Jose Mourinho, like all the other tax fraudsters in Spanish football, has not been sent to jail concerning this multi-million pound fraud while manager at Real Madrid. Instead he will be paying around £2 to the tax authorities after the court accepted a secondary payment in exchange for the prison spell.
Mourinho was forced to appear before the court in Madrid having admitting defrauding the state over a number of years. As ever in these cases the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands and the issue of image rights were at the heart of the matter. Not much discussion on the issue of Mourinho’s morality, nor indeed the morality of the British government in allowing the British Virgin Islands to continue to exist as a tax haven.
And so he follows such incredibly moral people as Cristiano Ronaldo in getting big fines but not going to prison in Spain. C Ronaldo paid nearly £17m to the Spanish tax authority – which should help the state’s finances a bit. The national debt is currently said to be 17,452,000,000 euros, so he reduced it by 0.1%.
Mr Mourinho denied any wrong doing, even when handing over such vast amounts of money to the state. Next up we have Xabi Alonso, who is facing charges over a tax fraud of around €2 million. And guess what, he denies any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile Chelsea have been told they are facing a two year transfer ban for their activity in over 100 cases. The Telegraph thinks it’s not too much of a problem however, as indeed they have the headline, “Why a Fifa transfer ban could be blessing in disguise for Chelsea”. Not quite sure anyone else sees it that way.
And as for referees… that old campaigner Sean Dyche is at it again, this time quoted in the Guardian as saying, “Next season we’ll have VAR, and that should be a help,” after they got their first penalty in a while. What a shame Mr Dyche doesn’t have time to read Untold Arsenal on PGMO – he might understand a little more what is going on – and why VAR may not be the release from torture he is seeking.
Anyway back to Arsenal. Here’s a little extra thought about where we stand this season compared to last….
Last year our home form was very good, and it was clear that we would be very lucky indeed to improve on what happened that year at Arsenal Stadium. But the away form was a problem and a half, so worth a look to see how things stand on that score.
This year in the away games league we stand 9th.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 13 | 17 | 33 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 24 | 8 | 16 | 30 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 23 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 19 | 5 | 23 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 19 | 14 | 5 | 22 |
| 6 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 18 |
| 7 | Leicester City | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 18 | -1 | 18 |
| 8 | Watford | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 16 | 1 | 17 |
| 9 | Arsenal | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 15 |
Last season after 12 away games we were also ninth…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 9 | 19 | 31 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 9 | 15 | 24 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 11 | 11 | 24 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 29 | 22 | 7 | 21 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 20 |
| 6 | Burnley | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 17 |
| 7 | Leicester City | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 14 |
| 8 | Watford | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 19 | -2 | 13 |
| 9 | Arsenal | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 18 | -4 | 13 |
So yes, this season we have gained two more points away from home and we are two goal better off (a goal difference of -2 as opposed to -4).
I did write several little articles saying that we could make the top four, if we took our away form back to the level of previous seasons, but sadly we’ve not shown too much sign of that. Of course there is still time, but four wins and three draws, as opposed to three wins and four draws a season ago isn’t the change around I had hoped for.
Another great article, thanks for genuine depth and analysis not based solely on Merson’s scatterbrain click bait opinions, nor hatred for anyone.
Sorry to go off topic but…..
Anti sematic
Anti Muslim
Anti Black
Quite rightly there’s a will to stamp it out. The media are all over it.
Funny how the very same media conveniently ignored the obscene chants aimed at Wenger for years.
I remember mass ranks of fans chanting at Wenger and nothing. Yet one guy in the corner of the ground racialy abuses Salah or Sterling and there’s uproar, and quite rightly so.
What am I missing?
Maybe having a go at a Frenchmens okay but not a muslim?
Maybe having ago at a Frenchmens okay but not a Jew?
Maybe having a go at a Frenchmens okay but not a black man?
I don’t know? Maybe someone can explain the difference for me.
I think the next Arsenal’s 3 matches in the PL are all winnable matches for Arsenal to win them and garner 9 points. Which if they do, it could improve their standing in the table before they’ll travel to Wembley to battle Spurs in a 2nd NLD big game showdown which could likely or unlikely turned out to be another nightmare match for the Gunners this season depending but if Emery prepares his Gunners team very well for the match and gets his team selection very right that will play the match, Arsenal may inflict a rare home defeat to Spurs in the match in as in many matches in recent seasons in the PL. So, let’s wait for Emery and the Gunners to see what kind of results they will get for Arsenal in their next 3 – 4 matches in the PL apart of their 2 legged BATE ELC match that they will also play this February. Hopefully, this month of February will smile to Arsenal but not frown it face to them. However, if the Gunners entice the month to smile to Arsenal by giving winning performances in all the matches that they’ll play during this month of February to win all the matches that they’ll play, the month will smile on us.
I gather moaninho isn’t an ice hockey player. Some news item about him dropping the puck in a ceremony in Russia, and falling on the ice.
Nitram,
I may have missed something.. was Wenger ever attacked for being French?
Genuine question
Ando
Are you honestly telling me you don’t know about:
a) What the media were inferring about Wenger on his arrival ?
b) The chants that arose from the unsubstanciated inferences made by the media ?