Sunday, 31 December 2006
Who are the Bastards in the Black?
Ladbrokes are refusing to price up the January 2nd Premiership games until the referees have been confirmed - even the Magic Sign recognises the control now being exercised by Hackett's boys.
Din Anglia pâna în România
Tomorrow Romania and Bulgaria are being allowed into the EU due to the increased importance of their geopolitical location (Turkey, gas, Black Sea, Danube, Iraq, Transdniestra, Ukraine, oil).
Several years ago, I set up Dietrological (a Football Information Provision Service for Trading Professionals) in Bucuresti. Living in Romania for two years, I developed a very strong respect for Romanian people and their culture.
If global football resembled a level playing field then the Romanians would be significantly higher than 19th in the FIFA Ratings and opponents should underestimate Romanian club sides at their peril (both Steaua and Rapid reached the UEFA Cup Quarter Finals last years and there are 3 teams from the capital in the latter stages this season).
Personally, I am a Rapid man (the team representing both the Roma community and the railway workers being more tempting than the police or army teams!).
Romania is a mixed-up and dysfunctional country that is struggling to develop a firm foundation for the more stable society that the population deserves. Corruption is a major issue and the Soviet-era intelligence services still have considerable impact on business and politics. Recently, a triple agent arms-dealer (also wanted for kidnapping) was "allowed" to escape under the noses of intelligence chiefs.
Traian Basescu, President of Romania, is a market capitalist who in previous incarnations was a sea captain and the mayor of Bucuresti (with links to the Securitate?). Although much of his free market stuff is reprehensible, Basescu is as bearable a capitalist as you are likely to meet. Until he became President, he still lived in a high rise block and used to attend disaster scenes to show solidarity with the victims still dressed in his night clothes.
A beautiful place with talented people who collectively display an acerbic sense of humour under the stresses of a corrupt society... just like Manchester then...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Several years ago, I set up Dietrological (a Football Information Provision Service for Trading Professionals) in Bucuresti. Living in Romania for two years, I developed a very strong respect for Romanian people and their culture.
If global football resembled a level playing field then the Romanians would be significantly higher than 19th in the FIFA Ratings and opponents should underestimate Romanian club sides at their peril (both Steaua and Rapid reached the UEFA Cup Quarter Finals last years and there are 3 teams from the capital in the latter stages this season).
Personally, I am a Rapid man (the team representing both the Roma community and the railway workers being more tempting than the police or army teams!).
Romania is a mixed-up and dysfunctional country that is struggling to develop a firm foundation for the more stable society that the population deserves. Corruption is a major issue and the Soviet-era intelligence services still have considerable impact on business and politics. Recently, a triple agent arms-dealer (also wanted for kidnapping) was "allowed" to escape under the noses of intelligence chiefs.
Traian Basescu, President of Romania, is a market capitalist who in previous incarnations was a sea captain and the mayor of Bucuresti (with links to the Securitate?). Although much of his free market stuff is reprehensible, Basescu is as bearable a capitalist as you are likely to meet. Until he became President, he still lived in a high rise block and used to attend disaster scenes to show solidarity with the victims still dressed in his night clothes.
A beautiful place with talented people who collectively display an acerbic sense of humour under the stresses of a corrupt society... just like Manchester then...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Saturday, 30 December 2006
Referees Against Arsenal
Sky sat on the news of the withdrawal of Alan Wiley from refereeing the Sheffield United v Arsenal game until 2 minutes to Kick Off!
As it happens, it is of no consequence. Layers globally are fearing an Arsenal win and Mason or Wiley would officiate in the same manner by favouring the Yorkshiremen.
PS Post Match Update - Mason did the business and, for the umpteenth time this season, Arsenal are robbed of points.
There is a considerable dynamic in the shadier areas of the game to get Wenger out of English football due to his comparative honesty.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
As it happens, it is of no consequence. Layers globally are fearing an Arsenal win and Mason or Wiley would officiate in the same manner by favouring the Yorkshiremen.
PS Post Match Update - Mason did the business and, for the umpteenth time this season, Arsenal are robbed of points.
There is a considerable dynamic in the shadier areas of the game to get Wenger out of English football due to his comparative honesty.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Saint Tony Jumps Ship
Christian moralist and reformed alcoholic Tony Adams is a maverick within the English game. Many of us have long wondered how his beliefs are being compromised by working alongside Gaydamak, Redknapp and James at Pompey.
We now have our answer - Adams is leaving the south coast club in the summer to pursue a management career higher up the ethical ladder.
Incidentally, while on the subject of Portsmouth, their game at Bolton today is a very hot little event. There has been significant insider money in Asia in the early market exchanges and the choice of Walton to officiate is very significant. This is probably 'Arry and Calamity's xmas earner.
We are going to be on this match big style but we would advise that, unless you know who has traded what and where, you avoid this game.
PS Post match update - as we predicted, the early money was landed in one of the biggest Premiership betting events of the season to date. Calamity James gave a pantomime performance!
We now have our answer - Adams is leaving the south coast club in the summer to pursue a management career higher up the ethical ladder.
Incidentally, while on the subject of Portsmouth, their game at Bolton today is a very hot little event. There has been significant insider money in Asia in the early market exchanges and the choice of Walton to officiate is very significant. This is probably 'Arry and Calamity's xmas earner.
We are going to be on this match big style but we would advise that, unless you know who has traded what and where, you avoid this game.
PS Post match update - as we predicted, the early money was landed in one of the biggest Premiership betting events of the season to date. Calamity James gave a pantomime performance!
Shekels Euros Dollars and Pounds
Also secreted away in the festive fun is the announcement by the FIGC that Juve keeper Buffon will not be prosecuted for betting on the Old Lady's games in which he was involved. Apparently, betting slips with sums of money in the millions of euros did not constitute sufficient evidence.
Similarly, five Hapoel Beer Sheva players are to be allowed to continue playing in Israel despite awaiting police prosecution for match-fixing.
Everywhere the same structure of power and greed undermines our spectacle.
In the nineties, global football betting markets were dominated by Asian market makers who were able to offer significant liquidity to traders and insiders. But, as with poker, liquidity is always trumped by control and the Europeans exert considerably more abusive manipulation on football matches today through the use of dodgy players and referees.
However, one aspect of this development that has not received proper public scrutiny is the massive presence of Zionist money that has entered the game. Of course, by itself, this should not represent a problem - every dollar has it's value. But, the sources of some of this wealth and the intentions of some of the investors are shady, to say the least. Apart from rogue males like Abramovitch, Lerner, Glazer and Gaydamak running Premiership clubs, many of the top traders and market-makers that are involved in the manipulation of global betting markets are Jewish. Centres like Moscow, London, Tel Aviv, Gibraltar and Georgia are key bases in the corruption of football matches.
We have no interest in the beliefs, opinions or goals of the groupings that are ruining the game of football but we do care that such mafias (whether Asian triads, Zionist psychopaths or the good ol' British bookmaker) are given licence to turn the beautiful game into positive adjustments to the bottom line of their respective Profit and Loss accounts.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Similarly, five Hapoel Beer Sheva players are to be allowed to continue playing in Israel despite awaiting police prosecution for match-fixing.
Everywhere the same structure of power and greed undermines our spectacle.
In the nineties, global football betting markets were dominated by Asian market makers who were able to offer significant liquidity to traders and insiders. But, as with poker, liquidity is always trumped by control and the Europeans exert considerably more abusive manipulation on football matches today through the use of dodgy players and referees.
However, one aspect of this development that has not received proper public scrutiny is the massive presence of Zionist money that has entered the game. Of course, by itself, this should not represent a problem - every dollar has it's value. But, the sources of some of this wealth and the intentions of some of the investors are shady, to say the least. Apart from rogue males like Abramovitch, Lerner, Glazer and Gaydamak running Premiership clubs, many of the top traders and market-makers that are involved in the manipulation of global betting markets are Jewish. Centres like Moscow, London, Tel Aviv, Gibraltar and Georgia are key bases in the corruption of football matches.
We have no interest in the beliefs, opinions or goals of the groupings that are ruining the game of football but we do care that such mafias (whether Asian triads, Zionist psychopaths or the good ol' British bookmaker) are given licence to turn the beautiful game into positive adjustments to the bottom line of their respective Profit and Loss accounts.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
World Government "Justice"
The propensity of global power people to hide news away over the xmas/ New Year period has reached new heights of spin this year. From the illegal invasion of Somalia by US/ Ethiopian military to the two Steven's reports covering up underhand behaviour in both the British establishment and English football to Tony Blair becoming the first British Prime Minister to be questioned by police while still in office and the hanging of the west's former ally, Saddam Hussein, spectacular society has been burying away potentially awkward realities.
We look forward to Blair, Bush, Rumsfeld, Hoon, Straw and the rest of them standing trial for crimes against humanity in the near future.
Unless, of course, justice depends on who commits the war crime and which humanity suffers the consequences.
Furthermore, to carry out the death sentence on Eid ul-Adha is provocative to all Muslims and is a deliberately destabilising act as the west look to continue to create the civil war that will provide the US with their eventual exit route.
As the grafitti in Baghdad quotes "Better the Tyranny of Saddam than the Chaos of the Amerkan". Winning hearts and minds...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
We look forward to Blair, Bush, Rumsfeld, Hoon, Straw and the rest of them standing trial for crimes against humanity in the near future.
Unless, of course, justice depends on who commits the war crime and which humanity suffers the consequences.
Furthermore, to carry out the death sentence on Eid ul-Adha is provocative to all Muslims and is a deliberately destabilising act as the west look to continue to create the civil war that will provide the US with their eventual exit route.
As the grafitti in Baghdad quotes "Better the Tyranny of Saddam than the Chaos of the Amerkan". Winning hearts and minds...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Friday, 29 December 2006
The Football Is Fixed Inaugural Annual Awards
Football Matches of the Year: Mexico v Argentina and Germany v Italy in the World Cup provided a reminder of the type of uplifting competitive soccer that used to be more common prior to the influx of gambling money into the game.
Political Leader of the Year: Evo Morales (the President of Bolivia) who continues to stand up for the rights of the coca growing campesinos in the face of American pressure to control the sources of cocaine in South and Central America. Having observed how Uribe (with US backing) eradicated FARC plantations while accomodating AUC plantations in Colombia, Morales and his Movimiento al Socialismo are having none of it.
Football Chant of the Year: He Eats Chow Mein, He Votes Sinn Fein, Nakamura, Nakamura (Glasgow Celtic)
Reformed Psychopath of the Year: Bill Gates for setting up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to oversee global poverty and health issues as opposed to profit and wealth issues. One would like to think that this was his initial aim when setting up Microsoft. A pity that it takes private philanthropy to address Third World poverty. A big up for Warren Buffett too.
Sportsperson of the Year: Ricky Ponting. Pom-basher extraordinaire.
Rigged Election of the Year: Mexico by a mile. Utilising electoral procedures more commonly seen in Rwanda and Florida, Calderon and the PAN stole the election from the mayor of Mexico City, Lopez Obrador. Little chance of a country adjacent to the USA developing democratic politics after 71 years of dictatorship under the Orwellian-named Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Dodgy Refereeing Performance of the Year: Poll for trying to prevent the gamble on Australia being landed by denying the Aussies two penalties, disallowing a fair dinkum goal, refusing to send off a second Croat after 3 bookings and generally losing the plot big style. Interesting that his "international retirement" announced post World Cup doesn't include Champions League, UEFA Cup or Euro 2008 games.
Abuse of Democracy of the Year: USA and Israel for undermining, sanctioning, illegally arresting, killing and generally destabilising the democratically elected government of Palestine, Hamas.
Sports Scandal of the Year: Moggiopoli.
Sports Whitewash of the Year: The Steven's report into bung culture.
Political Duplicitous Bastard of the Year: Blair.
Judicial Duplicitous Bastard of the Year: The dodgy David Mills QC (quite crooked?).
Most Interesting Mafiosi Befriending the British establishment of the Year: Super Silvio Berlusconi.
Politicised Footballers of the Year: Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram for supporting the rights of disenfranchised immigrants in France and being top players too. El Hadji Diouf for his support for Mouride causes. Can't imagine Ashley Cole or Frank Lampard getting political eh?
Political Appointment of the Year: Hank Paulson moving from Goldman Sachs to US Treasury Chief and only agreeing to go if the US government finally got serious about global climate change.
Footballers of the Year: Ronaldo for being a circus star but, mainly, for getting Engerland knocked out of the World Cup. Essien for being class.
Disappointment to his Father of the Year: Hillary Benn.
Dead Fascist of the Year: Pinochet and let's hope Thatcher joins her role model asap. And people wonder why Latin America has moved to the Left...
Fixed Football Match of the Year: Celtic beating Man Utd. Brilliant theatre proving that sometimes crooked can be artistic.
Investment Bank of the Year: Goldman Sachs - these people know how to trade the markets.
Crap Transfer of the Year: Mourinho for Gallas/ Cole swap. Unbelievable.
Customer Focused Company of the Year: Google. Love the algorithm. Love Blogspot.
Internet Radio Station of the Year: Pandora. My personal DJ.
News Channel of the Year: Al Jazeera. Proper Global Coverage.
Blogs of the Year: The Daily Kos State of the Nation (www.dailykos.com) and Prudent Bear (www.prudentbear.com).
Best Read of the Year: A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn; Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky; Writing And Difference by Jacques Derrida.
Ostrich of the Year: Joint winners Niall Ferguson - colonialism-denier and Bjorn Lomborg - idiotic sceptic.
