[Archived] Big Sam

[Pedro]

I've read through it. What's the big deal? I don't see anything shocking, dodgy or groundbreaking.

[tomphil]

The FA will only be brassed off because it highlights what a lot of people suspect goes on in this bent game of ours anyway. Sam should get a pat on the back !

Silly man for chasing a few extra quid they should save this consultancy crap until they retire.

[pedebumchin]

I've read through it. What's the big deal? I don't see anything shocking, dodgy or groundbreaking.

Really?

"The Telegraph began investigating corruption in English football last year after receiving information that specific managers, officials and agents were taking or receiving cash payments to secure player transfers. Over the coming days the Telegraph will detail how:

• The assistant manager of a high-profile football club accepted a £5,000 cash “bung”
• Ten managers were named by players’ agents as taking bribes to fix player transfers
• Two well-known managers discussed becoming ambassadors for the same fictitious firm as Sam Allardyce
• Another high-profile manager admitted his players broke FA rules by betting on their own games but he failed to report it
• A senior figure at a Premier League club helped undercover reporters to formulate a plan to bribe managers"

[RevidgeBlue]

Allardyce must be richer than Croesus after all the recent jobs pay offs/he's had.

Why he (allegedly) needs to get involved in advising people he's never met on how to circumvent rules on 3rd party ownership for a relatively piffling (for him) 400k beggars belief.

Silly man. However if it all happened before he became England manager probably shouldn't lose his job over it.

[Dunnfc]

Allardyce must be richer than Croesus after all the recent jobs pay offs/he's had.

Why he (allegedly) needs to get involved in advising people he's never met on how to circumvent rules on 3rd party ownership for a relatively piffling (for him) 400k beggars belief.

Silly man. However if it all happened before he became England manager probably shouldn't lose his job over it.

At what point did he offer the suggestion how to avoid? Least we not forget the Fa/PL rubber stamp every move.

If anything he was doing a mike newell exposing before the meat arrived at the butcher.

[Steve Moss]

I read the article and it is not as damning of Sam Allardyce as being made out. "Getting around the rules" effectively means using the rules in place to get to a result. Ignoring the exceptions available and the silent areas would be malpractice, if one were billed as an FA expert. It would be like your accountant ignoring legitimate deductions as it would be "getting around the tax."

So far as I can see, SA's only sin is telling the truth.

[Stuart]

Once again, the media go out of their way to entrap and undermine. Evidence gathered covertly like this wouldn't be admissible in court but they can publish and be damned.

And in pursuit of what, "the truth"? Nah, there's no money in the truth - otherwise somebody would be doing an exposé on our situation. No, this is about selling newspapers and making money.

Get The England Manager is the only game in town, and people wonder why we never do well at anything.

[Paul]

Silly man.

Sums it up for me. Regardless of what may or may not have gone on, whether or not it's entrapment SA has acted very foolishly. This type of meeting can be construed in so many different ways.

Attending the sort of meeting which appears to have taken place leaves one exposed and with a question mark against one's name. Getting involved in such discussions under these circumstances is very risky. If fully legitimate advice was being sought then proper business like meetings would take place.

[ABBEY]

I've read through it. What's the big deal? I don't see anything shocking, dodgy or groundbreaking.

replace the name Sam with Steve and would you feel the same?

[AllRoverAsia]

I trust Big Sam is having a quiet (assuming Sam can do quiet) word in the ear of his Agent and his Financial Consultant. Sue them for pliss poor advice and due dillegence for allowing such meetings to happen. Poor research by someone....it's not like this hasn't occurred before .... Sven.

[JBiz]

No doubt that big Sam is a greedy bugger, and like many football managers, he's probably earnt through something. Remember the company Souness was investing in when he was our boss?

The article is poor though. Doesn't really incriminate himself at all, and it reads like a desperate smear. Notice they don't actually reveal the interesting stuff - the list of things that are actually worth investigation have no names or citation next to them.

If this was Ken Estavé, I'd be frustrated to see that they'd not got more bs out of him!

[Rover_Shaun]

Grubby Man. To think he was all high and mighty when the Beeb first uncovered his grubbiness years ago?

Though I suspect most managers are the same. Some will use that in his defence but the fact that grubby managers open up to total strangers in minutes shows that they are dumb as well as crooked.

[Pedro]

Really?

Yes, really. Typical over - hyped rubbish that sheeple immediately buy into. Depending on what else he had to say, It'll be worse for other people but I don't see the big deal re Sam.

replace the name Sam with Steve and would you feel the same?

Yes. I don't get swayed whether I like or dislike someone. What actual 'evidence' do you think is damning of Sam then? All I see is a couple of facts and mild opinions.

[Tom]

I trust Big Sam is having a quiet (assuming Sam can do quiet) word in the ear of his Agent and his Financial Consultant. Sue them for pliss poor advice and due dillegence for allowing such meetings to happen. Poor research by someone....it's not like this hasn't occurred before .... Sven.

Why should he blame others for his own greed?

[47er]

I'm a big Sam fan but I'm disappointed he hasn't behaved better. Why are wealthy people never satisfied? He earns £3 million a year as England manager and is a millionaire several times over from club management so he had no need to go grubbing about for another £400000 on dubious pursuits.

As I understand it, he makes it clear to those bogus businessmen that he can't agree formally to assist them but must get permission from the FA first. So, I would assume his job is safe but his reputation has suffered and this will come to haunt him when results don't go his way.

