IT’S not often I agree with Stan Collymore.
Punching Ulrika Jonsson is one reason, so is all the sex he had with strangers in car parks.
Unforgivable really. But when it comes to footie, he knows his stuff.
Within hours of serial champions Manchester City COUNTER SUING the Premier League who have charged them with numerous breaches of Financial Fair Play, Collymore tweeted: “If you work within the rules and regulations and have been incredibly successful during their implementation, it seems rather odd then that you’d threaten to sue that organisation whose rules and regulations have helped you become so successful.”
And with those few words, Stan had hit the nail on the head.
City need to step back and take a long, hard look in the mirror.
They are helping destroy faith and trust in the beautiful game, alienating further fans who are already at the end of their tether with one rule for the big, monied clubs and quite another set of regulations for clubs without financial clout.
Throw in VAR, which has destroyed the joy of celebrating a goal in the moment, and the Premier League is wobbling on the precipice over which, if it tumbles, there is no way back.
The Premier League hit Manchester City with 115 charges in 2023 alleging they broke financial and compliance rules dating as far back as the 2009-2010 season.
The league alleges City failed to provide accurate figures for their revenue from 2009 to 2018.
They also allege City failed to disclose payments to managers and players in the same period.
It’s also alleged they failed to comply with UEFA’s financial Fair Play rules from 2013 to 2018.
City are also accused of breaching the league’s profit and sustainability rules from 2015 to 2018.
The club — owned by Abu Dhabi, an oil-rich Arab Emirate — are also accused of failing to cooperate with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to February 2023, when the litany of charges against them were levelled.
In essence, the Premier League accuse City of manipulating financial records to gain a competitive edge, concocting fictitious sponsorship deals, making secret payments to managers, and inflating player salaries.
The club’s success during this period, including multiple Premier League titles and the Treble in 2023, is attributed to these alleged financial irregularities. Very serious charges indeed.
Since 2023, City have lawyered up. The hearings to determine the veracity of the Premier League’s charges and what, if any, punishments should be meted out have been constantly delayed.
They’ll be put on the long finger further now that City have decided to hit back at the Premier League, with a hearing into City’s claims set for June 10, this Monday.
City claim they are being unfairly treated and have alleged a “tyranny of the majority” conspiring against them. What hogwash.
For one, the quote about tyranny misunderstands its original meaning.
The philosopher John Stuart Mill, who coined it, had in mind smaller, weaker groups being oppressed by larger, more politically powerful foes.
City are NOT being oppressed by anyone. How could they be? They are head and shoulders above every other club on the field when it comes to the value of their players. And they’ve just won a record FOURTH title on the bounce.
They are being victimised? Pass me the sick bag.
City hitting back at the Premier League in the way they have ignited a mini revolt among the rest of the clubs in the Premier League.
And rightly so. One law for City, another for Everton and Nottingham Forest, eh?
Both those clubs flirted with relegation last season after being hit with points deductions for overspending on players. Those cases were dealt with promptly.
And City, well, they haven’t been touched by the Premier League since being charged back in 2023 because, eh, lawyers. City’s are gold-encrusted and have promised to fight to the bitter end. Which is their right, but it is a huge mistake.
City’s counter action further damages football’s reputation. It further alienates already at-their-wits-end fans. It undermines the Premier League’s already waning authority. It infuriates all of the clubs who play by the rules in all four divisions of English football.
Money and clubs being run by states is burrowing hollow the soul of football.
That said, the Premier League are to blame too. They allowed oligarchs (Roman Abramovich) venture capitalists (Newcastle, Chelsea, Palace, and Spurs), and petrostates (City) to own clubs in the first place.
The rules allowing that to happen were always rotten, because they helped create a hierarchy of wealth and ensured only a handful of clubs would ever compete for silverware.
The Premier League, by clamping down on Financial Fair Play, are trying to row the boat backwards up the s**t creek the game now finds itself in.