Slipped Mask of the Year: Blair's apoplexy when a Tory backbencher suggested that England is becoming a police state.
Anarchist Business of the Year: Skype - not content with mashing the music companies with KaZaA, they are now targeting the telecoms companies.
Political Leader of the Year: Evo Morales (the President of Bolivia) who continues to stand up for the rights of the coca growing campesinos in the face of American pressure to control the sources of cocaine in South and Central America. Having observed how Uribe (with US backing) eradicated FARC plantations while accomodating AUC plantations in Colombia, Morales and his Movimiento al Socialismo are having none of it.
Football Chant of the Year: He Eats Chow Mein, He Votes Sinn Fein, Nakamura, Nakamura (Glasgow Celtic)
Reformed Psychopath of the Year: Bill Gates for setting up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to oversee global poverty and health issues as opposed to profit and wealth issues. One would like to think that this was his initial aim when setting up Microsoft. A pity that it takes private philanthropy to address Third World poverty. A big up for Warren Buffett too.
Sportsperson of the Year: Ricky Ponting. Pom-basher extraordinaire.
Rigged Election of the Year: Mexico by a mile. Utilising electoral procedures more commonly seen in Rwanda and Florida, Calderon and the PAN stole the election from the mayor of Mexico City, Lopez Obrador. Little chance of a country adjacent to the USA developing democratic politics after 71 years of dictatorship under the Orwellian-named Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Dodgy Refereeing Performance of the Year: Poll for trying to prevent the gamble on Australia being landed by denying the Aussies two penalties, disallowing a fair dinkum goal, refusing to send off a second Croat after 3 bookings and generally losing the plot big style. Interesting that his "international retirement" announced post World Cup doesn't include Champions League, UEFA Cup or Euro 2008 games.
Abuse of Democracy of the Year: USA and Israel for undermining, sanctioning, illegally arresting, killing and generally destabilising the democratically elected government of Palestine, Hamas.
Sports Scandal of the Year: Moggiopoli.
Sports Whitewash of the Year: The Steven's report into bung culture.
Political Duplicitous Bastard of the Year: Blair.
Judicial Duplicitous Bastard of the Year: The dodgy David Mills QC (quite crooked?).
Most Interesting Mafiosi Befriending the British establishment of the Year: Super Silvio Berlusconi.
Politicised Footballers of the Year: Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram for supporting the rights of disenfranchised immigrants in France and being top players too. El Hadji Diouf for his support for Mouride causes. Can't imagine Ashley Cole or Frank Lampard getting political eh?
Political Appointment of the Year: Hank Paulson moving from Goldman Sachs to US Treasury Chief and only agreeing to go if the US government finally got serious about global climate change.
Footballers of the Year: Ronaldo for being a circus star but, mainly, for getting Engerland knocked out of the World Cup. Essien for being class.
Disappointment to his Father of the Year: Hillary Benn.
Dead Fascist of the Year: Pinochet and let's hope Thatcher joins her role model asap. And people wonder why Latin America has moved to the Left...
Fixed Football Match of the Year: Celtic beating Man Utd. Brilliant theatre proving that sometimes crooked can be artistic.
Investment Bank of the Year: Goldman Sachs - these people know how to trade the markets.
Crap Transfer of the Year: Mourinho for Gallas/ Cole swap. Unbelievable.
Customer Focused Company of the Year: Google. Love the algorithm. Love Blogspot.
Internet Radio Station of the Year: Pandora. My personal DJ.
News Channel of the Year: Al Jazeera. Proper Global Coverage.
Blogs of the Year: The Daily Kos State of the Nation (www.dailykos.com) and Prudent Bear (www.prudentbear.com).
Best Read of the Year: A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn; Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky; Writing And Difference by Jacques Derrida.
Ostrich of the Year: Joint winners Niall Ferguson - colonialism-denier and Bjorn Lomborg - idiotic sceptic.
Slipped Mask of the Year: Blair's apoplexy when a Tory backbencher suggested that England is becoming a police state.
Anarchist Business of the Year: Skype - not content with mashing the music companies with KaZaA, they are now targeting the telecoms companies.
The Branded Orange Coup
Ukraine occupies a geopolitically enhanced status at the moment. With significant western backing, Yushchenko stripped Kyiv from the Russian sphere of influence via one of those pseudo-revolutions that spectacular society presented to us a couple of years back. In the intervening period, Moscow has reasserted some control as Ukraine (like Georgia) oscillates on the new Cold War Frontline.
Typically, Ukrainian football mirrors this uproar. The two top teams in the country represent very different regions. Dynamo Kyiv are from the reformist capital while Shakhtar Donetsk come from eastern steel region around Odessa where the Soviet Union still exists! The level of corruption in the Ukrainian game is seriously undermining the sport. The Surkis brothers, Ihor and Hryhorii, are respectively president of Dynamo Kyiv and president of the football federation that chooses the match officials. The recent Donetsk/ Kyiv game was officiated by Paulo Gomes from Portugal as all Ukrainian referees were unacceptable to one side or the other. Controversy still reigned as Gomes sent off Shakhtar defender Chygrynskyi and manager Mircea Lucescu during Kyiv's 1-0 win.
Of course, this matters to FIFA and UEFA who continue to show a startling correlation between western-backed coups and the qualification for major tournaments (see http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/great-white-satan-1-iran-0.html). When Yushchenko seized control, Ukraine received considerable assistance in qualifying for the most recent World Cup - the implication being that once a country agrees to be controlled by the west, it receives certain spectacular society favours.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Typically, Ukrainian football mirrors this uproar. The two top teams in the country represent very different regions. Dynamo Kyiv are from the reformist capital while Shakhtar Donetsk come from eastern steel region around Odessa where the Soviet Union still exists! The level of corruption in the Ukrainian game is seriously undermining the sport. The Surkis brothers, Ihor and Hryhorii, are respectively president of Dynamo Kyiv and president of the football federation that chooses the match officials. The recent Donetsk/ Kyiv game was officiated by Paulo Gomes from Portugal as all Ukrainian referees were unacceptable to one side or the other. Controversy still reigned as Gomes sent off Shakhtar defender Chygrynskyi and manager Mircea Lucescu during Kyiv's 1-0 win.
Of course, this matters to FIFA and UEFA who continue to show a startling correlation between western-backed coups and the qualification for major tournaments (see http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/great-white-satan-1-iran-0.html). When Yushchenko seized control, Ukraine received considerable assistance in qualifying for the most recent World Cup - the implication being that once a country agrees to be controlled by the west, it receives certain spectacular society favours.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Dietrologia #1
Pierluigi Collina is returning to the football sphere by taking on a Consultative role with the Aia (the Italian football refereeing authority) under new president Cesare Gussoni. The choice has been criticised by Massimo de Santis (a former referee who retired from officiating following his ban for involvement in the scandal). De Santis doesn't even deserve a platform to speak his views (although he is right to have a concern about the increasing domination of Italian soccer by Sky). Collina was one of the few officials in Serie A that wasn't owned by Juve or Milan and represents a good appointment albeit to a pointless position.
There has been some dynamic to reduce the corruption endemic in the Italian game since Moggiopoli but, as with so many "revolutions", all that has really occurred is a coup. Milan deserved to be relegated alongside Juventus - their control of officials and events showed an equal level of corruption. One can only assume that Berlusconi maintains enough power within Italian society for the deserved demotion of Milan to be commuted. The bias that was enjoyed by the right wing clubs when the right wing were in power is now being replicated on the left - Roma have the highest Referee Bias Ratio for season 2006/07 of any club in any of the territories that we monitor.
Politics is a much bigger influence on football in Italy. Once Berlusconi and Forza Italia were kicked out by the voters and Romano Prodi's Centre-Left gained control, there were instant power shifts throughout the Italian infrastructure (Sicily is particularly entertaining at the moment). Similar structures exist in other countries (plot the correlation between Real Madrid winning La Liga and the Partido Popular being in government, for example). In fact, throughout southern and eastern Europe, clubs are unusual if they are not tied to a political, social or regional cause. Far-left Livorno or Basque Athletic Bilbao do not have an equivalent in the Premiership where the only divide historically has been between clubs with mainly protestant or mainly catholic support.
Football is becoming part of the portfolio to enable political parties to broaden their public profiles. The fact that so many fans regard the support of "their" team as a quasi-religious experience allows the powermen to gain extra kudos from the successes of "their" team - Berlusconi used this to maximum effect at Milan.
The outcomes of national football leagues should not depend on which political party is running the country. Full stop.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
There has been some dynamic to reduce the corruption endemic in the Italian game since Moggiopoli but, as with so many "revolutions", all that has really occurred is a coup. Milan deserved to be relegated alongside Juventus - their control of officials and events showed an equal level of corruption. One can only assume that Berlusconi maintains enough power within Italian society for the deserved demotion of Milan to be commuted. The bias that was enjoyed by the right wing clubs when the right wing were in power is now being replicated on the left - Roma have the highest Referee Bias Ratio for season 2006/07 of any club in any of the territories that we monitor.
Politics is a much bigger influence on football in Italy. Once Berlusconi and Forza Italia were kicked out by the voters and Romano Prodi's Centre-Left gained control, there were instant power shifts throughout the Italian infrastructure (Sicily is particularly entertaining at the moment). Similar structures exist in other countries (plot the correlation between Real Madrid winning La Liga and the Partido Popular being in government, for example). In fact, throughout southern and eastern Europe, clubs are unusual if they are not tied to a political, social or regional cause. Far-left Livorno or Basque Athletic Bilbao do not have an equivalent in the Premiership where the only divide historically has been between clubs with mainly protestant or mainly catholic support.
Football is becoming part of the portfolio to enable political parties to broaden their public profiles. The fact that so many fans regard the support of "their" team as a quasi-religious experience allows the powermen to gain extra kudos from the successes of "their" team - Berlusconi used this to maximum effect at Milan.
The outcomes of national football leagues should not depend on which political party is running the country. Full stop.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
Bring on the Robber Barons
Of the 90 or so live Premiership games that Murdoch offers each season (without having to pay out for the extra PremPlus offerings), the powers-that-be have decided that two of these games should be the matches between Charlton and Fulham. Thanks.
At least tonight's match has been spiced up by the spectacular society nonsense surrounding Charlton and West Ham and the selection of bookies pal Graham Poll to officiate.
The media has been putting out fallacious reasoning for the goings-on in East London. On the advice of our solicitors, we are prevented from delving into some of the murkier areas in the affair within this post.
But we will address some of the "issues".
Curbishley did not just choose to leave Charlton towards the end of last season. Machinations over the summer have established some very different control structures in the hierarchy of the English game and, after having to leave Charlton, Curbishley was quickly pencilled in to front the money that was about to be dumped on West Ham.
West Ham (like Portsmouth) are becoming significantly more powerful operators in the Premiership. The Dodgy Icelandic Businessman and the Arms Dealer's son have serious intentions for their investments.
Promotion, an FA Cup final, Brooking gaining omnipotence at the FA and incredibly favourable refereeing - last season, the officials only favoured Liverpool and Arsenal more than West Ham and, in the first half of this season, the Hammers have had most support from the referees - have made the the Londoners a valued commodity.
Charlton and West Ham have been closely linked operations since the time Redknapp was around Upton Park. The Icelandic team wanted a professional management structure with greater experience of both global football and it's associated industry sectors. So, the swap was engineered with Les Reed taking the bridging fall-guy position.
Whatever happens at Charlton regarding relegation, Pardew's time will come.
It is becoming a key factor in the power structures of the English game to have proper money behind you. It is now generally accepted that much of this money comes from "interesting" sources. Sectors like arms, beer, oil, tobacco and gambling tend to produce businessmen with a psychopathic edge. This is because these sectors are mature and encourage monopolistic, oligarchical and cartelisation structures that promote anti-social behaviour. The same personality disorders that lead to success in business are now being foisted onto the English game.
Underhand tactics are increasingly the norm as the game continues it's slippery slide into the casino.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
At least tonight's match has been spiced up by the spectacular society nonsense surrounding Charlton and West Ham and the selection of bookies pal Graham Poll to officiate.
The media has been putting out fallacious reasoning for the goings-on in East London. On the advice of our solicitors, we are prevented from delving into some of the murkier areas in the affair within this post.
But we will address some of the "issues".
Curbishley did not just choose to leave Charlton towards the end of last season. Machinations over the summer have established some very different control structures in the hierarchy of the English game and, after having to leave Charlton, Curbishley was quickly pencilled in to front the money that was about to be dumped on West Ham.
West Ham (like Portsmouth) are becoming significantly more powerful operators in the Premiership. The Dodgy Icelandic Businessman and the Arms Dealer's son have serious intentions for their investments.
Promotion, an FA Cup final, Brooking gaining omnipotence at the FA and incredibly favourable refereeing - last season, the officials only favoured Liverpool and Arsenal more than West Ham and, in the first half of this season, the Hammers have had most support from the referees - have made the the Londoners a valued commodity.
Charlton and West Ham have been closely linked operations since the time Redknapp was around Upton Park. The Icelandic team wanted a professional management structure with greater experience of both global football and it's associated industry sectors. So, the swap was engineered with Les Reed taking the bridging fall-guy position.
Whatever happens at Charlton regarding relegation, Pardew's time will come.
It is becoming a key factor in the power structures of the English game to have proper money behind you. It is now generally accepted that much of this money comes from "interesting" sources. Sectors like arms, beer, oil, tobacco and gambling tend to produce businessmen with a psychopathic edge. This is because these sectors are mature and encourage monopolistic, oligarchical and cartelisation structures that promote anti-social behaviour. The same personality disorders that lead to success in business are now being foisted onto the English game.
