Untold Corruption

—————————————–

One of our biggest scoops

Switzerland take a greater interest in Fifa – at last 

Background: the Match fixing scandal…

We have been considering the notion that the EPL is fixed for some time, gradually edging towards the view that something akin to the actions of Luciano Moggi (the Juventus manager) and others in Italy is now in place in the UK.

Moggi et al had conversations with several officials of Italian football to influence which referee got which game.  The system (“Calciopoli” as it was called – Bribesville as it is translated in some quarters) did not mean that matches were fixed to produce a set score, knowledge of which could be used in gambling, but rather that favours were given by a variety of clubs to certain refs over time, and these refs edged games in favour of the clubs using the system. Juve, Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, Reggina were all ultimately found guilty.

The system was hard to track down not least because it had little to do with gambling.  The key approach to stopping match fixing in most of Europe involves waiting for the bookies to cry out that there have been “unusual betting patterns”, and then the investigation follows.  Here there is no such activity, and because there is no other system to track down an English Bribesville, nothing happens.

Untold has been pretty much on its own in pursuing this line of enquiry until the BBC got in touch recently and started the round of interviews with ourselves, and our persistence with the story leaves us open to the notion that we are just looking for excuses when Arsenal lose.

You might like to note that the BBC has picked up on our story and is now running it here – including interviews with Walter and Dogface.

Untold, working initially alone, and then with Referee Decisions has repeated suggested that something is wrong, and that we are not at all convinced by the view that all corruption is gambling based.  We think some of it might just be club based – as it was in Italy.

Further, we find that it is impossible to get to the truth because of the secretive nature of PGMO – the organisation that runs Premier League refereeing.  A series of reports on the rumours that we are hearing from inside the world of refereeing are now appearing on Untold, and will be indexed here shortly.

——————-

   You have to make your own mind up – but first please do take a look at the evidence in the articles above.

Articles from our archives

• • Over 100 ref decisions checked per game. Referee decisions upgrade is complete
  • Foreign players dive more than English players; English refs give support to English players.
• Liverpool plan to start diving if refs don’t play fair
• What happened to Referee Decisions
• Football corruption allegations keep rolling along
• Playing clubs to win and not playing your strongest team
• Money can also buy you troubles
• A wise lesson from Twitter
• May you live in interesting times – how the media reports Untold stories
• Ref Review: the ultimate conclusion – what to do next?

 

• The scandal of EPL match scheduling

• Southampton again cited for illegal gambling, but who on earth can investigate?

Rangers

Are Rangers about to follow the Royal Arsenal approach to football

More on Match fixing

The police move in a surprise dawn raid

How to Fix the Premier League in 10 Simple Steps

Deliberate Injuries: an Untold investigation:

• Part 1 Sagna claims his leg was broken deliberately
• Part 2 How the injuries unsettle players

The football corruption files

• How corrupt is football?
• How refs are fixing football matches
• Corruption greed and rank stupidity
• Match fixing scandal – Council of Europe investigates but we don’t do it in England

Latest:

• Comparing our findings on refs with the “Debatable Decisions” site
• How the times clubs play affect their chances of winning.

Match officials: Attacks upon linesmen and the professionalisation of refs

Corruption: A beacon of light in the world of match fixing and money laundering

 

Match fixing: Media rush to deny match fixing takes place

Corruption: Are Barcelona and Fifa involved in corrupt practices within football?

Money laundering and football – some rather interesting examples

Arsenal are being screwed by the refs.  A review of reports from 3 different web sites

The strange case of WBA: Why does West Bromwich Albion, get so many wrong calls?

The Referees Association: PGMOL: a secret body in breach of its own terms of reference

Barca Vice President reveals the scandal of Barca’s match fixing activities

Transfer cash is directly related to criminal activities: the allegations and the court case

What you read about corruption, administration, liquidation and Rangers might not be the whole story.

