[Archived] Italian Scandel

[ABBEY]

interesting reading...

[Blueboy Downunder]

indeed, very interesting abbs. i wouldn't say though, that the clubs concerned will be relagated, and there is no point in handing down massive fines. dock them points, is the way to go.

[Simon Says]

According to todays Sunday Telegraph Lord Stevens has named five clubs who are at the centre of his bung report.

The clubs are Man Utd, Newcastle, Middlesborough, Portsmouth and Bolton.

Investigations are continuing into 320 transfers conducted by Premiership clubs between Jan 2004 and Jan 2006.

[ABBEY]

1st 2 nothing will happen .

boro poss slap on wrists

last 2 =scapegoats.

[philipl]

Let's just say UEFA will be watching this every bit as closely as they watched the Italian Sporting Tribunal.

The normal punishment for transfer irregularities has been a domestic and international ban on incoming transfers. It needs to be very serious for additional action to be taken but I don't believe for a moment that Lord Stevens dare allow even the slightest hint of Manc favouritism to tarnish his reputation. To the contrary, the way his Premiership contract/consultancy is set up, he will probably doing his utmost to nail RFW to boost his own profile.

If proven, Her Majesty's Tax Inspectors and Police force are likely to be quite interested as well.

I always suspected the over-rated RFW's reign would end in ignominy. Hurry up before Lippi gets another job.

[thenodrog]

The clubs are Man Utd, Newcastle, Middlesborough, Portsmouth and Bolton.

Oooh errr......

1. Dodgy managers and manager's son relationship.

2. Dodgy fat chairman and even dodgier ex manager.

3. Boro...... Gibsons fabled money tree about to be pruned perhaps? New England manager involved! Lets hope any irregularities here are proven true and then we may have some chance in Euro 08!

4. Arry's sure to be in on any bung scenario. I seem to rem he was mentioned in something similar at West Ham.

5. No wonder all those faded world superstars ended up there without a transfer fee in sight.

I would't be suprised if Souey was up to summert all the time he was with us. A few notables spring immediately to mind.......namely all the eytie and Jock deals.

Edited July 16, 2006 by thenodrog

[Paul]

Discuss this to your heart's content BUT please be careful. If you are naming names, individuals or clubs, please sure to post a link that substantiates what you are saying. Speculation will be deleted, we can't afford the legal fees.

[USABlue]

I can't believe anyone is actually surprised are they?

[OJRovers]

There were a few people wondering why ManUtd paid £14m for Cristiano Ronaldo when he was close to joining Villa(?) for around £5m. I think the price had been accepted.

[philipl]

UEFA have told the English game that the way we appoint referees opens us up to corruption:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1828196,00.html

Personally, I feel the FA is the most curruptible of England's footballing bodies being an arcane mix of blazers and the professional game. I'd only want the refereeing set-up changed if the Burns Report were implemented in full.

As it is, having the FA, Prem and League all involved makes it a little bit more difficult for a bad apple from anyone of those organisations to turn the whole barrel.

As far my personal opinion, I'll be convinced the English refereeing system is not bent when I start seeing unbiased decisions at Old Trafford.

[Ronin]

As far my personal opinion, I'll be convinced the English refereeing system is not bent when I start seeing unbiased decisions at Old Trafford.

I would think that goes for everyone too. ALthough it doesn't just apply to Man U, any of the supposed "Big Clubs" would qualify.

[herbergeehh]

Where there is money, there will be corruption.

[AussieinUk]

Where there is money, there will be corruption.

Totally true.. Money=Power=Corruption

[Ozz]

More Scandals in sport...

Gee Gees

Push-bikes

Erm, thats it.

[philipl]

A Niigerian (of all places) article on dirt in Spain. It doesn't suggest any impending match fixing scandal but it does point to some unsavoury owners but then we knew that already.

Charlton run around with Llaneros on their shirts. Llaneros is the Spanish construction company that backs Valencia. Surprise, surprise, Charlton signed a co-operation agreement with Valencia yesterday giving each other first call on the other's players in the transfer market. Could be some interesting youngsters at The Valley this season as Charlton effectively become the first and only Prem club operating as a nursery for a foreign club.

[Bobby G]

Somehow I dont figure some "exotic" English players moving the other way to Spain and play for Valencia!

[philipl]

There is little sign of the Stevens report but Newcastle are up to their eyes in the sticky stuff with the VAT man now that their case has gone to the Tribunal.

The Sunday Mirror presumably calling their payments to agents the way that it is. If they were willing to slip an agent £660K to talk to himself, what else were FF and his mates willing to sanction?

More details in the Guardian. It is fun trying to work out who each of these colourful players is! Just as pertinent is the prominence given to Paul Stretford...