Underhand tactics are increasingly the norm as the game continues it's slippery slide into the casino.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Sunday, 24 December 2006
The Fundamentals - The Fitness of Portsmouth
One of the key fundamental parameters impacting upon football matches is Fitness. All analysts, market-makers and traders employ their own methods to evaluate and compare team's respective physical prowess and energy levels.
Many things can underpin a side's fitness from a good training regime to the use of Performance Enhancing Substances (PESs) as previously addressed at: http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/12/doped-up-spanish-giants.html.
Below are some simple Fitness Ratings for the top few teams in the Premiership (last season's rating in brackets). These figures are based on the percentage of the goals scored by a team in the latter period of each half of the match compared with their opponents.
Chelsea 71 (78)
Man Utd 73 (65)
Arsenal 71 (70)
Liverpool 71 (69)
Portsmouth 71 (36)
What an incredible improvement at Portsmouth since Redknapp and the arms dealer's son Alexandre Gaydamak took control. Their Fitness Rating last season was the worst apart from the 3 relegated clubs and this season only Man Utd are fitter. The average age of the Portsmouth team that breezed past Sheffield Utd yesterday was over 28. Stunning! What sort of pasta are these people eating?
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Many things can underpin a side's fitness from a good training regime to the use of Performance Enhancing Substances (PESs) as previously addressed at: http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/12/doped-up-spanish-giants.html.
Below are some simple Fitness Ratings for the top few teams in the Premiership (last season's rating in brackets). These figures are based on the percentage of the goals scored by a team in the latter period of each half of the match compared with their opponents.
Chelsea 71 (78)
Man Utd 73 (65)
Arsenal 71 (70)
Liverpool 71 (69)
Portsmouth 71 (36)
What an incredible improvement at Portsmouth since Redknapp and the arms dealer's son Alexandre Gaydamak took control. Their Fitness Rating last season was the worst apart from the 3 relegated clubs and this season only Man Utd are fitter. The average age of the Portsmouth team that breezed past Sheffield Utd yesterday was over 28. Stunning! What sort of pasta are these people eating?
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Whistleblowing The Whistleblowers
It is a rare occurrence for a new referee to be introduced to the Premiership roster of officials. Previous posts (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/structure-to-avoid-corruption-part-1.html) have addressed the risk of corruption through having such a small number of registered officials for the league (17 compared to 40 in Italy's Serie A).
So Steve Tanner was monitored very closely at Reading yesterday.
Our Trading Team expect that any new official will conform to the same external prompts and power hierarchies as the incumbent referees and Tanner did not disappoint. The obstacles that a young official must surmount to reach Premiership level unfortunately include rather too many "skills" that have little to do with officiating a football match.
There are very strong rumours around that the Premiership will pick 10 "elite" (sic) officials to referee all next year's games in the top flight. This is a structure that will magnify the corruption and manipulation and even more Premiership games will be determined by global betting patterns rather than by the skill of the teams.
Can't wait...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
So Steve Tanner was monitored very closely at Reading yesterday.
Our Trading Team expect that any new official will conform to the same external prompts and power hierarchies as the incumbent referees and Tanner did not disappoint. The obstacles that a young official must surmount to reach Premiership level unfortunately include rather too many "skills" that have little to do with officiating a football match.
There are very strong rumours around that the Premiership will pick 10 "elite" (sic) officials to referee all next year's games in the top flight. This is a structure that will magnify the corruption and manipulation and even more Premiership games will be determined by global betting patterns rather than by the skill of the teams.
Can't wait...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Saturday, 23 December 2006
Yo Manifesto
This post is a confirmation of some points in our Mission Statement (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/12/mission-statement.html).
i) We have set up football_is_fixed on this site as a precursor to the launch of the full site on our own server in 2007.
ii) Although the site is in my name, it represents the opinions of not only our Trading Team but also our Financial Backers.
iii) Our Trading Team is highly unusual in that we all approach the Financial and Football Markets from a Libertarian Socialist/ Anarchist perspective. The fact that we undertake high level Consultancy Projects for Blue Chip companies should be regarded as a means to an end rather than an indicator of our market persuasion.
iv) We have no interest in entering into any communication with any other party. We directly approach the organisations and individuals that we wish to work alongside and we don't respond to speculative approaches. Similarly, even though we regard ourselves as a blog, we restrict "Comments" due to efficiency considerations. We are a boutique and we have to optimise our work/life processes to achieve the targets that we have set ourselves. Please do not be offended if your "Comment" is filtered.
v) Pretentious as it may sound, we have imitated the structure of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway for our own operation. We avoid the key gambling centres eg London, Macau, Russia, Gibraltar, Thailand, China etc etc and have no interest in networking. We produce these blogs both to confront the corruption endemic in the sport and to give traders/ leisure gamblers access to good information and advice to enhance winnings/ reduce losses. We will never disclose proprietary analytical techniques or holistic overviews that threaten the underlying structure of our trading operation but we will tell you how we made money last year. We can only do this because we are considerably ahead of the market.
vi) Several years ago, I established Dietrological (a football information provision service based in Bucuresti, Romania). We intend to launch a similar service in 2007. The project will target industry professionals from both a trading and a market-making perspective. Real-time e-mails will address market dynamics across a range of territories. Privileged inside information will form part of the package.
vii) Some individuals do not agree with our perspective on the markets. Tough shit. We have total confidence in our Unified Trading Model (UTM) and we have successfully traded the information that we now make public. If we were barking up the wrong tree, we wouldn't be successful.
viii) Politically, we wish to undermine the structure of the markets on which we trade. This applies to both Financial and Football Markets. We regard this as creative destruction. The current market templates favour the abuse of the peripheral people by the psychopathic power people. We will be initiating an International Financial Market equivalent of this site next summer. We will be producing high level research and analysis to directly challenge the robustness of the financial markets. As capitalism learns to live with the inevitable oncoming global slowdown, we will be playing our part in short-selling the system.
ix) Much of the content of this site is a trial to attempt to develop a suitable style. None of us regard ourselves as either writers or humourists but we attempt to keep our content literate and witty.
x) You can probably tell that we are totally arrogant. But, once again, tough shit. We have political goals and we are not interested in niceties.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
i) We have set up football_is_fixed on this site as a precursor to the launch of the full site on our own server in 2007.
ii) Although the site is in my name, it represents the opinions of not only our Trading Team but also our Financial Backers.
iii) Our Trading Team is highly unusual in that we all approach the Financial and Football Markets from a Libertarian Socialist/ Anarchist perspective. The fact that we undertake high level Consultancy Projects for Blue Chip companies should be regarded as a means to an end rather than an indicator of our market persuasion.
iv) We have no interest in entering into any communication with any other party. We directly approach the organisations and individuals that we wish to work alongside and we don't respond to speculative approaches. Similarly, even though we regard ourselves as a blog, we restrict "Comments" due to efficiency considerations. We are a boutique and we have to optimise our work/life processes to achieve the targets that we have set ourselves. Please do not be offended if your "Comment" is filtered.
v) Pretentious as it may sound, we have imitated the structure of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway for our own operation. We avoid the key gambling centres eg London, Macau, Russia, Gibraltar, Thailand, China etc etc and have no interest in networking. We produce these blogs both to confront the corruption endemic in the sport and to give traders/ leisure gamblers access to good information and advice to enhance winnings/ reduce losses. We will never disclose proprietary analytical techniques or holistic overviews that threaten the underlying structure of our trading operation but we will tell you how we made money last year. We can only do this because we are considerably ahead of the market.
vi) Several years ago, I established Dietrological (a football information provision service based in Bucuresti, Romania). We intend to launch a similar service in 2007. The project will target industry professionals from both a trading and a market-making perspective. Real-time e-mails will address market dynamics across a range of territories. Privileged inside information will form part of the package.
vii) Some individuals do not agree with our perspective on the markets. Tough shit. We have total confidence in our Unified Trading Model (UTM) and we have successfully traded the information that we now make public. If we were barking up the wrong tree, we wouldn't be successful.
viii) Politically, we wish to undermine the structure of the markets on which we trade. This applies to both Financial and Football Markets. We regard this as creative destruction. The current market templates favour the abuse of the peripheral people by the psychopathic power people. We will be initiating an International Financial Market equivalent of this site next summer. We will be producing high level research and analysis to directly challenge the robustness of the financial markets. As capitalism learns to live with the inevitable oncoming global slowdown, we will be playing our part in short-selling the system.
ix) Much of the content of this site is a trial to attempt to develop a suitable style. None of us regard ourselves as either writers or humourists but we attempt to keep our content literate and witty.
x) You can probably tell that we are totally arrogant. But, once again, tough shit. We have political goals and we are not interested in niceties.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Thursday, 21 December 2006
Exigo Caveo
Shareholder capitalism foists numerous manipulative structural templates on your existences - some recent instances in Britain would include the pensions "crisis", endowment mortgages, the banking sector and the various private finance initiatives.
More subtle manipulations underpin your daily lives. A couple of examples being "the small print" and "caveat emptor". Why does "the small print" have to be small? As it is informing us of legal obligations, shouldn't it actually be "the big print"? And why should the buyer beware? This encourages a form of capitalism based on the successful deceit of the masses by the few. I would reckon "exigo caveo" would flatten the hierarchy somewhat.
I realise that this has nothing to do with football but there is a far gentler form of capitalism in Greece (apart from in Athens) and many of the islands still maintain a robust form of social living. The rampant psychopathic shareholder capitalism of Britain is a major shock to the system when one returns here.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
More subtle manipulations underpin your daily lives. A couple of examples being "the small print" and "caveat emptor". Why does "the small print" have to be small? As it is informing us of legal obligations, shouldn't it actually be "the big print"? And why should the buyer beware? This encourages a form of capitalism based on the successful deceit of the masses by the few. I would reckon "exigo caveo" would flatten the hierarchy somewhat.
I realise that this has nothing to do with football but there is a far gentler form of capitalism in Greece (apart from in Athens) and many of the islands still maintain a robust form of social living. The rampant psychopathic shareholder capitalism of Britain is a major shock to the system when one returns here.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Never Ever Bet on the All-Weather
Today horseracing returns to the Wolverhampton all-weather track that has witnessed the deaths of five horses since early November. Despite recommendations from the RSPCA that the track be closed while the surface is assessed in order to determine the cause for the mayhem, the Horseracing Regulatory Authority (HRA) has given the course a clean bill of health.
All-weather courses are key to both racing and the government's coffers over the winter months due to so many cancellations of turf meetings. It is naive to think that the welfare of the animals is any concern of the HRA.
Punters should keep away from the all-weather meetings as they are the most manipulated part of a very manipulated "sport". My career as a Professional Gambler began with horseracing and one has to be very selective in the type of races that one trades on - my PhD showed how betting money influences the outcomes of much of British horseracing.
My last race meeting was at Ludlow in the mid-nineties. I had backed and won on a 1/4 David Nicholson horse in the final race on the card. Having pursued the bookie towards the car park to collect my winnings, I returned to my vehicle to witness the shooting of one of the losing animals a mere couple of yards away. It still seems like a good prompt for making a change in career direction.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
All-weather courses are key to both racing and the government's coffers over the winter months due to so many cancellations of turf meetings. It is naive to think that the welfare of the animals is any concern of the HRA.
Punters should keep away from the all-weather meetings as they are the most manipulated part of a very manipulated "sport". My career as a Professional Gambler began with horseracing and one has to be very selective in the type of races that one trades on - my PhD showed how betting money influences the outcomes of much of British horseracing.
My last race meeting was at Ludlow in the mid-nineties. I had backed and won on a 1/4 David Nicholson horse in the final race on the card. Having pursued the bookie towards the car park to collect my winnings, I returned to my vehicle to witness the shooting of one of the losing animals a mere couple of yards away. It still seems like a good prompt for making a change in career direction.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Justice Not Even Seen To Be Done
When Germany discovered that the disgraced referee Hoyzer was manipulating football matches for a Croatian gambling syndicate, the Bundesliga entirely altered the structure of their national game and betting industry to close off such loopholes. This particular form of corruption will not happen again in Germany.
After Calciocaos and the relegation of Juventus, points deductions for four other teams and the banning of two referees, the Italians have directly addressed the illegal activities within Serie A. There are now 40 referees in Serie A and Moggiopoli would be more difficult in future.
And, with respect to the Financial Markets, compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley law is creating some real accountability for American business in the shadow of Enron and WorldCom.
In England, the Premiership clubs informed PC Plod on November 9th that they were quite happy with the corruption riddled structure already in place. He acquiesced.
The most disturbing aspect about this whole charade is that the football authorities aren't even paying lip service to the issues that need to be addressed.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
After Calciocaos and the relegation of Juventus, points deductions for four other teams and the banning of two referees, the Italians have directly addressed the illegal activities within Serie A. There are now 40 referees in Serie A and Moggiopoli would be more difficult in future.
And, with respect to the Financial Markets, compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley law is creating some real accountability for American business in the shadow of Enron and WorldCom.
In England, the Premiership clubs informed PC Plod on November 9th that they were quite happy with the corruption riddled structure already in place. He acquiesced.
The most disturbing aspect about this whole charade is that the football authorities aren't even paying lip service to the issues that need to be addressed.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Bung It In The Whitewash
This afternoon will see the publication (for non-insider eyes at least) of the Stevens/ Quest report into the bung culture that pervades English football.
Don't hold your breath.
