Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger
A sponsorship that dwarfs a rival’s naming rights will always draw a question. The useful test is whether anyone in authority asks it at the time.
Managers who say the rules will not arrive if this deal stands are easy to paint as sore. Fifteen years later the paperwork is what gets tested, not the tone.
City called the remarks regrettable. A commission has now used a harder word.
READ MORE: Gianni Infantino fixed previous investigation into Manchester City proving Arsene Wenger right
In July 2011 Arsène Wenger said Manchester City’s £400million Etihad agreement put the credibility of financial fair play at stake. Those comments have resurfaced after an independent commission found City guilty of serious breaches between 2009-10 and 2017-18. City deny wrongdoing and have until Friday 2 October to appeal.
Wenger told The Guardian: “It raises the real question about the credibility of the financial fair play.
“That is what this is all about. They give us the message that they can get around it by doing what they want. It means financial fair play will not come in. It is as simple as that.
“I can understand how they do it, but it raises the real question. The difficulty and the credibility of financial fair play are at stake.
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“Plus, if the financial fair play is to have a chance, the sponsorship has to be at the market price. It cannot be doubled, tripled or quadrupled because that means it is better that we don’t do it and we leave everybody free. That can be defended as well, but if they bring the rules in they have to be respected.”
He also said Arsenal “must have done a bad deal” next to a package worth about £40million a year, against Emirates money of £90million over 15 years. He wanted Michel Platini’s Uefa to look at whether the fee was a market price. City’s statement called the comments “unfounded and regrettable”. Liverpool owner John W. Henry wrote that Wenger had “said boldly what everyone thinks.”
🚨Arsene Wenger knew about Manchester City’s cheating 15 years ago. The Arsenal manger spoke up, but no one listened.
In fact the people are the top were so corrupt, he was told to be quiet.
In 2011, Manchester City’s ten-year Etihad deal was worth £400million. Where as… pic.twitter.com/bG5G7RSR3E
— now.arsenal (@now_arsenaI) October 1, 2026
The Premier League now says sham contracts and disguised funding inflated revenues and cut costs by more than £900million. Fifty-four of the charges concerned inaccurate financial information, including commercial income. That is the part of the file Wenger was pointing at in a Kuala Lumpur hotel.
Arsene Wenger asked for market-price sponsorship in 2011, said a workaround would make a mockery of the rules in 2012, and said in 2014 that clubs who do not accept the rules should not be in the competition. The commission has established the facts. The sanction is still to come. Wenger’s titles do not depend on it.
Arsene Wenger - Arsenal
Arsene Wenger - Arsenal