The Manchester City Thread

Balotelli has a fucking Camo print Bentley?

Manchester City will present a stern test for Uefa's new financial fair play rules when they come into force for the 2014-15 season after the club announced a loss of £97.9m for the last financial year. Uefa rules allow clubs in European competitions to make a total loss of €45m between 2011 and 2013, if that loss is bankrolled by an owner. So, City's loss for 2011-12 alone is almost treble the figure allowed.

The club indicated it will rely on Uefa's detailed exemptions in the hope of complying. The ultimate sanction for a flagrant breach of the rules, which are aimed at stabilising European football's finances, is exclusion from continental competition.

The rules allow a club to deduct from their losses money spent on infrastructure – mainly their stadium and youth academy. City are building a £140m training campus on 80 acres near their Etihad Stadium, but the bulk of the construction has not yet been done and so that expenditure does not eat far into the £97.9m loss.

The exemption on which City are set to rely begins with an allowance Uefa will make if a club's losses are higher than €45m for the 2011-13 years, but are being steadily reduced. City have halved their loss from the £197m, the highest ever in English football, in 2010-11, so will show Uefa that positive "trend". In this 2012-13 year, despite exiting the Champions League at the group stage, City will again expect to diminish the loss by increasing their income from commercial sponsorships and reducing costs by being prudent in the transfer market.

If that trend is happening, clubs can escape a Uefa sanction if they can show their overall loss is higher than the €45m allowed only because they made a loss in 2011-12 caused by the wages of players' contracts signed before 1 June 2010. That is vitally important to City, who did heavily invest in several top players, including Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott and the £200,000-per-week Carlos Tevez, before that date.

City, whose spending is bankrolled by the oil-based fortunes of Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi, made their £97.9m loss despite increasing income to £231.1m during their Premier League title-winning season. Mansour invested a further £169m to subsidise the spending, principally on players and wages, taking his investment in City to almost exactly £1bn since he bought City from Thaksin Shinawatra in 2008.

Announcing the figures, City said with confidence: "The application of allowable reliefs, for certain categories of expenditure and investment, position the club well for compliance with Uefa's financial fair play rules."

That will be assessed in the spring of 2014, so Uefa's view will depend on these accounts, and City's 2012-13 financial performance.

Police investigating an allegation of racist abuse involving Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov at Newcastle

Yeah you're right actually. I misread the tweet by Sky Sports:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/9747398/Aleksandar-Kolarov-questioned-by-police-after-alleged-use-of-racist-language-to-fans-with-Albanian-flag.html

Gotta say City fans are absolutely appalling away from home - it's not often in the Premier League an away following is outsung by the home support due to the shit nature of home fans these days, but they were very quiet. Save from the occasional YAYA YAYA YAYA chant.

Also someone seemed to let off a smoke grenade at some point for no real reason.

The Manchester City skipper has been honoured by Belgium’s equivalent of the Plain English Campaign — who dubbed the 26-year-old a “breath of fresh air” compared to most cliche-spouting footballers.

Organisers Wablieft said: “We have chosen a winner with balls. Fans of plain speaking don’t relish the world of sport.

“But the Manchester City and Belgium captain has his finger on the pulse of current events.

“His pithy tweets excel in clarity.”

You're shit

Lee Mack's shit.