No Sporting Advantage?
So Man City were at it.
You’ve read the story, you have your own view undoubtedly.
What immediately jumped out to me was the reporting that upon learning of the decision the other clubs immediately contacted their lawyers to see where exactly they stand with regards to trophies, league positions, and renumeration.
Ooft.
I keep looking back at yesteryear and recalling when we went through similar with an EBT and Side Letter scandal, I don’t remember other clubs considering suing a giant of the league, as City are now Rangers were then.
While the two cases are pretty similar the biggest gap is necessity. The EPL is big enough and successful enough to survive with no City, the SPL clearly weren’t having that.
We got a quick Nimmo no sporting advantage.
They got a 4 year enquiry with a panel of experts.
There’s the difference and another justification of the Mickey Mouse league label.
If you cast your mind back we were told at the time that UEFA had no intention of getting involved and admitted they had became a new club anyway. We were told they weren’t opening the door to other clubs that lost points to EBT Rangers in Europe to sue them. That door was shut.
That door just got blown off the hinges by the EPL and thus UEFA will be dragged into this. Celtic themselves had three CL points “stolen” by City in the Moussa Dembele game at Parkhead if those charges stick.
My own personal conspiracy theory is that not only do Man City go the way of Rangers and liquidate, but that their owners have much less money these days and much bigger problems than football and would gladly discard the once cherished plaything. Very similar to Rangers again.
What is not similar is that the words “social unrest” aren’t in English footballs dictionary unlike the SPL’s.
Where all this could benefit Celtic and a whole host of other clubs is that I do believe City not being in the EPL signals the bubble officially popping. The TV money won’t increase if one of the crown jewels is missing or gone for good. Another possible option is targetting City in the next two windows, but then we would just be bringing a player from uncertainty to more uncertainty nevermind a massive drop in standards across the board.
My final point,,,foreigners have waltzed in and completely screwed the City of Manchester’s two biggest football clubs.
Glasgow beware.
By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com
We now have a new JustGiving page set up to enable donations to be made for our latest charity appeal.
We wanted to focus again on a local charity, and this time one which is dedicated to helping those suffering from homelessness, addiction or poverty.
The one we have gone for is
GLASGOW CITY MISSION
You can find our dedicated page at
https://www.justgiving.com/page/sentinelcelts67
Napsters follow the link
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/08/31/saturday-naps-competition-2/
You forget the 5 year limitation where UEFA can investigate. It’s no coincidence that the charges only relate up until 2018. So there will be no UEFA involvement by design to limit contagion.
There is still the appeal process.
Sheikh Mansour has a personal net worth of £30billion. He is head of a family that controls £2.5trillion.
The victims here are less worthy of justice than; anyone involved in the banking crisis of 2008, The Lehmann Bros crash, Jeffrey Epstein, Bernie Madoff, Maxwell etc and will therefore receive less justice i.e none whatsoever.
In about 5 years from now the appeals will come to an end and Man City will pay something like a £20m fine and be deducted 20 pts.
Nothing to see here move along. Billionaires at work
AWENAW
Not sure how the appeals process will pan out, whether City may go down an entirely legal route, but EPL rules bar them from going to CAS.
Been feeling so unwell I was barely taking any notice of Celtic, never mind what’s happening with teams in a league I rarely take any notice of these days …
BUT, I have questions, probably lots of questions.
If these clubs don’t gain any edge after years of cheating – what was the point to all the cheating in the first place??
If all you have to do is sarcifice an imaginary company, while claiming once that company is gone we can just carry on like nothing has changed – Man City and Rangers keep right on to the end of the road – no problemo
psstt, Barely a scratch!
Football is now so bent and diseased, I’d be willing to bet Man City aren’t inconvenienced in any way .. shape, or form.
Like in Scotland, someone will have to appear to be doing something ..not much but something. Get that out the way sharpish, then we can all get back to kidding ourselves everything is above board.
City will be back to winning in no time, while spending again like posh spice on Coke.
I do, however, have a funny feeling that (whatever the outcome for City) when there’s an outcome arrived at eventually, it wont paint our own oversized rat in a very flattering light, and that Glasgow Celtic could’ve, should’ve but didnt!
