The football industry is corrupt. You know this, we all know this. The nature of the institutions who govern the sport, combined with the enormous amounts of money the industry is now worth, is a toxic cocktail.
A few minutes ago the Fifa Ethics Committee provisionally banned Fifa president, Sep Blatter, Uefa president (and Fifa vice-president) Michel Platini, as well as Fifa Secretary General, Jermoe Valcke, for 90 days pending an investigation. Former Fifa VP, Chung Moon-joon has been banned from the game for 6 years and fined. Chung and Platini both remain candidates to succeed Blatter as Fifa president – yes, it’s that dysfunctional.
This may be the beginning of the end for football’s great Oligarch Administrators, who lived like Saudi princes, paid for by the money which slushes around the game, but it is far from assured that football is now on the right path. Blatter, the embodiment of everything which is wrong with sport and business to many, remains a hugely popular figure. Some of the games administrators, themselves untouched by corruption, shed tears when he recently announced his decision to retire.
The core problem is one of democracy. Fifa is a democratic organisation, which on the face of it sounds like a good thing, but democracy has its drawbacks. One member one vote affords the British Virgin Islands the same weight when it comes to exercising ultimate control as Germany. Apart from hosting the World Cup once every 40 years or so, Fifa can offer Germany little tangible support, but the governing body can metaphorically pave the streets of tiny nations with gold.
Fifa executives, and Blatter in particular, have enormous patronage under their control. Blatter is personally responsible for the decision to ‘support the game’ in many small nations and protectorates, by funding the construction of expensive stadiums and facilities. These amenities are great for the recipient nations, often well beyond anything the local FA or government could afford. Blatter has been The Great Facilitator to many far-flung entities. That patronage buys loyalty and genuine affection.
The problem is not limited to the Fifa executive. Administrators at all levels of the senior game enjoy control over a degree of patronage. Merely becoming an office holder at your FA makes you a dignitary of some sort. There will be an expense account, doors will open, facilities made available.
Football’s problem is that its structure made it inevitable that corrupt individuals would eventually take control. Cutting the head off Fifa will not be sufficient to change that, the way football funds itself also needs to change – and that would inevitably mean less money going to poor places in the world. If accountability replaces patronage, Blatter’s largess to underfunded Associations would end. The game would be cleaner, but there are 100 FAs with skin in the game who stand to lose, so assume nothing.
Take a look at the work of Joseph Gormley, a Scots-born artist in the US, who has raised over $170k for various charities. His is another great tale in the story of the Celtic support.
644 Comments- Pages:
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Bmcwp on 8th October 2015 3:34
Sorry for not getting back to you,finally got the weekend off.
But my Ghirl has arranged a family get together,have ball mhate.HH.
WEEMINGER @ 4:27 PM,
Well I thought I had a fairly good understanding of that, my understanding of the birth and death of Rangers Football Club…
1873 – Rangers FC Established
1899 – Rangers FC Limited Incoroprated.
2000 – Rangers FC PLC went Public
2012 – February Rangers FC PLC (iA)
2012 – August RFC 2012 Ltd, changed the name to facilitate The new TRFCL
2012 – October RFC 2012 Ltd (iL)
Yet JohnJames seems to be suggesting in June 2012, Charles Green started RFC 7012, then in the same month changed the name to RFC 2012.
Is he saying there is two RFC 2012 Ltd?
Just seems odd to me.
Hail Hail
Gary,
Many of them don’t like Rangers players either but there’s not many of them in the squad to bitch about.
HH
Jungle Jim Hot Smoked on 8th October 2015 4:40 pm
It’s on the Pie & Bovril website forums
Philbhoy
;-)
You’d have to have been drinking SINCE Sunday to make that mistake!!
FGF
I’ll be writing to my msp to seek a meeting. Rwe’s comments earlier sit well with me – we need to support our own fellow supporters in the same way we support the many other great causes.
TD
You say the young fans weren’t sufficiently cute in their interaction with the half dozen or so officers who confronted them. Disagree. Would reiterate that the voice heard principally in the commentary maintains remarkable poise measure despite repeated condescending provocation.
Could you do that?
In truth I’d struggle to do so now. I know I couldn’t have done so at 19 years old.
