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By just adding the name of the art movement to your prompt, the image will look drastically different. Have a look at my thread and try it out.
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Everyone interested in football should read this
The central pillar of the Premier League's case against City is that Sheikh Mansour secretly funded substantial portions of the Club's sponsorship agreements with Abu Dhabi-owned companies, artificially inflating City's commercial revenue.
City denies this, maintaining that the financial support came from the Abu Dhabi government—the sponsoring companies' shareholder—not from City's owner. That distinction matters.
Mansour privately owns City through ADUG. The Abu Dhabi government owns the sponsoring companies. They're not legally the same entity, even though Mansour is well-connected with the government.
And it bears repeating that state-owned sponsorships are hardly unusual. For example, Arsenal's principal sponsor, Emirates Airline, is wholly owned by Dubai's government. Arsenal also received millions from Visit Rwanda. Manchester United's sponsors include state-owned Malaysia Airlines and Visit Malta.
There's nothing inherently improper about a government providing financial support to companies it owns. So if, as City insists, the sponsorship money at issue came from the Abu Dhabi government, not ADUG, the foundation of the Premier League's disguised owner-funding allegation collapses.
So did the anonymous commission get this right? What's so frustrating is that the media and punditry seem almost entirely uninterested in this question.
Instead, we get relentless calls for severe punishment before City's appeal has even been heard, based on blind faith in an anonymous Premier League panel citing undisclosed and unexplained evidence.
That's why City supporters need to keep asking the questions everyone else seems determined to ignore.
#mancity #mcfc #premierleague
This 🎯
The more you strip this #ManCity case back, the more extraordinary it becomes.
We are effectively being asked to accept that hundreds of millions of pounds were allegedly moved through a vast disguised-funding scheme, while the Commission reportedly found no direct evidence that a key individual - widely rumoured to be Sheikh Mansour - knew of or authorised it.
City’s position is even more fundamental: the money was not owner funding in the first place.
Then allegations this serious - allegations which, in substance, resemble deliberate corporate deception - are being determined inside a Premier League disciplinary process on the civil balance of probabilities...can you imagine any allegation against you being tried on the ‘balance of probabilities’?
If people genuinely believe City committed fraud, then test that allegation in a criminal court under a criminal standard of proof. Don’t casually use the language of fraud while pretending a private football process is the same thing.
Meanwhile, the same ownership has poured enormous investment into Manchester - jobs, housing, infrastructure and regeneration. Even if you believe City committed these allegations, the over reporting of sponsorship money would have invested extra millions into the UK economy.
And there is another part of this that too many people refuse to confront: the racialised hostility around City’s ownership.
You do not have to call every critic racist to recognise how often “Arab money”, “oil state”, foreignness and cultural suspicion are used as shorthand to delegitimise the club and its owners.
Criticise the evidence. Criticise the governance. Criticise the decisions.
But don’t pretend the tone around #ManCity has always been neutral.
Melani Strachan retweeted
Etihad Airways statement:
Etihad categorically rejects any finding, conclusion or implication that suggests the airline has ever been involved in improper commercial arrangements. The Premier League’s public communication of the Commission’s findings, following a period of selective leaks and reporting, has further created damaging implications for Etihad despite the airline not being named in the redacted published findings.
At no time did the Premier League reach out to or engage with Etihad in the process associated with the Commission’s opinion. Etihad was therefore never given the opportunity by the Premier League to be represented, to provide relevant information, or to ensure the accuracy and fairness of information relied upon in reaching conclusions that may now be interpreted as reflecting adversely on the airline.
Etihad is deeply concerned by the way this matter has been communicated publicly. The lack of clarity and transparency, together with the selective disclosure of information, has created damaging implications for Etihad despite the airline not being named in the published decision. The Premier League must take responsibility for the consequences of the way in which these findings have been presented.
We stand with the Club, its supporters and our wider Etihad community as Manchester City challenges the Commission’s conclusions through the processes available to it. Etihad will seek the relevant legal counsel on the options and recourse available to protect its interests.
📰 @MikeKeegan_DM
🔗 dailymail.com/sport/football…
Melani Strachan retweeted
🚨 Official: Manchester City Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak statement.
“I have been part of this Club for 18 years. I have had the privilege to stand with you in the Etihad, at Wembley, and in Istanbul. This Club matters to me, and you have shown and told me – time and time again - how much Manchester City matters to you. This is why I am writing to you today”.
“Following Friday’s media reporting, many of you will have spent your evening answering questions and responding to messages from friends, family and colleagues. So have I”.
“Here’s what I said to my family: The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the Club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began”.
“There are so many things that I would like to be able to share with you to help you understand why we feel so confident in our position. But the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect it means I cannot do that at the moment. Even this letter underwent several legal checks to make sure it complies”.
“I ask you to please carefully read the statement below, which we gave on Friday, and the statement we issued in February 2023 (also below). Every word matters and holds true”.
“While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed. There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our Club. We will not give them that opportunity”.
“We have some exciting moments to look forward to after this international break. We travel to Anfield in a fortnight, and then host Paris St Germain in the Champions League back at Etihad Stadium - moments that give us an opportunity to celebrate the strength of the Manchester City family”.
“Thank you, as always, for your constant support. Khaldoon Al Mubarak”.
Interesting
🇦🇷 The hate against Messi came out of nowhere, and it has nothing to do with football.
Here's what's actually going on...
Messi lifted the World Cup in December 2022 and the entire planet lost its mind celebrating.
Three and a half years later, a chunk of the internet suddenly decided he's a villain.
Nothing on the pitch changed. Same guy, same career, twenty years of footage anyone can check in under a minute.
What changed is the feed. Villain edits started outperforming legend edits and the algorithm noticed.
A 2018 MIT study tracked 126,000 claims across 3 million X users. False stories spread six times faster than true ones and got retweeted 70% more often. Outrage simply beats accuracy at getting attention.
None of this needs a single big lie either. Illusory truth effect: see a claim enough times and it starts feeling true even when you know it's false, and the effect survives fact checks.
Football is basically the most documented thing on earth. Every match, every angle, every ref decision, all archived. The narrative still won anyway.
If the algorithm can flip public opinion on the most watched athlete alive, it can flip it on anyone with no footage to fall back on.
Source: @LeoMessiFanZone, @therosieum / Writer: Sol
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