Anyone know the name of the company that ran the club that cheated the other company’s that were unaware they could ….erm, are we meant to be this confused?
Oh what a tangled company we weave, when first we practice to …
https://www.andymuirhead.com/p/the-premier-league-cannot-repeat
The bottom line is we know that football is bent, and that the authorities will be looking for the least painful way of dealing with both City and anyone else caught not playing with a full deck, that allows everyone to stay on the gravy train, while the gravy train is kept safely on the track.
BMCUWP,
Let’s assume they are eventually found guilty and stripped of their titles. Let’s play a wee “Who is going to litigate through the UK courts” game
I’ll give you a starter for ten
EPL clubs
Championship clubs
European clubs
Sponsors
Broadcasters
Television subscribers
Players, Managers (employees)
Bookmakers
Punters
Match day attendees
Feel free to add
I don’t do Facebook or X but I like a bit of Instagram, mainly for watching the reels, not so much posting or commenting. It’s been fun since the City announcement. The amount of posts suggesting MC should get relegated to the bottom tier like R2ngers did, it’s so much fun explaining to them that they are mistaken and what actually happened to them. Clearly, the SMSM’s reporting of 2012 had travelled well down south and the lie had perpetuated. Think it’s been a bit of an eye opener for some of them. I’m enjoying this.
BLUEGRASS CELT
It is particularly interesting, IMO, that David Conn does a lengthy piece on it in The Guardian. His first in a long time. He had a reputation as an investigative sports reporter, but ran for the hills when the extent of the cheating by R1ngers was sent to him.
He would barely have had to do any work bar tidy up the grammar and punctuation, but clammed up completely.
Perhaps he sees the City case as a form of redemption.
That Man City have been found guilty and at some point may be ‘punished’ is largely irrelevant. Investment in Man City was never about Man City and all about Etihad and Abu Dhabi.
Relatively speaking Man City was a very cost efficient marketing machine.
Wake up and smell the coffee…
https://www.andymuirhead.com/p/manchester-city-rangers-and-the-price
Manchester City, Rangers and the Price of Sporting Integrity
Bobby@10:58
He probably ran for the hills due to the threats he was mostly likely experienced for some sinister parts.
Down south he sees a wider audience that overwhelmingly support justice, therefore maybe feels more free to give his balanced views without suffering the wrath. The fact that he would most likely be backed up by fellow likeminded journo’s and not dissed by angry Scottish Hun supporters…. sorry, journalists.
Aw Naw
The 5 year limitation did not apply to the circumstances.
I forget the exact para in FFP but that canard was dealt with by requisitioners.
MIT
In case you miss it this comment was addressed to you re LNS and 5WA.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/09/24/look-after-the-pennies-and-the-pounds-look-after-themselves/comment-page-4/#comment-468253
BMCUW
You mean this e mail to David Conn?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ozvqcD924JD_GfwF24jzpuuMFX1617C/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=107947982974245186134&rtpof=true&sd=true
AN AI take on comparisons between the old, dead Rangers FC and Man City’s rule-breaking, AKA cheating. Of course one could ask if the Nimmo Smith enquiry was rigged in favour of Rangers and if the dead club should have been charged and titles stripped after revelations post-NS enquiry.
While both the Rangers FC case (2012) and the Manchester City case (2026) represent defining financial scandals in British football, they are fundamentally different in their nature, intent, and outcomes.
Rangers were punished for spending money they did not have, leading to tax evasion and corporate insolvency. Conversely, Manchester City were found guilty of concealing the immense wealth they did have to bypass spending regulations designed to preserve competitive balance.
Direct Comparison of the Cases
Metric / AspectRangers FC (2012 Case)Manchester City (2026 Case)Core OffenceTax Evasion & Unregistered Pay: Used an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) scheme to pay players tax-free “loans”, failing to disclose side-letters to authorities.Financial Deception: Concealed revenue streams, inflated sponsorship values, hid remuneration packages, and failed to cooperate.The Rule-Breaking MechanismSpent beyond its means by bypassing PAYE/National Insurance, essentially defrauding the UK tax system (HMRC).artfully circumvented Premier League and UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules by routing owner money through artificial sponsor channels.Current Case StatusResolved. Old corporate entity liquidated. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of HMRC in 2017.Verdict Issued (September 2026). Reported found guilty on 114 of 115 charges by an independent panel.Sporting SanctionsSuffered a 10-point deduction during administration, followed by corporate liquidation. The club had to restart in the lowest tier of Scottish professional football.TBD. Sanctions have not yet been announced, but heavy points deductions, title stripping, or expulsion are legally possible.
