We all remember in our childhood that recurring scene from the children's animated series "Tom and Jerry";

Where the little mouse comes out of his hole stealthily and with quiet steps so as not to wake the cat Tom, then he goes to the refrigerator where the various and delicious food items are, and after seconds of thinking Jerry steals one of those items and goes with the same static steps towards his hole, but - and because whoever came out of his house decreased his amount - Tom wakes up from his slumber and Jerry is on his way back, and the most famous chase of all begins.

Perhaps the Premier League is similar to that chase recently, specifically the title struggle between Manchester City and all those who competed with it in recent years for the league title, whether it is Liverpool or Manchester United, or Arsenal, who today plays the role of the new Jerry, and behind him the fans dreaming of a title that has been absent for nearly two decades, and in his tail. The defending champion, Man City, is chasing him like a madman to defend his title.

After 21 rounds of the season, another resemblance to the chase scene is now added;

That moment that Jerry eagerly awaits, when Tom collides with an obstacle on his way, so that he victoriously walks away with his feast.

This time the obstacle was not the usual piece of furniture or a banana peel, but a detailed 736-word statement issued by the EFL on Monday morning.

A thorn in the feet of the elite

Ronaldo may have been the most famous victim of the Football leaks, but he was by no means the only one.

(Anatolia)

In cinema films, there is often that famous personality of a prominent businessman, champion of the poor, who enjoys a great deal of social responsibility, but as soon as someone messes with that secret safe in his luxurious office, he finds papers in it that damage his reputation and scratch that image.

We would like to think that these personalities exist in the football industry as well, as sometimes football clubs appear as a group of respectable and reputable businessmen, but with a little digging we may find something that is not pleasing to look at!

It all started in 2015, simply because that was the year someone decided to look beyond the good name;

A 26-year-old Portuguese youth named Roy Pinto created one of the largest sports leak sites ever known as "Football Leaks", and the site specialized in the beginning in publishing some cases of tax evasion, player wages and undisclosed transfer fees properly. Perhaps the biggest sufferer from these leaks was Cristiano Ronaldo who was fined $22 million retroactively in 2018 as back taxes.

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Roy Pinto was the only initiator, but one year after the creation of the site, a group of major European media began to cooperate with him and everyone made his contribution, this network of media was known as the "European investigative collaborators" or the "EIC" group.

It was an orderly and simple cycle;

The "Football leaks" platform collects information, then delivers it to the media, the media also adds the information it has, follows the story threads and its sources, and finally publishes it.

Will Parchman, a columnist for The Athletic, described the media as the megaphone for classified "Football Leaks" information.

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Ronaldo may have been the most famous person affected by the "Football leaks", but he was never the only one. Those leaks contributed to preventing the Dutch club Twente for a period of three years from European participation after discovering third-party agreements between him and the agents of "Doyne Sports", which is the same company. With which the Portuguese club, Porto, cooperated to influence some transfer deals, before being fined 50,000 Swiss francs by FIFA.

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The big spark!

"This time the information released by Football Leaks is more comprehensive, damning and disturbing than just a few reports of tax evasion."

(Will Parchman, The Athletic)

The year 2018 was a milestone in that story. At its beginning, “Football Leaks” collected a huge amount of leaks, described as the largest in the history of football, estimated at 70 million different documents in addition to 3.4 terabytes of important and dangerous information that included emails condemning many major Personalities and influencers in the world of European football.

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After collecting the information, Football Leaks sent it to the German newspaper Der Spiegel, which shared it with the European Investigative Cooperation Network (EIC).

Of course, data of this size would need a large number of specialists to review and analyze it before publishing, which is what actually happened.

The EIC gathered 80 journalists from 15 media outlets to review and analyze documents and information to document and expose various financial corruption operations.

This analysis process took eight months, so that the first part of the leaks was published in November 2018 exclusively by the German "Der Spiegel".

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These leaks were the spark from which investigations began regarding Manchester City's financial position, whether through the European Football Association (UEFA) or the English Premier League.

The European Union investigation came to light nearly three years ago, and the English League investigation begins its own chapter now, and it is clear that it will not simply be its predecessor.

