'The 115 charges case should be public'
- Published
Nick de Marco is one of the most important figures in the current legal soap opera of English football. If you have a problem, you want 'The Godfather' of football finance law on your side.
His work in the complex area of Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR) - also referred to as Financial Fair Play (FFP) - has led to him being given that name by his own chambers, Blackstone.
Either because they are subject to appeal or because of simple confidentiality issues, De Marco is not able to go into detail about many of the cases he has worked on. But he does have strong opinions about how sports law operates.
Most cases are not public, including Manchester City's battle with the Premier League over their alleged 115 breaches of financial rules.
De Marco feels that is wrong and can lead to confusion.
"In the past, everything was behind closed doors," he said. "Decisions were made with no proper transparency at all, with no due process.
"It has gradually moved on as commercialisation, more money and more professionalism has come in.
"But a lot of sports regulators are very scared of losing control. They think the best way of having control is to do things secretly. My view is that doesn't work in the long run. It makes people suspicious of you.
"I don't know what is going on in the Manchester City case but let's imagine a finding comes out later saying they preferred the evidence of one witness to another or that they thought someone was lying to them or someone said an arbitrator was biased.
"We have no way of understanding that or testing it. It is much better to be open and transparent."