{"id":10080,"date":"2024-09-21T16:52:20","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T15:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10080"},"modified":"2024-09-23T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T11:27:21","slug":"good-lord-dont-pannick-judgement-day-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10080","title":{"rendered":"Good Lord, Don\u2019t Pannick — Judgement Day Is Coming!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It\u2019s been a very good week for the Arsenal. A win at Tottenham and a draw at Europa League winners, Atalanta, in the Champions League, both achieved in the face of an injury and suspension crisis with two brilliant defensive displays. What a shame that with one of the biggest games of the season around 24 hours away, the focus of most Arsenal fans will now be split between football and legal matters. Sadly, that is the inevitable consequence of a game against Manchester City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the loss of a couple of players against Tottenham last week provoked an extra desire to beat the neighbours, it\u2019s to be hoped that the light on the current hearing into Manchester City\u2019s various misdeeds will do the same on Sunday against Abu Dhabi. It should do as our whole club is still smarting from the failure to lift the Premier League trophy four months ago. Arsenal, under the transformative guidance of Mikel Arteta, have done enough to be deserved champions against all other opposition for the last two seasons. All other opposition, that is, except the erstwhile also rans from Maine Road, Manchester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Manchester City<\/strong>
Back in the late 1960s and 1970s, City were a proper club with players like Colin Bell, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee. They enjoyed success in the old First Division and both domestic cup competitions. It didn\u2019t last, however, and their prolonged slide down the English football pyramid finally ended in 1998-99 when they won promotion from Division 2 (the third tier) back up to Division 1. Despite their decline their supporters in those days stayed loyal, and even in the third tier of English football they enjoyed gates of 20,000 – 30,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern Manchester City<\/strong>
The current incarnation is a confected club constructed with the proceeds of Abu Dhabi oil, and was acquired in September 2008 by the Abu Dhabi United Group, an investment company for the Abu Dhabi royal family, which is owned by Sheikh Mansour, who is also chairman of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhat similarly to the Spurs fans that GSD described last week, the City fans have nicked a goal celebration from Poland, been given a stadium by Manchester council to help them on their way, and found their club the recipients of untold wealth from the Sheikhs of Abbly Dabbly (thanks, as ever, BtM). Not content with their ability to outspend all who stood in their way, the Sheikhs allegedly (take note, lawyers) felt it necessary to clandestinely enhance their contributions to the club by sneaking a few extra quid under the counters of FFP and PSR to ensure that they won so much in the next dozen or so years that many of their supporters are now too bored to turn up and witness the next victory. That loss of interest might well eventually apply to the demoralised supporters of many other clubs if City\u2019s behaviour is allowed to continue unpunished – and that could have fatal implications for the Premier League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court Hearing<\/strong>
And so, from last Monday 16th September, we have finally come to the hearing of City\u2019s many and varied charges of Premier League rule contraventions which is expected to take something like ten weeks. It transpires that due to \u2018reporting errors\u2019, City are actually facing not the widely reported 115 charges but, in fact, 130 charges. You can add to that 22 counts of late kick offs in both first and second halves of league matches over the last two seasons, for which they have already been fined \u00a32 million. You can come to your own conclusions as to why they would want to repeatedly kick off late. My own, purely personal opinion, of course, is that it cannot have been anything at all to do with foreign betting markets. Of course it can\u2019t!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the initial verdict of the current hearing is announced, C130y are bound to mount all kinds of appeals and try to drag the process on as long as they possibly can, but you cannot allow 130 charges of offences ranging from non-cooperation to fraud, to simply be swept under the carpet and ignored. The league would lose all credibility and with it a significant number of its supporters – that\u2019s to say it\u2019s paying customers around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t believe it? Well I\u2019m hearing on radio that Premier League clubs are looking at ticket price increases of up to 20%. How many fans, who are struggling to keep up with mortgage increases and cost of living inflation already, are going to cough up even more cash to take part in a competition that is going to continue to be won by a team that everyone knows has cheated their way to six of the last seven titles? And how many paying TV customers around the world will continue to pay to watch games in emptying stadia, increasingly devoid of atmosphere, abandoned by fans who can\u2019t be bothered with a corrupt competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Man C130y are lawyered up to the teeth, with a team led by legal eagle and life peer, Lord David Pannick, and there are those who believe they will weedle their way out of this crisis by courtesy of their huge wealth and their army of legal advisers. Well, there are a lot of very rich, smart operators who own Premier League clubs too, who will also be lawyered up to the teeth – angry at the losses they have suffered over many seasons and seeking appropriate retribution and compensation. The Premier League would surely not have gone public with the news of these charges if they were not very confident of making them stick. Their mistake was probably in bringing all 130 charges at once, allowing C130y\u2019s lawyers to take an absolute age in preparing their