
Mark Abbott told me: “There is no possibility he (Lampard) is not coming at all…he’ll be playing for the @MLS team in 2015.” #Pellegrini
1/5/15, 10:13 AM
Which is not the case for any other MLS players. So the league bent over, if I was the other owners I'd be pissed.View attachment 993AlexiLalas
Abbott on Lampard not really "signing" w/ @MLS: "It is a distinction w/o difference…he had overall agreement w/ owner, City Football Group."
1/5/15, 10:24 AM
Overall agreement? Like a pinky swear?View attachment 993AlexiLalas
Abbott on Lampard not really "signing" w/ @MLS: "It is a distinction w/o difference…he had overall agreement w/ owner, City Football Group."
1/5/15, 10:24 AM
hes delusional .....Sorry to keep making separate posts within this thread, but this is good chatter.
View attachment 994AlexiLalas
Mark Abbott on whether @NYCFC season-ticket holders were duped: "I don’t think anybody was duped."
1/5/15, 10:36 AM
How about every single statement released by every single party involved? Does he really think supporters and the "media" just made it up? Damn, enjoying MLS was so much easier when I just watched matches and had teams I liked. Now that I've emotionally invested beyond watching my Nats and other compelling players, I've started to understand why supporters hate MLS's executive leadership. It's atrocious from a fan relations perspective.View attachment 995AlexiLalas
Mark Abbott on Lampard’s reported “loan” to MC: “There wasn’t a loan and I’m not quite sure why it got characterized as a loan."
1/5/15, 10:50 AM
View attachment 994AlexiLalas
Mark Abbott on whether @NYCFC season-ticket holders were duped: "I don’t think anybody was duped."
1/5/15, 10:36 AM
Dupe (verb): (transitive) to deceive, esp by trickery; make a dupe or tool of; cheat; fool
View attachment 995AlexiLalas
Mark Abbott on Lampard’s reported “loan” to MC: “There wasn’t a loan and I’m not quite sure why it got characterized as a loan."
1/5/15, 10:50 AM
For the millionth time, FFP has nothing to do with this. Lampard was a free transfer and Man City has been paying his wages, so they've gained no FFP advantage.This isn't hard. Claudio Reyna needs to come out of hiding and say "Look, we signed a pre-contract with Lampard and City signed him in order to help comply with FFP.
For the millionth time, FFP has nothing to do with this. Lampard was a free transfer and Man City has been paying his wages, so they've gained no FFP advantage.
Here's what I believe happened: nobody on the MLS side thought there was any chance that Man City would want FL past the new year, but someone at CFC was smart enough to structure the contract the way it was structured JUST IN CASE (maybe was one of Lampard's people).
MLS allowed it because they must have assumed (like everyone else) that it didn't matter. Remember Man City basically wanted Lampard to ensure they complied with the UEFA 8 locally trained player requirement.
So no, I don't think there was intentional duping -- they likely allowed the initial structure because they thought it could never bite them in the ass. Now, they're caught with their pants down and that's not much they can do about. The mistake wad allowing the original structure and not publicly talking about.
It seems unlikely there was any way to stop what happened from happening once MCFC decided they wanted to keep him.
He looked like shite playing an hour yesterday, by the way...
Will CFG "sell" Lampard back to MLS? That would definitely be bending the rules...