Adam

🧵 THREAD: Manchester City, the charges, the evidence, & how justice was delayed. Manchester City weren’t charged because rivals complained or because they 'spent big'. They were charged because evidence shows a decade-long system designed to hide owner funding, inflate revenue & deceive & obstruct investigations. The Premier League’s case didn’t appear overnight. It began in late 2018, triggered by Football Leaks documents - internal emails, invoices, contracts - that contradicted what City had been telling UEFA & the Premier League for years. Those emails are the backbone of everything that followed. At the centre of the case is a simple allegation: Manchester City repeatedly disguised owner funding as commercial revenue. FFP rules require sponsorship income to be real, independent, and market value. What the emails suggest is that City’s biggest 'sponsors' weren’t paying what City claimed - Abu Dhabi was. Take Etihad as an example. Leaked emails show City executives discussing Etihad paying only a fraction of headline sponsorship deals, with the shortfall quietly topped up by Abu Dhabi government-linked entities. One email explicitly references ensuring funds 'come through the correct channels' so they are not detected as separate sources of funding. That is the definition of disguised equity. This wasn’t a one-off. Emails show Etihad deals where shirt sponsorship, stadium, training kit & campus naming rights were all inflated wildly out of line with the market at the time - later confirmed in the actual contracts, not just drafts. The numbers in the leaks weren’t hypothetical. They were real. UEFA auditors suspected this as early as 2013–14. They found £47m of 'intellectual property' sales boosting income, a £5m 'win bonus' paid for an FA Cup final City lost & sponsorships from Aabar and Etisalat above market value. City were fined & restricted - but crucially, UEFA never saw the full records. Why? Because City refused to provide them. This becomes a pattern. When UEFA charged City again in 2020, they imposed a two-year Champions League ban. City appealed to CAS & had it overturned. City fans shout 'INNOCENT', shared out of context screenshots. They're wrong. CAS did not rule that City were innocent. CAS ruled that UEFA could not meet the burden of proof - largely because City did not co-operate. City were fined €10m specifically for obstructing the investigation. Even City's own expert witness was denied access to key information that could have disproved disguised funding. 'No evidence' doesn’t mean nothing happened. It means the evidence was withheld. CAS explicitly stated that disguised equity funding could not be excluded - only that neither side could conclusively prove their case. That vagueness was entirely engineered. After CAS, new emails emerged suggesting Simon Pearce, a senior City executive & Sheikh Mansour adviser, had given misleading testimony under oath. City declined to comment. Again. While all this was happening, the Premier League had already been investigating City for years. City’s response? Delay. Delay. Delay. Obstruct. Litigate. Court filings later revealed City challenged the legality of the investigation itself, filed repeated procedural applications, refused to hand over documents, forced arbitration, then challenged arbitration & tried to keep the entire process secret. A High Court judge called it out in 2021. “It is surprising, and a matter of legitimate public concern, that so little progress has been made.” That’s legal spiel for stonewalling. This obstruction accounts for 35 of the 115 charges alone & that’s before we get to the secret payments. City declared Roberto Mancini's salary as £1.45m per year. On the same day he signed with City, he also signed a “consultancy” deal with Al Jazira - a club owned by the same man who owns City - worth £1.75m per year. That deal was explicitly marked confidential. Emails show City executives arranging the payments. Same signatures. Same people. Same day. The allegation is obvious: City paid Mancini off the books. Leaked documents allege undeclared payments for Yaya Touré, including via third parties. These aren’t rumours. They’re contracts, emails, invoices. This is why there are 14 charges relating to manager and player remuneration. Then there’s image rights. City told UEFA they sold player image rights for a £24.5m lump sum to comply with FFP. Later, they quietly resumed earning millions from image rights again. The buyer? A company whose directors included City’s own senior legal officer. Independent journalists couldn’t even establish its genuine commercial purpose. All of this feeds into the core allegation across 54 charges: City failed to provide accurate financial information in good faith. Not once. Not twice. But repeatedly, over nearly a decade. Now add politics. UK government departments discussed City’s charges with the British embassy in Abu Dhabi. Those communications are sealed - because releasing them could 'damage relations with the UAE'. City insist they are not state-backed. Then why is the state involved? Yet still, the delays continue. A 12-week closed-door hearing. Half a million documents. Years of silence. City remain 'innocent' - not because the evidence disappeared, but because the verdict hasn’t landed. This is why the case matters. If City walk away with a fine, it tells every club to cheat cleverly, obstruct endlessly, spend on lawyers, not compliance.. & the rules collapse. This isn’t about jealousy. It isn’t about success. It’s about whether financial regulation in English football is real - or optional for the richest club in the league. The evidence exists. The emails exist. The delays are documented. Now only one question remains, do the rules apply to City or not?

@MRADCERI @UTDEve ^^^^^

@UTDEve @AdamJoseph lol 😂 do you guys even read your tweet before sending it out. You should always play a system that suit your best players period

Ruben Amorim played a system with two #10's but somehow, Bruno Fernandes was not one. Ruben Amorim played a system with two CM's but somehow, Kobbie Mainoo was not one. Do not underestimate how harmful his decisions, lies & gaslighting were to Manchester United.

