One day after the completion of the English domestic season and all footie fans take their collectives eyes off the balls and attempt to find something else to focus on for the two months until the whole charade starts again. No better day for the Premier League (PL) to leak selected updates to acquiescent journalists regarding the Quest report into illegal bungs in football then - despite the pertinent meeting having taken place on the day of the England/ Brazil game, public exposure was carefully delayed to reduce impact. The PL does spin as a basis of it's modus operandi.
So, where does this update leave us? Pretty much exactly where we were before. The ongoing saga regarding West Ham United and Tevez/ Mascherano is the latest flimsy excuse for avoiding letting the public know anything that might be of interest.
Several decades ago, Sven Goran Eriksson and Mike Newell separately highlighted the issue of illegal transfer activity in the English game and, as far as we are able to see, the sole impacts of their stance have been their removal from their jobs and the ensuing fact that neither of them will be involved in any capacity in English football again. None of the individuals fingered by the BBC Panorama programme have suffered any career setbacks and, indeed, Allardyce and Bond have been promoted up the footballing hierarchy. Additionally, as we have stated previously, the scope of Quest's inquiry was highly restrictive from day one as the window of investigation was kept deliberately brief as the bottom could have fallen out of the English game if the period had stretched back, say, ten years instead of merely two.
Richard Scudamore, the slippery CEO of the PL, is apparently considering IF he should make the report public rather than WHEN to make it public. The people who pay through the nose to watch our corrupted game deserve to be kept informed in real time of the developments that Quest have made and "if" and "when" should be undermined by an immediate release of proper information rather than sneaky leaks of snippets of spin.
The FA has been kept at the periphery of the process and, despite receiving regular updates from Quest and the Premier League, our sources suggest that these updates have been peripheral and general in form and, most definitely, not specific. Under normal circumstances, the whole inquiry would have fallen under the FA's remit but the English game could never have allowed this to occur and the choice of Quest effectively sidelined the whole process to a procedural route safe from prying eyes. The FA is apparently considering retaining Stevens to probe "even deeper" into suspected transfer market irregularities. Even deeper than what? A cover up? Can't wait...
Anyway, after fifteen months of inquiry, Lord Stevens has handed the Premier League a list of just seventeen transfers that remain under scrutiny which is exactly the position that was reached last December. Six months later and there are still no names, suspensions while inquiry continues or, in fact, anything that might suggest that due process is being undertaken here.
Quest is questionable. The company claims to work at uncovering corporate malpractice but has previous history of delay, spin and disguise in inquiries into the death of Princess Diana and security breaches in the six counties. Investigative market analysts also base our skills on the detection of corporate malpractice but it is at this point where any similarity is discarded. Quest does indeed focus on the malpractice but merely from the perspective of tightening up the hierarchical infrastructure so that the weaknesses being addressed (ie the death of a princess or state death squads roaming the streets of Belfast in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries) is secured for the future. Basically, Quest's role is to plug loopholes at speed while releasing public information at their leisure. "As with all investigations I shall go where the evidence leads," said Stevens. "I can assure both the Premier League and you [the public] that Quest will not be distracted or diverted from whether or not irregularities exist and, if there is evidence of wrongdoing, it shall be highlighted." That was last December so we have to ask "when?". Quest only works with the FA to the degree that it must do so and the recommendations released to date have all targeted the FA and it's role in the game. As Brian Barwick has stated "while there was little detail concerning irregular transfer activities, Lord Stevens highlighted various criticisms of the FA and its compliance department" and "he also made certain recommendations. The overwhelming majority of these recommendations had already been formulated by the FA prior to his inquiry."
Apparently, August is the next likely date for a meaningless update from the copper's copper (surely that cannot be intended as a recommendation of Lord Steven's suitability for the job in hand). No doubt such release will be secreted away on a pre-season Tuesday or Thursday and then we can all get on with the enjoyment of the 2007/08 version of the beautiful game.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
