A news report from the UK has revealed some of the details of the hearing as Manchester City appealed against the public release of a judge’s findings in the investigation over the club’s alleged Financial Fair Play breaches.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, Sportingintel’s Nick Harris explained how it had become common knowledge to the press earlier in 2021 that the English champions and the Premier League were still embroiled in a now two-year legal battle.
A series of gagging orders had prevented news of this being published, but the Mail on Sunday was recently able to obtain a ruling for one of its reporters to attend a court hearing related to the matter on June 30.
On Tuesday, three of Britain’s most senior judges ruled that the Blues’ secret legal battle can be made public, which has led to subsequent reports from other outlets.
But earlier this year we learned the Premier League and MCFC had been in a legal battle lasting more than 2 years, with the PL demanding all kinds of documents and info, and MCFC refusing to comply, taking all sorts of legal action to prevent disclosure.
The case includes an email written for a member of staff in City’s ‘partnerships’ department. While both of the individuals have since moved on from their posts, it allegedly reads: “Dear [XXX] … there seems to be some confusion about an outstanding balance of the sponsorship fee for the 2010/11 season.
“As you are aware. Etihad’s commitment is for £4 million [$5.5 million] and the remaining balance (£8 million) [$11 million] is handled separately by the [UAE] Executive Affairs Authority [EEA].
“Please can you clarify this to your accounts department and pick it up direct with the EAA in due course? Kind regards.”
The Mail claim to have had access to paperwork that shows City invoiced Etihad Airways for a sum of £12 million ($16.5 million) in their 2010/11 sponsorship deal.
On Tuesday of last week, finally, three of Britain's most senior judges ruled that MCFC's secret legal battle with the PL over alleged breaches of Premier League rules could be made public. We (the MOS) had been present in court to witness this unfold.
However, the document is alleged to include a hand-written note explaining how the airline was only due to shell out three times less than that total amount.
The EAA, who are reported to have covered the difference between the two amounts, “provide strategic policy” for His Highness Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is Abu Dhabi’s crown prince.
The report has suggested that City inflated their income to get around FFP rules.
Specifically, the Mail said that City earned £1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) in commercial income in the 2010s.
Penultimate tweet in this thread: Manchester City made £600m from commercial income in the past decade alone than rivals like Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. How?
Across the same period, other Big Six rivals such as Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal achieved an average of around £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) each, meaning the English top flight champions appeared to earn £600 million ($824 million) more from their commercial deals than those outfits of similar dimensions.
One marked difference is that City are hugely reliant on sponsors from just one country – the UAE.
In the 2012-13 Premier League season, City’s commercial revenues jumped by 33 per cent to £143 million ($196 million), and UAE-based companies accounted for around 83 per cent of this total, with £67.5 million ($93 million) from Etihad, £15 million ($20.6 million) from investment company Aabar, £16.5 million ($22.7 million) from telecoms firm Etisalat and £19.75 million ($27.1 million) from Abu Dhabi’s Tourism authority.
By 2015-2016, six separate entities from the UAE put up £122 million ($168 million) in sponsorship for City, which represented 68 per cent of a total £179 million ($246 million), and in 2019-20, these figures were slightly less at 56 per cent or £140 million ($192.5 million) of a total £250 million ($343 million).
While there would be no problem with this usually, City will encounter heavy penalties and potential suspensions if it can be proven that these sums come from parties that are ultimately funded by City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, and not those claimed on officials documents.
Pinto had been under house arrest. But since last August – with his trial still ongoing for 90 alleged offences – he is at liberty, in a witness protection programme, and his status as "whistleblower" or "hacker" still to be decided.
Elsewhere, the Portuguese whistleblower who set the ball rolling in 2018 with his Football Leaks expose has offered to help in further investigations.
Rui Pinto, who submitted his hacker findings to German newspaper Der Spiegel, had his lawyers tell the Mail he “remains committed to collaborate with national and international authorities in order to help uncover wrongdoing in football and contribute to football’s transparency”.
At the hearing over the publication at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, Lord Pannick QC, speaking as one of City’s representatives, is said to have been told by Sir Geoffrey Vos: “You are bemoaning reality. This is a matter of the greatest public interest.”
Pannick reportedly said of City’s challenges to the Premier League’s attempt to secure documents and information: “What the court is saying is that the price [of bringing the challenges] might be publication.”
His remarks were reportedly made as part of a purported argument by City that keeping the details under wraps will make it easier to reach a resolution, avoid further arbitration and avoid disputes with other clubs.
British hiker Esther Dingley, 37, went missing on 22 November 2020 when she was walking alone in the mountains along the Spanish-French border.
Source: http://sputniknews.com
The Duke of Sussex, who currently resides in the US, is planning to release his first memoire to discuss his life journey “not as the prince” he was born but “as the man” he has apparently become.
