The company, after all, has highlighted its continuing dedication to its guidelines. City has actually not shown F.F.P. is unlawful under European Union law (and was not, in the end, trying to). UEFA has simply not brought a strong enough, or fast enough, case to police its guidelines in this instance.
The issue is that it is not simply this circumstances. This is the 3rd time UEFA has tried to punish one of the continents elite– for all its attempts to identify itself as some sort of insurgent underdog, that is precisely the group to which Manchester City belongs– and it is the 3rd time it has actually failed to bring any of them to heel. It has been undone, again, by procedural technicalities.
There has been no amazing, conclusive breach in F.F.P.; simply a series of fractures appearing, fatally weakening the foundation. For the wealthiest and most effective clubs, the guidelines are beginning to look an awful lot like standards, and the impression is that UEFA can not generally enforce them, anyhow. There is, now, precious little incentive for anybody to abide by them.
That such a blow ought to be delivered now is substantial. UEFA has already agreed to suspend, momentarily, some of its cost-control measures, to enable clubs to ride out the results of the coronavirus pandemic.
Even before the infection hit, however, UEFA was considering how its monetary rules may be modified, upgraded, potentially simplified, to make them much easier to understand and– potentially– more attractive to follow. Citys acquittal provides weight to the argument that the current approach is not up to the task, however it likewise highlights how challenging it will be to reword the rules.
There is a school of thought that perhaps it is unworthy the time and effort. The belief that F.F.P. is not doing what it was expected to do has become a truism: A concept introduced almost a decade ago to improve soccers financial health and to reduce its dependence on debt has actually become, rather, a tool to entrench the status quo, to lock ambitious clubs out of the golden circle.
Criticism, however, is easier than building. If Financial Fair Play is rejected, if Manchester Citys vindication proves to be its death knell, one concern sticks around: What comes next?
City has actually not proved F.F.P. is unlawful under European Union law (and was not, in the end, attempting to). UEFA has actually merely not brought a strong enough, or quick enough, case to police its guidelines in this instance.
For the wealthiest and most effective clubs, the guidelines are beginning to look a horrible lot like standards, and the impression is that UEFA can not universally enforce them, anyway.
