- Manchester City are now engaged in THREE huge legal cases against the Premier League
- How much should Arsenal pay to cancel the shirt deal, and who’s leaving in the summer
- Clubs and the Premier League accused in Academy tapping up case
By Tony Attwood
There has been a really significant move in relation to club funding today as the Gambling Commission has published a note in which it informed Everton that its shirt front sponsor cannot be its sponsor after 11 March, owing to the fact that on that day, the sponsor, a gambling company, will not be operating in the UK. Details are being published in the Telegraph.
This is not he first notice of this type to be sent to a club, in that .Nottingham Forest and Leicester City have been sent, or are about to be sent (depending on which news source you follow) written warnings along the same lines.
In essence, the clubs will be fined, and if then immediate notice is not taken of the warning, senior staff will be charged with criminal activity and (assuming they are found guilty, which seems extremely likely since the case is so simple) they will be fined personally, and should they not pay those fines, they will be imprisoned.
Quite simply, advertising or promoting gambling companies that are not licensed to operate in the UK, is a criminal offence. And here we must remember that this is not an issue about taking down adverts for these entities. For in terms of Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City we are talking about a major player in the financing of the club.
The Gambling Commission, which is an official UK department which licenses all gambling activities in the UK, has said that it has sent written warnings to the three clubs. If they continue to ignore the warnings then not only could the club be fined but so could the directors be fined individually, and if they are in the UK, arrested and imprisoned.
It is also extremely likely that other sponsors and advertisers with the club will not want to be associated with a club engaged in overtly illegal activity, and the financial consequences for the three clubs could be catastrophic. Quite how they got themselves into such a mess is unclear. Presumably, their legal teams are either not up to scratch, or their board is of the type that believes that “they wouldn’t do that to us”. The PL is saying yes, it will.
It is also being reported that Everton might have found a legal loophole, relating to having a global partnership, but it is not clear that the other two clubs can use that excuse.
It certainly appears from reports that the Nottingham Forest shirt sponsor is Kaiyun which appears on the Forest shirts, is not licensed. And indeed they also are what is rather coyly known as an “official partner” of Chelsea, who thus might also be dragged into the argument.
The Premier League has stated that there will be no more gambling sponsorship from the season after next and then onward. Meanwhile, the Gambling Commission has announced it will be writing to clubs warning them that if they do anything to promote an unlawful gambling corporation the fines and penalties could be huge, and that “not knowing quite what the sponsor did” will not be acceptable as an excuse.
In what seems to be a strongly worded letter the Gambling Commission has informed Premier League clubs that if they are caught promoting gambling organisations that are not licensed in the UK, that it is not just the clubs that will be fined but also the directors will be held personally responsible, and their assets can be seized.
Particularly interesting is the suggestion that the Commission has already been investigating the gambling company associated with Nottingham Forest, and they have been given a final warning. The company itself has been investigated by the Gambling Commission and has seemingly been served with an enforcement action notice.
So it does look as if Nottingham Forest might have worked to comply with the Commission just in time, but it is not clear if Everton has done so, and that might start causing some questions to be asked as Everton head toward their new ground for next season.
As I expected, Oliver + vat have used their influence to help Liverpool beat Everton.
I wonder why?
John L
Ended 2-2 my friend
98th minute controversial equaliser.
VAR involved twice.
Offside: Just on. Oh so close.
Foul: Possible but not given so not enough to overturn on field call of no foul.
Two very tight calls. Obviously On side is factual, no matter how close. But it was a possible foul so Oliver not giving it was crucial.
I only caught those last few minutes so don’t know how Oliver performed. Only thing from stats was:
Everton 9fouls for 4 yellows
Liverpool 20 fouls for 4 yellows.
After the final whistle all hell broke loose. 2 more yellows resulting in 2 reds. One each. And Slot also got a straight red.
Stats suggest Everton shaded it.
Good for us. We must capitalise at the weekend.
@ Nitram
I distinctly remember Arsenal being deducted points for far less at Old Trafford…..but then that was in the “all officials are afraid of Fergie” years!!
What’s for sure is Liverpool won’t lose points….unless Slot runs on the pitch with a 12 bore and takes out several officials 🙂
Philippe Auclair has been writing about these unlicensed gambling companies in Josimar football for quite some time.
Nitram,
I was thinking of a disallowed Everton goal when it was 1-1 and at least 2 fairly clear Liverpool handballs (one of which was in penalty area), which were ignored.