Firstly, The Premier League will use the report to enhance their power over the Football Association. The report will be morphed into something it was not originally intended to be.
Secondly, don't expect many clubs or managers to be fingered by the report. Bolton will be slapped on the wrist and a few rogue agents may be banned but one shouldn't expect that any of the key clubs mentioned in the BBC Panorama programme (Portsmouth, Chelsea, Liverpool or Middlesboro) will have anything to fear. They certainly won't touch Redknapp (incidentally, how does a bog-standard Premiership football manager come to own 600-700 houses in London?).
Thirdly, expect Mike Newell to be ousted from the game as soon as decently possible for opening the can of worms in the first place.
Delaying the release of the findings to the days leading up to xmas is the sort of creative spin that one expects from the Quest team. Quest's report relating to the murder of Princess Diana gave an absolute indication that the corporate intelligence firm is merely an establishment cover-up.
Globally, all my contacts with respect to both Financial and Football markets are mystified how the British have any doubts about the termination of Diana's life. A Romanian colleague suggested "in Romania, power abuse is called corruption; in Italy, the mafia and in England, the establishment".
For his services to the powers-that-be, expect Lord Stevens to be given a knighthood as soon as possible.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Don't hold your breath.
Firstly, The Premier League will use the report to enhance their power over the Football Association. The report will be morphed into something it was not originally intended to be.
Secondly, don't expect many clubs or managers to be fingered by the report. Bolton will be slapped on the wrist and a few rogue agents may be banned but one shouldn't expect that any of the key clubs mentioned in the BBC Panorama programme (Portsmouth, Chelsea, Liverpool or Middlesboro) will have anything to fear. They certainly won't touch Redknapp (incidentally, how does a bog-standard Premiership football manager come to own 600-700 houses in London?).
Thirdly, expect Mike Newell to be ousted from the game as soon as decently possible for opening the can of worms in the first place.
Delaying the release of the findings to the days leading up to xmas is the sort of creative spin that one expects from the Quest team. Quest's report relating to the murder of Princess Diana gave an absolute indication that the corporate intelligence firm is merely an establishment cover-up.
Globally, all my contacts with respect to both Financial and Football markets are mystified how the British have any doubts about the termination of Diana's life. A Romanian colleague suggested "in Romania, power abuse is called corruption; in Italy, the mafia and in England, the establishment".
For his services to the powers-that-be, expect Lord Stevens to be given a knighthood as soon as possible.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Mission Statement
football_is_fixed was established to achieve 6 prime aims:-
1. To expose and confront the corruption and manipulation that blights the beautiful game.
2. To address the regulatory framework that allows such corruption and manipulation.
3. To optimise the betting/ trading process by providing blue sky thinking, holistic overviews, rules and general hints relating to the gambling experience.
4. To place football in the strata of the global spectacular society and to address feedback loops with other sectors.
5. To react to real-time current affairs utilising dietrologia (the science of what is behind something).
6. To celebrate proper football.
As an active trader on football, financial and political markets, I will endeavour to provide real information relating to the above.
I manage a small team of Market Analysts and I will involve the expertise of my colleagues where valid.
We utilise a Unified Trading Model (UTM) to play the markets and it is only in isolationist areas of our proprietary trading that we will withhold information and data.
On rare occasions, we may provide details of our speculative open/ closed positions but such utterances should be regarded as indications and not trading advices.
In many ways, the fact that football is corrupt has minimal effect on our trading operation as the UTM enables us to proactively participate in any market structure. However, we would prefer to see a clean, competitive and real sporting event rather than theatre in which the outcome is very often determined by global betting patterns.
football_is_fixed aims to help to reclaim the game from the psychopathic power people.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
1. To expose and confront the corruption and manipulation that blights the beautiful game.
2. To address the regulatory framework that allows such corruption and manipulation.
3. To optimise the betting/ trading process by providing blue sky thinking, holistic overviews, rules and general hints relating to the gambling experience.
4. To place football in the strata of the global spectacular society and to address feedback loops with other sectors.
5. To react to real-time current affairs utilising dietrologia (the science of what is behind something).
6. To celebrate proper football.
As an active trader on football, financial and political markets, I will endeavour to provide real information relating to the above.
I manage a small team of Market Analysts and I will involve the expertise of my colleagues where valid.
We utilise a Unified Trading Model (UTM) to play the markets and it is only in isolationist areas of our proprietary trading that we will withhold information and data.
On rare occasions, we may provide details of our speculative open/ closed positions but such utterances should be regarded as indications and not trading advices.
In many ways, the fact that football is corrupt has minimal effect on our trading operation as the UTM enables us to proactively participate in any market structure. However, we would prefer to see a clean, competitive and real sporting event rather than theatre in which the outcome is very often determined by global betting patterns.
football_is_fixed aims to help to reclaim the game from the psychopathic power people.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
The Bully and the Man with Tourettes Syndrome
So Tim Howard reckons that he will be leaving Man Utd in the light of Van der Sar having signed a contract extension. Good.
Howard was the last in a long line of sub-standard keepers that Ferguson brought to Old Trafford. Schmeichel, he most certainly isn't.
We would rarely trade on United (or Everton for that matter) when the American was between the posts. Our view prior to Sunday was that Howard was merely poor but, following his half-hearted attempts to save the last 2 Chelsea goals, we now believe that there were other external influences underpinning the man's lack of a performance.
Howard follows Bosnich, Carroll, Barthez, Ricardo, Taibi etc etc as damning indictments of part of Ferguson's transfer policy. Not only does Sir Alex overpay for players by buying after major competitions (Rooney, Ferdinand, Carrick) but he also misjudges the correct time to sell/ fall out with his players. In addition, the Scot's strategic planning is non-existent. I have lost count of the number of occasions that Man Utd have faced a much more tricky Champions League route through Ferguson's lack of foresight. Wenger, he most certainly isn't.
The Great Man should have retired when he originally intended. The last three seasons have yielded an FA Cup win against Millwall and a League Cup win against Wigan - hardly a valid haul for the self-styled world's biggest team.
This season doesn't promise any improvement. The squad is lop-sided (15 defenders, 8 midfielders and 3 forwards is an original christmas tree formation, I suppose) and there is no strength in depth in key positions. Already the FA Cup is the only realistic trophy for this season. The difference between United and Chelsea was clearly demonstrated by their respective responses to going behind in their games at the weekend. Chelsea moved up a gear/ United couldn't. With away games at Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Man City to come, a two point advantage is irrelevant. Top teams do not lose to Southend, Copenhagen and West Ham.
So, its a short goodbye to Howard and hopefully an imminent long goodbye to Ferguson.
Howard was the last in a long line of sub-standard keepers that Ferguson brought to Old Trafford. Schmeichel, he most certainly isn't.
We would rarely trade on United (or Everton for that matter) when the American was between the posts. Our view prior to Sunday was that Howard was merely poor but, following his half-hearted attempts to save the last 2 Chelsea goals, we now believe that there were other external influences underpinning the man's lack of a performance.
Howard follows Bosnich, Carroll, Barthez, Ricardo, Taibi etc etc as damning indictments of part of Ferguson's transfer policy. Not only does Sir Alex overpay for players by buying after major competitions (Rooney, Ferdinand, Carrick) but he also misjudges the correct time to sell/ fall out with his players. In addition, the Scot's strategic planning is non-existent. I have lost count of the number of occasions that Man Utd have faced a much more tricky Champions League route through Ferguson's lack of foresight. Wenger, he most certainly isn't.
The Great Man should have retired when he originally intended. The last three seasons have yielded an FA Cup win against Millwall and a League Cup win against Wigan - hardly a valid haul for the self-styled world's biggest team.
This season doesn't promise any improvement. The squad is lop-sided (15 defenders, 8 midfielders and 3 forwards is an original christmas tree formation, I suppose) and there is no strength in depth in key positions. Already the FA Cup is the only realistic trophy for this season. The difference between United and Chelsea was clearly demonstrated by their respective responses to going behind in their games at the weekend. Chelsea moved up a gear/ United couldn't. With away games at Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Man City to come, a two point advantage is irrelevant. Top teams do not lose to Southend, Copenhagen and West Ham.
So, its a short goodbye to Howard and hopefully an imminent long goodbye to Ferguson.
Monday, 18 December 2006
Low Lie The Fields of Athenry
Our analysts reckon that Celtic need to be on average 8 points better than Rangers to win the Scottish League title due to the machinations of the officials against the Parkhead team.
After 19 games, the Celts are 14 points clear of Aberdeen and are yet to be given a penalty by the SFA. At 1-0 against Rangers on Sunday, the most blatant of blatant penalties was denied to Celtic by referee Kenny Clark when Smith tripped Lennon - totally inexplicable. Even Rangers people were in shock.
Still it is an improvement on the days of dodgy Hugh Dallas, I suppose.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
After 19 games, the Celts are 14 points clear of Aberdeen and are yet to be given a penalty by the SFA. At 1-0 against Rangers on Sunday, the most blatant of blatant penalties was denied to Celtic by referee Kenny Clark when Smith tripped Lennon - totally inexplicable. Even Rangers people were in shock.
Still it is an improvement on the days of dodgy Hugh Dallas, I suppose.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
The Bum Ref Index - December Update
In November, we launched an index to judge the degree and type of impact that Premiership referees have on the events that they officiate (see http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/bum-ref-index.html).
Here is the December update.
The Top Five Referees
1. Bennett 1.64
2. Clattenburg 1.82
3. Styles 1.94
4. Foy 1.99
5. Webb 2.04
The Bottom Five Referees
11. Dean 2.50
12. Halsey 2.51
13. Gallagher 2.52
14. Rennie 2.53
15. Walton 3.17
NB Mason and Marriner have only officiated in 3 games each and are not included.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Here is the December update.
The Top Five Referees
1. Bennett 1.64
2. Clattenburg 1.82
3. Styles 1.94
4. Foy 1.99
5. Webb 2.04
The Bottom Five Referees
11. Dean 2.50
12. Halsey 2.51
13. Gallagher 2.52
14. Rennie 2.53
15. Walton 3.17
NB Mason and Marriner have only officiated in 3 games each and are not included.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Manipulation in the Land of the Branded and Bland
I've only just realised why Sky remove the "time played" indicator from the screen for the re-run of the "full" game that is shown on Saturday night. It allows certain controversial visuals or commentaries to be edited.
On Saturday, I watched the Arsenal v Portsmouth game as there were several key sections of the game that I wished to monitor. One of these events was simply edited out. It never happened (apart from on the BBC highlights where Adebayor was certainly fouled in the area).
And, while on the subject of the Match of the Day, there has been pressure to tone down the criticism of officials on the programme. So at Wigan on Saturday, Walton was praised for giving a penalty that he could not possibly have seen (one of his assistant's corrected him and justice was seen to be done). While in the Villa v Bolton game where Clattenburg was dire, there was no mention at all post-match about the two key penalty decisions that decided the match.
Our trading team are expecting significantly increased volatility over the festive season in the Premiership and the refereeing will be a prime component of this randomisation process.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
On Saturday, I watched the Arsenal v Portsmouth game as there were several key sections of the game that I wished to monitor. One of these events was simply edited out. It never happened (apart from on the BBC highlights where Adebayor was certainly fouled in the area).
And, while on the subject of the Match of the Day, there has been pressure to tone down the criticism of officials on the programme. So at Wigan on Saturday, Walton was praised for giving a penalty that he could not possibly have seen (one of his assistant's corrected him and justice was seen to be done). While in the Villa v Bolton game where Clattenburg was dire, there was no mention at all post-match about the two key penalty decisions that decided the match.
Our trading team are expecting significantly increased volatility over the festive season in the Premiership and the refereeing will be a prime component of this randomisation process.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Sunday, 17 December 2006
Barthez puts his cards on the table
There must be good casinos in Nantes as Barthez is back in the game.
The slippery slaphead even claims that his international career may be relaunched!
We'll certainly be looking at the prices on Monday morning for Nantes to be relegated.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
The slippery slaphead even claims that his international career may be relaunched!
We'll certainly be looking at the prices on Monday morning for Nantes to be relegated.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Saturday, 16 December 2006
Gambling Stables/ Gambling Teams
When I traded professionally on horseracing markets, there were certain stables that were known as gambling concerns - the extended family of Barry Hills, for example.
A similar situation now exists within football betting markets.
Firstly, some clubs have sponsorship deals with bookmakers (Blackburn, Villa, Spurs and Boro in England) which can sometimes lead to a privileged information flow.
Additionally, clubs that are hard up financially may develop a symbiotic relationship with a particular bookmaker - effectively a form of buying information.
Secondly, some clubs actively trade on their own events although it is evidently not in my interests to name names! Individuals or groups of individuals within these clubs operate in exactly the same manner as a gambling stable in their manipulation of the markets.
There are analytical methods to determine both of these types of corruption. It is also possible to deduce the gamble without access to any inside information.
We are isolationist about our proprietary trading model but, with some lateral thinking, one can get an angle on this sort of thing.
All traders both professional and amateur should be wary of these particularly hot outfits.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
A similar situation now exists within football betting markets.
Firstly, some clubs have sponsorship deals with bookmakers (Blackburn, Villa, Spurs and Boro in England) which can sometimes lead to a privileged information flow.
Additionally, clubs that are hard up financially may develop a symbiotic relationship with a particular bookmaker - effectively a form of buying information.
Secondly, some clubs actively trade on their own events although it is evidently not in my interests to name names! Individuals or groups of individuals within these clubs operate in exactly the same manner as a gambling stable in their manipulation of the markets.