Key Philosophical Differences
1. Insolvency vs. Boundless Wealth
Rangers ran out of money. Their rule-breaking was a survival and growth mechanism that backfired when HMRC pursued them for millions in unpaid taxes, forcing the club’s corporate body into liquidation. Manchester City, backed by the wealth of Abu Dhabi, have unlimited funds. Their infractions were not a result of debt, but a structural strategy to disguise where their money came from so they could outspend the rest of the league without triggering FFP red flags.
2. Target of the Deception
Rangers deceived the UK state (HMRC) and broke Scottish Premier League player-registration disclosure rules. Manchester City’s deception targeted football governing bodies (The Premier League and UEFA). City paid their taxes accurately; they simply fabricated the origins of their commercial income to meet artificial football cost controls.
3. Precedent for Title Stripping
When Rangers were investigated by the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission in 2013, the panel ruled that while player registration rules were broken, the club gained no deliberate “unfair sporting advantage”, issuing a £250,000 fine instead of stripping titles. Manchester City’s guilty verdict on 114 charges strikes directly at a multi-year effort to gain an unfair competitive advantage, making the stripping of their Premier League titles a much more plausible threat during the ongoing sentencing phase.
MAHe
There is an article out there probably on the Scottish Football Monitor Blog called LNS – No Sporting Advantage My Arse .
It is one of many from SFM and for those interested in how they drew attention of Harper McLeod to flaws in LNS Decision with help of a lawyer who posted on SFM the trail can be read from this link.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/0B6uWzxhblAt9dnVHSl9OU3RoWm8/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=107947982974245186134&resourcekey=0-qqP_a83oHzC8V2HTBe9qYQ&rtpof=true&sd=true
didnt take long for the blogging speculators to start making things up.
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Hearing from someone very much ITK that Celtic (possibly Desmond/Lawwell) will be caught up in the fallout from the Man City ruling.
Might explain why Desmond is now more open to selling, with Haughey and Rodgers potentially involved.
waydoonsouthCSC
September 26, 2026 12:12 pm
That is interesting.
AI of course can only use what it knows, but is very adept at changing its view when told something it did not know.
That is where it can be useful.
The document at the link to MIT will be a useful one to run by AI to find any statements that need tidying.
saint stivs
September 26, 2026 12:25 pm
Sounds like a H one wish list.
With regard to sudden interest in LNS I am reminded of a saying that goes:
If you are able to sit on a riverbank for long enough, you will see the bodies of your foes float by.
Quite enjoying this.
Dubaibhoy
September 26, 2026 11:13 am
That Man City have been found guilty and at some point may be ‘punished’ is largely irrelevant. Investment in Man City was never about Man City and all about Etihad and Abu Dhabi.
Relatively speaking Man City was a very cost efficient marketing machine.
Wake up and smell the coffee…
—————–
very much this.
The investment in real estate has to be seen to understand the scale of ambition.
I feel it is kind of silly to posit the EFL bubble will burst in any way.
The league is about showbiz, people attend just to say they were there.
60,000 at Spurs and West Ham while fighting relegation.
More new and expanded stadiums. Record average attendances at several clubs.
More teams winning European trophies, then marketing that as the clubs greatest achievements.
City could be relegated, woulnt matter a jot to the league, someone will take their place.
Mahe
From memory, so I could be wrong without checking, but I think it was Stewart Regan of SFA who came out with the social unrest threat when trying to browbeat the clubs to accept Rangers in the tier below the SPL.
The Raith Rovers Director gave him the bird.
MAHE
I found the no sporting advantage my arse on of all places CQN magazine.
This link takes you there but on my mobile you have to scroll past adverts to find the text.
