STITCH-UP!
City claimed Lampard was only on loan from New York But Frank had really signed one-year deal with champions
MANCHESTER City’s reputation at home and abroad is in tatters after it emerged they have been responsible for a trail of misinformation and confusion over their signing of Frank Lampard.
City are already fighting to keep the American public onside after their decision to retain Lampard’s services for the second half of the Barclays Premier League season, rather than release him to play in MLS for feeder club New York City FC as planned.
The club’s image took a further pounding after they were forced to admit they had misled the public on both sides of the Atlantic from the moment it was announced that Lampard had ‘signed’ for NYCFC on a two-year deal last summer.
That, we now know, was not true. Nor was the subsequent announcement that the 36-yearold had joined City on a ‘loan’ until the end of the calendar year.
The t r uth of t he matter, yesterday admitted by City, is that Lampard put his name only to s ome kind of pre - c ontract agreement with NYCFC, stipulating that he would join them on January 1.
The only binding contract he signed was with City, one that saw him contracted to the club for one season, with a ‘ break clause’ inserted that would enable him to head to New York f or MLS pre-season in January if deemed convenient.
We know now that City, quite legally, removed that clause on New Year’s Eve in order to keep him until the end of the season.
Under pressure from the media and unhappy fans in America, City finally admitted some of this yesterday, only to then find themselves in trouble with the Premier League.
City admitted making ‘mistakes’ and ‘ errors’ in their initial announcements regarding Lampard last July and August.
However, the Premier League were furious to see City claiming that Lampard’s contract with them had only been until December 31 and that there had been no break clause. Instead, City claimed, Lampard had merely signed a second short-term contract with them on December 31.
This angered Premier League officials as, not only was it not true, it would also have been in direct contravention of Rule T11 that stipulates no player contract can be for less than 12 months. After contact from the League yesterday, City backed down and privately conceded that Lampard’s contract had been for the whole season.
Earlier in the day, City released a series of points to the media in an attempt to clarify the situation. They are summarised here:
* The statement on the NYCFC website in July saying Lampard’s two-year contract took effect from August 1, 2014 was a mistake.
* The initial statement on the Manchester City website that his move to England was a loan was also an error.
* There was never a break clause i n Lampard’s contract dated December 31. The short-term contract with City only ran until then and has now been extended.
* There was a ‘ head of terms commitment’ [pre-contract] from Lampard to join NYCFC from January 1, 2015. That was extended to the end of this season.
* Any contract with NYCFC will now take effect from July 1, 2015.
It is now accepted that point three of that briefing is untrue which reflects badly on City.
Yesterday, the headline in the influential New York Post labelled the whole Lampard situation as a ‘fraud’ and even though representatives from NYCFC are due to meet disgruntled fans for talks today, it now seems that all goodwill in the MLS has been lost.
In f act, Chance Michaels, president of NYCFC’s The Third Rail supporters group, said: ‘Clarity is the big issue here and some fans feel they’ve been lied to — be that by the league, the club or the player, so I understand why some people want to show their feelings when he does play.’
Over here, meanwhile, City face searching questions about why t he whole saga has been characterised by untruth and misinformation from the start.
City’s stance yesterday was that the initial announcements — in New York and Manchester — were s i mple mistakes. It seems incredible that a football club of City’s size could make such an error, particularly given that the announcements about Lampard’s ‘ signing’ were followed up by tweets and other social media news flashes essentially carrying the same message.
One school of thought, certainly popular in America, is that it was in City and NYCFC’s best interests to announce Lampard’s ‘signing’ to help season-ticket sales along in America. It would perhaps not have had the same effect had it been revealed that he had actually signed for City with a clause meaning he ‘may’ come to New York in January.
That is all speculative while suggestions that Lampard never intended to switch to New York this month are quite wrong. It is only Lampard’s impressive form on the field that has seen him retained. He has simply proved more valuable to manager Manuel Pellegrini than imagined.
City did not respond to calls last night but had been helpful with the media early in the day. Calls made to Lampard’s representatives to ask why a former England captain allowed himself to be part of something that has subsequently turned out to be misleading were also not returned.
Earlier on, however, Lampard did issue a statement designed to ‘ clear up’ any confusion. The statement said: ‘I want to make it completely clear about my situation as I have read a lot of lies and nonsense over the last few days.
‘When released from Chelsea last year at the end of my contract, I signed a commitment to play for NYCFC for two years starting January 1, 2015. I was then offered the chance to train and be part of the Man City squad in the interim to keep myself in the best shape going into New York.
‘ This period has since been extended by Man City and I will now start playing for NYCFC at the end of this current Premier League season.
‘There has always been a constant dialogue between all parties to find the best solution for everyone. I am very excited about arriving in New York and giving everything to the team to make us a success in the MLS as soon as possible.
‘Thanks everyone for your ongoing support and I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2015!’