Article published 18 November 2011
Man City today announces losses of £195m for 2010/11 season. Significantly they have taken a distinctly downbeat tone over whether they can meet the FFP criteria for the first Monitoring Period. The club announced:
"As we undertake the club's commercial transformation, we are cognisant of the incoming Uefa financial fair play regulations and consequently we continue to maintain positive and ongoing dialogue with all appropriate football authorities."
Being 'cognisant' of the regulations is not the same as having a realistic expectation of actually meeting the requirements. Today was a bad day for City - had Blatter departed (following his 'shake hands to resolve racism' comments), Platini would have been a shoe-in for the head of FIFA. As it is, Platini will face a deafening chorus of anti-City sentiment from across Europe over the next few days (expect Bayern and Inter to express their views publicly). City have no UEFA history to speak of and a ban would hardly devalue the Champions League. The size of City's loss actually makes the position easier for Platini - he can strengthen his position by excluding City from European competition, whilst dishing out lesser penalties to other clubs who fail to meet the criteria. In short, City are probably 'toast' but they have may well have saved Chelsea's bacon.
