It used to be the case that individual instances of corruption, criminality, match-rigging and insider trading were worthy of an overview on the Football Is Fixed blog.
No longer is this the case.
The conveyor belt of corruption speeds ever faster past our collective incredulities and, rather than itemising the specific in an expanded form, we elect to collate the neohyperrealities into one holistic overview of the state of the game in England.
The most important thing to remember is that all of the below neohyperrealities have occurred in the current month - this is a big picture overview of the news that the mainstream media would prefer that you didn't read...
Somewhat arbitrarily, all of these points add weight to our argument that English football inhabits murkier waters than Bulgaria.
* Richard Scudamore, busy spending our money in Japan at the Club World Championship Extravaganza, has admitted that we live in "interesting" financial times.
And, of this admission, he was apparently proud.
And, indeed, this is a marked advancement on his previous denials of the Depression, and his myopic assessment that football would be able to withstand the tsunami ahead.
Of course, neoreality soon reared its ugly head again as Our Great Leader informed us that the next television deals would buck the very considerable trend, and surpass all expectations.
We should hold the man to this assertion when it fails, by some distance, to be hyperrealised.
* Barclays are said to be considering their sponsorship deal of the Premier League. ############################################################################
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Who would want to link their business by association to Association Football?
In a period of falling crowds, increasing influence of gambling monies on match outcomes, debts and bankruptcies, criminalised control of a sub-standard product, who is going to wish to parallel their business with such a sector?
The Ladbrokes Premier League is just round the corner...
* Most worryingly for the powers-that-be is the fall-off in gambling turnover.
By imposing the same corrupt template on the sport of football as they implanted on the 'sport' of horseracing, the powers-that-be failed to take one very key factor into account.
When a well-backed favourite falls at the final fence, with a 5 length advantage over the second placed creature, the punter groans and discards his betting slip.
When a parallel corruption occurs in a Sky Super Sunday Product, the punter is not so easily controlled.
Hence the declining turnover.
In Recessions/Depressions, betting turnover usually increases as ever more desperate methods are utilised to develop a financial safety net (An Aside: I saw my first ever advert for a pawnbroker on British television the other day... New Labour).
This season, from figures provided by our brokers in both Asia and Europe, betting turnover on the leading European leagues is down by #%.
But further examination reveals a far more worrying picture for the bookmakers.
And, by linkage, the sport...
In the last two seasons, global betting turnover on matches in the major European leagues have increased by ##% and ##% respectively.
Minus #% is a major reversal...
But that is not all.
If we just look at turnover in the months of November and December and compare last year to this, we find that betting turnover has plummeted by ##% in 2008.
Minus ##%...
* Scudamore continues to buy up the opposition with regard to his 39th Step nonsense.
It is not feasible to expand in a Recession/Depression - when is this odious man going to learn?
Even Sir Ferguson has had enough of this fake reality: "I don't think there will ever be a 39th game, and I don't believe there should be."
* The same referee doesn't officiate at virtually all the key matches involving the Big 4 teams in Bulgaria.
PC Howard Webb displayed the racism inherent in his officiating (see numerous previous posts) when he very harshly sent off Adebayor in Sunday's match against Liverpool.
But he shouldn't have been in control of the match in the first instance, as his officiating has been second worst in our databases for each of the last two seasons, and he was sent home early from Euro 2008 for unprofessionalism.
Here are some quotes from other match officials to Webb's appointment at the weekend:
"Oh golly gosh, shock of all shocks, we didn't see that one coming did we folks! Pathetically predictable."
"Doesn't Keith Hackett retire at the end of the season? Not a moment too soon. Can the FA give him a six month holiday as a leaving present?"
* And what was Mr Dowd up to prior to sending off Chelsea and England captain John Terry last evening?
And why do the mainstream media ignore the hyperrealities of ScudamoreWorld?
The Everton versus Chelsea match was the highest turnover betting event in the European markets to date this season.
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Most importantly, however, is the issue of a match referee being instructed as to his decision-making when such communication is not on an open-microphone, as is the case in sports that still consider integrity to be a core constituent.
