Reposted by Natalie Lawrence
Conservatives’ plans for London
*Swap free school meals for police funding?
*Who they want to face as a Labour candidate
*The theoretical route to an election victory
www.londoncentric.media/p/conservati...
londoncentric.media
The Tories think they can win back London
Their long-shot route to power • First, give the impression of actually liking London • What needs to go right if they want to win the mayoralty in 2028
![There will be a further hearing on sanctions. Given the gravity of the commission’s findings, one can expect the sanctions to be onerous. If so, the considerable legal trouble of the club will mean serious practical consequences. If the breaches are not minor, then presumably the punishments cannot thereby be slight. It may thereby be sensible for Manchester City to concentrate more on the sanctions hearing, than on any perhaps remote chance of a successful appeal.
But there is little sign that Manchester City will adopt a sensible approach to further proceedings, as it has not adopted a sensible approach to contesting this matter to date. Indeed, the club has exacerbated its predicament by its strident conduct of its defence to these charges. This would not be the fault of the lawyers: it can be assumed that the club’s lawyers will have set out the risks of being aggressive. The club would have had this advice, and it would seem that it still decided to be aggressive.
The decision of the disciplinary commission not only sets out the deliberate financial irregularities of the club, but also that it made “concerted efforts to stop and frustrate” the league’s investigation. Note here the word “concerted”—these efforts were systemic and deliberate. Such an approach accords with published documents about how the club approaches litigation elsewhere. The club chairman is reported to have had the view that the club would “rather spend 30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue [Uefa] for the next 10 years” than accept a fine.
Paying “30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world”, or even hiring a man with seven wives each with seven sacks of seven cats, is of no avail if the facts and the law are against you. Law is not magic, and lawyers are not magicians. Decisions tend to follow the evidence, and the documentary evidence available to the club would have pointed to the determination it in time received. Nothing in the findings this week will have been a …](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nx2kxyxako6sobj4g4pdkl6s/bafkreih7fqubn444ys35bmyedxpytmmalyasu54f4jrdhpuyjhtdpojm3m)
![The Treasury Committee has formally contacted HMRC regarding the potential tax consequences stemming from the Premier League's ongoing investigation into Manchester City.
You will be aware of the recent publication of the Premier League’s Independent Commission’s Core Decision on its investigation into Manchester City Football Club Ltd. That Core Decision, regarding “well over 100 individual breaches of the Premier League Rules across the course of many seasons”¹, contains the following findings:
"In essence a significant part of the remuneration that we find was payable by the Club to [redacted] in return for the services that [redacted] was contracted to provide to the Club [redacted]
a) Was not recorded in [redacted] employment contract (or elsewhere) as a liability of the Club or as being payable by the Club, but
b) Was instead recorded in a Consultancy Agreement between [redacted] and [redacted].
*The [redacted] thus concealed the true extent of the Club's liabilities for [redacted]."*²
The Commission found that the Club “utilised devices” (such as the above) “to disguise the true extent of certain Club liabilities”³, which were found to be “shams and/or did not reflect the economic substance of the arrangements that in fact existed.”⁴
Can you confirm to the Committee that HMRC is aware of these findings (pending appeal)?
Have you asked for, and/or been provided with the unredacted version of this report?
While I acknowledge that taxpayer confidentiality may inhibit what you can disclose, I would welcome reassurance from HMRC that you are seized of the importance of these issues and the public interest in the case.
¹ Premier-League-Manchester-City-Independent-Commission-Redacted-Core-Decision.pdf, para 1
² Premier-League-Manchester-City-Independent-Commission-Redacted-Core-Decision.pdf, para 92
³ Premier-League-Manchester-City-Independent-Commission-Redacted-Core-Decision.pdf, para 91
⁴ Premier-League-Manchester-City-Independent-Commissi…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vu5uaxuiibiggftt7wu4sutt/bafkreidgjwbwqismvu5h6lmvy6yopjoecsuueqgub5kku2wnfexfmelmi4)
