Arsenal in financial chaos: everything fine in Europe, nothing to see.

by Tony Attwood

According to The Times, Arsenal have agreed a five-year deal with Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes – but are now scrambling to fund the deal.

Note the word “scrambling” – it implies rushing, falling over, trying to get a grip, doing things in the wrong order.   There is nothing good about the word “scrambling”.  It’s what the British government does in the face of an exam results crisis.  It is what Trump does in the face of the corona virus turning out to be real and not a tickley cough.

Imagine a person who walks down the high street, sees some expensive clothes in a shop, loves them, and walks in, putting the purchase on their credit card, without any thought of how the amount spent is going to be paid off.

Concerning Arsenal, the Times report gives no evidence, no back up information, just another put down, of the type that goes on everyday, day after day, in newspaper after newspaper.

Meanwhile we have huge amounts of evidence that the whole core of football – that is Fifa – is as corrupt as an extremely corrupt thing that has just become even more corrupt – and they ignore this.   So knocking Arsenal’s financial competence is ok, but reporting the serious mismanagement, fraud and illegalities of Fifa,… no not worth mentioning.

It is because The Times (once known as a serious newspaper of record) is not only publishing stuff like this about Arsenal, but also following the directive of saying nothing bad about football in larger terms, that Fifa now feels able, in the midst of its biggest legal crisis in history, to announce that the internal enquiry into Gianni Infantino has been held and found nothing untoward has happened.

The case, Fifa says, is closed.

The mere fact that Gianni Infantino is still facing criminal proceedings in Switzerland along with the chief prosecutor of the country, and goodness knows how many other people, is irrelevant, because, Fifa denies any of this is even happening, and the Times believes them!

Here is the utterly hilarious statement from Fifa.

“After reviewing the relevant documentation and evidence,” the president of the investigative chamber of the Ethics Commission decided to “close the case due to the obvious lack of evidence regarding any alleged violation of the Code of Conduct.

The Ethics Commission of Fifa has considered “several alleged violations of the FIFA code of ethics, including the booking by the authority of a private flight from Suriname to Geneva and meetings between Mr. Infantino and Michael Lauber, Attorney General of Swiss Confederation.”

According to the president of the investigative chamber of the Ethics Commission, Colombian Maria Claudia Rojas (the lady appointed by Infantino, who does not speak French, English or German, the key languages of Fifa) reported that “on the basis of “the information available, no aspect of the behaviour analyzed constitutes a violation of FIFA regulations (…) and would not justify the adoption of any measure whatsoever, including a provisional suspension.”

So no mention there of the fact that since July 30, Mr. Infantino has been subject to criminal proceedings in Switzerland, and the special federal prosecutor Stefan Keller has stated that that there are “elements of reprehensible behaviour in connection with the meeting between the public prosecutor Michael Lauber ”and the president of Fifa.

As a result of this the federal prosecutor has said that there is enough evidence to prosecute Infantino for “incitement to abuse of authority”, “violation of official secrecy” and “obstruction of criminal proceedings”.

In September 2015, the Ethics Commission was very quick to open an investigation targeting Sepp Blatter, then president, and Michel Platini, for a suspicious payment from the first to the second, just a few days after the opening of criminal proceedings against Blatter. The two men were then suspended for 90 days, before the final removal from office occurred.

So why is the Ethics Commission not seeing Infantino as corrupt?  Because as we have reported in previous reviews of Fifa’s activities of late, the Infantino style has been to pack all the powerful committees with his nominees.  Indeed so secure did he feel, he was able to have a series of un-minuted meetings with the top legal officer in Switzerland – the one who is now being brought down to earth.

And, to return to my opening point, what is the Times take on this?  Well, nothing.  Instead they tell us Arsenal “are now scrambling to fund” their transfer deal.

So we can all choose.  Do we believe what the newspapers all across Europe are telling us?  Or do we believe the Times which suggests there is nothing to see here, and Arsenal are incompetent?

The fact is, under the current rules of football in England, nothing must disturb the market.  Nothing must interfere with the growth in revenue.  Nothing!  Not even the biggest scandal ever to hit football since the FA and League joined forces to stop women’s football matches being played on Football League grounds.

“Nothing to see here, move on move on.  Charity Shield game soon, why don’t you shut up and watch that?”

Chaos in Europe; silence in England

• Fifa in chaos. England is silent but Europe is up in arms
• PL refs make almost 3 times as many errors per game as Swiss refs. Why?
• Federal court rejects challenges filed by Fifa secretary Jérôme Valcke.