There are analytical methods to determine both of these types of corruption. It is also possible to deduce the gamble without access to any inside information.
We are isolationist about our proprietary trading model but, with some lateral thinking, one can get an angle on this sort of thing.
All traders both professional and amateur should be wary of these particularly hot outfits.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
In The Sin Bin
The English referees remain frozen out of the critical shake-up in this year's UEFA competitions. As already posted on this site (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/conspicuous-by-their-absence.html), UEFA is punishing English officials for their poor performances of late.
Of the final important 80 games in the Champions League (ChLg) and UEFA Cup, English referees have only been selected for three minor events (Olympiakos v Donetsk, Milan v Lille and Kyiv v Real Madrid). Even here the volatility of the English was noticeable in that 2 out of the 3 penalties or sendings off in the final ChLg round were courtesy of Hackett's boys.
It is small wonder that headlines in European papers explode with mock horror when they hear that Poll is coming to town - a fine recent example was the Gazzetta dello Sport prior to the Milan/Lille game mentioned above.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Of the final important 80 games in the Champions League (ChLg) and UEFA Cup, English referees have only been selected for three minor events (Olympiakos v Donetsk, Milan v Lille and Kyiv v Real Madrid). Even here the volatility of the English was noticeable in that 2 out of the 3 penalties or sendings off in the final ChLg round were courtesy of Hackett's boys.
It is small wonder that headlines in European papers explode with mock horror when they hear that Poll is coming to town - a fine recent example was the Gazzetta dello Sport prior to the Milan/Lille game mentioned above.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Crime Pays
In the summer, Serie A referee Paparesta was banned for his role in the Calciocaos match-fixing scandal. As previously posted on this site (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/il-ritorno-di-paparesta.html), his return to officiating in Italy was a little premature.
Now UEFA have rewarded him for his dishonesty by calling him onto the UEFA Referees Roster and he takes control of this week's Leverkusen v Besiktas match.
Dondarini, who was initially banned in the Moggiopoli affair, has also been called up by UEFA for the first time to take charge of Feyenoord v Wisla.
So there we have it. Fix games in your own country and get promoted after a token ban at most. Dietrologia at it's finest.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Now UEFA have rewarded him for his dishonesty by calling him onto the UEFA Referees Roster and he takes control of this week's Leverkusen v Besiktas match.
Dondarini, who was initially banned in the Moggiopoli affair, has also been called up by UEFA for the first time to take charge of Feyenoord v Wisla.
So there we have it. Fix games in your own country and get promoted after a token ban at most. Dietrologia at it's finest.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Friday, 8 December 2006
Doped Up Spanish Giants
"In its 104-year history Real Madrid has distinguished itself through exemplary dedication to and exaltation of human values and the defence of fair play" is the claim posted on the Madrilenos website in response to allegations that Real, Barca, Valencia and El Betis use Performance Enhancing Substances (PESs).
EPO, IGF-1, PFC, Nandrolone, Amphetamines plus legal substances like Creatine are widely administered at the top of the professional game throughout the world but particularly in Europe. For major competitions like the Champions League and the World Cup, the prize is so great that all tactics are considered by the leading participants.
Doping is totally accepted within the game.
I have been trading football betting markets professionally for fifteen years and I could name several leading clubs in each of the top European leagues who utilise PESs. In fact, the practice is so prevalent that the use of PESs is no longer a key fundamental parameter in the evaluation of football betting markets - 10 years ago, you could make serious money backing teams that were actively taking EPO, for example.
The pharmaceutical companies and doctors pedalling this stuff are more concerned nowadays with developing masking substances to prevent any detection of their criminality.
Cycling is confronting the problem and football needs to do the same. All efforts to date have been cosmetic. Spain is by no means the worst offending territory when it comes to PESs but the football authorities in Madrid are aware of the problem. A couple of years ago, they initiated a detection programme for one particular PES using urine tests when they were aware that this particular PES would only show up in blood samples. A Blatteresque manouevre if ever there was one.
And don't even get me started on Franco's Real Madrid and the "exaltation of human values". Viva La Quinta Brigada.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
EPO, IGF-1, PFC, Nandrolone, Amphetamines plus legal substances like Creatine are widely administered at the top of the professional game throughout the world but particularly in Europe. For major competitions like the Champions League and the World Cup, the prize is so great that all tactics are considered by the leading participants.
Doping is totally accepted within the game.
I have been trading football betting markets professionally for fifteen years and I could name several leading clubs in each of the top European leagues who utilise PESs. In fact, the practice is so prevalent that the use of PESs is no longer a key fundamental parameter in the evaluation of football betting markets - 10 years ago, you could make serious money backing teams that were actively taking EPO, for example.
The pharmaceutical companies and doctors pedalling this stuff are more concerned nowadays with developing masking substances to prevent any detection of their criminality.
Cycling is confronting the problem and football needs to do the same. All efforts to date have been cosmetic. Spain is by no means the worst offending territory when it comes to PESs but the football authorities in Madrid are aware of the problem. A couple of years ago, they initiated a detection programme for one particular PES using urine tests when they were aware that this particular PES would only show up in blood samples. A Blatteresque manouevre if ever there was one.
And don't even get me started on Franco's Real Madrid and the "exaltation of human values". Viva La Quinta Brigada.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
The Las Vegasisation of Football
When the media addresses the steady stream of takeovers of Premiership football clubs by various individuals, groups and consortia, they never use the "B" word.
Betting is a key part of the Financial Projections and Business Strategies for all such investors. And yet, it is never mentioned.
Global betting volumes of top grade football matches are already truly colossal and they will continue to grow as the market matures.
The sponsorship of clubs, players, shirts and grounds by the betting industry continues apace without any sign of reaction by the authorities. At the last count, there were about 50 Betfred kiosks in Old Trafford.
And when Sky took over English football, the infamous "red button" on the remote control was always intended as a route to Skybet - they feed you the images and the vocals and you give them more money = simple.
But the media prefers us to think that these equity-heads are acting out of some quaint form of altruism in supporting the game that "they have loved since childhood" etc etc.
Which brings me rather neatly on to yesterday's press release by UEFA Spokesperson William Gaillard. In response to the proposed takeover of Liverpool by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (the billionaire ruler of the emirate of Dubai), Gaillard warns that super-rich owners represent a "risk of destabilising our European competitions" and refers to a concentration of power that "could destroy the game".
Ignoring the fact that it is a bit rich hearing UEFA targeting control freakery, Gaillard evidently has a valid point. Football is now square in the middle of the Spectacular Society. It is becoming a gambling sport with some theatre thrown in. The result of this is a European game in considerable flux. UEFA is directionless until the Platini/Johansson election is out of the way (even though the suits will ensure that the Swede prevails). There are squabbles within the G14(18). The formation of the UEFA Strategy Board has further divided club loyalties.
Expect more shenanigans as the battle heats up.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Betting is a key part of the Financial Projections and Business Strategies for all such investors. And yet, it is never mentioned.
Global betting volumes of top grade football matches are already truly colossal and they will continue to grow as the market matures.
The sponsorship of clubs, players, shirts and grounds by the betting industry continues apace without any sign of reaction by the authorities. At the last count, there were about 50 Betfred kiosks in Old Trafford.
And when Sky took over English football, the infamous "red button" on the remote control was always intended as a route to Skybet - they feed you the images and the vocals and you give them more money = simple.
But the media prefers us to think that these equity-heads are acting out of some quaint form of altruism in supporting the game that "they have loved since childhood" etc etc.
Which brings me rather neatly on to yesterday's press release by UEFA Spokesperson William Gaillard. In response to the proposed takeover of Liverpool by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (the billionaire ruler of the emirate of Dubai), Gaillard warns that super-rich owners represent a "risk of destabilising our European competitions" and refers to a concentration of power that "could destroy the game".
Ignoring the fact that it is a bit rich hearing UEFA targeting control freakery, Gaillard evidently has a valid point. Football is now square in the middle of the Spectacular Society. It is becoming a gambling sport with some theatre thrown in. The result of this is a European game in considerable flux. UEFA is directionless until the Platini/Johansson election is out of the way (even though the suits will ensure that the Swede prevails). There are squabbles within the G14(18). The formation of the UEFA Strategy Board has further divided club loyalties.
Expect more shenanigans as the battle heats up.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
I missed the Goal - I was reading the Borat advert
Ok, so this might seem a little pithy but I'm going to post it anyway.
Tonight Kieron Dyer will be missing from the Newcastle team after colliding with the advertising hoardings during a game. This follows Radzinski's potentially dangerous injury scoring what turned out to be the winning goal for Fulham against Arsenal last week.
Not only are these hoardings dangerous - there must be insurance implications when £35million worth of ego goes crashing into an 888.com commercial - but they are also an ugly aesthetic on the modern game. The introduction of moving advertisements make the situation even worse being a constant distraction to player and fan alike. It cheapens the game to have "CROUCH 6/1 TO SCORE NEXT" screaming from the boards while the game is in motion.
As there are increasingly less people in the grounds, the companies behind these advertisements will fight to keep this constant barrage of globalised nonsense streaming around the world.
Unlike goalposts, boots and, arguably, corner flags, these hoardings are superfluous to the game of football, they should be removed to a higher and safer location. Then we can get on with watching what is left of the beautiful game in peace.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Tonight Kieron Dyer will be missing from the Newcastle team after colliding with the advertising hoardings during a game. This follows Radzinski's potentially dangerous injury scoring what turned out to be the winning goal for Fulham against Arsenal last week.
Not only are these hoardings dangerous - there must be insurance implications when £35million worth of ego goes crashing into an 888.com commercial - but they are also an ugly aesthetic on the modern game. The introduction of moving advertisements make the situation even worse being a constant distraction to player and fan alike. It cheapens the game to have "CROUCH 6/1 TO SCORE NEXT" screaming from the boards while the game is in motion.
As there are increasingly less people in the grounds, the companies behind these advertisements will fight to keep this constant barrage of globalised nonsense streaming around the world.
Unlike goalposts, boots and, arguably, corner flags, these hoardings are superfluous to the game of football, they should be removed to a higher and safer location. Then we can get on with watching what is left of the beautiful game in peace.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Big Sam - Big Bungs?
So it seems that Bolton are going to be made the scapegoats in the Stevens Bung Inquiry. Thanks to the BBC, justice has to be seen to be done and that requires a fall-guy. Step forward Big Sam.
I bet they don't touch Redknapp!
Following the resignation as UN Ambassador of neo-conservative Jim Bolton, it has been a bad week all round for Bolton.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
I bet they don't touch Redknapp!
Following the resignation as UN Ambassador of neo-conservative Jim Bolton, it has been a bad week all round for Bolton.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Monday, 4 December 2006
Being Economic With Justice
Josef Ackermann has just returned the 3.2 million Euros in Executive Bonuses that he manipulated out of Mannesmann AG in breach of shareholder's trust.
Like so many recent executive trials, this repayment was not accompanied by any acceptance of guilt by the defendant.
Obviously, this is just a standard case of "one law for the rich...". However, applying a similar adaptation of the law for more prosaic crimes would help to resolve the overcrowding in Britain's prisons - "I'll pay the money back to the dole but I don't admit I took it in the first place, your honour. So, I'll be off now". Some chance...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Like so many recent executive trials, this repayment was not accompanied by any acceptance of guilt by the defendant.
Obviously, this is just a standard case of "one law for the rich...". However, applying a similar adaptation of the law for more prosaic crimes would help to resolve the overcrowding in Britain's prisons - "I'll pay the money back to the dole but I don't admit I took it in the first place, your honour. So, I'll be off now". Some chance...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Friday, 1 December 2006
Volume and Volatility
The midweek witnessed four major gambles in the Premiership matches. Dynamic and volatile markets are always going to attract the professionals and there was some serious fingers being burnt by the final whistles.
The most entertaining gamble was the excessive late money globally on Man Utd against Everton. The gamble on the Reds began following the announcement that United were leaving out 50% of their 1st XI. Our trading team were always more convinced that the Toffees focus was Sunday's live Sky match against Dodgy Icelandic Business Man XI but the quality of the late gamble on the Mancs was worthy of note.
Portsmouth could not have been more focused against Liverpool. After going through the motions at Newcastle, there was a gutsy determination about Redknapp's gang on Merseyside. Asia was always with Portsmouth but there was apparently a considerable amount of money around Europe for Scouse.
Arsene Wenger was on the wrong end of another "interesting" event in the defeat at Fulham. Once again, there was a major global gamble on Wenger's boys which became increasingly pear-shaped with every passing minute. The main man Howard Webb undermined any hope of a comeback from two down.
The fourth gamble was on Man City at Villa and was landed with comfort. Bookies 2 Punters 2.
There has been impressive liquidity on the football betting markets this season but it is evident that there is considerable blind trading (even by the pros).
We maintain a total and absolute confidence in our proprietary trading operation but we predict that there are tough times ahead for some of the other key market players. Pattern recognition at speed is the key.
We DO like volatile markets :)
The most entertaining gamble was the excessive late money globally on Man Utd against Everton. The gamble on the Reds began following the announcement that United were leaving out 50% of their 1st XI. Our trading team were always more convinced that the Toffees focus was Sunday's live Sky match against Dodgy Icelandic Business Man XI but the quality of the late gamble on the Mancs was worthy of note.
Portsmouth could not have been more focused against Liverpool. After going through the motions at Newcastle, there was a gutsy determination about Redknapp's gang on Merseyside. Asia was always with Portsmouth but there was apparently a considerable amount of money around Europe for Scouse.
