https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46101803
Manchester City and their sponsors manipulated contracts to circumvent Uefa's Financial Fair Play regulations, according to Der Spiegel.
The German news magazine claims it has seen internal documents which show that City officials discussed how to wipe out a £9.9m shortfall in 2013.
Der Spiegel also reports that City owner Sheikh Mansour provided monetary supplements to existing deals with sponsors in Abu Dhabi, where he is part of the royal family, to invest more money into the club.
City say they will not be commenting on the claims, which come after initial allegations about the club and FFP were published by the magazine on Friday.
La Liga president Javier Tebas made a similar claim last year, with European football's governing body Uefa responding by saying it was not investigating City, who have won the Premier League three times since Sheikh Mansour took over in 2008.
Uefa found City had breached FFP rules in 2014 and the two parties reached a settlement, with City paying a £49m fine - £32m of which was suspended - while their Champions League squad was reduced for 2014-15.
Der Spiegel calls the settlements "weak" and claims Uefa "wasn't even entirely aware of the degree to which it had been deceived".
City won the 2011 FA Cup under Mancini - but he was sacked three days after they lost the 2013 final
Italian manager Roberto Mancini was sacked in 2013, just after City had failed to defend their first Premier League title and lost the FA Cup final.
Der Spiegel reports that, in an internal email, City's chief financial officer Jorge Chumillas wrote: "We will have a shortfall of £9.9m in order to comply with Uefa FFP this season. The deficit is due to RM termination. I think that the only solution left would be an additional amount of AD sponsorship revenues that covers this gap."
The email also allegedly presented details of the contracts that would be adjusted, with Der Spiegel claiming that Etihad, Aabar and the Abu Dhabi tourism authority all paid more than had been agreed at the beginning of 2012-13.
Der Spiegel quoted another internal email, sent by club executive Simon Pearce in April 2010, regarding an annual £15m deal with investment company Aabar.
It read: "As we discussed, the annual direct obligation for Aabar is £3million. The remaining £12m will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness."
City representatives have said the Abu Dhabi-based companies are independent sponsors.
Manchester City cheating: Part 1
posted on 6/11/18
You're a sensible chap melton. Leave the desperate defence of City's skullduggery to the other 4.
And yes Mancini has bought it up as exhibit A of City's defence on his thread.
posted on 6/11/18
I’ve posted my thoughts on it twice already in this thread but just to be clear again
In terms of if the allegations are true, personally I don’t think there’s any defence, regardless of whether fans think ffp should exist or not.
If they do think it shouldn’t exist (which I don’t quite agree with, I thought ffp should have always been more about the balance sheet rather than profit and loss), then it should have been taken to court, not by doing it this way. I get why neither party wanted that to happen, still doesn’t make it right though.
I don’t see how you can think that is a defence? What I will argue is people making things up or turning this into something it isn’t. It is (if true) unethical, not illegal. The only thing I’ve been arguing about is the facts, not opinions.
posted on 6/11/18
And I don’t have any interest in what Mancini says to be completely honest.
posted on 6/11/18
Having read some of the source emails today as well though, the other thing I would say is that Der Spiegel have been more than a little assumptive in their reporting and I think they’ve actually got a couple of things wrong. I’m going to wait until the next two parts come out though (although today’s was just rubbish and not worth writing)
posted on 6/11/18
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 53 minutes ago
Having read some of the source emails today as well though, the other thing I would say is that Der Spiegel have been more than a little assumptive in their reporting and I think they’ve actually got a couple of things wrong. I’m going to wait until the next two parts come out though (although today’s was just rubbish and not worth writing)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Knowing our chairman I’m sure he’s reading every word.
posted on 7/11/18
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/manchester-city-exposed-chapter-3-recruiting-pep-guardiola-a-1236621.html
Part 3.
You have to say the author of the article seems to have something really against the Abu Dhabi ownership, bordering on hateful.
posted on 7/11/18
It’s all a bit meh really. That really just reads like a disgruntled Bayern fan.
posted on 8/11/18
I really don't know what today's edition is about, the author has ran out of stories.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.spiegel.de/international/world/manchester-city-exposed-chapter-4-a-global-empire-a-1236622-amp.html
posted on 8/11/18
So the jist of whole thing was here’s some things you already knew from years ago.
From a news Paper that’s owners are major sponsors of Bayern Munich.
posted on 8/11/18
Nice article.