Source: http://sputniknews.com
The Fifth Republic has been shaken by two weeks of protests over a government initiative which would dramatically tighten anti-coronavirus restrictions, introduce strict vaccination requirements for some categories of workers and implement ‘Pass Sanitaire’ health passports which restrict access to leisure and cultural venues to the unvaccinated.
Source: http://sputniknews.com
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The UK government could be facing decades-long financial risks linked to its quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers said in a report published on 25 July.
Source: http://sputniknews.com
Having recovered from the virus, Morgan wrote an article for the Daily Mail, in which he said he owes a “heartfelt debt of thanks” to the scientists who developed the Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Source: http://sputniknews.com
French President Emmanuel Macron argued on Sunday that refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 is not “freedom” because anti-vaxxers infect and kill others through their “irresponsibility” and “egoism.”
Macron said during a visit to French Polynesia that though “everyone is free to express themselves,” there is “no such thing as freedom where I owe nothing to anyone.”
What is your freedom worth if you say to me ‘I don’t want to be vaccinated,’ but tomorrow you infect your father, your mother or myself?
The French president argued that freedom “rests on a sense of reciprocal duty,” not selfishness. Macron also floated the possibility of a patient in hospital getting less medical attention as a result of medical professionals helping another person who refused the vaccine.
“This is not freedom, it is called irresponsibility, egoism,” Macron declared, issuing a “very strong message” for “everyone to get vaccinated.”
Tens of thousands of people in France protested the government’s decision to introduce a vaccine passport and mandatory vaccination for certain professions this weekend. France’s vaccine passport will prohibit people from entering restaurants, bars, museums, and more if they cannot provide evidence of vaccination or a recent negative test.
Similar massive protests against vaccine passports and lockdown restrictions have also been held in the UK, Italy, and Australia.
London protesters held signs that read “No to forced testing” and “No to forced vaccination” during a “Freedom Rally” of thousands on Saturday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last Monday that proof of vaccination would soon be required to enter nightclubs and other establishments.
Following the news that Italy planned to introduce a similar vaccine passport system, thousands of Italian protesters marched across the country, including Rome and Turin, with some comparing Prime Minister Mario Draghi to Adolf Hitler.
Though a vaccine passport system has not yet been introduced in Australia, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sydney on Saturday to campaign against the city’s strict lockdown restrictions.
Champions League winner Joshua Zirkzee has been widely mocked for missing an absolute sitter for Bayern Munich, failing to score in a pre-season friendly against Ajax at the weekend that could determine his future.
The 20-year-old Dutchman joined the Bavarians’ youth setup from Feyenoord in 2017.
Despite progressing to the seniors two years later and being part of the squad to have won the Champions League in 2020, he has only made 12 appearances for Bayern and was loaned out to Parma in the last transfer window.
In this preseason, then, Zirkzee is singing for his supper – not only to stay on at the Allianz Stadium, but also, perhaps, to attract a potential buyer that won’t be a massive step down in his career.
On Saturday, against visitors from his homeland, he did little to entice current or future employers with a horror miss.
Approaching half-time, with Bayern level at 1-1 against Ajax, Zirkzee produced some good work to force an error from Jurrien Timber after a bad backpass.
With one touch, he left goalkeeper Remko Pasveer in his wake as he approached an open net.
The Euro 2012 finalist with Italy was rightly hooked by then-coach and countryman Roberto Mancini at Manchester City after attempting a ridiculous flick when he was through on goal that went horribly wide during a pre-season match.
“Hopefully he’ll be a little more serious in a Bundesliga game,” Zikzee’s manager Julian Nagelsmann told Abendzeitung after the match. “But I don’t have to talk to him – he’ll know that himself.
“We were a bit too deep in the first half, weren’t really so forceful in the first line of attack. Still, we had the chance to take the lead just before half-time,” the new Bayern shot-caller also added after the 2-2 draw.
“We had to score that. We then changed things a bit during the break and were really good in the first quarter of an hour after half-time. We applied a lot of pressure and had some good spells of possession. Then we substituted ten players.
Green technology is quickly emerging as the hottest investment sector for venture capitalists, with private firms completing $7.7 billion in deals this year.
ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing: it’s in every media outlet and on every bank’s business plan. A rush to what many call alignment of values with investment goals has led to a flourishing new industry with funds popping up like mushrooms after the rain. Green-tech startups are the new dotcoms, it seems, and the danger of a bubble seems distant—for now.
Interestingly enough, things were very different just a few years ago, as the Wall Street Journal’s Scott Patterson noted in a recent article. The past decade, he wrote, saw a pullout of investors from the green energy technology field after a couple of notable demises—one of solar company Solyndra back in 2011 and one of battery maker A123 Systems a year later.
From today’s standpoint, this is ancient history. Now, hardly a week goes by without a breakthrough of some sort in batteries, solar power tech, or, say, hydrogen. Most of these breakthroughs have to do with cost and efficiency, which are the two things that can guarantee a product a long life. Yet, most of these breakthroughs never make it to the consumer. They never make the leap across the so-called valley of death between the lab and the market. Especially if funding is scarce and hard to come by.
