Leeds Utd v Norwich City Lge Cup / Breakfast Debate

Good Morning Everyone,

please log in to view this image

Leeds Utd v Norwich City

Tuesday 25th October @19.45

Streaming links to follow

​

Garry Monk will have some big decisions to make tonight when Norwich are the visitors to Elland Road in the 4th round of the league Cup.

Berardi is fit for the first time this season and Hernandez has overcome his dead leg, both are expected to play.

Viera and Roofe will be wanting more game time having been rested in recent weeks, albeit both played in the 1-0 win at Wolves.

Farrell-Peacock is out until Christmas having had an operation on his hand, I would have thought Silvestri would be handed the jersey.

Monk is also expected to give game time to Cooper, Coyle and Antensson.


Norwich boss Alex Neil is also expected to give his fringe players a run out including Keeper John Ruddy, Leeds Summer target Seb Bassong and forward Steven Naismith.

There was a time that I would have been scared to face Norwich, NOT ANY MORE.

Bring em on.....

(Because you've all been so goo recently, you can have two votes each)

​

 

Impossible to predict..... Depends if either club field anything like a full strength team.
Morning BTW.

So are you going to be on tele with Dion Dublin and that smug pair from H.U.T.H or not?

 

Watford face fine and points loss over forged HSBC bank letter

please log in to view this image

Watford are under investigation after supplying falsified financial information to the football authorities.

The Premier League club face a heavy fine, and possibly a points deduction, for submitting what The Daily Telegraph can reveal was a forged banking letter when Gino Pozzo became their sole owner.

please log in to view this image

Fabricated to appear as though it was written by HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, the letter was submitted to the Football League (now EFL) shortly before the club’s 2014-15 promotion-winning campaign.

The Telegraph has obtained a copy of the document, which it has passed on both to HSBC and the police after alerting the EFL.

please log in to view this image

An EFL spokesman said: “We can confirm, following receipt of information from The Daily Telegraph, that we immediately commenced a disciplinary investigation into serious allegations made against Watford Football Club.

“The club has been formally contacted by the EFL and is now required to provide a full and detailed response to the allegations. Once that response is received, it will be fully considered by the EFL and appropriate action will be taken under our rules and regulations.”

According to the EFL’s rules from 2014, under which Watford’s case will be judged, its sanctions range from warnings to expulsions from competitions.

please log in to view this image

Watford owner Gino Pozzo CREDIT: PA
There is no known precedent in professional English football for the offence, although Chesterfield were docked nine points in 2001 for financial irregularities, including falsifying gate receipts and giving a player two contracts.

Only two Premier League clubs have ever been docked points, with Middlesbrough losing three in 1996-97 for the unauthorised postponement of a fixture and Portsmouth nine in 2009-10 for going into administration. Both were subsequently relegated.

Watford, who have made their best-ever start to a Premier League season after taking 12 points from their opening nine games, have refused to deny filing the falsified letter, although it is understood club officials insist they would have done so unwittingly.

The Telegraph has learnt an internal inquiry is being conducted – and an independent legal firm has been recruited to examine documents – ahead of a deadline of next week for Watford to respond to the EFL. A club spokesman said: “There are two ongoing investigations. It would be inappropriate to comment further until those investigations reach completion.”

It is understood Watford’s probe has not uncovered any other financial irregularities, although the EFL is certain to check its own records to ensure nothing else was amiss with the club’s filings.

There is nothing to indicate Pozzo himself had any knowledge that a forged HSBC letter had been obtained or submitted on his behalf, despite it allowing him to succeed his father, Giampaolo, as the club’s ultimate beneficial owner in the summer of 2014.

please log in to view this image

Giampaolo Pozzo CREDIT: PA
The fabricated document states that the holding company which owns Watford, Hornets Investment Limited, had sufficient financial resources with the bank for it to issue “a cash-backed unsecured bank guarantee up to the amount of £7 million” during the 2014-15 season.

The letter is headed HSBC ‘Premier’, an arm of the bank that does not even deal with corporate customers, while a source has told The Telegraph that Hornets Investment has never been a customer of HSBC.

The faked document, one of two obtained by The Telegraph dated a week apart and worded almost identically, was secured by Watford’s executive chairman, Raffaele Riva, who is also a leading executive of Hornets Investment.

please log in to view this image

In a statement in which he made clear he in no way sought a falsified letter, Riva said: “In 2014, there was a restructuring of the shareholding of the ultimate parent company of Watford Football Club.

