Manchester City's loss will be Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal's gain after it was announced on Tuesday that the Sky Blues' fine for breaching Financial Fair Play [FFP] regulations will be divided among their rivals.
City were slapped with a £50m fine by Uefa in May after failing to rein in their spending, they were one of a number of clubs punished for their profligacy that included Paris Saint-Germain and Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg.
The reigning Premier League champions will have two-thirds of that sum reimbursed, provided they abide by FFP rules in the future, but the rest is to be distributed among those English clubs that competed in Europe last season and complied with the rules. Those clubs comprise United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Swansea City and Wigan Athletic, all of whom, says The Guardian, "stand to gain around £212,000 each from a pot of around £20m collected from City and other sides who breached FFP". Additionally, a similar sum will be split at a later date among clubs who comply with the FFP rules this season.
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In explaining their decision, European Club Association [ECA] Karl-Heinz Rummenigge chairman said: "It was an agreement between Uefa and the clubs that it was money belonging to the clubs."
The FFP regulations came into effect last season and by and large they have met with approval. Uefa president Michel Platini told the ECA on Monday that they will meet next month to review their implementation. "The framework for Financial Fair Play must be dynamic," explained Platini. "We will see whether any imperfections can be ironed out and whether there is room to further improve the system."
The news that Arsenal are one of the clubs to benefit from the Sky Blues inability to balance their books is sure to add spice to their Premier League encounter this Saturday. As will the comments of former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, who took a swipe at City and the other clubs punished by Uefa for their cavalier attitude to FFP.
He told the Daily Mirror: "I'm a great believer that there's no point putting red traffic lights in the street unless people respect them and stop at red traffic lights," said Dein, a member of the Arsenal board between 1983 and 2007. "If there are rules, they have to be respected. So if there's financial sanctions in place they have to be respected, no matter what club it is."
