Neville slams UEFA after CAS overturns Man City’s European ban

Manchester, July 14 (IANS) Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has slammed European football governing body UEFA after Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) overturned Manchester City’s two-year ban from continental tournaments.

UEFA had banned City in February for breaching their Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations between 2012 to 2016 and they couldn’t have taken part in Champions League or the Europa league for two years if CAS hadn’t ruled in their favour on Monday.

Neville blasted UEFA after the ruling and said they can’t get disciplinary hearing right and also urged the authorities to change things with respect to FFP.

“UEFA can’t get a simple disciplinary hearing right – we’ve known that for years and years – and they’re certainly not going to be able to get something right that’s complex,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“It’s no surprise that in a serious court that Man City have won this case because UEFA are an organisation that simply cannot organise their own disciplinary measures.

“The idea that they could take on a Manchester City legal machine that were going to throw everything at this and rightly so, not just because they’ve got the money but because they’re defending their reputation, they were always going to come unstuck.

“I know that’s not what was being debated in the courtroom and legalities of it, but I don’t believe in FFP. I think FFP needed this slap around the face,” he added.

Earlier, LaLiga President Javier Tebas had criticised CAS after City were let-off with just a fine and that too was brought down to 10 million euros from the initial 30 million euros fine slapped on them by UEFA.

“We have to reassess whether CAS is the appropriate body to which to appeal institutional decisions in football,” Tebas told reporters as per independent.co.uk. “Switzerland is a country with a great history of arbitration, CAS is not up to standard.”

–IANS

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