Arsene Wenger was on the wrong end of another "interesting" event in the defeat at Fulham. Once again, there was a major global gamble on Wenger's boys which became increasingly pear-shaped with every passing minute. The main man Howard Webb undermined any hope of a comeback from two down.
The fourth gamble was on Man City at Villa and was landed with comfort. Bookies 2 Punters 2.
There has been impressive liquidity on the football betting markets this season but it is evident that there is considerable blind trading (even by the pros).
We maintain a total and absolute confidence in our proprietary trading operation but we predict that there are tough times ahead for some of the other key market players. Pattern recognition at speed is the key.
We DO like volatile markets :)
Thursday, 30 November 2006
Conspicuous By Their Absence
UEFA generally uses a steady stream of English referees for Champions League and UEFA Cup matches. However, my contacts inform me that the English officials have been receiving very poor ratings this season with the result that only Halsey (who was chosen for the critical Parma/Heerenveen UEFA Cup Match) was selected for any of the most recent 48 games in Europe.
Apparently, the straw that broke the camels back was Steve Bennett's stunning performance for AEK v Lille in Ch Lg Rnd 4.
UEFA demands monopolistic control of it's competitions.
Apparently, the straw that broke the camels back was Steve Bennett's stunning performance for AEK v Lille in Ch Lg Rnd 4.
UEFA demands monopolistic control of it's competitions.
Monday, 27 November 2006
Blatter Blather
Sepp Blatter states that "we must never stop the match with videos or monitors to look at what has happened". And Blatter's reasoning... "it would take away the spontaneity and fascination of our game - we must keep football with a human face."
All aspects of the game - tournament winners, player valuations, managers careers, major gambling liabilities, stock market prices etc - depend upon the accuracy of key match decisions. Why not use the technology?
It's not fascinating to lose a title or, for that matter, your job due to the "spontaneity" of a match official, Mr Blatter. If global football truly wanted to put on a human face then the authorities would drive corruption out of the game. FIFA obviously have no desire to clean up the sport and they will, no doubt, continue to put out all the usual duplicitous platitudes while maintaining the current status quo.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
All aspects of the game - tournament winners, player valuations, managers careers, major gambling liabilities, stock market prices etc - depend upon the accuracy of key match decisions. Why not use the technology?
It's not fascinating to lose a title or, for that matter, your job due to the "spontaneity" of a match official, Mr Blatter. If global football truly wanted to put on a human face then the authorities would drive corruption out of the game. FIFA obviously have no desire to clean up the sport and they will, no doubt, continue to put out all the usual duplicitous platitudes while maintaining the current status quo.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Friday, 24 November 2006
Il Ritorno Di Paparesta
Sunday sees the return of Paparesta to take control of the Lazio/Ascoli game. One of the two officials to be properly banned for their roles in the Moggiopoli scandal, it seems a little too soon for the man to be back on the pitch. Paparesta's ban lasted 77 days (just 18 days more than Dermot Gallagher endured for not sending off Thatcher for the assault on Mendes). Of the eight officials initially banned, only De Santis remains sidelined. On a trading level, we're delighted to see the man return - we read Paparesta events very well indeed.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Thursday, 23 November 2006
Under The Shade of a Coolibah Tree
Well, you Poms sure got a bashing in Brisbane today. Cricket is a much more tricky game when you have to play with the other side's balls (f'nar f'nar) and when you can't doctor the wicket to suit your bowlers.
We are on Australia big-style on a variety of different markets (I reckon the Australian 2nd team would obliterate the Pommies).
Oh good, it's time for the death of English cricket (again!).
What is Ashley Giles by the way?
Has Monty Panesar merely been left out by the public school people in some misguided belief that it forms part of the war of/on terror?
We are on Australia big-style on a variety of different markets (I reckon the Australian 2nd team would obliterate the Pommies).
Oh good, it's time for the death of English cricket (again!).
What is Ashley Giles by the way?
Has Monty Panesar merely been left out by the public school people in some misguided belief that it forms part of the war of/on terror?
Chelsea? Up For It? My Arse...
In Round 5 of The Champions League, UEFA applied significant pressure to ensure that teams with nothing to play for (eg Levski Sofia, Hamburg, Milan) would put out a credible 11 players. Similarly with Chelsea due to Mourinho's grudge with all things Catalunyan.
Although I monitor all concurrent games, I was paying extra attention to the Chelsea game due to the forthcoming Man Utd encounter. Andy Gray's assertion late in the game which was roughly along the lines of 'nobody can doubt that Chelsea really want to win this game' was total drivel (his exact words were drowned out by the hysterical laughter resonating around the trading room). Which game were you watching, Mr Gray? Chelsea made no attempt to win the game. It is quite evident to insiders when teams are merely going through the motions. And it's not only Chelsea. Although personally I was ecstatic with Nakamura's stunner, United were not exactly up for it were they?
When I visit my home city of Manchester (Mancs feel football on a different level than the rest of the planet), I chat with the people about footie and there is a shared perception in the city among lifelong supporters that the broadcasters (and Sky in particular) underestimate the degree of cynicism that has permeated the grass roots of the fanbase. For Mancunians, the issue is not whether the game has been corrupted but how it has been corrupted and who is doing the corrupting.
This is one of the critical foundations to the astonishing success of FC United of Manchester(www.fc-utd.co.uk). Formed in the aftermath of the Glazer takeover, United are top of the North West Counties League Division One (no less!). After promotion last season, mini-United attract crowds of 2500+ (there were 3200 for the mini-derby against Maine Road). Rhodri Giggs (brother of Ryan)is a star of the team and goals are celebrated effervescently rather than the staged theatrical drama-queening that we get in the Premiership. Yet another case of that rare creature - Proper Football.
Tangentially, why are there virtually no television commentators, summarisers, experts, co-commentators etc from Manchester? Everybody who has ever played for Liverpool is constantly on tv and there are an increasing number of ex-Gunners sneaking in too. Mancunians? Lee Sharpe phases in and out of reality and, every so often when the BBC wish to entirely confuse its audience, they wheel out Schmeichel. Otherwise, nowt. It's probably just another Liverpool, Masonic, WASP sort of thing...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Although I monitor all concurrent games, I was paying extra attention to the Chelsea game due to the forthcoming Man Utd encounter. Andy Gray's assertion late in the game which was roughly along the lines of 'nobody can doubt that Chelsea really want to win this game' was total drivel (his exact words were drowned out by the hysterical laughter resonating around the trading room). Which game were you watching, Mr Gray? Chelsea made no attempt to win the game. It is quite evident to insiders when teams are merely going through the motions. And it's not only Chelsea. Although personally I was ecstatic with Nakamura's stunner, United were not exactly up for it were they?
When I visit my home city of Manchester (Mancs feel football on a different level than the rest of the planet), I chat with the people about footie and there is a shared perception in the city among lifelong supporters that the broadcasters (and Sky in particular) underestimate the degree of cynicism that has permeated the grass roots of the fanbase. For Mancunians, the issue is not whether the game has been corrupted but how it has been corrupted and who is doing the corrupting.
This is one of the critical foundations to the astonishing success of FC United of Manchester(www.fc-utd.co.uk). Formed in the aftermath of the Glazer takeover, United are top of the North West Counties League Division One (no less!). After promotion last season, mini-United attract crowds of 2500+ (there were 3200 for the mini-derby against Maine Road). Rhodri Giggs (brother of Ryan)is a star of the team and goals are celebrated effervescently rather than the staged theatrical drama-queening that we get in the Premiership. Yet another case of that rare creature - Proper Football.
Tangentially, why are there virtually no television commentators, summarisers, experts, co-commentators etc from Manchester? Everybody who has ever played for Liverpool is constantly on tv and there are an increasing number of ex-Gunners sneaking in too. Mancunians? Lee Sharpe phases in and out of reality and, every so often when the BBC wish to entirely confuse its audience, they wheel out Schmeichel. Otherwise, nowt. It's probably just another Liverpool, Masonic, WASP sort of thing...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Monday, 20 November 2006
Victory for Victor?
10 days ago, there was a blaze of publicity for the story about Gibraltar-based Victor Chandler International accepting sizeable bets from a number of Premiership managers and players. Then, Mr Clean, Max Clifford, scuttles off to the High Court and all media immediately drop the item.
Why? Why can't we know who these individuals are? Why is the High Court protecting them? Why has the sinister Mr Clifford been working for Chandler for the last few years?
There seems to be an increasing number of people who are above the law in Britain - we welcome Berezovsky yet chase out political refugees. We hassle individual players for minor social indiscretions and yet bury stories about alleged corruption in the upper echelons of the game.
It was a great game football...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Why? Why can't we know who these individuals are? Why is the High Court protecting them? Why has the sinister Mr Clifford been working for Chandler for the last few years?
There seems to be an increasing number of people who are above the law in Britain - we welcome Berezovsky yet chase out political refugees. We hassle individual players for minor social indiscretions and yet bury stories about alleged corruption in the upper echelons of the game.
It was a great game football...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Use Technology to Count Mr. Poll's Yellow Cards
Arsene Wenger has backed weekend calls from Aidy Boothroyd and Mark Hughes for Premiership referees to use video technology on key decisions. Wenger's press release finishes "...But what is even more surprising is that the referees don't want to use it. It's amazing." And one might ask why referees wouldn't want to improve the likelihood of making a correct decision? No technology leads to more randomised results.
This is one of the points that was covered in "A Structure to Avoid Corruption (Part 1)" on this site on November 13th. Just using the available technology would significantly reduce the scope for the corruption in football betting markets as outcomes would be determined by a grouping of people rather than just one.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
This is one of the points that was covered in "A Structure to Avoid Corruption (Part 1)" on this site on November 13th. Just using the available technology would significantly reduce the scope for the corruption in football betting markets as outcomes would be determined by a grouping of people rather than just one.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Theatre Review
Four entirely non-competitive events and creative refereeing were the weekend's Premiership fare. Anybody who paid to go to see Wigan v Villa, Reading v Charlton, Chelsea v Chelsea Reserves or Boro v Liverpool were treated to tedium supreme.
The huge spaces on what used to be terraces were noticeable at each of Sky's live games. No matter how loud the broadcaster turns up the crowd on the mixing desk or how selective the director is with camera choice, it cannot hide the fact that we are being served up sub-standard "sport" and very few people are willing to pay to see it. Compare the blood and thunder of the Everton v Bolton grudge match with events at "The Bridge" where a friendly match took place - there were rumours of "a challenge" early in the 2nd half. False rumours as it turned out.
The game at Wigan had all the hallmarks of a Serie A classic agreed draw - no tackles, as few shots as possible, no fouls, no soul...
Frequently in Man Utd games against the very weak teams, there seems to be a dynamic to stop a Win at HT - Win at FT option being landed. The bookies are overwhelmed with greedy leisure punters who insist on taking this option as opposed to a more sensible position on the Traditional Odds at 90 min or the Asian Handicap markets. On Saturday, United's repeated 1st Half penalty claims were turned down by the increasingly rejectionist Clattenburg. Incidentally, this also often applies to England when at short odds.
Charlton's inept performance suggests that the internal upheavals are not appreciated by the players. Is Curbishley somewhere in the shadows? He usually is...
After being placed 1st and 3rd in the best performing referees table on this site's Bum Ref Index (November 16th), Foy and Dowd had 'mares at the weekend. Foy's penalty decisions won the game for Pompey (despite a David James special) and in the game between Bet24 and Mansion, Dowd mugged Blackburn, enraged Tottenham and generally played the panto baddie. This makes Bennett clear leader in the Index - how can this be? Is Bennett the best? Shit.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
The huge spaces on what used to be terraces were noticeable at each of Sky's live games. No matter how loud the broadcaster turns up the crowd on the mixing desk or how selective the director is with camera choice, it cannot hide the fact that we are being served up sub-standard "sport" and very few people are willing to pay to see it. Compare the blood and thunder of the Everton v Bolton grudge match with events at "The Bridge" where a friendly match took place - there were rumours of "a challenge" early in the 2nd half. False rumours as it turned out.
The game at Wigan had all the hallmarks of a Serie A classic agreed draw - no tackles, as few shots as possible, no fouls, no soul...
Frequently in Man Utd games against the very weak teams, there seems to be a dynamic to stop a Win at HT - Win at FT option being landed. The bookies are overwhelmed with greedy leisure punters who insist on taking this option as opposed to a more sensible position on the Traditional Odds at 90 min or the Asian Handicap markets. On Saturday, United's repeated 1st Half penalty claims were turned down by the increasingly rejectionist Clattenburg. Incidentally, this also often applies to England when at short odds.
Charlton's inept performance suggests that the internal upheavals are not appreciated by the players. Is Curbishley somewhere in the shadows? He usually is...
After being placed 1st and 3rd in the best performing referees table on this site's Bum Ref Index (November 16th), Foy and Dowd had 'mares at the weekend. Foy's penalty decisions won the game for Pompey (despite a David James special) and in the game between Bet24 and Mansion, Dowd mugged Blackburn, enraged Tottenham and generally played the panto baddie. This makes Bennett clear leader in the Index - how can this be? Is Bennett the best? Shit.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Thursday, 16 November 2006
The Bum Ref Index
From time to time, The Economist attempts to shed it's image as a purveyor of the dismal science (sic) by displaying it's Big Mac Index. This uses the concept of Purchasing Power Parity (a little device Economists use to disguise global realities) to compare the costs of Macdonald's repulsive offerings around the world. The index provides a snapshot of which currencies are currently under or over valued.