@Cornzy1810 Again, your arguments hold zero weight & you can't back them up. You don't have the intellect to have a conversation like this, so do one until you can actually quantify your words with some substance. No more enabling your stupidity.

@AdamJoseph Of course you dont because anyone that thinks different to you is "irrelevant" there isnt any need to be mentioning Amorim any longer, but you still do! Ymthe fact your still spouting about it clearly shows you need to 👌

@Utdbeni Change your @ already, you are not a Manchester United fan. You use the club's name to make yourself a few bucks - because that's all you could make with your shit Amorim fanboy bullshit.

Being called to sit on the bench is better than not being called at all yet he was crying to leave to Napoli instead of being on the bench at Man United. There’s no way he will start ahead of Rice and Anderson!

@JjStanway @FrankEra_ @SamiMokbel_BBC Are you acting like an idiot or intentionally daft. He played in a back three all season prior to the coaching change.

@AdamJoseph @FrankEra_ @SamiMokbel_BBC Where's he played then goalkeeper?

🚨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Luke Shaw is NOT expected to be called-up by England boss Thomas Tuchel despite his improved form. ❌ [@SamiMokbel_BBC]

In case you hadn't noticed, past coaches & managers get talked about for months & even years after their tenures. So that doesn't hold up. You can go through my posts & see that I don't need Amorim to stay relevant, nor for the algorithm. So that doesn't hold up. Post after post.. I haven't said anything about him in 9 days. 6 days before that. Sporadic mentions of a coach the club is thriving without. So that doesn't hold up. Block me if you don't like what I post. You are irrelevant to me & I do not value your opinions.

@AdamJoseph Andddddd still... Commenting about Amorim 3 months later, give it a break! We know you didnt like him blah blah blah, but jesus.. post after post mentions him. I know you need to stay relevant and on the algorithm but sing a new song ffs

@UTDEve And therein lies your problem. If you have a system that doesn't get the best out of & maximise Bruno Fernandes, you have a problem with your system.

@AdamJoseph The #10 role in a 3-4-3 is very different from that in a 4-2-3-1. In my opinion, Cunha and Mbeumo are better fits for the #10 role in Amorim’s system than Bruno.

@JjStanway @FrankEra_ @SamiMokbel_BBC And where did I say he hasn't played a ton? I said he hasn't played a ton of left back, which he hasn't. He's only played it the past 2.5 months. Deep breaths.

@AdamJoseph @FrankEra_ @SamiMokbel_BBC Saying he hasn't played a ton. Every game this season he has

@Ellis_ If you're a young player at Manchester United, you should take learning from the lessons of it, but also confidence that it won't happen to you moving forward because of the changes made.

I think Mainoo’s story and the way he conducted himself under Osama B should be used as an example for everyone, sometimes you need to get your head down be patient, don’t say anything & grind in silence because there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.

@JjStanway @FrankEra_ @SamiMokbel_BBC Yep and how does that in any way answer what I said, Ben?

@AdamJoseph @FrankEra_ @SamiMokbel_BBC He's literally played every game this season

@AdamJoseph 💯

Kobbie Mainoo & Harry Maguire are well deserved inclusions for England. They're both their own unique cases of perseverance & resilience, despite their situations that faced different kinds of adversity. Mainoo was a young player cast out & mistreated by a coach whose go couldn't recognise or utilise the talent he had. Rice, Anderson, Mainoo & Wharton should be the first four midfielders going to the World Cup & Maguire should be a lock at CB. Maguire's story is one of true inspiration. His fee was hung round his neck like a noose to hang him with for critics, he was abused & hounded, to the point a 'fan' channel called the bomb threat to his house a PR stunt, he was a victim of bullying & agenda pushing. This is so well deserved. Go on lads.

@AdamJoseph Spot on Adam

@AdamJoseph ✅

@Sechzykidd I couldn't agree more Sahm!

@AdamJoseph They all deserved the call up. The previous system made it hard for them to receive a call up even though Maguire has been performing exceptionally this season. He's still among the best CB in England alongside Guehi. I hope he cements his starting spot in the upcoming games

@ChrisWall ROCKET.

@AdamJoseph Plus if it ever goes to pens. Maguire’s got this in his locker.

@Theplugvk Should not be going to the World Cup if we're honest.

@AdamJoseph was beginning to think Tuchel’s crush on Dan Burn could hamper Harry’s chances.

@Theplugvk Maguire has a very good case to start alongside Guehi.

@AdamJoseph Still think John Stones & Marc Guehi will he the starting duo though.

@Thakas4000 'mis treated' No, you can use better English than this.

@AdamJoseph He wasn’t mis treated cmon on g, you can use better English than this

@ImpressionistAL I always thought it was the risk he had to take to win the Ballon d'Or because Barcelona would never be his & would always be Messi's.

Neymar had his chance to eclipse Ronaldo and Messi but he chose the PSG project, couldn’t begrudge him of that as it provided him with generational wealth but he ultimately sacrificed the further solidification of his legacy in becoming an all time great by not staying at Barcelona, he would’ve won the Ballon d’Or if he stayed. Surely that must irk some of his fans on this app.