NO SPORTING ADVANTAGE MY ARSE! | Celtic Quick News https://share.google/5QgdZg5aUWL31tQ2n
Manchester City FC Etihad Expansion Update 24-09-2026
Saint Stivs on 26th September 2026 1:02 pm
Celtic 5-3 Dundee League Cup Final 28/10/67
Auldheid,
If my memory serves me correctly and it normally doesn’t. It’s a 5 year limitation for licence breaches and unlimited for fraud. UEFA decided not to pursue the fraud investigation further due to liquidation and Newco not being in European competition for three years.
Huns were fraudulent as proven in UK law. Man City have not done anything illegal under UK law so no contagion with regards UEFA satutes.
UEFA have already punished Man City in 2020 but CAS overturned their ban and they were fined £10m. I expect something similar here is all I’m saying.
https://www.insideworldsoccer.com/2026/08/manchester-city-115-charges-uae-warns-uk-relations.html?m=1
Good afternoon friends.
Stephen Welsh earns his first (I think) Scotland cap.
Rangers WERE punished?
Rangers DIDN’T gain any unfair sporting advantage?
The club HAD TO RE-START in the lowest tier of Scottish football.
Sanctions have NOT YET been announced, but heavy points deduction ls, title stripping, or expulsion are legally possible.
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I’d be interested in a small list of the ways Glasgow Rangers were punished, given they ceased to exist.
Along with an explanation on how they didn’t gain any unfair sporting advantage due to all the cheating they carried out.
While doing that, add in a quick explanation on how they were reborn at the foot of Scattish football.
And beginning with A, work your way toward Z while listing the various sanctions they ended up incurring.
Give me an A – give me an I 😊
Alan Morrison on the HuddleBoard.
“I will be getting up to date with the match stat packs in reverse order over the international break.
This edition considers the league derby defeat.
It is very difficult for individual players to shine when the system and approach they have been ordered to adopt is as incoherent as this one.
When “knows the league” and “gets it” players like Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, Liam Scales, Luke McCowan and Auston Trusty have such ineffective personal performances in a derby, you know there are larger forces at play.”
—————————————-
Hmmm. Wonder what these larger forces are?
Scotland start with no SFL players, reflecting the present paucity.
Ure just hit the post. Nae luck.
INIQUITOUS IV @ 2.47
The manager and his coaching staff
The Football Association of Ireland [FAI] CEO David Courell has confirmed that a players’ vote passed by a significant majority to play the game against Israel.
Players these days really couldn’t give a flying f’k about anyone but themselves. A symptom of the times we live in, I guess. The Irish people didn’t want it to happen yet they are going to be ignored.
I wonder whether details of who voted yea or nay will be released. How did university-educated, 2-degree-holder Liam Scales vote?
Only one player has withdrawn from the squad so far.
Celtic U 19 coach, Adam Asghar, who joined the club in 2024, has left the club. The departure was confirmed on Asghar’s own LinkedIn website, but there has been no announcement from Celtic. I wonder if the club realizes he has left. Anyone know someone at the club? Maybe you can let the club know.😆
Waydoon
apparently Ireland second choice keeper, Gavin Bazunu, has withdrawn from the game
INIQUITOUS IV
September 26, 2026 2:47 pm
Alan Morrison on the HuddleBoard.
“I will be getting up to date with the match stat packs in reverse order over the international break.
This edition considers the league derby defeat.
It is very difficult for individual players to shine when the system and approach they have been ordered to adopt is as incoherent as this one.
When “knows the league” and “gets it” players like Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, Liam Scales, Luke McCowan and Auston Trusty have such ineffective personal performances in a derby, you know there are larger forces at play.”
—————————————-
Hmmm. Wonder what these larger forces are?
—————————————-
The Force says ‘ past it or simply not good enough to start with. The Force is not strong in these.
AweNaw if this was anything other sort of scandal I would tend to agree with you but its different when it comes to the EPL and Ill lay out some reasons.
The sheer amount of eyes on the matter makes it impossible to sweep away.
The number of media has exploded and each will want scoop after scoop on this story. Theres soo much meat on the bone alongside an insatiable appetite to consume football content. They media will really get their teeth into this and have years of product, plus its Johnny Foreigner which they like.
Its gone International with Jose and Potchetino yelling about their lost EPL winners medal.
The EPL will want to be seen as the good guys to protect their global image and as such will play to the gallery that all is under control.
The reality its not under control and could spiral out of control. The EPL nor the TV broadcasters want a decade of uncertainty and judgements being awaited before everything settles down.
