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Off the post,Griez isn't the same in the CL it seems
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This week has seen the international laughing stock that is the England team dragged even lower in the world’s estimations. But this isn’t the first time the scummy underbelly of England’s footballing elite has seen the limelight. Come with me as we wander down memory lane’s seedy back alley and remember the last time corruption popped up in England’s top flight. You won’t believe some of the names involved. Actually, you probably will...
It’s 2006 and corruption is the word on everyone’s lips. More precisely, it’s the word on the lips of Luton manager Mike Newell and QPR manager Ian Holloway. Holloway and Newell alleged that managers all over the Premier League were taking backhanders for transfers and other dealings. The FA promptly started an inquiry and the BBC began investigating.
So which clubs were the naughty little boys of the Premier League? According to the BBC, Bolton Wanderers, Portsmouth, Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle were all up to no good. While Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle were all accused of dodgy attempts to sign up Middlesbrough youngster Nathan Porritt (now playing for Billingham Synthonia, poor lad), the Bolton and Portsmouth managers were accused of taking bribes for buying certain players and illegally tapping up a player respectively. Those managers? Who else but Sam Allerdyce and Harry Redknapp!
Yes this isn’t the first time Big Sam’s been in trouble with the FA. Two agents claimed that they had both paid Allerdyce to sign their players via his son Craig. Big Sam of course denied it all and threatened to sue the BBC over the accusations, but never got around to actually doing it. Additionally the Telegraph reported that a third party was paid during the deal to bring Tal Ben Haim to Bolton. Surely not though, Big Sam would never deal in third party ownership, it’s against the rules! Oh, er…
In fact, the FA’s inquiry into corruption in football found four Bolton transfers they were unhappy with (Ali Al-Habsi, Tal Ben Haim, Blessing Kaku, Julio Correia) stating their concern at “the conflict of interest that it believes existed between *Craig Allardyce,** his father Sam Allardyce – the then manager at Bolton – and the club itself.”*
But Big Sam wasn’t the only one up to no good, in fact the FA was unhappy with transfers at Chelsea (Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Michael Essien) and Middlesbrough (Fabio Rochemback, Yakubu Aiyegbeni) citing that agent Pinhas Zahavi refused to release his bank statements and initially did not disclose his involvement in the transfers at all, along with another agent Barry Silkman. They also took issue with transfers at Newcastle (Albert Luque, Emre Belözoğlu, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Amdy Faye) citing inconsistencies in evidence provided by Graeme Souness and Kenneth Sheperd, son of the then-chairman and refusal to co-operate from agents Willie McKay, Ahmet Bulut and Francis Martin in relation to the Emre and Luque transfers. Portsmouth (Collins Mbesuma, Benjani Mwaruwari, Aliou Cissé) were also in the mud again after Harry Redknapp apparently accepted the gift of a horse called Double Fantasy from Willie McKay.
Jump ahead to 2007 now and the word on everyone’s lips has changed to arrest. Yes that’s right, ex-Portsmouth staff were being arrested all over the shop. Ex-manager Harry Redknapp? Nicked. Managing Director Peter Storrie? You’re nicked too. Ex-chairman Milan Mandaric? Ex-player Amdy Faye and agent Willie McKay? Get in the van the lot of you. Remember when Redknapp was on trail in 2012? Yep, this is why. In the end Redknapp and Mandaric were both found to have done nothing wrong when Mandaric transferred Redknapp $180k to a Monaco bank account owned by his dog Rosie. Apparently that’s all fine.
2008 was pretty much the same theme but with a then-Birmingham now-West Ham flavour. Karren Brady and David Sullivan were both arrested and released during the City of London’s investigation into corruption in football. David Gold was interviewed as well, but avoided getting arrested. After all this the FA brought charges against 5 agents: Sky Andrew, Mike Berry, Mark Curtis, Stephen Denos, and Andrew Mills for their involvement in the Luton Town transfers Mike Newall brought to light. All charges were eventually dropped and football decided that much like racism, the problem was solved.
So there you have it, corruption in football is sadly nothing new, and this isn’t the first time Big Sam has been caught playing dirty. Will the fact the England manager has been dragged into this change anything, or will football stay as dodgy and as hush hush as it’s always been?
Bayern a giant killing?
So hypothetically speaking, if Wenger were to take the Three Lions job (I think it would be another mistake on the FA's part), who would the Gooners like to get as their manager?
Is Simeone an option?So hypothetically speaking, if Wenger were to take the Three Lions job (I think it would be another mistake on the FA's part), who would the Gooners like to get as their manager?
Ancelotti too old, need someone who will guide us through the next 20 years
Ancelotti too old, need someone who will guide us through the next 20 years