BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 17: Arsene Wenger during an interview at the Mercedes Benz Building prior to the Laureus World Sports Awards on February 17, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Boris Streubel/Getty Images for Laureus)

Arsene Wenger nails another prediction

Jul 13, 2020

Known by some as Mystic Weg, Arsene Wenger spoke in 2015 about the death of FFP and here we are in 2020 with the Court of Arbitration for Sport finally putting it’s rotting carcass on display for all to see.

mystic weg

We all knew Manchester City wouldn’t serve an actual European ban.

Well, we knew that if UEFA wanted anyone to pay any attention to FFP moving forward, they would have to stick to their guns.

City got off on a ‘technicality’.

Colour no-one shocked.

But FFP was dead, or at least dying, long before this ruling.

Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola — Arsenal’s French head coach Arsene Wenger (L) and Manchester City’s Spanish head coach Pep Guardiola react during the friendly football match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg on August 7, 2016. / AFP / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND

An ardent supporter of regulations to stop what he calls ‘financial doping’, Wenger has always been a proponent of some sort of FFP but even he knew it was pointless when he saw that it wasn’t being enforced.

It is not, after all, very fair, to have some play by the rules, and the restrictions they come with, while other’s don’t.

“FFP is gone,” Wenger said back in August, 2015. “I have seen the signs coming from UEFA for a while now,” he said. “I thought for a while it would happen [that PSG and Manchester City would be punished] but now it is not possible.

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 01: Arsene Wenger of Arsenal looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on March 1, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) — (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

“What’s happened is the clubs threatened to go to civil court – not only through sport.

“That brought a lot of insecurity in the decision making of UEFA so they started to soften the rules a little bit.

“Now it looks like the last decision about Paris St-Germain in July and then Manchester City has opened the door completely.

“We continue to run our business with the resources we create. We can always recreate the resources and they can put a hundred or two hundred on top. It is always like that.”

Arsenal's French manager Arsene Wenger checks his watch during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in London on March 1, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Glyn KIRK — Arsenal’s French manager Arsene Wenger checks his watch during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in London on March 1, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Glyn KIRK

Two years later, he was calling for FFP to be scrapped altogether.

“I wanted FFP initially,” Wenger said on French TV show, Telefoot.

“But now I think it should be scrapped. You shouldn’t have a rule that cannot be imposed.”