The Newcastle case was based on 21 transfers between 2001 and 2003 and focuses on the fact that agents cannot be employed by both the club and the player under FA and FIFA rules. Therefore to reclaim input VAT from invoices from agents employed by players was by definition not permissable and the VATman won his case.

Newcastle are appealing. Arsenal are reported to be facing a £700,000 hit and Leeds are very nervous as a retroactive VAT claim from the publicity Pete era could upset their delicate recovery.

No reference to Rovers or Souness in anything I have found.

Edited September 10, 2006 by philipl

[thenodrog]

Newcastle are appealing. Arsenal are reported to be facing a £700,000 hit and Leeds are very nervous as a retroactive VAT claim from the publicity Pete era could upset their delicate recovery.

No reference to Rovers or Souness in anything I have found.

Well how can this be?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ted/5332286.stm

Have they got a money tree?

[philipl]

As I understand it, the creditors of Leeds are taking a vastly reduced payment over a period of time with all kinds of triggers increasing their return in certain circumstances- e.g. promotion to the Prem giving them a booster. That period over which most of them exercise such rights in return for delayed payments is finite so I can only guess that not only do players cease getting paid from the old days (including our own Dom Matteo by the look of things) next summer but the more onerous terms for some of the old debts time expire as well as by that time Leeds will have paid the scheduled reduced payments.

If a new creditor pops up from the bad old days such as this VAT liability, then they would all have to negotiate again if the creditors' agreements do not specifically exclude that from happening.

Back to Mike Newell commenbting on the Stevens Report. It is due out on 2 October.

This is even more fun- Lucas Neill's agent has been filmed by the BBC under cover in a Panorama programme currently going through legal clearance.

Edited September 11, 2006 by philipl

[Jammy]

The Daily Express this Morning has Rovers (along with Arsenal, Everton and Middlesborough) listed has having transfer irregularities with French clubs.

The Rovers involvement is in regard to Sebastien Perez's transfer.

No link, but it is there in black and white!

[thenodrog]

I'm not suprised....... Imo Woy must have thought he was buying Pires!

[Fife Rover]

I would think that goes for everyone too. ALthough it doesn't just apply to Man U, any of the supposed "Big Clubs" would qualify.

And I wouldn't think it is only Rovers that get hit by the dodgy decisions at O.T. or the other "big clubs" either!

Edited September 12, 2006 by Fife Rover

[FourLaneBlue]

The Daily Express this Morning has Rovers (along with Arsenal, Everton and Middlesborough) listed has having transfer irregularities with French clubs.

The Rovers involvement is in regard to Sebastien Perez's transfer.

No link, but it is there in black and white!

It seems to be the kind of thing that happens in football...just doesn't usually come out. Agents are swarming everywhere in football and if a club wants to buy from abroad they don't seem to have much choice. Or even in the UK it seems. Look at Kewell's transfer from Leeds to Liverpool for a recent example, not that there was supposed to be any bungs involved as such. Just a huge chunk of the fee going to the agent. Think a 'bung' would have to be a bit less transparent.

However, thanks to the hush-hush nature of football in general, all the way up to the Premier League and the FA, it's rare anything comes out. They've had Football Task Forces set in place and even had some PC employed at the FA to investigate it yet it was just for show to make it appear they were up to anything - in fact the detective complained that clubs constantly refused to let them see anything.

There might be talk about wanting to deal with bungs but in reality nothing much ever happens, maybe another toothless tiger will be set up with some useless non-football gobsh1te along the lines of David Mellor in charge.

Edited September 12, 2006 by FourLaneBlue

[philipl]

Given the bizarre way that Perez left Rovers, I always felt uncomfortable about that one. I hope Rovers were the innocent party- we certainly lost an outstanding player.

The fact that Marseille were involved in all the deals names by the Express might not be a coincidence.

The Guardian names the agents in the Newcastle VAT case. It also explains how and why agents get paid by the clubs in transfer deals. They certainly screw the selling club but they also screw the player the agent is supposed to represent. I find it astonishing that the article asserts players are unaware that the agents are working for the clubs this way.

I wonder if Newcastle have any VAT to reclaim on the Duff transfer?

Edited September 13, 2006 by philipl

[FourLaneBlue]

Given the bizarre way that Perez left Rovers, I always felt uncomfortable about that one. I hope Rovers were the innocent party- we certainly lost an outstanding player.

The speed of that was rather strange. The excuse given was down to the climate not being suitable for his ill daughter I seem to recall...I mean, it's not that bad in the North West is it? It was only about September at the time

Whatever the reasons, it was a very quick turnaround in that transfer indeed. Two agent fees for the same player in three months? As you say, it meant Rovers ended up losing out on a very good player.