In a similarly pithy style, I'd like to introduce The Bum Ref Index which compares the performance of all the FA Premiership referees for season 06/07. While I am unwilling to disclose the secret formula that I have used to determine the Index, I will admit a degree of subjectivity. But only a degree...
The Bum Ref Index assesses referees for the degree of impact they have on the game as it is a generally held view that the best officials are virtually invisible on the field of play. So here goes...the Worst 5 officials followed by the best 5 (complete to last weekend's games).
17th and Last: Walton 3.25
16th and Relegation Position: Dean 2.90
15th and Relegation Position: Gallagher 2.89
14th: Mason 2.84
13th: Halsey 2.75
5th and UEFA Cup Place: Webb 2.14
4th and Champions League: Atkinson 2.09
3rd: Dowd 1.95
2nd: Bennett 1.76
1st: Foy 1.57
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
In a similarly pithy style, I'd like to introduce The Bum Ref Index which compares the performance of all the FA Premiership referees for season 06/07. While I am unwilling to disclose the secret formula that I have used to determine the Index, I will admit a degree of subjectivity. But only a degree...
The Bum Ref Index assesses referees for the degree of impact they have on the game as it is a generally held view that the best officials are virtually invisible on the field of play. So here goes...the Worst 5 officials followed by the best 5 (complete to last weekend's games).
17th and Last: Walton 3.25
16th and Relegation Position: Dean 2.90
15th and Relegation Position: Gallagher 2.89
14th: Mason 2.84
13th: Halsey 2.75
5th and UEFA Cup Place: Webb 2.14
4th and Champions League: Atkinson 2.09
3rd: Dowd 1.95
2nd: Bennett 1.76
1st: Foy 1.57
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely #1 and #2
Okay, apart from the fact that he looks like Andy Gray's father, the rantings of the Rt Heavy John Reid should have no place on a blog about football and betting. But... I just heard the man say on BBC News 24 that "Unfortunately...I have to respect the law and civil liberties"!!!!! As opposed to being above the law one assumes.
They all make their best nonsenses in the morning. I still chuckle when I think of Gordon Brown's determined assertion that we went to war in Iraq "...in Britain's own economic interests". Priceless.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
They all make their best nonsenses in the morning. I still chuckle when I think of Gordon Brown's determined assertion that we went to war in Iraq "...in Britain's own economic interests". Priceless.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Tuesday, 14 November 2006
"Throw Robinson In The Tower" - The Sun
So, the chattering sub-classes are wittering on about Paul Robinson and whether he is able to deal with long range efforts. Who cares? I was on Reading big style from market opening. Still grinning :))
For me, the jury is still out on Robinson and some of this Spectacular Society stuff is related to the continuing campaign to get David "Calamity" James back between England's posts. Indeed, Robinson sometimes appears to be morphing into a enseemly mixture of James and Fabian "Casino" Barthez.
Totally unrelated to the above goalkeepers in any way, shape or form is a trading hint. Some keepers are shit. Some keepers are crooked and a few keepers are both shit and crooked. Always keep an eye on the keepers.
For me, the jury is still out on Robinson and some of this Spectacular Society stuff is related to the continuing campaign to get David "Calamity" James back between England's posts. Indeed, Robinson sometimes appears to be morphing into a enseemly mixture of James and Fabian "Casino" Barthez.
Totally unrelated to the above goalkeepers in any way, shape or form is a trading hint. Some keepers are shit. Some keepers are crooked and a few keepers are both shit and crooked. Always keep an eye on the keepers.
A Structure To Avoid Corruption (Part 1)
In Serie A, there are 32 referees on the roster. In the Bundesliga, there are 40 referees. In the Premiership, there are merely 17. In fact in season 06/07, over 71% of the games in the top English league have been refereed by just 10 officials and over a third of the games to date by just 4 officials (Poll, Bennett, Wiley and Webb). Think about that for a moment, more than 1 in 3 games in the Premiership have been officiated by this small cell of individuals.
I have no desire to suggest that these officials are doing anything untoward. I am more concerned about the potential cultures that this structure allows.
If criminal elements were able to infiltrate such a small group, it would have an abominable effect on the beautiful game. If an individual club were able to buy out such an intimate little group, championships would be decided.
When you look solely at televised games, the statistics are even more damning. I'm totally bored of seeing Mr Poll. I have my own private views on what the man is about but he is no better nor worse than many others - I'm just sick of the sight of him and I don't like his refereeing style.
So lets see 38 referees in the Premiership. 19 men and 19 women. Lets have technology determine the legality or otherwise of penalties, goals and sending offs. All officials will only referee any given team once per season. All microphones that are worn by officials to be on an open communication line. No sponsorship of individual teams by bookmakers. No insider trading.
You never know, real people might actually start going to watch football again. Because now wherever you look, it is just half-empty grounds with sub-standard theatre. You might as well go and watch the dogs...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
I have no desire to suggest that these officials are doing anything untoward. I am more concerned about the potential cultures that this structure allows.
If criminal elements were able to infiltrate such a small group, it would have an abominable effect on the beautiful game. If an individual club were able to buy out such an intimate little group, championships would be decided.
When you look solely at televised games, the statistics are even more damning. I'm totally bored of seeing Mr Poll. I have my own private views on what the man is about but he is no better nor worse than many others - I'm just sick of the sight of him and I don't like his refereeing style.
So lets see 38 referees in the Premiership. 19 men and 19 women. Lets have technology determine the legality or otherwise of penalties, goals and sending offs. All officials will only referee any given team once per season. All microphones that are worn by officials to be on an open communication line. No sponsorship of individual teams by bookmakers. No insider trading.
You never know, real people might actually start going to watch football again. Because now wherever you look, it is just half-empty grounds with sub-standard theatre. You might as well go and watch the dogs...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Stadium Myth?
A decade or more ago when the betting rings of British racecourses were my office spaces, one came across all manner of rural myths relating to the markets. My favourite was the one about a small team of individuals - one monitoring the tic-tac in the ring and two others in a van on the racecourse perimeter illegally monitoring mobile phone conversations and using bullet microphones to listen into the ramblings of the layers. Cool!
I was reminded of this "myth" at the weekend when an urban equivalent was suggested to me by one of my market analysts. The word is that some traders are using similar microphones and other devices that should be left in university physics laboratories to monitor the miked-up Premiership officials. The Professional Game Match Officials Board should be taking note of this potential loophole in their operation.
I was reminded of this "myth" at the weekend when an urban equivalent was suggested to me by one of my market analysts. The word is that some traders are using similar microphones and other devices that should be left in university physics laboratories to monitor the miked-up Premiership officials. The Professional Game Match Officials Board should be taking note of this potential loophole in their operation.
Monday, 13 November 2006
Fool-Fool Ras Clots and Eejits
So, it's xenophobic break until the weekend. Following the success of my "Anybody But England" flags that were produced for the World Cup, it is time for another rant against the colonial imperialism that surfaces whenever the Three Lions stride onto an international battlefield.
OK, for a starter, out of the 28 players originally named in the England squad, 15 come from an Irish and/or Afro-Caribbean background. How galling it must be to have to put up with all that God Saving The Queen, Sweet Chariots Swinging Low(?), Jerusalem, Hope and Glory shite when plantations, famines, slavery, Cromwell and British divide and rule policies of yesteryear are considerably more defining in the lives of you and your family.
Fortunately, England will never win anything of consequence for three reasons. Firstly, they are simply not good enough. Secondly, wages are more important than nationalism for the Ras Clots and Eejits that choose England ahead of Jamaica or Eire. Thirdly, the bookmakers would never allow it. No chance. Also, England suffers from the same sort of regionalism that blights Spanish football - the Catalans hate the Basques, the Galicians hate everybody and everybody hates the Castillians.
Sport is a lens through which society is able to view itself. The current wave of xenophobic racism that is sweeping Britain and Europe had its foundation in the Netherlands (England's opponents on Wednesday) with Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh and all that nonsense. We expect behaviour from immigrants that we don't expect from ourselves. From Tebbit's Cricket Test to Gordon Brown and all that Magna Carta shit, we expect all and sundry to be so grateful for the grudging acceptance that we bestow upon them. Yet the English abroad live in tiny enclaves of ex-pats, refuse to learn the language, prefer chamber music to any local culture and complain about how cruel all these nasty Europeans are to animals.
Finally, I really don't believe in capital punishment but if there is a line where it might be valid, I wouldn't place the threshold at Saddam Hussein, Ariel Sharon, Bush, Blair or any of the other psychopaths that won't be missed when the world is eventually purged. But, it has to be worthy of consideration for the members of that bloody band that follows Engerland around playing offensive little ditties indicative of our little island mentality.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
OK, for a starter, out of the 28 players originally named in the England squad, 15 come from an Irish and/or Afro-Caribbean background. How galling it must be to have to put up with all that God Saving The Queen, Sweet Chariots Swinging Low(?), Jerusalem, Hope and Glory shite when plantations, famines, slavery, Cromwell and British divide and rule policies of yesteryear are considerably more defining in the lives of you and your family.
Fortunately, England will never win anything of consequence for three reasons. Firstly, they are simply not good enough. Secondly, wages are more important than nationalism for the Ras Clots and Eejits that choose England ahead of Jamaica or Eire. Thirdly, the bookmakers would never allow it. No chance. Also, England suffers from the same sort of regionalism that blights Spanish football - the Catalans hate the Basques, the Galicians hate everybody and everybody hates the Castillians.
Sport is a lens through which society is able to view itself. The current wave of xenophobic racism that is sweeping Britain and Europe had its foundation in the Netherlands (England's opponents on Wednesday) with Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh and all that nonsense. We expect behaviour from immigrants that we don't expect from ourselves. From Tebbit's Cricket Test to Gordon Brown and all that Magna Carta shit, we expect all and sundry to be so grateful for the grudging acceptance that we bestow upon them. Yet the English abroad live in tiny enclaves of ex-pats, refuse to learn the language, prefer chamber music to any local culture and complain about how cruel all these nasty Europeans are to animals.
Finally, I really don't believe in capital punishment but if there is a line where it might be valid, I wouldn't place the threshold at Saddam Hussein, Ariel Sharon, Bush, Blair or any of the other psychopaths that won't be missed when the world is eventually purged. But, it has to be worthy of consideration for the members of that bloody band that follows Engerland around playing offensive little ditties indicative of our little island mentality.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Proper Football
Here in Kerkyra, the island's football team (the mighty A.O. Kerkyra) is hovering in the upper reaches of The Hellenic Super League. Only Olympiakos have conceded less goals. Yesterday's 1-0 defeat of OFI Heraklion Kriti via a 90th minute goal from Gustavo moves the Corfiots into 6th place. Only formed in 1969, this is only the islanders second season in the top flight - the last ended with only three wins and bottom place but did include an astonishing victory over Panathinaikos in a legit game. The football may be crap apart from the Brazilians in the team and there are a fair few fixed games but in the shadow of the Pandokrator with the Zagori Mountains on the Greek/Albanian mainland in the background and the flights landing at the adjacent airport, it has a sort of credibility that you just don't get in a Fulham v Charlton Monday Night Sky game. Anyway Kerkyra are on the rise and its totally cool. Our boundless optimism is clearly defined that our two kits are in the colours of Real Madrid and Barça. Kerkyra Kerkyrara!!
Will Mike Newell Last The Season?
So Mike Newell proudly claims that he is sexist and that bringing women referees into the game "...is tokenism for the politically correct idiots".
Okay, lets get one thing straight - we should all be grateful to the male chauvinist pig for going public about the bung culture that blights our national game. But, putting on my pc idiot hat, the man is several courgettes short of a ratatouille.
Does he prefer his match officials to have links to bookmakers, freemasons and the underworld? Does he prefer decisions being made in smoke-filled rooms by people with cocaine-filled nasal passages? Does he prefer a sports world in which betting patterns have a greater influence on outcome than the abilities of teams or individuals?
With a few obvious exceptions, women have a far greater sense of fair play and justice than men and we should be welcoming them into the game with open arms.
Mr Newell should also take care. Following his disclosures regarding bungs, there is considerable momentum in high places to get him out of the game asap.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Okay, lets get one thing straight - we should all be grateful to the male chauvinist pig for going public about the bung culture that blights our national game. But, putting on my pc idiot hat, the man is several courgettes short of a ratatouille.
Does he prefer his match officials to have links to bookmakers, freemasons and the underworld? Does he prefer decisions being made in smoke-filled rooms by people with cocaine-filled nasal passages? Does he prefer a sports world in which betting patterns have a greater influence on outcome than the abilities of teams or individuals?
With a few obvious exceptions, women have a far greater sense of fair play and justice than men and we should be welcoming them into the game with open arms.
Mr Newell should also take care. Following his disclosures regarding bungs, there is considerable momentum in high places to get him out of the game asap.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Sunday, 12 November 2006
Trading Against Media Disinformation
In 1963, A.W. Cohen (a legendary market analyst) began to collect different market newsletters with the aim of systematically trading against their recommendations. This remains a critical part of trading on both financial and football markets although such analysis should be utilised alongside other forms of market assessment.
When key operators and media outlets (such as The Racing Post, Sporting Life, The Guardian and Sky Television) are determinedly persuading us of the value in betting on Team A, Team B is often the better option (on the Asian Handicap markets in particular). There are two prime reasons for the success of this trading attitude. Firstly, certain individuals within the media are deliberately providing disinformation for the benefit of the bookmakers. And, secondly, concerted disinformation enables a preferential price for insiders to take a contrary view on the market.
