So this west sham betting.scandal. Paqueta is being charged with spot fixing which is much more serious than just being a silly boy betting on football. This is actively influencing games for gain so is this a 2 year ban? 5 years, life??
4 separate spot fixings? How can any of his actions on a pitch like giving away a pen or missing a goal be trusted as not a fix?
New format it doesn’t actually make much difference what pot you’re in. As no matter the pot you still play 2 teams from each pot. If we’re in pot 1, we still play 2 from 1, if you’re in pot 4 you still play 2 from 1.
It really doesn't do much for anyone performing consistently does it. If you are newcastle now as pot 4 you don't get a harder group you can just jump the queue in effect. Big clubs can just be the 24th best out of 36 or whatever and be in a play off in round of 32.
Ignoring the rule change for a minute, people need to stop comparing the city charges with Everton's and Forest's which were far easier to rule on because they were very straightforward. It's like saying nobody should be punished for breaking the rules until city are punished which isn't logical.
I'm not bothered about City having points deducted - if that were the only punishment they'd soon overcome it. The only just outcome imo is for them to be stripped of all trophies won whilst breaking the rules and effective measures put in place to prevent them from doing it again in the future. I don't know what all the charges relate to, but if there's any evidence of under the counter payments then that becomes a legal matter.
I think everyone can probably agree it's gone on far too long though. City shouldn't have multiple seasons to keep kicking the can down the road. They just won another title, that they probably shouldn't have if they had been punished already. And since it happened after all the charges of rules breaking, this one is going to stick. It's a farce and looks bad on the Premier League that it is taking them this long.
Juventus were fined, stripped of titles and relegated for financial irregularities in 2006. Something similar for city would be good and although nothing to do with football in this country, that could be pointed out as a precedent.
Presumably because the betting companies didn't flag up any suspicious betting patterns apart from yellow cards
So Xavi said in January he was going to leave end of thre season supposedly they convinced him to stay as Barca manager in April, today they have sacked him!
I read that the club president wasn't happy with him discussing the club's finances in public. Basically said they were strapped for cash.
Seems a very sensitive soul then because I think most people in world football know Barca are broke. Seems crazy why any manager of player would go there now.
They should definitely be striped off the titles but the owners won't care (they've already enjoyed the victories) so it needs to be more than that
Yeah, but those victories need to be exposed as the result of cheating (if such is the case) so nobody else would give them any credit for them. If you deduct points they'll just claw them back over time and probably make themselves seem heroic in the process. Other than that, I don't know what else can be done. They should be made to live within their football-derived means like everyone else, but attempts to enforce that don't have universal approval. Personally I'd ban anything that even sniffs of state-ownership of clubs, but that's never going to happen.
I know we've had this conversation before so I won't go over old ground because we've already agreed to disagree. I think even though they have already celebrated the titles, there's a huge humiliation in having them stripped away. I can't think of a suitable analogy but imagine if you won the lottery; the cheque is handed over; you and the missus (nm) rent a hotel room for the night near where the handing over ceremony has been; you have an expensive meal with champagne and go off to your room feel the happiest you've felt for a long time. In the morning, there's a knock on the door, it's a representative from the lottery company and they tell you there's been a terrible mistake and you haven't won the money at all and they've already cancelled the cheque. Do you think - never mind, at least we had a good celebration?