Dr Dan: Man City must be ‘scrutinised’ after FFP update in Times
Man City must be “scrutinised” to ensure they are not using creative accounting techniques to bypass financial fair play regulations.
So says finance expert and new Football Insider columnist Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively about a report by The Times on 13 November.
It is claimed that the Premier League has closed a loophole that allowed clubs to make secret payments to staff through third parties.
Roberto Mancini reportedly had two contracts while he worked as manager of City, one with the club and one as a consultant for Al Jazira.
Mancini allegedly picked up salaries of £1.45million and £1.7m respectively from the two entities, which are both owned by City owner Sheikh Mansor.
The Premier League’s crackdown on related party transactions is set to end clubs’ ability to bypass spending restrictions in this manner.
Plumley insists that the likes of City must be monitored to ensure they are not riding roughshod over the rules.
The Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider correspondent Adam Williams: “A lot of what clubs are doing, the loopholes they are using, they are to do with circumventing FFP.
“In a pre-FFP world, these sorts of things weren’t an issue. You could pay what you wanted and no one was regulating your losses.
“The Premier League are trying to close that loophole by saying that any payment of salaries by a club’s related parties must be declared under FFP.
“Everybody’s total wages have to be run through the club because the club is what we are monitoring under FFP.
“If you run salary costs through other entities, the figures you report under the club are not telling the full story.
“If you artificially lower your wage bill, that ultimately impacts your bottom-line loss.
“The detail is quite intricate, it’s quite technical. There is now so much regulation that clubs need to be scrutinised.”
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