As for the EPL fans, basically theyve just wasted a decade of their football supporting lives if results get amended.
If the Euro clubs sue, they have CAS as a final fallback.
Thats years and years.
Can you imagine the final legal bill for that club if the loser is paying the other clubs costs also?
Finally, that New Trafford stadium that needs financing,,,United wouldnt go all guns blazing on City would they to get the seed fund for building work?
Hail Hail
Is the reason that LNS came to the conclusion that there was no sporting advantage gained by Rangers is that all the SPL clubs could have used an EBT but chose not to cheat HMRC?
It appears that only David Murray was smart enough to cheat the tax man and get away with it.
David is still a knight of the realm. Knighted for services to cheating. Cheating Scottish football and cheating the tax payer.
BREAKING – HIGH COURT VERDICT.
Tomorrow’s Orange Order march through the Nationalist Garvaghy Road will NOT go ahead. A judge at Belfast High Court has just issued an injuction.
Rangers FC was liquidated and no longer exists
https://x.com/RBlackPA/status/2103553165224448016
Sinn Fein president MaryLouMcDonald tells those gathered outside the High Court in Belfast that they are determined there will be no march along the Garvaghy Road
Mahe,
This scandal has more leverage than the global banking scandal or what’s going on in the middle east or Epstein’s paedophile ring for royalty and the rich and famous? Really?
They are going to willingly clog up the courts of England with endless litigation? I don’t see it.
I see parallel with Serie A in the late eighties and nineties. For Berlusconi swap Sheikh Monsour. EPL will be degraded. It will be degraded anyway with Citeh having to play by the rules and the years 2008-2018 bring phoney. Also ongoing less money and glamour for all of them. It might not sink as far as Serie A has since then but it has to one way or another.
You may be right I may be wrong.
We’ll see
Awe Naw
September 26, 2026 1:06 pm
Auldheid,
If my memory serves me correctly and it normally doesn’t. It’s a 5 year limitation for licence breaches and unlimited for fraud. UEFA decided not to pursue the fraud investigation further due to liquidation and Newco not being in European competition for three years.
+++++++++++++
That Rangers had acted fraudulently was never investigated due to the LNS Commission Terms of Reference that concentrated on player registrations and was never provided with evidence of fraudulent behaviour. That is why LNS was a sham and should be revisited.
Working on it.
UEFA did not want an investigation in 2012 into Rangers use of ebts or later in 2013 with Res12 because they suspected any investigation would find evidence of fraud that LNS either never saw or discounted with the compensation consequence that the Man City case is giving rise to.
4 real American police chase incidents ( not AI )
https://youtube.com/shorts/nOT8Atg2Qhw?is=yCyySOai420g94YG
Westcraigs
September 26, 2026 6:14 pm
Is the reason that LNS came to the conclusion that there was no sporting advantage gained by Rangers is that all the SPL clubs could have used an EBT but chose not to cheat HMRC?
It appears that only David Murray was smart enough to cheat the tax man and get away with it.
David is still a knight of the realm. Knighted for services to cheating. Cheating Scottish football and cheating the tax payer.
======================
Here is what LNS said re sporting sanction AT THE TIME in 2013 of his Decison.
(6) Rangers FC did not gain any unfair competitive advantage from the contraventions of the SPL Rules in failing to make proper disclosure of the side-letter arrangements, nor did the non-disclosure have the effect that any of the registered players were ineligible to play, and for this and other reasons no sporting sanction or penalty should be imposed upon Rangers FC;
This raised this question:
Q If the payments were irregular can this conclusion stand? No other club could legitimately use ebts in the way RFC did so did this not give RFC an unfair advantage in recruiting better players than their opposition which translated to unfair competitive advantage which should attract sanctions?
It was the Supreme Court Findings in 2017 that render this decision at least questionable but SFA blocked Celtic request to revisit.
https://x.com/JohnWight1/status/2103828575774527626
Gordon64
September 26, 2026 8:13 pm
https://x.com/JohnWight1/status/2103828575774527626
===========
Powerful
https://x.com/McDonnellDan/status/2103921416370332110
I have a date with Oasis at Celtic Park on the 25th May 2027….
Bada Good stuff mate 👍