[Archived] Match Fixing

[Sparky Marky]

Where's Shebby these days.....British arrests made...could it all have been fixed? ???

[Roverall]

That Tottenham game looms large in my mind.

Even very uninformed, "poor Steve Kean" friends of mine who saw that match openly suspected something very dodgy at play...

[tomphil]

Here's hoping but it's probably lower leagues or something. You never know what they might uncover though

[Ricky]

That dude in Singapore.... Is this a name that we've been linked to?

[chaddyrovers]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/10479667/Football-match-fixing-six-arrested-by-police-investigating-betting-syndicate-as-rigging-hits-British-game.html

[Sparky Marky]

Of all the clubs in the lower leagues, I. E. not premier league, we'd be up there as candidates for this. ..perhaps we've been raped for betting.

[RevidgeBlue]

Or maybe the simple and obvious explanation is the correct one and the players and manager weren't good enough.

[Stuart]

Or maybe the simple and obvious explanation is the correct one and the players and manager weren't good enough.

The players Kean inherited were plenty good enough!

I think people have a hard time with this, and naturally look to conspiracy theories, because they believe that no-one could be that STUPID (hold that thought, Jim) and be credible, successful business people.

When you walk in dogshit, you don't blame the dog for @#/? on the pavement, you blame the owner for not cleaning it up.

[broadsword]

Exhibit a is the spurs game

[Leonard Venkhater]

Exhibit a is the spurs game

So many of us are troubled by that game in particular. However, imo it would have required several players to be part of the scam.

I can believe almost anything about a puppet with a bald head, long nose and rather wooden delivery, but he couldn't have delivered such an abject surrender on his own....

I truly believer there was something very fishy about what happened to our club, but the Spurs thing doesn't quite work for me at the moment...

[only2garners]

According to the BBC it was not at either the Premier League or Football League level. On the Today programme the suggestion was that it was at Conference level.

[Amo]

According to the BBC it was not at either the Premier League or Football League level. On the Today programme the suggestion was that it was at Conference level.

How predictable. What a boring non-story.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Plus, if you can buy a ref for 20k, buying a club for 30 million and then losing 2 million a month on it to achieve the same ends makes perfect sense.

[TBTF]

Plus, if you can buy a ref for 20k, buying a club for 30 million and then losing 2 million a month on it to achieve the same ends makes perfect sense.

Even if scamming was the name of their game you would at least put up a front of running it properly and without suspicion.I am with you EiT , pure stupidity and incompetence of spoiled ,rich brats playing with a toy is about where i am in my mind.

[RevidgeBlue]

Even if scamming was the name of their game you would at least put up a front of running it properly and without suspicion.I am with you EiT , pure stupidity and incompetence of spoiled ,rich brats playing with a toy is about where i am in my mind.

Not too far off my view either, I think they just thought they could hitch a ride on the immense publicity of the Premier League as a global brand to promote awareness of their various businesses and that without the faintest idea of how to run a "sports franchise" it's gone horribly wrong for all concerned.

[Amo]

Not too far off my view either, I think they just thought they could hitch a ride on the immense publicity of the Premier League as a global brand to promote awareness of their various businesses and that without the faintest idea of how to run a "sports franchise" it's gone horribly wrong for all concerned.

Except for Kean, Agnew, You-Know-Who, all their associated cronies, and Henning Berg.

[DE.]

The Spurs game was either the single worst attempt at managing a team ever or a carefully orchestrated scam.

Considering the manager was Steve Kean, I think it's safe to say it was probably the former. I've never seen a worse attempt at setting a team out, I don't know what the plan was that day... but winning wasn't in it.

[PAFELL]

How predictable. What a boring non-story.

I wouldn't call it a non-story, as it shows there is match fixing going on with matches in the UK

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Who's daft enough to bet on games like that anyway ?

[darrenrover]

Whilst the horror of the past 3 years continue to be met with a wall of silence from our owners, it's inevitable that 'explanations and theories' are dreamt up and written by all and sundry as a consequence of the ensuing vacuum.

As has been said many times before, there are so many whys that remain unanswered.

Apart from the many that are obvious to all regarding our downfall, why have corporate sponsors and supporters (customers) been treated with such contempt? With our current financial plight (apparently), one would have thought heaven and earth would be moved to re-engage.

It's evident that even the most ardent of Rovers supporters (even those that are either blind or oblivious) are getting to the point of having had enough. Going to the games these days is pretty much just a ritual, no fun, entertainment or enjoyment. In the 70s and 80s it was different; no expectation and you always felt part of the club.

Why on earth, don't the owners either come clean, engage with a realistic plan via their PR gurus (where TF are they?) or ideally in person or if they are 'honourable', just write off the £60/£70 million that they've presided over pi$$ing into others (?) pockets and hand the club over.

I wish I could say I was looking forward to tomorrow's game (or any other) but I'm not.

[AggyBlue]

In the 70s and 80s it was different; no expectation and you always felt part of the club.

I wish I could say I was looking forward to tomorrow's game (or any other) but I'm not.

Double snap

[Roverall]

I think it's a bit naive in itself to put every baffling decision down to 'naivety' or idiocy. Partly yes, but not everything.

It hardly took much intellect or nous to see that Kean was dragging us down, or that selling our best players and replacing them with inferior quality would result to deterioration on the pitch.

I know absolutely nothing about baseball, but on bare statistics I would be able to judge what would likely improve or damage a baseball team. And that is just as a casual observer, not as the OWNER of the enterprise.

When terrible decisions become the pattern and the polar opposite of what informed observers advise - then it is sheer stupidity or corruption or a combination of both. I would veer toward the latter in Venky's case.

[broadsword]

Yes, the lack of care and nous is staggering, given the possible financial consequences.

I'm willing to believe that they're stupid, pig-bloody-ignorant morons who've never had to do a scrap of work in the real world ever in their pointless little pampered lives. But you can't tell me someone somewhere has been doing wrong here. And if so, is it really possible that they've known nothing about it?

Stretching credibility too far there.

[philipl]

Three observations:

The articles on this story often refer to virtually every game in Malaysia being fixed which of course is where our global adviser was plying his trade for 17 years. So what else in Malaysian football would qualify one as a global expert?

The dosh being made from betting on Conference League South games was/is sufficient to tempt a fairly recently former Premier League player to be a naughty boy allegedly.

No football writer is going "oh gosh, it is impossible to fix a game" unlike quite a few Rovers fans do.

[Amo]

No football writer is going "oh gosh, it is impossible to fix a game" unlike quite a few Rovers fans do.

Don't think anyone's disputing it could happen, but it's far-fetched to explain Venky's ineptitude away as some elaborate betting scandal. They're a bunch of Indian chicken-farmers who have never owned anything resembling a football club before, took their advice from a spivvy football agent, and don't take kindly to anyone who isn't a yes-man. If that isn't the recipe for the mess we have now, I don't know what is. Look at all the hashes Mike Ashley has made at Newcastle. Any success they've had in recent years is in spite of his ownership, not because of it. You say Henning Berg, I say Alan Shearer. You say Shebby Singh, I say Joe Kinnear.