———————————

The Harry files:

• The coincidence of the coincidence of the coincidence: Harry Redknapp, Peter Storrie and the rest.
• Harry Redknapp and the Dog’s Bank Account (plus Capello)
• News from down the Lane, and the strange tale of Peter Storrie

—————————-

Money Laundering and Football – an investigation

• When a club is bought, spends big and collapses.  How money laundering in football works
• Money laundering is not complicated, you just need a cash generating business and football is a cash generating business.
• Money Laundering and football.  Are the crooks really running the show?  And what exactly are the media playing at?
• Money Laundering, Premier League Football, Operation Apprentice, Portsmouth

 

—————————-

Are corruption stories being censored, or did corruption just stop?

Deducting points, a coin throwing player, and premeditated crime by a corrupt system

Angelic Albion; sweet home of all that is right in football

• SOMETHINGS EVIL THIS WAY COMES

• Arsenal v Blackburn.  We know the result its not worth going
• Arsenal – Blackburn Rovers: we can expect the worst. The very worst

EC Demands Reform of the Transfer System

Gambling, ref fixing, money laundering… all part of English football’s rich pagent

The politics of refereeing; it is not just what you know, it is who you know

 

• FFP and Chelsea – a conspiracy theory

 

• Europol confirms what we all knew: Match fixing is rife across Europe.

• • When Blatter steps in something unspeakable, it is hard to distinguish the man from what he trod in
  • If Arsene Wenger was the Liverpool boss they’d be replaying the Mansfield FA cup tie.
  • Match fixing continues, but little is being done
  • Swansea v Arsenal FA Cup; Billy and Dennis converse
  • 101 WAYS to CHEAT in FOOTBALL
• Tottenham staff spied on Olympic officials – new allegations

• Time wasting is now totally out of control
• How the Guardian newspaper made a total mockery of the Arsenal AGM

• What do FIFA registered agents do?
• The “Cannibal of Ajax”. Would banning players like Suarez stop diving?

• Does Barcelona pay their players to speculate in the transfer market?
• Maybe the money model in football is flawed after all.

Ridsdale: disqualified as a director, chairman of football at Preston

Referees and Corruption

Suspicious ref decisions: when errors don’t balance out and become bias.  Part 2 of our new enquiry

Fifa says Premier League is not exempt from corruption, and appoints ex-Interpol man to investigate

Many refs make one wrong call every 10 minutes. Part 1 of our new enquiry.

——————–

The Fulham Arsenal story in full

After Fulham – all the things the press reported but Mr Wenger did not say

London people are unfit to referee according to the referees’ association

What did Mr Wenger mean when he said “We know what to expect in London”?

Corruption in the Premier League: Poor-Bert – the next head of PGMO

Incompetent or bent?  Certainly one or the other.   Fulham v Arsenal – the ref review

Ref Watch – Fulham v Arsenal

Finance, corruption and football special

• • CORRUPTION: Match fixing in the Premier League, the proof, the evidence, the prediction.
  • REFEREES: The shocking truth, only one in five red cards in the Premier League is correct

   

• CORRUPTION: THE TERRIBLE TRUTH about how referees are bought in Arsenal games.
• FIFA: If the FA had any moral stance it would resign from Fifa now.
• CORRUPTION: What the Sun and Mirror might have said about Mr Redknapp if he had worked for Arsenal

CORRUPTION: How Liverpool have manipulated refs to their advantage

Another arrest, and it just makes you wonder…

• Should Arsenal join other major teams in match fixing, in order to survive
• This is not Tottenham/Arsenal, this is Tottenham Dean v Arsenal

Untold Corruption is part of “Untold Arsenal” – an ever growing collection of articles and comment on numerous aspects of football from a pro-Arsenal perspective.  A list of other sections within Untold Arsenal is given at the end of this page, and on the home page of the site.