Finally, I am disappointed by his stupidity, I thought he was a bit too savvy to be scammed in that way.

I hope that a condition of the England job now and in future is that no other paid employment can be undertaken. The manager of England should devote 100% of his time and energy to the most desirable job in the entire world!

I continue to wish him well in the job and still believe he can be successful but he is a fool to himself at times.

[MCMC1875]

I'm assuming WAR or anybody is making sure the Telegraph has all we know about Venkys, Kentaro etc, if they haven't got it already?

It would be a tragedy if they ran a serial on corruption in British football and we didn't get a look-in.

I've sent a PM to Blackburn Ender.

[Hasta]

Just got to hope here that:-

a ) he is primarily talking about what went on at Rovers.

b ) if the FA do get shut, he will spill the beans.

I think a lot of people in football will say a lot of what he says off the record. They have just secretly recorded him.

[JHRover]

I doubt much of what he's talked about is anything to do with Rovers. I gather the main thrust of his comments has been around signing players, something he never had the opportunity to do at Rovers under these owners. Lets remember he only lasted about 3 weeks under these cretins before being given the boot. Barely enough time to even speak to the owners never mind be witness to some dodgy activity.

[Lancaster Rover]

Not done anything illegal or against the rules IMO. Is it uncomfortable to read, yes, is it embarrassing, yes but is it breaking any rules, no.

The only thing its done is embarass the FA and PL as it shows that people at the top of the game know that corrupt practises are taking place and that the FA is run by a bunch of bumbling idiots. Most of that is already know but to have a high profile figure spell it out is deeply embarrassing for the FA.

[blueboy3333]

Sam has questions to answer here, He's offering to give advice to 'businessmen' on how to circumvent his employer's anti-corruption, 3rd party rules!! I'm amazed that some see nothing wrong here!! He's even given an example of a players he's bought that was 3rd party owned, and then a list of countries where it is easily done.

'Allardyce, 61, told his prospective employers it was “not a problem” to dodge the “ridiculous” (3rd party) rules'

“It’s not a problem… we got Valencia in. He was third party owned when we bought him from Mexico"

Allardyce told undercover reporters that the banned practice was still possible in “all of South America, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, all of Africa"

The FA are in a very difficult position now. If we had a protest movement that was active then this would be manna from heaven. Publish an open letter, via the Telegraph, to the FA asking in light of these revelations whether they would consider re-opening their investigation into Rovers and Venky's/Kentaro/SEM and 3rd party ownership of players from Portugal and South America.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Is what Sam has supposedly done any worse than what the Venky's project partners the FA'approved agent and former business partners have done to Rovers? according to the FA's non action regarding the project , nothing to see here the FA obviously approves of this kind of thing

Quite...Is this story an opportunity for a twitter VENKY'SOUT protest blitz? What are the FA doing about a similar issue at BRFC? etc

[Paul]

I read the article and it is not as damning of Sam Allardyce as being made out. "Getting around the rules" effectively means using the rules in place to get to a result.

This is not something we like in the UK. Something may be legal according to the relevant rules but this doesn't make it right. Depends how one likes to lead life.

Ignoring the exceptions available and the silent areas would be malpractice, if one were billed as an FA expert. It would be like your accountant ignoring legitimate deductions as it would be "getting around the tax."

So far as I can see, SA's only sin is telling the truth.

Comes back to what is morally right or wrong. Fortunately HMRC and our courts are now looking closely at government intention when enacting legislation.

[blueboy3333]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/26/sam-allardyce-fa-newspaper-sting-england-manager

'Allardyce will have to explain whether he was merely giving an honest account of what happened in the sport or if he was advising the “businessmen” to follow those practices, in which case the matter could be serious enough for his position to be in question. The FA has requested the full transcripts of the secretly taped recordings in which Allardyce uses his new status as England manager to negotiate a £400,000 deal whereby he would fly to Singapore and Hong Kong four times a year to address investors in what he thought was a firm wanting to buy football players'

[Lancaster Rover]

Sam has questions to answer here, He's offering to give advice to 'businessmen' on how to circumvent his employer's anti-corruption, 3rd party rules!! I'm amazed that some see nothing wrong here!! He's even given an example of a players he's bought that was 3rd party owned, and then a list of countries where it is easily done.

'Allardyce, 61, told his prospective employers it was “not a problem” to dodge the “ridiculous” (3rd party) rules'

“It’s not a problem… we got Valencia in. He was third party owned when we bought him from Mexico"

Allardyce told undercover reporters that the banned practice was still possible in “all of South America, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, all of Africa"

The FA are in a very difficult position now. If we had a protest movement that was active then this would be manna from heaven. Publish an open letter, via the Telegraph, to the FA asking in light of these revelations whether they would consider re-opening their investigation into Rovers and Venky's/Kentaro/SEM and 3rd party ownership of players from Portugal and South America.

According to the article he said its not a problem to get around the rules, as far as I can see he didn't tell them how to get around them. It's like me saying, "you can buy drugs easily in Lancaster", I'm not giving advice on where, when, how.

[darrenrover]

According to the article he said its not a problem to get around the rules, as far as I can see he didn't tell them how to get around them. It's like me saying, "you can buy drugs easily in Lancaster", I'm not giving advice on where, when, how.

Presumably the advice would come after the £400k had been paid?