defences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My own feeling is that it may be possible to quibble over specific, individual amounts of money in various holes and hiding places in the accounts, but surely you can\u2019t argue with the basic principle of \u201cfailing to co-operate with an investigation\u201d, or \u201cfailing to provide the information\u201d requested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will all now have to wait another age to learn anything about the hearing as in the interests of clarity and transparency – cough – it is being held in a secret location and will be closed to the public. All we will get is the eventual verdict which, considering the points deductions handed out last season to Everton and Nottingham Forest for their relatively minor offences, should see Manchester City relegated to the National League North. One good thing about this hearing compared with the UEFA investigation into their FFP contraventions, is that City will not have the option to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This all reminds me of what happened to a friend of mine when he had to take recourse to the law. He initially asked his solicitor: \u201cIf I give you \u00a3400, will you answer two questions for me?\u201d His solicitor replied, \u201cAbsolutely ! What’s the second question?\u201d At the end of the hearing and with a guilty verdict, the solicitor said, \u201cJudge, I wish to appeal my client’s case on the basis of newly discovered evidence.” Judge: “And what is the nature of the new evidence?” Solicitor: \u201cI have discovered that my client still has \u00a3500 left.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manchester City Team News<\/strong>
Honestly, who cares? There are rumours that de Bruyne could miss the game with an injury sustained in midweek, but I\u2019ll believe it when I see it. If any of their squad are unavailable, they will bring in \u00a350m – \u00a360m replacements and it will make no difference to them – or they will play a thug like Kovacic to maim a few more of our players with continuing impunity as their pet referee Michael Oliver will be in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the very same Michael Oliver who –
i) was paid \u00a320,000 in 2023 to referee a game in UAE, funded by Man City\u2019s owner Sheikh Mansour
ii) allowed Kovacic to escape a red card for two horrible challenges on Rice and \u00d8degaard when the teams met at the Emirates last season
iii) has awarded fewer yellow cards to Man City than any of the other top 8 clubs
iv) has awarded Man City 11 penalties in games he has refereed and
v) has never issued a red card against a Man City player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember the scandal in Spain when Barcelona were found guilty of paying referees to fix marches? The Director of Football at Barcelona at the time was Txiki Begiristain who just happens to have been Director of Football at Manchester City since 2012. How is it possible for a referee to be on the payroll of the owner of one of the clubs in the league in which he officiates?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal team news<\/strong>
Martin \u00d8degaard remains sidelined. I don\u2019t know where the rumours are coming from but the end of November is being suggested as his possible\/likely return date, which would suggest a serious grade 2 tear to his affected ankle ligament(s). The club has quite rightly issued no detail on the injury so this has to be all conjecture at this stage. There don\u2019t appear to be any new problems after the game against Atalanta, so Calafiori, Timber, Jesus, Sterling and Jorginho should all be available. Extra baggy shorts have been ordered for William Saliba as he will again be expecting to keep Erling Haaland in his back pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been a lot of nonsense talked in the various media this week about how Arsenal lacked ambition and parked the bus at the Emptihad last season. It seems we didn\u2019t make the game exciting enough for the poor loves because we shut City down. Well you bet we did – and I\u2019ll be delighted if we manage to do exactly the same on Sunday. Mikel Arteta\u2019s job is to win games for the Arsenal, not to entertain the press – and especially when he is having to do it with a makeshift midfield that is also impacting the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told the press yesterday that the club has been preparing for this exceptional week of away games since pre-season. His original plans were then shot to bits by the clutch of injuries and suspension we suffered to all our new players, holding midfielder and captain. So he has had to try to adapt again, one week before that horror week began. Whatever he comes up with on Sunday will be the very best the club can do, for all the reasons we know nothing about. That will do me just fine. I\u2019m actually finding it fun, while the present circumstances persist, to watch teams banging their heads against our impenetrable defensive wall. One-Nil to the Arsenal would be absolutely fantastic. Nil-Nil would also be a job extremely well done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83c\udfbc\"\"\ud83c\udfb6\"\"\ud83c\udfb5\" \u201cYou\u2019ll fall in love, I know you will \u2026. Our No.6 is the king of Brazil\u201d \"\ud83c\udfb6\"\"\ud83c\udfb5\"<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Holic Pound<\/strong>
I decided that betting on this game, given some of the information above, really would be a mug\u2019s game. Instead I\u2019ll leave you with a topical tale that occurred in the Holics\u2019 pub of choice –
A man walked into the pub and shouted for all to hear, “Lawyers are all ASSHOLES!\u201d A man at the back of the bar stood up and shouted back at him “I take exception to that statement and I resent it greatly!\u201d The first guy asked, “Are you a Lawyer?\u201d The man at the back responded “No, I’m an asshole!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match time<\/strong>
Kick off is on Sunday 22nd September at 16.30 UK time. TV coverage on Sky Sports. Try to enjoy the game. Safe journey if you\u2019re going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, words of wisdom from Winston Churchill – \u201cLawyers occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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