Manchester City Are Not Alone

Manchester city have been building what some clubs would calla dream team but this has now turned into a proper dog fight. City have been handed a two year ban from playing in European competitions. The big one is the Champions League as that is the big carrot with the big payday.

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As you can see Manchester City are not alone but they are the worst offenders.

It is not just the big pay day but for a big club that competition helps pay the bills and adds to your income keeping you in the rules of Fair play. If a team get s knocked out in the quarter finals it is not a huge train smash as they would have banked a good $30 Million already for just being in the tournament.

The problem City now face is they now need to restructure their wage bill accordingly to their income. A bit like your household budget as living beyond your means is only going to end in financial disaster. Unlike all of us City have very wealthy owners backing them so there isn't really a budget. City are not alone though and if this is policed to the letter of the law we would see very few teams playing in Europe. FIFA are just as bad as the clubs as fining them is very lucrative for their coffers.

Kevin De Bruyne is 29 and putting 2 years of his career on hold won't be in the players best interests. He will be 31 when City can play in Europe again and if I was in his boots I would start looking. This is still not a done deal though as miracles still can happen.

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Both clubs have been caught out and why the fine doesn't mean that much as they are backed by oil money. FIFA would rather have the money than ban them.

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PSG and City top of the charts again.
The other day a reporter was trying to get some advice from top law firms who specialize in sporting arbitration and he couldn't get any comments. The reason is City have got all the top lawyers on this already and City are their clients. They are bringing out the big guns and there must be some hope as if their is any chinks in the armor these guys will find it.

Paris Saint Germain (PSG) had a similar scenario a few years ago where they mislead everyone with their sponsorship deals inflating them so they could buy whoever they wanted with no restrictions. I do believe FIFA is very weak and often prefers to fine the clubs than punish them properly. City were fined $50 Million and I am sure another $30 Million would make this whole thing go away. We know how corrupt FIFA were and I do believe they still are. Maybe smarter these days in hiding it ,but this behavior just doesn't go away.

Rules need to be followed and I do believe a fine and a ban is the correct punishment. My only problem with this is it is not current as this happened between 2012 and 2016 and why I believe a fine is only right outcome. FIFA in my opinion cannot be banning clubs for actions committed more than 5 years ago and needs to be looked at annually.