So who knew what about the scam at Manchester City? The hottest question in the football firmament could have consequences not only for the City hierarchy but former executives now moved on, not least at Manchester United.
Though City were found guilty on all charges of financial misconduct by the independent commission, the judgment redacted the names of individuals involved, leaving the club’s ownership, Abu Dhabi United Group, in the dock.
The question about who knew about financial wrongdoing, which City continue to deny despite the overwhelming nature of the ruling against them, necessarily starts at the top.
Unless City were the victims of some rogue AI infiltration, it is fair to assume there was some human involvement in proceedings, and when we consider the sums signed off, upwards of £830m in what were found to be sham deals, you might think that would be a matter for serious executive clout.
Berrada (left) and Wilcox (centre) are the two most high-profile ex-City employees at United (Photo: PA)Which brings us to those in high office during the period under investigation, including one Omar Berrada, now CEO at United. Berrada was not accused of any wrongdoing and no findings against him were made, but that does not stop the perfectly reasonable question about connectivity being raised.
When Sir Jim Ratcliffe raided City to mine intimate knowledge of how to succeed at football, the 115 charges of financial breaches against City were laid but the hearing into those charges had not begun.
Ratcliffe’s Ineos reign is shot through with incompetence, revealing how little he understands the unique nature of football leadership. He made the classic industry move, plundering a blue-chip rival to land proven winners.
Ratcliffe must have thought Berrada, who joined City from Barcelona as the head of the Etihad’s international business department, a genius to help generate sponsorship north of colossal.
Working at the elbow of Ferran Soriano, chief executive of City Football Group, Berrada climbed the food chain to become chief executive in 2016 and would assist football director Txiki Begiristain in player recruitment.
By the end of the investigated period, which stretched from 2009-2018, the judgment found City had disguised secret funding totalling more than £830m through sham contracts with a variety of “commercial” partners, a figure that would go some way to erasing United’s debt were it legitimately sourced.
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Opinion: Throw the book at Man City – and force the owners out Exclusive: Relegation and lifetime bans – the punishments Man City’s rivals want handed downUnited’s second City hire, director of football Jason Wilcox, joined City as an academy coach in 2012 rising to the position of Academy Director five years later. Although he had no involvement in City’s commercial operations, most United fans have lost confidence in him, as well as Berrada, and would welcome seeing both out the door.
Berrada’s fingerprints are all over the swingeing cuts that have ripped the soul from Old Trafford. Wilcox is viewed as a clueless imposter. Together they are seen as the Dumb and Dumber of football leadership, Ratcliffe’s henchmen reviled as much as him.
When Walter Scott penned his epic poem Marmion with its nuclear line “oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive,” he had just this kind of scandal in mind. And we are only at the beginning of the domino effect inherent in a deceit of this scale, if those involved knowingly practised it.
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