It's no joke.. 115 accusations against City

The Daily Telegraph headline:

"City is facing expulsion. The defending champion is accused of 115 breaches of its financial regulations from the Premier League. Loud allegations, if proven, will lead to the biggest scandals in the history of English football."

pic.twitter.com/IGAbGC179W

- R̷ A̷ F̷ I̷ D̷ (@RafidBM) February 7, 2023

At first glance, this number seems implausible. Throughout the history of the English Premier League, in its old and new versions, no other club has faced this number of accusations, and no previous investigations of any other club have resulted in accusations of wrongdoing for several consecutive seasons. In addition, the period of investigations In this case, which lasted for four years, it is the longest period of investigations ever in the history of the championship, and the question here is: Why did the investigations take so long?

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"This is an investigation that began in December 2018. It is really surprising that after two and a half years there has been little progress. During that time the club has twice won the Premier League."

(Lord Justice Mills, one of the investigating judges, from the July 2021 hearing)

According to the association's statement, City circumvented a bit in order to slow down the progress of the investigations. Two years after the start, the Court of Appeal ordered Man City to submit certain documents to the English Premier League, but the club did not submit those required documents and stalled to buy time.

Citi's plan, according to the league's statement, was to file as many procedural applications and complaints as possible to slow down and delay the filing deadline.

Perhaps that is why there are 30 of the 115 accusations against City from the League related to the fact that the club did not fully cooperate with the English Premier League investigation, although City denied this in its statement.

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Italian manager Roberto Mancini during his spell with Manchester City in 2013. (Getty Images)

The association's statement contained accusations of violating many rules from the 2009-2010 season - a year after the Emirati takeover of the club - until the last season. The statement referred to 115 different accusations, most of which relate to not providing accurate financial information to properly assess the club's financial position.

The most prominent of these accusations relates to the salary of Italian coach Roberto Mancini during his time with the team and allegations that he received secret payments through a hidden contract between him and the UAE club Al Jazira, in addition to City's non-compliance with the European Union's rules for Financial Fair Play (FFP) between the 2013-2014 and 2017 seasons. -2018.

City also committed - according to the association - violations related to the rules of the Premier League for profitability and sustainability (Profitability & Sustainability) between the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 seasons.

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This time.. you may not deliver the jar

Perhaps some of us remember the character of musician Jadallah in the movie "Street of Love", that man who lived in hiding for years on Muhammad Ali Street, with a name that changed his name, fleeing from a crime he committed in his youth in a fit of anger after his wife's betrayal.

The events of the film continue until Jadallah is forced to finally come out of his hiding place. This was for a noble goal, which is to lead the orchestra team that Abdel Halim Hafez will sing "Monem" with in the opera, after the main musician of the concert, "Aziz", was absent from the audience.

But after the party ends, Jadallah is surprised by one of the officers in his face, and in his heart he feels that this is the end of the road, but the officer tells him that the prison sentence has expired and he is now free.

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What happened with Jadallah is very similar to what happened with Man City two years ago from now in his case with the European Union “UEFA”. the penalty was then reduced to only 9 million pounds sterling and the decision to deny participation was cancelled, and compared to the losses that the club would have incurred as a result of not participating in the Champions League;

The reduced fine was nothing more than an "ear pinch" for City.

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You may now be wondering about the similarity between Jadallah and Al-City. Has the statute of limitations expired against Al-City?

In fact, this is almost what happened.

Most of the accusations brought by UEFA regarding City's breach of the Financial Fair Play rules were related to facts in the period between 2012-2016, which made the majority of them lapsed by the statute of limitations before the UEFA punishment and thus the sentence was reduced.

The question here is: How did the accusations fall into statute of limitations?

The answer lies in the UEFA rules themselves.

Where it stipulates that the period between the occurrence of the breach and the availability of evidence does not exceed five years, if sufficient evidence is not available during that period, and even if it is available after the estimated limitation period, the breach becomes as if it did not happen!

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Most of the accusations leveled by UEFA regarding City's breach of the Financial Fair Play rules were related to facts in the period between 2012-2016, which made the majority of them lapsed by statute of limitations.

(Shutterstock)

Now we come to the most important question: Why did it seem more difficult this time?

What is the difference between the UEFA case and the English Premier League case?

In fact, there are 3 essential differences between the two cases, not just one.

