It’s not just PL clubs who are railing against FFP / PSR. The owners of Stoke are seriously wealthy and desperate to pump money into the club. But they can’t.
I think the upcoming Man City decision could be a seismic moment for the game in this country and Europe for many reasons.
City look to be near the end of a cycle:
- Few new signings
- squad is not old but ‘mature’
- Pep looks to have itchy feet
If they get a harsh punishment, they won’t take it lying down. It would probably incentivise them to Brexit away from the PL. Newcastle and Chelsea would be thinking the same. Barcelona, RM and Juve never gave up. PSG and Bayern could be tempted this time….
The EPL can’t exactly go soft on City. These 115 charges came about as a last ditch effort to avoid independent regulation:/ control. You’d assume that charging them with 115 separate offences means you expect (and probably need) at least half to stick, however expensive, creative and aggressive City’s lawyers might be.
My guess is they will go soft on them because they will belatedly realise they are about to kill their golden goose. But let’s not kid ourselves…., a slap on the wrist will make the EPL look like complete idiots.
If they go in hard (I.e. relegation or worse), I think it could trigger a chain reaction which starts the ‘super league’ quite quickly.