The outcome to the Manchester United/ Carlos Tevez saga would seem to lie in the statement from Kia Joorabchian to the effect that: "On Tuesday Tevez will fly to Britain for a medical at Old Trafford as part of the process of his transfer to Manchester United. MSI is considering making an application to Fifa to request that they mediate in the dispute. It is our understanding that all parties involved in the transfer are now satisfied the administrative issues will be settled in the next few days." A done deal then...
This whole saga is increasingly entertaining and is a clear example of the risks of spinning the media. The Premier League in particular but all other protagonists too have been spinning media webs throughout the process and the lack of shared strategy has produced a self-cornering impact for the linked operators. The above statement implies that it is time for all relevant parties to come together in a shared damage limitation exercise - there is nothing to be gained from a continuation of the posturing. Joorabchian is also having legal issues in Brazil where he has been charged with money laundering together with Boris Berezovsky and Nojan Bedroud. Arrest warrants exist for all three individuals. Indeed, accusations of match fixing have now surfaced against Corinthians (the team that MSI control) - the state prosecutors have "many hours" of intercepted calls regarding this corruption. Joorabchian and Zahavi are definitely feeling the pressure here - we've already got our own culture of money laundering and match fixing and we don't need the likes of MSI muscling in...
Why is Britain allowing the likes of Berezovsky, Zahavi and Shinawatra a base and a freestyle business environment where they can pull the illicit levers of their grey and black market operations with total immunity? Why is it a reasonable state of affairs that these people are taking over our game? The current grey reality of conflicting realities shows equivalence with those braintwisting logic problems. In the case of the Premier League, West Ham United, MSI and Kia Joorabchian, there is no outcome that doesn't leave a residue of impropriety for at least one of the conspirators. Unless I am missing something here, there is an added Orwellian twist with the Premier League threatening to punish West Ham if they pass on a transfer fee for the move of Tevez to Manchester. So, in addition to the non-deduction of points which ended with the East Londoners unjustly retaining a Premiership place (this one decision alone will enhance cashflow in the coming season to the extent of several tens of millions of pounds), the Premier League are now insisting in effect that West Ham get given another dollop of cash. I MUST be missing something here.
So the reality would appear to be that there is a contract and an anti-contract which is another situation best thought of in a quantum paradigm. It is apparently possible for the Tevez contract to exist in two forms at exactly the same time in a Higg's boson sort of way. This, as far as I am able to determine, is probably their best option of a facesaver - totally warp all relevance to recognisable reality and leave an area of confusion that may left undefined as the issue slowly slips from public attention.
It will be revealing to see how Caborn's replacement, Gerry Sutcliffe, reacts to the first seismic disturbance of his reign.
So the high court say that Sheffield United cannot appeal in a continuation of the stitch-up. Tevez deal is all but sorted. West Ham are safe and rich. Joorabchian, Shinawatra, Gaydamek, Berezovsky, Hicks and Gillett etc are all sitting at the blackjack table awaiting the next deal in the future of the Premiership.
Finally, it is sometimes interesting and informative to see the range of punishments and the selections of targets to be fingered. The Quest report into bungs was, in many ways, a slap on the wrist for Pini Zahavi and Portsmouth. The MSI/ West Ham United scandal has once again targeted Zahavi via his links to MSI and is, effectively, a second warning. Perhaps he should take note...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
