Pitty retweeted
Not signing a striker when your only striker has been out for the whole of pre-season with a persistent injury was the greatest act of idiocy and self-harm by the Manchester United hierarchy and emblematic of their hopeless reign
🚨 Confirmed: Benjamin Sesko out until at least January through shin injury.
Period of rest is required so striker is fully healed.
Details + analysis ⬇️ #MUFC @TheAthleticFC
nytimes.com/athletic/7716805…
Pitty retweeted
Bruno's interview wasn't about INEOS, he was upset he got subbed and went for the manager.
United fans agree with Lisandro Martinez and haven't got onto him the same way. Which should tell you all you need to know.
Pitty retweeted
I don’t think people spending more money and sham deals is the same as finding engineering loopholes to be honest
I watched the F1 film with Brad Pitt the other day, and there’s a moment where his character asks to add something to the car that isn’t really in the rules. The FIA punishes it, but the team can still race with the earlier car. It made me think.
In F1, the best teams live at the edge of the regulations. Sometimes the FIA allows what they’ve found, and sometimes it says that goes too far. Occasionally the rules are rewritten afterwards.
Now, City. I’m not defending them. A commission found they entered into sham agreements and broke the spending limits. A sham is an arrangement that isn’t what it claims to be, so that’s a different thing from using a gap nobody had spotted.
City deny it and will appeal. But I find it useful to ask/reflect on how people inside the club see it.
From their point of view, PERHAPS they believe they were doing what elite competitors do: looking at the rules, finding the limits, challenging interpretations and moving faster than the regulatory system.
From the outside, you might look at that and say, “That’s cheating.” From inside the organisation, they might say, “We found something nobody had thought of.”
If you believe you’ve found a way to bring money in, more or less within the rules (and the commission said it was not in the rules and it was cheating), you might tell yourself you’re just being a sharp competitor.
We are all asking “did City cheat?”. But I find this question interesting too: “how did City come to believe they weren’t?”
And understanding a mindset, or trying to, isn’t excusing it.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Manchester City were found guilty of 114 out of 115 charges by an independent commission. The comparison made is not in the same ball park to the level of rule breaking Man City have committed.
premierleague.com/en/news/472777…
Pitty retweeted
Weird way to describe fraud.
I watched the F1 film with Brad Pitt the other day, and there’s a moment where his character asks to add something to the car that isn’t really in the rules. The FIA punishes it, but the team can still race with the earlier car. It made me think.
In F1, the best teams live at the edge of the regulations. Sometimes the FIA allows what they’ve found, and sometimes it says that goes too far. Occasionally the rules are rewritten afterwards.
Now, City. I’m not defending them. A commission found they entered into sham agreements and broke the spending limits. A sham is an arrangement that isn’t what it claims to be, so that’s a different thing from using a gap nobody had spotted.
City deny it and will appeal. But I find it useful to ask/reflect on how people inside the club see it.
From their point of view, PERHAPS they believe they were doing what elite competitors do: looking at the rules, finding the limits, challenging interpretations and moving faster than the regulatory system.
From the outside, you might look at that and say, “That’s cheating.” From inside the organisation, they might say, “We found something nobody had thought of.”
If you believe you’ve found a way to bring money in, more or less within the rules (and the commission said it was not in the rules and it was cheating), you might tell yourself you’re just being a sharp competitor.
We are all asking “did City cheat?”. But I find this question interesting too: “how did City come to believe they weren’t?”
And understanding a mindset, or trying to, isn’t excusing it.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Manchester City were found guilty of 114 out of 115 charges by an independent commission. The comparison made is not in the same ball park to the level of rule breaking Man City have committed.
premierleague.com/en/news/472777…
Pitty retweeted
Been a top manager for a very long time and people are only just starting to notice! Done an incredible job wherever he’s gone. Huge respect for him as a manager and a person top bloke
PAUL JOHNSON'S RISE THROUGH NON-LEAGUE DESERVES A LOT MORE ATTENTION.
Before Farnham Town, he had already built a strong reputation. He won promotion with Spelthorne Sports, including an unbeaten league campaign, then took Bedfont Sports into Step 4 and established them at that level over a long spell.
Then came Farnham.
Since taking over, Johnson has overseen one of the most impressive rises anywhere in non-league football — THREE consecutive promotions, taking the club from Step 5 all the way to National League South.
Along the way Farnham produced an unbeaten league season, won 35 of 38 games, finished on 108 points, then followed it up with another title-winning campaign of more than 100 points. They also built a remarkable unbeaten league run and continued progressing even as the standard got tougher.
Yes, Farnham have had strong backing and resources, and that has clearly helped. But that shouldn’t overshadow Johnson’s own record. He was winning promotions before Farnham and has repeatedly shown he can recruit well, manage big expectations, build strong dressing rooms and adapt tactically as the level increases.
The biggest compliment you can give him is that Farnham haven’t just looked like a rich club overpowering weaker opposition — they’ve continued to win as they’ve climbed the pyramid.
Now he’s managing at Step 2 and proving he can compete at National League South level, it feels inevitable that clubs higher up the pyramid will at least be aware of what he’s doing.
The real question now is: how long before a National League or even EFL club decides to test whether Paul Johnson can repeat the journey somewhere else?
Pitty retweeted
English football’s biggest transfer spenders by decade:
60s: Everton
70s: Everton
80s: Man United
90s: Newcastle
00s: Chelsea
10s: Man City
20s: Chelsea
…but Manchester United are the club financial rules were built to restrain?