HH jamesgang
Ggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
The ole gamblin’ pop ups are the worsest; I never,ever gamble,except on the ole choons recommended by excellent CQNer South of Tunis, and they’re usually pretty solid.
Had an excellent lunch with ole Malorbhoy and Malorghirl; a smashing couple, the Liz and Richard of CQN.
Leadin’ the ole jetset lifestyle but still in touch with their roots ;/)
Chairbhoy on 8th October 2015 4:57 pm
RFC 2012 PLC is the oldco in liquidation
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC004276
I can’t find his post which had mention of RFC0712 Ltd, and nor can I find that company on the companies house site. Maybe he was wrong on that part of it.
Now I’m domiciled in ML12 I’ll have to head off to Morrison’s with my ‘DOWN WITH THE POP UPS!’ banner , thus risking bringin’ the ole wrath of the flatfeet on my ole ears.
Unless they are dyslexic, and think it says ‘Down with the Pope’, in which case they’ll likely give me a job, and/or a medal
Chairbhoy on 8th October 2015 4:57 pm
I had another check and the documents that were posted on scotslawthoughts for RFC 0712 LIMITED had the company number SC426693, which no longer exists on companies house. Curious.
LIVIBHOY.
Viviani..
Roma agreed to sell him to Palermo for 6 million euros.He refused to go..Roma then sold him to Verona for 4 million euros He agreed to go..An interesting deal – Roma have the right to buy him back ( if they choose to ) for 4 million euros in the summer of 2016..Italian media portray him as ” troubled ”
I an well; thanks .Hope you and yours can say the same.
“
Chairbhoy on 8th October 2015 4:57 pm
Sorry I was using the wrong part of Companies House. It’s all there:
http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//companysearch?disp=1&frfsh=1444320911&#result
South Of Tunis
Thanks mate.
Just wondered if Stefan departs this guy may appear back on our radar.
LB
Livibhoy
Welcome back bro. Where you been? You fairly slept in this time!
HH jamesgang
Paul 67
On corruption in football I’m reminded of the recent words of a sports editor presented with evidence of the deception of the LNS Commission.
“I know it stinks, you know it stinks”: He could just as easily have been talking of FIFA or UEFA as the SFA.
Faced with corruption on such a massive global scale, it is easy to get dispirited by what has been going on in our own back yard for years, but particularly since 2011 when the game in Scotland closed ranks to try and preserve then restore a club operating under a failed business model.
However I then recall the story I’ve told before of the wee lad on the beach at low tide faced with thousands of stranded shellfish. He is pitching them one by one back into the sea.
An old guy watching approaches and says to the boy “I’ve been watching you lad and I admire what you are trying to do, but you won’t make any difference here, there are too many shellfish”
“Well I just made a difference to him ” says the lad as he throws another shellfish seaward”
Our SFA and SPFL are corrupt. They have no ethics, no moral compass. All that matters to them is their self preservation with little thought of the long term consequences for the sport they depend on and a scant disregard for the paying supporters and small shareholders.
They have managed so far to get away with deception by keeping it hidden and resisting attempts to lift the lid. They have even managed to air brush from history, aided by a compliant media, all the documentation revealing skullduggery made public by Charlotte Fakeovers.
Sooner or later that material will resurface and when it does there will be nowhere for those responsible for events from 2011 to 2013 to hide.
Given that some of those named to appear in court also feature largely in that material then the veil should start lifting around the time of those cases or soon after…..
Now where is that next shellfish?
Weeminger,
Thanks for that, will check it out.
Rangers Football Club’s incorporated number is SC004276.
So surly that should be the company in liquidation.
The Blog in question is here…
https://johnjamessite.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/the-trial/
Hail Hail
The bhlog now is like wanderin’ back into your favourite pub to find it’s a call centre for double glazers and ambulance chasing lawyers
FRANNYB67
No problem,bud. Enjoy your family day.
Catch you next time,wi any luck.
Chairbhoy on 8th October 2015 5:29 pm
Yes and that’s RFC 2012 PLC that’s in liquidation. Separate from RFC 2012 LIMITED created by Charles Green – SC426693.
Clear. As. Mud.
LIVIBHOY .
There was never anything in the Italian media linking him with Celtic..He was linked with Leicester and Watford but he said – ” I am more ambitious than that.”.
