Manchester United used a legal loophole to stop Howard from playing
There is no doubt that Manchester United broke zero rules in the Howard deal - and while the Guardian cheerfully reports that Manchester United were this –> . <--- close to cheating, it also falls on its own sword when it essentially retracts that accusation and says that no, Manchester United broke no rules.
So what is it?
For a full discussion, see the Howard deal discussion over at Red Rants.
Here’s a brief preview:
Rule U18 - “No club shall enter into a contract which enables any other party to that contract to acquire the ability materially to influence its policies or the performance of its team.”
What Manchester United did - made a verbal agreement with Everton which is technically not a legal contract. In effect, Manchester United did NOT insert any special clauses in the final contract but because the rules consider legal contracts and not verbal agreements (at least that’s my interpretation), they got away with it.
Read the discussion, join in and tell us what you think.
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Discussion - 2 Responses
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It’s just stupid though. As Ferguson said, United gained very little from selling Howard in January - they did so for his sake, so that his future would be resolved. They could just have easily have kept the loan agreement, in which case the loan rule would have stood. The problem is not with what united have done - the actual problem lies in the law itself (i.e. the fact that clubs may insert such a clause when loaning out players).
There a lot of agreements that take place verbally but not legally, its a gentleman’s agreement and there is nothing wrong with it. On so many instances when players are sold in December to a team they are going to in the near future the two clubs verbally agree to not play him. I really dont think it would have been such a big deal if jose wasnt bitching and complaining because he wanted to avoid the fact that he didnt beat bolton at home.