I also felt that the VAR review of Everton’s late equaliser took so long because the officials were looking for a reason to disallow it – it seemed fairly obvious that there was neither offside, nor a foul.
As for the fracas at the end: If that was at Arsenal, the club would be fined and the ground threatened with closure – a bottle clearly thrown. Arsenal would have a points deduction for less. Jones seemed to completely lose his head, but has been praised for showing “passion”. The media will ignore the crowd of Liverpool players and officials confronting the referee – unless they can invent a reason to blame Arteta for the incidents.
Good morning lads
Didn’t see the match, only added time.so I cant really comment on Oliver.
Reading the comments on the BBC web site, neither teams fans seem over enamoured with Oliver, with a few comments from Arsenal fans pointing out how we are told to ‘suck it up’ every time he stitches us up.
At least it seems in this case the consensus is he was terrible for both sides, and that is significant.
There is a big difference between bad refereeing and biased refereeing, which is what we face every time we have Oliver.
And of course as you both say, the ‘shameful scenes’ (which is what it would be called if it was us) at the end will be brushed away as ‘passion’ by the media as it involves their lovechild.
As far as disciplinary action is concerned we all know the worst they will both get is a cursory fine and a ‘don’t do it again’, much the same as Chelsea keep getting every time they get over passionate at the end of matches!!!
As far as Oliver is concerned, when it comes to Arsenal I think he is a cheat. Plain and simple.
As for last night.
The little I saw I cant see what Liverpool fans are moaning about. The added time in added time was for an injury in added time. So fair enough.
The offside wasn’t. So fair enough.
The push fell in the ‘I’ve seen them given’ category. Frustrating if it goes against you. Fine if it goes for you. Cant really see what Liverpool fans are getting so worked up about, especially as the stats suggest they got away with their fouls more than Everton AND it seems, as you suggest John, that Everton had at least two big penalty shouts turned away as well.
Lets see if the media call for ‘the book’ to be thrown at them as they would if it was us.
As for being deducted points. I’m afraid that particular ‘Law’ is only in the ‘how to referee Arsenal’ rule book.
Back to The Sun
Ah, so now the deduction of points is being mentioned, but of course not seriously. It’s just Arsenal fans “having a joke’.
Of course it is, because who in their right mind would think anything like that would happen to Liverpool?
Apparently we’ve taken to social media in our droves:
“It’s a points deduction as the precedent has been set by the FA. (in 1990)”
While another added: “Premier League needs to seriously consider giving Liverpool a points deduction after those disgraceful scenes of thuggery after the final whistle at Goodison Park tonight.”
A third posted: “Disgraceful scenes at FT, think there must be at least a 20 points deduction to Liverpool at least.”
And a fourth wrote: “Points deduction for Liverpool. Only possible punishment. Disgraceful.”
The article continues:
“Of course there is more than a hint of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek in the comments from the Arsenal fans. But make no mistake, there’s not a single Arsenal supporter that wouldn’t be delighted to close the gap on their title rivals.”
Well, yes there is. Me for a start.
Despite The Suns belittling and trivialising of last nights events, both Everton and Liverpool should have a points deduction. A precedent WAS set, even though that precedent has been ignored several times since, most notably when it comes to Chelseas many riotous transgressions.
So, YES there should be a deduction, but I certainly don’t want it to happen. Jeeeeez, we’d never hear the end of it.
If we subsequently won the league it would be because it was “Gifted”.
If we subsequently failed to win the league it would be “Embarrassing”
So no, not every Arsenal fan WANTS it to happen, despite the fact it should. The fact The Sun seems to think it’s all rather amusing is a prime example of the different way Arsenal get treated in the media as compared to Liverpool.
After looking through media coverage of last nights Merseyside derby there appears to me to be a totally different reaction to what we would have seen had Arsenal been involved in similar scenes as witnessed at the end of the match.
Most of punditry seem to like and approve of the passion and commitment that was on show, its what the game is all about, none of the lurid adjectives in use as we would have got describing Arsenal in similar circumstances. No, what we would have got is disgraceful behaviour by Arsenal players, shameful scenes at Emirates, Arteta abuses Oliver, huge sanctions expected and deserved, etc etc etc.
When you compare the incredible out of all proportion fuss made about Myles Lewis Skelly and his celebration and the stay humble nonsense a couple of weeks back it cannot be denied that there is an agenda against our club.