this, otherwise the integrity of the all-powerful Premier League is in the bin. The whole edifice could crumble. But, there is a politival context to it all too. The Emiratis have pumpsed an awful lot of money into the UK over the years, and they are already hinting that the gravy train will grind to a halt should they not get their way re: City. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10495 - 06/10/2026 10:25:11 2696364 Link
Replying To FullOfPorter: "United is a very warped scenario. One of the most profitable clubs, generate huge revenue but they are a hostage to a ridiculous takeover where the Glazers bought the club and then transferred the debt of buying the club on to the club itself. It's like a vampire scenario, they take money out of the club for themselves while the club is left in a debt loop. It's the polar opposite of city." Good post well explained,I dont really know how premier league clubs operate financially. In the case of UTD,,is there a specific reason why they're owners are being allowed to operate this way,without any threat of points deductions etc,,while Citys owners are being investigated? As Lockjaw said in the next post at least citys owners seems to have pumped money into the local area for whatever thats worth. Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 365 - 06/10/2026 11:29:58 2696377 Link
Replying To FullOfPorter: "United is a very warped scenario. One of the most profitable clubs, generate huge revenue but they are a hostage to a ridiculous takeover where the Glazers bought the club and then transferred the debt of buying the club on to the club itself. It's like a vampire scenario, they take money out of the club for themselves while the club is left in a debt loop. It's the polar opposite of city." I'm no Man Utd fan, but fully agree regarding the Glazers takeover and how they left Utd. They took over what was then the richest club in the world (Real Madrid required debt write-offs at the time to staff in the rich list), and the Glazers who were said to be in heavy debt with their other franchises, including Miami Dolphins, borrowed to buy Utd and then basically saddled Utd with servicing all of their debts elsewhere. How that was allowed is shocking. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1976 - 06/10/2026 12:38:41 2696393 Link
To be honest there's a part of me that hopes this causes the Premier League to eat itself. I know each country's football federation is responsible for looking after their own domestic game, and in fairness the PL have ruthlessly exploited every single avenue to make themselves the most powerful league in the world. It just doesn't sit right with me that clubs like Bournemouth and Brigton are finacially out-muscling great European teams like Juventus and AC Milan for example. This obession with top 6 and qualifying for a bloated CL is boring at this stage. If I had my way I'd go back to only the league winner gets to compete in the following year's CL. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10495 - 06/10/2026 13:57:51 2696407 Link
Replying To Lockjaw: "To be honest there's a part of me that hopes this causes the Premier League to eat itself. I know each country's football federation is responsible for looking after their own domestic game, and in fairness the PL have ruthlessly exploited every single avenue to make themselves the most powerful league in the world. It just doesn't sit right with me that clubs like Bournemouth and Brigton are finacially out-muscling great European teams like Juventus and AC Milan for example. This obession with top 6 and qualifying for a bloated CL is boring at this stage. If I had my way I'd go back to only the league winner gets to compete in the following year's CL." I dont mind smaller clubs being given the chance to financially outmuscle bigger ones. If you look at their histories many of Europes top traditional clubs were probably originally created by financially powerful businessmen to begin with,, handing them an unfair advantage over local rivals I think liverpool was originally created by a textile tycoon or something ,whereas Man City or Bournemouth may have had more organic beginnings. Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 365 - 06/10/2026 14:23:08 2696410 Link
Replying To Seniorleague: "I dont mind smaller clubs being given the chance to financially outmuscle bigger ones. If you look at their histories many of Europes top traditional clubs were probably originally created by financially powerful businessmen to begin with,, handing them an unfair advantage over local rivals I think liverpool was originally created by a textile tycoon or something ,whereas Man City or Bournemouth may have had more organic beginnings." Player power is much stronger now too. The Bosman rule meant players could run down their contracts if they chose to do so, and then leave for nothing. So it forced clubs to sell. Players inevitably will go where there is more money on offer, and bar a few of the traditional big European teams like Real, Barca and Bayern, this means the Premier League. But if the Premier League becomes a farce over the way they handle City's sanctions, then players may slowly opt to play elsewhere. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10495 - 06/10/2026 17:20:29 2696432 Link
Replying To Seniorleague: "Good post well explained,I dont really know how premier league clubs operate financially. In the case of UTD,,is there a specific reason why they're owners are being allowed to operate this way,without any threat of points deductions etc,,while Citys owners are being investigated? As Lockjaw said in the next post at least citys owners seems to have pumped money into the local area for whatever thats worth." As far as I can remember there was controversy about the way they bought United but was given the green light by the British government and the Premier League. United fans protested but to.no avail...a break away fan owned club was even set up.. FC United of Manchester. Don't think that type of takeover would be permitted now. Was all done before FFP as well. FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 607 - 06/10/2026 22:51:29 2696464 Link
Replying To Commodore: "I'm no Man Utd fan, but fully agree regarding the Glazers takeover and how they left Utd. They took over what was then the richest club in the world (Real Madrid required debt write-offs at the time to staff in the rich list), and the Glazers who were said to be in heavy debt with their other franchises, including Miami Dolphins, borrowed to buy Utd and then basically saddled Utd with servicing all of their debts elsewhere. How that was allowed is shocking." Crazy carry on, how you'd be allowed buy any company in that way. They must have done some serious lobbying. FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 607 - 06/10/2026 22:55:32 2696466 Link
Speaking of foreign investment in Football clubs Finn Harps Academy CLG yesterday confirmed that it received conditional approval under the Governments "Immigrant Investor programme (IIP)" for €8.4 million funding towards facilities for a Center of Excellence. I had read that the IIP was closed to applications on 14th Feb 2023, only application submitted before then would be considered now, but the proposed new Thai owner only appeared in recent months, so perhaps the scheme was re-opened. Its a hugely positive news for Harps, as in addition to the Centre of Excellence, they will also finally get the new Stadium completed at long long last. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1976 - 07/10/2026 13:05:13 2696508 Link
Replying To Commodore: "Speaking of foreign investment in Football clubs Finn Harps Academy CLG yesterday confirmed that it received conditional approval under the Governments "Immigrant Investor programme (IIP)" for €8.4 million funding towards facilities for a Center of Excellence. I had read that the IIP was closed to applications on 14th Feb 2023, only application submitted before then would be considered now, but the proposed new Thai owner only appeared in recent months, so perhaps the scheme was re-opened. Its a hugely positive news for Harps, as in addition to the Centre of Excellence, they will also finally get the new Stadium completed at long long last." Yes it's a very interesting development. Sometimes these things sound too good to be true, but lets see. Maybe they can sign James McClean :P Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10495 - 07/10/2026 13:34:25 2696513 Link