Abu Ali: Manchester City's Fair Play affair and the lesson for world football - voila! sport

Summary: Tottenham - Manchester City 0:1 (Harry Kane became the club's all-time goalscorer) (Sport1)

In the January transfer window, the Premier League clubs spent about 815 million pounds on acquisition players - much more than all the other leagues across Europe combined. Although Manchester City did not participate in the celebration in the specific month, it is the richest and most successful team in the league in the last decade. In short, It manages to dominate the competition in a league that itself eliminates the competition in front of all the other leagues. Therefore, when it is accused of a flagrant violation of rules over many years, it is a critical issue for the whole of football.

In general, we are interested in more competitive frameworks, and the regulations - those of the English league itself, and UEFA's - are mainly designed to take care of this competitiveness.

Otherwise, an extremely wealthy party can simply come and buy everything, and thus the industry will lose its relevance.

Very rich countries naturally have greater financial power than any private entity, however wealthy.

Therefore, there is justice in the words of those who claim that countries of this type should not be allowed to acquire ownership of clubs in foreign countries.

This is morally correct, because these rich countries tend to be very problematic, to say the least, when it comes to human rights - and there is no reason to allow them to perform sportswashing and purify their image through a popular sport.

This is politically correct, because even if it is impossible to completely separate politics from sports, you still have to strive to do at least the minimum for this purpose - otherwise you get an absurd situation in which the French president convinces the main star of the French national team to stay at a Qatari-owned club (and this when the president in question is a fan at all the competing big club).

How much can you get drunk?

Pep Guardiola (Photo: Reuters)

But this is also true from a purely economic point of view.

Even if the basic issues of morality and politics are ignored, it is wrong to let the state compete with businessmen - because it is not forces.

Even if seemingly rigid regulations are devised that limit this enormous advantage, a country can easily circumvent it.

When a match between income and expenses is required, it is possible to bring in many sponsors who are actually owned by the state in question, and thus the cash flow to the club will be virtually unlimited.

This is the offense at the center of the case in question.

UEFA tried to accuse Manchester City of this two years ago, but was rejected when the Swiss Court of Appeal decided that the case was not sufficiently substantiated, and for some of the offenses in which the statute of limitations applied. Now the Premier League has a more extensive case, and its investigations also do not have a statute of limitations. Suspicions remain In their eyes, they only got better.

Between us, does anyone have the faintest doubt that Manchester City are to blame?

You can be fooled like Pep Guardiola, who claimed that he was promised all kosher, and if God forbid it turns out that something is illegal, then he is also being cheated like the league management and all football fans.

It is possible, but it is not wise, because the sponsors of the club are known, and it is also known who they belong to.

It's better to scream that the regulations are unfair, but that really doesn't legitimize violating them.

It is also better to shout that there is a selective view here, and considering the actions of many other clubs in England, not to mention Paris Saint-Germain, this is certainly true.

However, a large number of criminals is not a reason to abolish the laws.

Just the opposite - aggravation of the punishment is required.

It is advisable to do everything at once, but sometimes you can just start with the fattest offender.

It will convey the message well for them to see and be seen.

The point is that the management of the Premier League is in a very complex dilemma.

On the one hand, it wants to maintain order and create a competitive atmosphere.

On the other hand, huge capital that is poured in by the countries strengthens the economic power of the entire league, which is the reason why they have been shying away from restrictions on the subject until now.

The takeover of Newcastle by a Saudi foundation, with the ridiculous and absurd claim that it has no connection to the regime itself, is the latest example of this, and there is no sense in hitting Manchester City and the Sheikhs of Abu Dhabi if it will only pave the way for the Saudi dictatorship to the top of the table.

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City is sure of its innocence, in England they expect "extreme punishment, but not this season"

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Will the blow to City pave Newcastle's way to the top? (Photo: Reuters)

The complete destruction of the financial frameworks in European football began with Roman Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea in 2003, and since then the situation has only gotten worse.

The Russian oligarch, who was very connected to the government in his country, showed the way to foreign investors, they came in droves, turned English football into their private playground, made him very rich, and along the way hurt him and his gentle soul.

The officials stood by and did not do enough to regulate the business, mainly because they benefited from the league's unrestrained economic boom, including insane revenues from the sale of broadcasting rights.

In the 90's, it was the dream of every English player to play in Italy - Paul Innes, David Platt, Paul Gatskein and many others will testify to that.

Today, most players prefer to play in England, and only there is the ability to pay huge sums.

Niccolo Zaniolo wanted to move to Milan in January, but only Bournemouth was willing to pay the sums demanded by Roma.

Bournemouth, which was under Russian ownership until two months ago, is today much stronger financially than Milan.

Who could have believed this delusional state in the previous millennium?

That is why there is distress here.

On the one hand, the Premier League started a war against Manchester City in order to take care of maintaining the rules.

On the other hand, it does not do so wholeheartedly, because the fall of the empire from Abu Dhabi means an admission that the entire competition since the Sheikhs' takeover of the club in 2008 was unfair, and the results were not necessarily sporting.

The charges against Juventus, which this season were reduced by 15 points mainly because of inflating the value of the players and managing double contracts, damage the integrity of the entire Italian football.

The charges against Manchester City are much more serious, and they are therefore damaging to English football as a whole.

The league, which is so financially successful, does not want to eliminate the brand, so it will be required to walk between the drops.

Pep's offences, punishments and trouble: all the details about City's investigation

City is sure of its innocence, in England they expect "extreme punishment, but not this season"

The fans are the ones who should worry (Photo: Reuters)

This is also the reason why the lawyers on both sides may finally reach some sort of compromise, which will preserve the vital interests of all.

The war may be harsh only on the outside, while in the rooms the tones will be much calmer and more relaxed.

The football fans who are interested in preserving their beloved sport should fear this possibility and protest against it.

The correct solution, at least in the medium term, will be the creation of an international supervisory body, which will control the financial regulations around the world, prevent insane deviations, work for transparency and take care of competition.

In the ideal world, this body would be FIFA, and the first step in the right direction would be to absolutely prohibit the ownership of football clubs by countries, and also by parties close to political regimes (even if this is much more difficult to implement). However, in the rotten world we live in Haim, FIFA awarded Qatar the hosting of the World Cup, and the corrupt Majani Infantino cannot be expected to take any positive steps.

The road to reviving the industry will be long and problematic, and it is not certain that the task is even possible.

Severely punishing Manchester City would be a small step in the right direction, but it is not at all certain that this will actually happen in practice.

• sport

• world football

• English League

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• Manchester city