Untold Corruption has evolved from the work of team who draw together their reports on how referees have performed in various matches, and combines this with reports of inconsistencies and downright bias.  If you would like to contribute an article to any of the Untold Arsenal sections or if you would like to start up a new Untold section please do write to Tony.Attwood@aisa.org

Past stories from Untold Corruption are given below (these are roughly in date order starting with the latest) and after that the index to all the sites within the Untold series.

———————————————

 

A history of corruption in English football

Early corruption stories

Is there a link between penalties and possession?

Half the penalties in Arsenal games were wrongly given this season!  Shocking statistics from Untold Arsenal’s review of the last 10 months.

—————————————–

The referee match fixing: the 2010/11 season summarised

The 10% bias – how refs fix the odds against Arsenal, and who is to blame.

The overall performance of each individual ref this season – and is the Untold ref analysis biased?

The bias and “errors” of refs does NOT even out over the season

Why does the quality of the refereeing get worse as the season goes on?  Part 5 of the whole year analysis.

The conclusion: a final word on the refereeing of 2010/11

Other news…

“It is clear that Arsenal pay a bigger referee penalty than all of the teams they’re competing against for the Premier League championship save for Liverpool.”  Quantifying the Bias of Arsenal’s Referees vs the Rest of the League’s Clubs

Other recent articles from the match fixing & corruption series

How can we possibly be stronger than the refs?

Who is reading Untold – and how to solve the ref crisis

EU to take on Fifa.  Now this could be fun!

The FA is guilty of bringing the game into disrepute and should be wound up.

From Ridsdale to QPR there are corruption questions everywhere.

The Corruption League Grinds to a Conclusion.

Looking back on a corrupt season, but there will be sunshine after the rain

What does the future hold for Arsenal?

How did we do under each ref this season?

A penalty is a penalty

Beyond the shame; Calciopoli hits as Arsenal’s next home match is fixed.

Time to respect the respect campaign

Referees’ smokescreen impresses no one and answers no questions

Are the Premier League Matches Fixed?  A review of the evidence – part 1

Are Premier League Matches Fixed – part 2 of the article, concluding the review of the evidence

Photographic evidence that the ref in the Barca match was utterly bent

Arsenal v Sunderland – the Untold ref report

Further proof of match fixing; our predictions about the ref are proven

Yet more match fixing proof: the Rooney Affair

Why players from overseas get more cards than UK players

The Untold Ref Review for Arsenal / Stoke

The Great Ref Scandal – time for transparency

Football refs – are they biased or incompetent?

The shocking figures that prove that the Premier League is bent

We’ve proven that the quality of refereeing is poor – but what is the cause Part 1?

Poor refereeing in the Premier League Part 2:  How do we improve the situation?

Childhood dreams – part 3 of the series on poor refereeing

Poor refereeing part 4  Gambling and prejudice – two problems that refs and football face

Why refereeing is so poor – Part 5 – instructions and rewards

If we adopted the same standards as Belgium we’d hardly have any refs left

—————————————–

Untold Arsenal – the (fairly) complete index

(please note we’re still working on getting these indexes into shape – the media index is just about done as is this page on Corruption, but others are still awaiting a make over)

• Untold History…Untold Media …  Untold Ref Reviews …
• Untold Economics …   Untold Corruption … Untold Wenger …
• Untold News … Untold Fifa …  Untold Players … Untold Injuries
• Untold Statistics …   Untold Tactics … Untold 2011/2 …
• Untold match reviews …  Untold fans …
• Untold Stadia …  Untold Literature …
• Untold humour …Arsenal History Society … “Making the Arsenal” …
• Untold Emirates …   Arsenal Independent Supporters Association

——————————————–

Write for Untold Arsenal

We really do welcome writers who have a positive view of the Wenger revolution, or who have something new to say about any of the topics that we regularly cover – all listed above.  Just email your idea to Tony.Attwood@aisa.org or send in the whole article as a Word file attached to an email.

Full details of the novel which tells the story of Arsenal’s collapse and birth as a new club in 1910.  Details here. A new book on Woolwich Arsenal FC is in preparation.