That said, City need to kick themselves up the backside, withdraw their counter suit against the Premier League and take their punishments on the chin if found to have broken the rules.
It’s for the good of the game. But who cares about that anymore?
MEMO to the FAI: Give John O’Shea the Ireland job.
After seven months without a manager, now is the time to put us all out of our misery.
I for one, am convinced the role of leading the Boys in Green should be handed to legend John O’Shea.
Especially after Tuesday’s impressive 2-1 victory over Hungary at Lansdowne Road.
Under O’Shea as interim manager, the team showed organisational skill. They look solid at the back and neat and tidy in midfield. Up front we have an abundance of raw attacking talent.
Who better to mould all those parts together than O’Shea?
He looks the part too. He has a real presence. He exudes confidence and it shows in the way his players respond to him, both when he’s coaching them from the touchline, and after the game when he engages with each one.
He’s a breath of fresh air.
Ireland is a young team with lots of potential. Why give the role to anyone else, when it’s obvious they all want to play for Big John.
The Nations League begins this September. We’re in a group with the old enemy England. Finland and Greece make up the numbers.
There is no reason why this team under O’Shea can’t get a result or two against Gareth Southgate’s men.
They’d do the Greeks and the Finns into the bargain.
So come on lads, give John the gig.
THE most steadfast ally of Ukraine is Britain.
Rishi Sunak has, for months, allowed Ukraine forces to fire precision Storm missiles into Russia itself because Britain understands that to truly thwart Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, you have to go after his country’s military capabilities away from the front lines.
The Americans, belatedly, have realised this too, and last week gave the go-ahead for its Himars missile systems to be used against Russian troops massing close to the Ukrainian border as well as military installations.
They should have done it long ago, but better late than never.
The next few weeks in this war will determine much of the future course of the war.
Ukraine now has the tools and the thumbs up to inflict big losses on Russia for the first time in a long time.
BOTHERING to vote today?
Well, if turnout in previous local and European elections is anything to go by, half of us won’t venture to the polling station.
That means TWO MILLION people won’t vote. Those who fought for our freedom will turn in their graves.
Regardless of your political opinions, you should register a ballot, even if it’s blank or spoiled.
Imagine if those two million refuseniks were to vote? The outcome of the local and European elections would be altered greatly.
Apathy for democracy is a disease that needs to be confronted.
The Belgians have the right idea, voting there is compulsory.
If you don’t cast your ballot, you’d better have a very good reason, otherwise you get hit with a fine.
If you fail to vote four times on the spin, they take your right away from you.
They could bring that in here. Would make our democracy more representative of the people.
As it is, Irish democracy, by dint of the fact only half of all those eligible to vote, do so, is half-arsed.
We get who we elect. And because only half of us take part in the democratic process, the quality of our political class isn’t the best, is it? Lawyers and teachers for the most part. No wonder our politics is lame and without much inspiration or ideas.
I’d go further than the Belgians. If you don’t vote, you lose your right to state support. It would certainly make those who refuse to vote sit up and take notice.
We need a thriving political sphere. Without it we are doomed to elect the same grey faces, who will go on to make the same grey mistakes in half our name.
So, whatever you do today, vote.
IS there nowhere sacred anymore?
Recently, Elon Musk donated high-speed internet to a remote tribe in the Amazon through his Starlink satellite.
And they’ve become addicted to hardcore porn. Quelle surprise.
Tough choice, eh? Hunt wild animals or watch online orgies.
Musk, you devil.
GOD love that poor woman in Limerick mauled to death by 2 XL Bullys on Tuesday night.
The family of Nicole Morey must be shattered.
It was astounding to hear that CCTV footage of the fatal attack somehow made its way onto social media, where all morality dies.
How sick must you be to do something like that?
Equally incomprehensible was that the footage was shared repeatedly among the online ghouls, so much so the gardai had to ask people not to share it.
I despair of the world.