“The full ownership of the club was transferred to Gino Pozzo and, to comply with EFL restrictions, it was necessary to provide certain documentation to ratify this change in the shareholding.

“I compiled some of the documents required by the EFL which related to Hornets Investment Limited, which is the holding company, including a letter of support from a bank as a proof of funds for the EFL. To facilitate this I asked a third party, X, to assist. I trusted X to do so because, at that time, we worked together on other projects. I have not worked with X since the end of 2015.

please log in to view this image

Watford's stadium, Vicarage Road CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
“No other individual at Watford FC was in any way involved in obtaining the letter. The letter was submitted to the EFL via Watford FC along with the other documents.

“For two years, I had no reason to believe the letter was anything but genuine. Indeed, since the letter was submitted to the EFL, Hornets Investment Limited have put into the club over three times the amount specified in the proof of funds letter. It has come as a huge shock to be notified there are doubts over the veracity of the letter.”

Information received by The Telegraph indicates that the third party responsible for obtaining the letter admits to doing so but had no intention of it being used in any formal filing.

please log in to view this image

The Pozzo family at Vicarage Road CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Watford would not comment on precisely who else at the club saw the document before it was submitted, and accepted by the Football League, amid serious questions about exactly what checks took place to validate it.

The Telegraph can also reveal that, before the fake HSBC letter was filed, the club submitted a two-year-old document from Credit Suisse – with which Hornets Investment did bank – that was rejected by the Football League as proof of funds because it was out of date.

Gino Pozzo was aware of the knockback, as was Watford chief executive Scott Duxbury – found in 2007 to have “misled” the Premier League during the Carlos Tevez affair while at West Ham United – although there is no indication either knew the matter was resolved with a forged document.

Pozzo could now be required to demonstrate he did have sufficient funds in 2014 to satisfy the League’s change of ownership criteria, something he is understood to be confident of doing.

Watford are also preparing to publish accounts showing the Italian subsequently invested £21  million in the club between 2014-16. However, this may not be enough to avoid some kind of sanction.

 

Morning Glory, maybe just a cameo role....

 

Ticket sales as it stands are at 17k. Monk pleased that there's going to be a decent crowd. Says Leeds have shed any fear of playing at ER

 

You failed the audition then.
I can picture you walking round with another EA both looking very camp clutching a clipboard apiece quoting the obvious and doing much sucking air through your teeth (must be your looks that put em off).

 

Were you there

Gutted about Watford eh

 

morning ... be great to get a win tonight, keeps confidence high and we really start to make Elland Rd a fortress again ... Watford owners moved players (who Watford ordinarily couldn't afford) around freely between their clubs (others being Udinese in Serie A and Granada in La Liga) to help Watford get promotion to Prem and unlock the big bucks to now fund their other clubs ... a number of those players would never have agreed to play for Watford if they were at clubs other than those owned by the Pozzo family, but they had little choice ... Watford clearly gained an unfair advantage, and although there were complaints about the loan system being manipulated, the FL chose to stare at their shoes instead ... where's a hard working postman when you need one?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Morning Billy, So where have they BROKEN the rules?

 

Morning Elland.

Just something about that Lucy Alexander that does something for me.

Watford.........all this crap just puts the FA under the spotlight even more.

Tonight I hope we put a strong side out and take Norwich out by two clear goals, then get the big reward in the last eight.

 

Watford, they played the stupid rules and won... Unless I am missing something?

If they were to now get a deduction and relegated they would presumably get the parachute payments and still be sitting pretty. This whole foreign owner/investment thing seems to bring in conmen and crooks... Perhaps its that that needs stopping.

Watford,
Forest
Us
Scum
How many more?

 

correct, they did just that ... however, this investigation is due to the fact that they needed to give a written guarantee to prove funds in 2014 ... the money wasn't there, and the bank letters are falsified, so basically fraud ... dropping them down two divisions would be a good start, but they'll probably get a £10k fine


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Morning Doha, reading their match day thread, they are not expecting us to put up much of a battle...

 

Got it. Agreed
I hadn't seen the stuff you posted. I have edited my previous before writing this.

 

Gotcha...

 

Morning all. Dont expect much to happen to Watford if anything. Clearly fraud of course. Good to see Norwich dont see us any real problem.Ive a feeling this could be a penalty job after extra time. Looks like I could be travelling to watch the Newcastle game in the feckin Peacock

 

Cardiff?

 

Charlton

 

Sure jock is on it.... He will be on the phone this morning....
They cant sell out before going on general sale.... (He says)

 

Morning Eire, good point regarding pens...