A mercurial player – can be very good / can be very bad..
Bmcuwp
Cheers mhate HH
Wee Lionel Messi is being charged with tax fraud; any day now expect him to join the ole Warburton bid for petrofac glory.
Mercurial?
Can be very good, can be very bad
I’m really missing Sammi, has this bhoy got lovely hair?
Jamesgang
Had a wee break mate. Lots of things happening. Busy at work. Some other stuff on the go. Be at the sheep game with the Bhoy for his first big match.
Hope you are well.
LB
WEEMINGER @ 5:32 PM,
Yeah, thanks for that…
RFC 2012 PLC is the original Rangers in liquidation.
RFC 2012 Ltd is a Charles Green Company that was dissolved.
So it looks like JohnJames was correct.
He seems to intimate, that this new talk of reviving the original Rangers is a swizz, to do with the Charles Green Company. Not the Company BDO are liquidating.
Cheers
Hail Hail
It’s good to see JJ (sitonthefence) posing the questions from inside the tent rather than outside.
His points stand a better chance of being debated if they come in a blue wrapper.
However welcome though that developing narrative is, it makes assumptions which whilst they do not effect the thrust of his narrative, nevertheless do not reflect what he may be unsighted on because it is of less interest to him.
A key point he makes is that Craig Whyte was always going to run RFC into the ground from the time he took over in May 2011.
That does not tie in with the concerted attempt to qualify for and keep the UEFA licence from March 2011 when liability for the wtc bill was accepted.
CW certainly had no intention of paying the bill, the whole strategy was to try and negotiate a way around it, but RFC tried their hardest to keep the possibility of UEFA money alive from March to June 2011.
Indeed it was only after the exit in August to Maribor that CW instructed his FD in September not to make any payments to HMRC of VAT and PAYE, which DID bring about the liquidation. From then on JJ could be right but unless he knows something that supports the idea CW was happy to play HMRC along just for the hell of it, that part of his narrative requires fixing to keep it solid.
Scotland:Poland 0:4
Lewandowski will score in 1 , 6, 7 and 9 nth minute of the game :-)
Zbyszek
What happens if we survive till 10mins at 0-0? Do Poland have plan B? ;-)
ZBYSZEK @ 5:50 PM,
Scotland:Poland 0:4
Good to see you’re your optimistic self, you often bring sanity to the blog… Not today though:-)
Talking of sanity, great to see DBBIA posting again.
Hail Hail
Livibhoy
The blog’s been a wee touch poorer without you.
Good to see you
HH jamesgang
Ireland and Germany fans piling into town now, good atmosphere. Hate heading home from work on these nights, the craic will be mighty
Coneybhoy
Plan B is find illegible player in Scotland team :-)
Seriously speaking, I wonder how this game will go?
Chairbhoy
Thank you
This trial for the Sevco bad boys, wil it be buy jury? Or the old judge and two side kicks, which has worked out great for this mob over this toxic period, anyone know?
Chairbhoy, it’s not good for my sanity.
It’s like rangersitis, but worser.
Ayny day now I’ll have to buy my chateau.
As it is National Poetry day:
Seamus Heaney
Requiem for the Croppies
The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley…
No kitchens on the run, no striking camp…
We moved quick and sudden in our own country.
The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.
A people hardly marching… on the hike…
We found new tactics happening each day:
We’d cut through reins and rider with the pike
And stampede cattle into infantry,
Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be thrown.
Until… on Vinegar Hill… the final conclave.
Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
They buried us without shroud or coffin
And in August… the barley grew up out of our grave.
AULDHEID @ 5:48 PM,
My understanding at the time, was that to make Rangers viable for that season, CW needed the European money, I remember reading at the time he thought it was guaranteed.
He believed if Rangers didn’t qualify for the UCL then they had an automatic place in the UEL.
Of course they didn’t and Alistair failed to get them through. It led CW to claim he was duped. But without the European money he did not have a viable business model to take him through the Season… Plan B… How did that go…
Hail Hail
Zbyszek
I predict a draw in Glasgow and a Germany win in Dublin.
All to play for in the last round
Seamus Heaney is from near Magharafelt, ancestral home of the O’Brattbakks.
My dad would claim him as a cousin,and from the clues in the preface to Beowulf he’s probably right.