#BlueBlackWhiteCarTel
Pitty retweeted
Since Abramovich arrived in 2003 and Abu Dhabi in 2008, Chelsea and Man Cty have won 13 of the 23 league titles. Their previous combined total was 3. Chelsea in 1955 Man Cty in 1937 & 1968. They had no history of league success in any era. English football was sold 23 years ago.
Pitty retweeted
Pablo Escobar built hospitals but he’s still a drug dealer.
🚨 The UAE has warned British Prime Minister Andy Burnham that it could pull billions of pounds of planned investment in the UK following the guilty verdict against Manchester City.
The investment was being sought for a major hi-tech hub between Oxford and Cambridge, which has been billed as Britain’s answer to Silicon Valley. 🇦🇪🇬🇧
(Source: @rmendick)
Pitty retweeted
Rui Pinto could have reached out to Manchester City officials and cut a deal with them, get paid a fortune and we'll watch City will dominate till the end of time but leaked it.
He's done more for football than FIFA, UEFA, and the Premier League. I hope he doesn't regret doing that.
On Wednesday, just hours after the verdict officially confirming Manchester City’s guilt, the Commission responsible for Portugal's witness protection programme informed me of its decision to terminate my participation in the programme and withdraw my police protection, thereby knowingly placing me in a life-threatening situation.
Given these circumstances, I have no alternative but to relocate, within the next few days, to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period of time, due to the multiple death threats I have received and the serious risk of an assassination attempt against me.
For this reason, I have just set up a GoFundMe campaign and I am asking for everyone's support to help me survive this serious situation created by the Portuguese State, which, as I have already stated, has knowingly decided to place my life at risk.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend a special thanks to everyone who continues to support Football Leaks, and I can give everyone one guarantee: the fight will most certainly continue!
gofundme.com/f/help-save-rui…
Pitty retweeted
Why blackmail the UK if you are “innocent” 🤥
BREAKING: The UAE is warning British Prime Minister Andy Burnham it will pull billions of pounds of investment the Government was seeking for a hi-tech hub between Oxford and Cambridge, billed as the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley, in retaliation for the guilty verdict against #ManCity.
[via @rmendick]
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…
Pitty retweeted
There isn’t an ounce of contrition amongst any of them. They need to be expelled from football. The game will be absolutely fine without them
Manchester City will argue the so-called 'tagged' sponsorship payments (totalling £830m) came from the Abu Dhabi Government not their owner (ADUG). This applies to State-controlled entities such as Etihad and Etisalat. Yet Etihad has previously refuted AD Government funding as "false".
City can point to an internal report written for the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi in 2010 which concluded the Abu Dhabi Government did indeed cover the sponsorship of Manchester City. The report was not intended for external publication.
In their UEFA case, City denied the Etihad (or any other) sponsorship funds came from any other source other than a direct payment. Sheikh Mansour provided a letter which read: "I have not authorised ADUG to make any payments to Etihad, Etisalat or any of their affiliates in relation to their sponsorship of MCFC."
In 2015, the 'Partnership for Open and Fair Skies' wrote to the US departments of Commerce, Transportation and State arguing Etihad gained a competitive advantage due to receiving huge sums from the Abu Dhabi Government. They allude to the internal report referenced above, which appears to confirm this.
Yet Etihad's response was: "The assertion that the Abu Dhabi Government paid for Etihad’s sponsorship of English Premier League football club Manchester City is equally false.
"In 2011 Etihad and Manchester City entered into a 10-year sponsorship agreement, which included naming rights for Manchester City’s stadium. Etihad funded this sponsorship from its own liquidity. It is not uncommon for airlines to have sponsorships with sports teams and their venues."
Etihad's denial the Abu Dhabi Government helped pay for their sponsorship goes against City's core argument, according to the verdict, that "AD Sponsors had from time to time applied for financial assistance from the AD Government towards their liability to pay the Recorded Sponsorship Fees."
Due to redacted names, multiple sponsors, and the phrase 'from time to time', City could make a case for other sponsors, but Etihad's on-record denial doesn't help the club's position, according to multiple legal sources spoken to.
Worth also reiterating, the panel, having reviewed the evidence already provided, already concluded any notion the Abu Dhabi Government not ADUG paid the tagged sums was "concocted well after the event".
Pitty retweeted
UAE is basically saying "If you don't let us do corruption, we will not invest any money. You HAVE TO let us do corruption."
Shame on you @FA, @premierleague and Burnham for bowing out to these scums.
UAE threatens Burnham over #MCFC commission verdict: We’ll pull billions out of UK. By @rmendick
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…
Pitty retweeted
If City avoid punishment due to political pressure from the UAE, Premier league football is actually finished. How can people invest their own time and money into a competition that has zero integrity?
It all becomes pretty pointless.
Pitty retweeted
NEW: Financial auditing and accounting regulator urged to investigate 'serious failure of scrutiny' of Man City's accounts - in letter from the chair of the Commons business committee @liambyrnemp
news.sky.com/story/mancheste…
Pitty retweeted
They're even lying about a fake video. 😅😅
Manchester City’s chief executive Ferran Soriano has insisted that his video message sent to staff this week about the independent commission’s devastating verdicts on Premier League rule breaches was not made with artificial intelligence | ✍️ @martynziegler thetimes.com/sport/football/…
Pitty retweeted
Manchester City defence may be undermined by Etihad statement
thetimes.com/article/377701a…