In the former case, it is worth monitoring key individuals over a period of time and the ones who are providing disinformation (whether deliberately or not) will become obvious. In addition, when one is able to see the "experts", judge their body language and go with your intuition. We are primed as a species to experience a gut feeling about the morals and ethics of other human beings. A good trigger question to ask yourself is "would I buy a used car from this man?"
The best example of the latter type of manipulation was provided by the trading of some of the key Asian Market Makers a few years ago. These traders would strategically place large bets on Team A around Europe with the result that the market would move significantly to reduce the price on Team A. Then truly colossal positions would be taken on Team B at preferential prices. Team B would then win and the European bookies were left sulking. It should be noted that the Europeans exercise much more control of the markets these days.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
When key operators and media outlets (such as The Racing Post, Sporting Life, The Guardian and Sky Television) are determinedly persuading us of the value in betting on Team A, Team B is often the better option (on the Asian Handicap markets in particular). There are two prime reasons for the success of this trading attitude. Firstly, certain individuals within the media are deliberately providing disinformation for the benefit of the bookmakers. And, secondly, concerted disinformation enables a preferential price for insiders to take a contrary view on the market.
In the former case, it is worth monitoring key individuals over a period of time and the ones who are providing disinformation (whether deliberately or not) will become obvious. In addition, when one is able to see the "experts", judge their body language and go with your intuition. We are primed as a species to experience a gut feeling about the morals and ethics of other human beings. A good trigger question to ask yourself is "would I buy a used car from this man?"
The best example of the latter type of manipulation was provided by the trading of some of the key Asian Market Makers a few years ago. These traders would strategically place large bets on Team A around Europe with the result that the market would move significantly to reduce the price on Team A. Then truly colossal positions would be taken on Team B at preferential prices. Team B would then win and the European bookies were left sulking. It should be noted that the Europeans exercise much more control of the markets these days.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Saturday, 11 November 2006
"It's So Difficult Getting Taxis In Barcelona..."
As part of my work, I am forced to endure far too many hours of watching football on Sky TV. Listening to the smarmy presenters is, unfortunately, a necessary task and when they persist in lying to me, it pisses me off big style.
It is bad enough hearing Jamie Redknapp misinforming me on the games but I expect and accept this type of rubbish. But when the commentators insist on pretending that they are at the stadium (as they do for Champions League and Spanish La Liga games) when they are actually in a London studio, I move to grumpy old man mode.
Two examples.....For 30 minutes of the 2nd Half of the Champions League game between Internazionale and Spartak Moscow, Sky persisted in telling us that the Italians were 3-1 ahead before claiming that "there is some confusion in the stadium about the score" and backtracking to the actual 2-1 score. But this wasn't in the same league as a Barcelona v Espanyol match a number of years back. The satellite transmission failed and, when the signal returned, Rob Palmer informed us that we hadn't missed anything and carried on with his usual nonsense to do with the taxi journey from the airport. Then he noticed that 2-0 had become 3-0! He went into middle class blathering mode - oh how we giggled...
Incidentally, I raised this point at a recent meeting with some Sky people (aliens?) but they were genetically predisposed to duplicitousness - the interaction took on the form of Tony "Trust Me" Blair's monthly press conference.
It is bad enough hearing Jamie Redknapp misinforming me on the games but I expect and accept this type of rubbish. But when the commentators insist on pretending that they are at the stadium (as they do for Champions League and Spanish La Liga games) when they are actually in a London studio, I move to grumpy old man mode.
Two examples.....For 30 minutes of the 2nd Half of the Champions League game between Internazionale and Spartak Moscow, Sky persisted in telling us that the Italians were 3-1 ahead before claiming that "there is some confusion in the stadium about the score" and backtracking to the actual 2-1 score. But this wasn't in the same league as a Barcelona v Espanyol match a number of years back. The satellite transmission failed and, when the signal returned, Rob Palmer informed us that we hadn't missed anything and carried on with his usual nonsense to do with the taxi journey from the airport. Then he noticed that 2-0 had become 3-0! He went into middle class blathering mode - oh how we giggled...
Incidentally, I raised this point at a recent meeting with some Sky people (aliens?) but they were genetically predisposed to duplicitousness - the interaction took on the form of Tony "Trust Me" Blair's monthly press conference.
Regulating The Gambling Industry
The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP is our beloved government's Minister for Culture (her estranged partner is the Rt Dodgy David Mills - Berlusconi's buddy). Below is an open communication regarding her avowed aim to make Britain the cleanest gambling environment on the planet.
"Having observed your recent comments relating to gambling legislation in the UK, I wish to share some key points that I believe are relevant to the current discussion.
In my view, regulating the gambling industry to protect the vulnerable and children is admirable but does not go nearly far enough in such a manipulative area of the economy. Below I have listed some points that should be taken into account with regard to different sub-sectors of the industry.
Online Casinos – Repeated research and statistical analysis has shown that online poker tables are generally corrupt. Why any individual would trust such a virtual game is quite beyond my comprehension. All companies should have to submit their software and gaming practices for independent external assessment.
Casinos – Operators do not allow winning clients. If one wins at blackjack via card counting, for example, you will find that no casino will admit you to their tables. Furthermore, it is very difficult to find poker tables that offer a level playing field. If clients are not able to win, we are effectively dealing with voluntary “taxation” here.
Traditional Bookmakers – Similarly, most traditional bookmakers do not allow winning accounts (I could paper the walls of my office with letters informing me that “it is not in our economic interests to continue offering you an account”). Some of the more enlightened market makers do allow winning accounts and treat such accounts as buying information. However, as gambling winnings are not enforceable under law, one has to build into one’s trading strategy an accommodation for non-payment of winnings at some point in the interaction.
Betting Exchanges – Although a great improvement on the traditional bookmakers, all of the betting exchanges scalp the prices offered to winning clients in real time.
Of significantly greater concern is the fact that conspicuous money can affect outcome in a wide range of sports. To professional traders like myself, we treat this as being part of the game (if one can put up with monopolistic abuse in trading mature financial markets e.g. oil and other commodities, we can put up with it in sports events!). But, for the leisure punter, this effectively represents a latter day form of highway robbery by the market makers and their associates.
To truly protect the vulnerable, the government must take a much more proactive approach. The benefits will be widespread. Criminals will be forced out of the sector; sports events will return to being competitive games as opposed to markets for financial manipulation; mug punters will sometimes even win! Anything less than a thorough and complete overhaul of the entire sector will merely be cosmetic window dressing."
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
"Having observed your recent comments relating to gambling legislation in the UK, I wish to share some key points that I believe are relevant to the current discussion.
In my view, regulating the gambling industry to protect the vulnerable and children is admirable but does not go nearly far enough in such a manipulative area of the economy. Below I have listed some points that should be taken into account with regard to different sub-sectors of the industry.
Online Casinos – Repeated research and statistical analysis has shown that online poker tables are generally corrupt. Why any individual would trust such a virtual game is quite beyond my comprehension. All companies should have to submit their software and gaming practices for independent external assessment.
Casinos – Operators do not allow winning clients. If one wins at blackjack via card counting, for example, you will find that no casino will admit you to their tables. Furthermore, it is very difficult to find poker tables that offer a level playing field. If clients are not able to win, we are effectively dealing with voluntary “taxation” here.
Traditional Bookmakers – Similarly, most traditional bookmakers do not allow winning accounts (I could paper the walls of my office with letters informing me that “it is not in our economic interests to continue offering you an account”). Some of the more enlightened market makers do allow winning accounts and treat such accounts as buying information. However, as gambling winnings are not enforceable under law, one has to build into one’s trading strategy an accommodation for non-payment of winnings at some point in the interaction.
Betting Exchanges – Although a great improvement on the traditional bookmakers, all of the betting exchanges scalp the prices offered to winning clients in real time.
Of significantly greater concern is the fact that conspicuous money can affect outcome in a wide range of sports. To professional traders like myself, we treat this as being part of the game (if one can put up with monopolistic abuse in trading mature financial markets e.g. oil and other commodities, we can put up with it in sports events!). But, for the leisure punter, this effectively represents a latter day form of highway robbery by the market makers and their associates.
To truly protect the vulnerable, the government must take a much more proactive approach. The benefits will be widespread. Criminals will be forced out of the sector; sports events will return to being competitive games as opposed to markets for financial manipulation; mug punters will sometimes even win! Anything less than a thorough and complete overhaul of the entire sector will merely be cosmetic window dressing."
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Manipulated Markets
English Football is currently reeling from the impacts of the Stevens
inquiry into the bung culture, the standard and ethics of referees and
the revelation that Victor Chandler International allegedly took bets
from some Premiership Managers and Players. The words “tip” and
“iceberg” spring to mind.
I have traded professionally on global football betting markets for the past 15 years. In my experience, all the brokers, market makers and bookmakers that I have traded with take bets from insiders in the game. It is regarded as buying information. Undoubtedly, some of this exchange of information borders on the corrupt. The recent betting scandal in Germany and the uproar in Italy’s Serie A show that this isn’t merely a British problem.
Asian Market Makers regularly accept bets of greater than £1million without blinking (Gianluigi Buffon – the Juventus goalkeeper – was found with betting slips for several million euros in his possession during the Moggiopoli scandal). Inevitably, the liquidity of the Asian markets persuades some football people to enhance their earning capacities. To my knowledge, such individuals include players, managers, referees, bookmakers, agents and the criminal fringe. It isn’t just the Italian mafia centres of Napoli, Palermo and Reggio di Calabria that are actively involved in football markets!
To date, all attempts to clean up the game have been peripheral. In Germany, some selective sweeping under the carpet and wrist slapping went on in response to the referee Robert Hoyzer admitting that he took money to alter football match outcomes. But, I believe that there are other match officials in the Bundesliga who were merely demoted or, indeed, allowed to continue to officiate. In Italy, in the aftermath of calciocaos, two referees were suspended but the other six that were under investigation are still involved in Serie A.
Although there are many corrupt players, it is the match officials who are the key component of this crisis. Some have links to individual clubs, some to bookmakers and some to the underworld. There are also many honest people in the game who are just trying to do their jobs. However, until football cleans up its act, corruption will persist. Falling attendances in Italy and England are partially related to deficiencies in the sport on offer. Although the prawn sandwich brigade remain oblivious to anything, the true fans know when they are being short changed. The recent assertion by Graeme Souness that British football is “the most honest in Europe” is simply laughable.
Tessa Jowell, the Minister for Culture, is aiming to make Britain a clean and well regulated gambling environment. I fully support her and her Department’s efforts but such efforts must extend beyond the protection of the vulnerable and the targeting of company directors with criminal links.
The football authorities also need to take a lead in this area and not just in the betting arena. In the lead up to the last World Cup, there was a real concern within FIFA that Uzbekistan were going to make it to the finals. This would have been politically unacceptable. In the first leg of the Asian Play Off with Bahrain, the Uzbeks won 1-0 and had a penalty denied them by the Japanese official. FIFA ludicrously ordered the game to be replayed and a 1-1 draw resulted. Bahrain won through in the Second Leg on away goals – the official for that second game (obviously by chance in the light of recent occurrences) was a certain Mr Graham Poll!
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
I have traded professionally on global football betting markets for the past 15 years. In my experience, all the brokers, market makers and bookmakers that I have traded with take bets from insiders in the game. It is regarded as buying information. Undoubtedly, some of this exchange of information borders on the corrupt. The recent betting scandal in Germany and the uproar in Italy’s Serie A show that this isn’t merely a British problem.
Asian Market Makers regularly accept bets of greater than £1million without blinking (Gianluigi Buffon – the Juventus goalkeeper – was found with betting slips for several million euros in his possession during the Moggiopoli scandal). Inevitably, the liquidity of the Asian markets persuades some football people to enhance their earning capacities. To my knowledge, such individuals include players, managers, referees, bookmakers, agents and the criminal fringe. It isn’t just the Italian mafia centres of Napoli, Palermo and Reggio di Calabria that are actively involved in football markets!
To date, all attempts to clean up the game have been peripheral. In Germany, some selective sweeping under the carpet and wrist slapping went on in response to the referee Robert Hoyzer admitting that he took money to alter football match outcomes. But, I believe that there are other match officials in the Bundesliga who were merely demoted or, indeed, allowed to continue to officiate. In Italy, in the aftermath of calciocaos, two referees were suspended but the other six that were under investigation are still involved in Serie A.
Although there are many corrupt players, it is the match officials who are the key component of this crisis. Some have links to individual clubs, some to bookmakers and some to the underworld. There are also many honest people in the game who are just trying to do their jobs. However, until football cleans up its act, corruption will persist. Falling attendances in Italy and England are partially related to deficiencies in the sport on offer. Although the prawn sandwich brigade remain oblivious to anything, the true fans know when they are being short changed. The recent assertion by Graeme Souness that British football is “the most honest in Europe” is simply laughable.
Tessa Jowell, the Minister for Culture, is aiming to make Britain a clean and well regulated gambling environment. I fully support her and her Department’s efforts but such efforts must extend beyond the protection of the vulnerable and the targeting of company directors with criminal links.
The football authorities also need to take a lead in this area and not just in the betting arena. In the lead up to the last World Cup, there was a real concern within FIFA that Uzbekistan were going to make it to the finals. This would have been politically unacceptable. In the first leg of the Asian Play Off with Bahrain, the Uzbeks won 1-0 and had a penalty denied them by the Japanese official. FIFA ludicrously ordered the game to be replayed and a 1-1 draw resulted. Bahrain won through in the Second Leg on away goals – the official for that second game (obviously by chance in the light of recent occurrences) was a certain Mr Graham Poll!
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
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