The first difference is one of the main reasons for the mitigation of UEFA's sentence - yes, exactly;

Statute of limitations - There is no parallel to it in the Premier League's statutes, which deal with a breach when proven regardless of when it occurred.

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As for the second difference, it lies in the source of the evidence. UEFA laws give due importance to the fact that the evidence is from legal sources, and there is also no parallel to it in the laws of the English Premier League, which decides on the breach regardless of the source of the evidence.

It should be mentioned here that the main reason for opening investigations from both sides in the beginning was the "Football Leaks" published by "Der Spiegel", which of course are illegal from source.

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The third and most important difference is that Man City cannot appeal this time to the Court of Arbitration for Sport known as “CAS”, which is the court that is resorted to to resolve sports disputes between two parties when one of them is not satisfied with the final ruling of the continental or local disciplinary committees, which is the same court. Which ruled for City to reduce the punishment of UEFA two years ago.

Why isn't City allowed to appeal to CAS?

Simply because the court does not have any authority over the Premier League according to its laws, unlike UEFA.

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What are we waiting for?

"The case includes the strongest imaginable allegations of financial manipulation. Worrying or not? Well, the charges leveled at City by the League are at a level that - if proven true - could lead to relegation."

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(Stefan Borsson, lawyer and former financial advisor to Man City)

Press reports suggest that the most expected penalty is deducting points from Manchester City.

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Well, there will be a three-member judicial committee to look into the accusations against Man City from the League, which the club has already agreed to, and the members of the committee will be chosen from among the 15 members of the judicial body by Murray Rosen KC, head of the judicial body in the English Premier League. .

It is true that City and the League are not allowed to appeal to the “Cass”, but it is allowed to appeal to the judicial body after the verdict is issued, and here Rosé will have to form a new appeal committee.

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What are the expected penalties?

According to Stefan Borsson, a lawyer and former financial advisor to Man City, the accusations currently being leveled are of a level that would bring down penalties if proven true.

Nevertheless, we can say that everything is expected according to the laws of the Premier League;

Starting from a mere reprimand and some simple financial fines, to millions of pounds in compensation, deletion from the League, and even the withdrawal of titles!

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For his part, Stephen Taylor Heath, Director of the Sports Law Department at JMW Solicitors, one of the largest law firms in the United Kingdom, believes that it is impossible to predict the punishment among the many possible penalties, but he expects that there will be a preliminary hearing regarding the support of the charges from Whether or not, then another hearing on penalties.

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Despite this, press reports suggest that the most expected punishment is the deduction of points from the team, and the biggest question is whether the deduction will be applied retroactively to the seasons in which the violations occurred or to the season in which the case was decided.

It is likely that the discount will be related to the current season, and this makes Arsenal leaders in the current version of the competition the most prominent beneficiaries, however, the committee can use its authority to apply penalties retroactively, including withdrawing titles if the points withdrawn affect the final results of the competition.

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City is now facing the biggest turns of his journey after years of power and glory, and he is awaiting judgments ranging from death to survival with varying losses.

No one knows what will happen in the end, and perhaps that creeping suspicion is the real dilemma.

City loses points on its own since the start of the season, let alone when it becomes on the edge of the abyss.

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Sources:

  • Introduction to Football Leaks, the compilation that embarrasses the most powerful force in European football - The Athletic

  • Criminal or just a whistleblower?

    The story of the man behind Football Leaks - The Guardian

  • What Football Leaks Did in 2018 The Black Sea 

  • All you need to know about Football Leaks - Indian Express

  • Manchester City accused of dozens of financial violations - The New York Times

  • Manchester City: Clarifying the charges - and why it took so long - The Times

  • Manchester City statement to respond to the League’s statement – ​​Man City

  • Manchester City accused of violating financial rules by the English Premier League – BBC

  • An evening in "Love Street" - Veto

  • Manchester City accusations in the English Premier League: What are they?

    What could be the punishment?

    What is the schedule?

    Sky Sports

  • Manchester City's Champions League ban lifted - The New York Times

  • All you need to know about the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and its mechanism of action - Sport 360 Arabia

  • Q&A: What did Man City do wrong and how will they be punished?

    - Telegraph

  • Penalties Man City could face - relegation, points deductions, fines, and more... - The Athletic