We deserve to know.
As the teams went off at Half-Time, Felipe Scolari repeatedly asked Dowd "are you afraid?"...
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* In England, matches frequently are governed by conflicting insider gambles in the marketplace. ################################################################
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* And the game has been entertaining with the peripherals too.
In a pre-season friendly, David Healy celebrated scoring for Fulham against Celtic by playing a loyalist flute in front of the Celtic fans.
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And guess what?
The monarch's new year nonsense sees the flautist given a MBE for his "charity work".
Inappropriate, or what?
Now, my Auntie Marjorie did a lot of charity work, and, moreover, she didn't entertain public displays of racist bigotry...
* But, then again, Scudamore World welcomed back Big #### Allardyce last week - the integrity of the league being clearly demonstrated by the neohyperreality that one Graeme Souness was the joint favourite for the Blackburn post.
We should not be surprised by ScudamoreWorld.
It can be anything...
* Portsmouth have been fined £15,000 for their compliance in the illegal transfer of Benjani from Pompey to Manchester City.
Arkady Gaydamak selling an asset, via Willie McKay to Thaksin Shinawatra.
Illegally...
Ah! ScudamoreWorld.
The really likeable Glaswegian commented, after receiving his suspended sentence: "I'd just like to thank the FA for all the publicity they gave me" - an interesting piece of chutzpah that should be taken up by all those of a criminal persuasion.
The multi-asseted one continued: "I'm business as usual."
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Meanwhile, Gaydamak has sold numerous companies and his having extreme difficulties servicing his bank loans...
* That other non-sustainable entity, West Ham United, keep sinking. That strange looking guy off Star Trek that Bjorngolfur Gudmundsson initially put in charge at Upton Park has followed Alan Curbishley in suing the club.
They should join the queue, after Sheffield United FC, individual Sheff Utd players...
I've been doing some background on Gudmundsson and he is a disgrace.
He is, at least, as clear an example of the inadequacies of the fit-and-proper-persons test (FPPT), as Shinawatra or Gaydamak...
Icelandic prime minister, Mr Oddsson, has urged the police to investigate the financial affairs of Gudmundsson.
Even Mr Scudamore must agree that "interesting" doesn't really reach far enough into the neohyperrealities of West "Under The Hammer" United.
* And then we get the ground being cleared for a b##y ####ing, s#### importing Fat Man with a penchant for fencing to take over the only remaining Big 4 club with an ounce of integrity left in the locker.
Would Adebayor have been sent off with the Fat Man in control?
Fat Men, Energy Oligarchs, Private Equity Heads, Illegal Arms Dealers, State Terrorists, Hedge Fund Owners, Credit Card Pirates, Oil Dynasties, Philippine Bookmakers, Minimum Wage Slavedrivers - Welcome to ScudamoreWorld...
Its like Bulgaria.
Only worse...
Gareth Southgate: "I can see a Serie A-style collapse happening in English football."
Derby County chairman Adam Pearson: "The game is close to meltdown."
Richard Scudamore: "Interesting..."
"Writing that culminates in itself is only a manifestation of spite" - Edmond Jabès.
Our Great Leader needs to reside in other locations than that opaque place where government and business meet.
Joseph Stiglitz was writing about financial markets when he made the statement below.
With a change of template, the same holistic reality exists with regard to football betting markets.
"Of course, the current problems with our financial system are not solely the result of bad lending. The banks have made mega-bets with one another through complicated instruments such as derivatives, credit- default swaps, and so forth. With these, one party pays another if certain events happen-for instance, if Bear Stearns goes bankrupt, or if the dollar soars. These instruments were originally created to help manage risk- but they can also be used to gamble. Thus, if you felt confident that the dollar was going to fall, you could make a big bet accordingly, and if the dollar indeed fell, your profits would soar. The problem is that, with this complicated intertwining of bets of great magnitude, no one could be sure of the financial position of anyone else-or even of one's own position. Not surprisingly, the credit markets froze."
The Portuguese have a word for it...
Satiagraha - holding onto truth - all that is left us in ScudamoreWorld.
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