Venture capital funds are changing this, the WSJ’s Patterson writes, citing data from PitchBook, a private capital market research provider. According to PitchBook, venture capital funds are seen completing $7.7 billion worth of green tech deals this year, which would be up from $1 billion ten years ago.
It’s not just venture capitalists, either. JP Morgan earlier this month launched not one but three new sustainability investment funds. This was only the latest move in a rush to set up clean energy investment funds to take advantage of growing investor appetite for environmental, social, and governance, commonly known as ESG, investing.
Demand for new investment opportunities by a new generation of investors is one driver of this trend. Another, more important driver is government support for low-carbon technology. The European Union has tied its post-pandemic recovery funding program to commitments by national governments to invest a solid portion of the funds in low-carbon energy. This is effectively an open invitation to anyone doing anything in green tech. The Biden administration has also opened up the US federal purse for green tech startups.
Now, the EU and the US are discussing something they are calling a green technology alliance. In a joint statement, the two said, “We intend to lead by example through becoming net-zero greenhouse gases (GHG) economies no later than 2050 and implementing our respective enhanced 2030 targets.”
With such solid support, investment in green tech has become a lot less risky for investors… except in the part where a technology simply has no chances of survival as happens to an awful lot of breakthroughs that sound so groundbreaking in the lab but never cross the valley of death. However, this is a risk inherent in any startup investment.
We’ve seen some instances of this risk materializing in the EV space recently. First, EV and hydrogen vehicle startup Nikola suffered a major share price drop when a report from a short-seller revealed that the company’s CEO had overstated the company’s progress on its flagship model. The revelation cost Nikola a huge deal with GM, too. Another EV maker, Lordstown, recently teetered on the brink of collapse as the company ran out of money before it started commercial production of its Endurance truck.
Many more startups, not just in the EV space but also in other green tech fields, will go under if their products don’t live up to the hype. But at least now they have access to abundant funding, unlike a few years ago. Then, it was a buyers’ market. Now, it’s a sellers’ market, and buyers are lining up, eager to take part in the energy transition. How long before the situation escalates into a bubble? That would depend on how many more Solyndras and A123 Systems there are out there.
Conor McGregor training partner and ex-UFC star Artem Lobov admitted that he does not have “fire in the heart” after losing his latest bare-knuckle bout, falling to Denys Berinchyk in a scrap caged by sandbags on a card in Kiev.
Notoriously durable Lobov survived two standing counts in the Mahatch FC brawl, when he bravely took on unbeaten professional boxer, 2012 Olympic Games light-heavyweight silver medalist and former World University Boxing Championships king Berinchyk, ending with his face covered in blood.
Following a third successive defeat of his two-and-a-half year UFC spell in 2018, Lobov had earned wins over Paulie Malignaggi and Jason Knight in a bare-knuckle career that was as entertaining as his 30-fight MMA career.
The 34-year-old yet again showed his willingness to take on the toughest of opponents in Berinchyk, and had been backed by McGregor ahead of the showdown.
“I knew that Denys is a high-class fighter,” ‘The Russian Hammer’ acknowledged after the scrap was called off between the fourth and fifth rounds.
“So I wanted to fight him. Why go out [against who] knows who? If I go out, then I try against the strongest and aim for the stars. If it doesn’t work out, you’ll be close to the moon.
“Congratulations, Denys – it was a great honor for me to perform here. Most likely, I will [retire]. There is no fire in the heart that there used to be.
Denys Berinchyk is putting it on Artem Lobov who has gotten the standing count from the ref twice already. To the fifth we go.
Berinchyk was really putting it on Lobov in the third and fourth rounds. It looks like they've called it before the fifth, TKO victory for Berinchyk #MahatchFC
“I just went out here to see how and what [I was capable of]. Thanks to everyone – and, especially, to my team. “
WBO International lightweight title holder Berinchyk praised Lobov and said his first fight in the discipline had been positive. “Thank you for agreeing to fight an undefeated boxer,” he said.
“Respect to my opponent. My debut was a success. I liked to fight with [bare] fists. I think this is not the end, but only the beginning.”
Even in times of a loss Artem @RusHammerMMA never disappoints the fans! There's not 1 boring Artem Lobov fight, they don't exist! You made your fans proud last night and you're never afraid of a good fight no matter opponent! I wish the best in recovery and enjoy time with ur fam
Berinchyk was not Lobov’s only admirer in what may have been his final fight. “Artem, you made a lot of fans proud as always,” said one supporter on social media.
“Even in times of a loss, Artem never disappoints the fans. There’s not one boring Artem Lobov fight – they don’t exist.
“You made your fans proud last night and you’re never afraid of a good fight, no matter the opponent.”
