We attempt to provide a history of the present from a terrain where we exist as forensic vigilantes sousveilling the pretensions of a system.
Pretentious, or what? :)
Piotr Kropotkin: "In fact, the masses never believed in sophisms taught by economists."
Which is a good job really as we have all been systemically disinherited, and systemically disinherited we will all remain.
As will your children as they pay for the excesses of a psychopathic financial template stretching from Slack Jaw's love affair with the private finance initiative (PFI) to the current fad for handouts to the banking sector.
If it carries on like this, there might be a return of that recurrent need to follow a 'Great' Depression with an equally 'Great' War.
This is the third of our series of meanderings related to the demise of the global financial infrastructure.
The first two posts (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2009/02/predator-state.html and http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2009/02/que-se-vayan-todos-all-of-them-must-go.html) blathered on and on, and we see little reason to tinker with a successful formula in this place.
The remainder of this post is for subscribers only.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Thursday 26 February 2009
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Rattle Away At Your Bin #
We wish to expand slightly on our deconstruction of the Redknapp-Dean Edifice.
Here are a listing of the last ten occasions when Our Hero has met with Arbitros Man.
Oct 27 2007: Portsmouth v West Ham United - Mr Dean provides Pompey with an injury time penalty which Benjani proceeds to miss. The match finishes 0-0 despite the input of Wirral Man. #######################################################
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January 1st 2008: Reading v Portsmouth - Ibrahima Sonko pays for his Blackness when receiving a 3rd minute sending off. Mr Dean had not finished there though as he felt it necessary to also provide Portsmouth with a penalty, which they missed. The match ended 0-2 ######################################################################
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January 19th 2008: Portsmouth v Derby County - A 3-1 victory just eighteen days after Harry last met Mikey. #####################################################
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February 17th 2008: Preston North End v Portsmouth - The ultimately hypersuccessful FA Cup campaign continues with a 1-0 victory in a very grim place indeed.
May 17th 2008: Portsmouth v Cardiff City - Redknapp wins his first proper trophy in the game that ###################################################################
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August 17th 2008: Chelsea v Portsmouth - #######################################
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September 28th 2008: Portsmouth v Tottenham - Portsmouth given a penalty to take the lead. Tottenham denied a penalty. Pompey run out 2-0 winners against Our Hero's future employers. The 88th minute sending off of a Black man was of minimal consequence.
November 11th 2008: Manchester City v Tottenham - The new Spurs supremo sees his side grab a 2-1 victory in the most meritocratic of matches. The story - City take the lead; Dean sends off City's Fernandes in 26th minute; Spurs take the lead; Dean sends off City's Dunne; Assou-Ekotto irrelevantly disappears up the tunnel in the 89th minute in a further ########################################################
December 13th 2008: Tottenham v Manchester United - A hard-fought 0-0 draw with a Ronaldo goal chalked off.
February 8th 2009: Tottenham v Arsenal - The infamous disallowed goal for the offence of "Being Black in the penalty area", followed by the sending off for the offence of "Scoring and making me look amateurish on television and being Black and fouling". Another first half sending off and another overachievement against the market in a 0-0 draw.
10 matches.
8 overperformances against the market price for Redknapp's team (9 if not for Benjani).
7 decisions in favour of Harry when matches level or one goal differential ie competitive.
0 decisions against Harry in the same circumstances.
1 FA Cup Final Winners Medal.
1 Freedom Of The City Of Portsmouth.
And note that the average time of the first sending off is the 22nd minute - maximum impact.
Some questions for the Premier League/Professional Game Match Officials Board/FA (PL/PGMOB/FA):
Why has Mr Dean been given 11 link-ups with Redknapp since the start of last season, when 4 would be a more valid number?
Why have the balance and timing of match decisions been so biased in favour of Redknapp's teams?
Why doesn't anyone monitor this sort of thing?
Why did Dean get the FA Cup Final just two years after being banned for his role in the online betting site, Arbitros?
Who makes the decisions at the PL/PGMOB that allows what would appear, on the face of it, to be not only biased officiating but also institutional bias in the selection of referees to the benefit of one certain individual?
Is it Keith Hackett?
Is it one of his officers?
Who?
It is our fucking sport...
These are reasonable questions to ask.
And, while we're at it.
When two of the highest profile referees have a racist bias in their officiating, why isn't anybody at the PL/PGMOB monitoring that particular bubble of nonsense?
All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Here are a listing of the last ten occasions when Our Hero has met with Arbitros Man.
Oct 27 2007: Portsmouth v West Ham United - Mr Dean provides Pompey with an injury time penalty which Benjani proceeds to miss. The match finishes 0-0 despite the input of Wirral Man. #######################################################
############################################################################
#####################################################################
January 1st 2008: Reading v Portsmouth - Ibrahima Sonko pays for his Blackness when receiving a 3rd minute sending off. Mr Dean had not finished there though as he felt it necessary to also provide Portsmouth with a penalty, which they missed. The match ended 0-2 ######################################################################
#############################################################################
January 19th 2008: Portsmouth v Derby County - A 3-1 victory just eighteen days after Harry last met Mikey. #####################################################
#############################################################################
February 17th 2008: Preston North End v Portsmouth - The ultimately hypersuccessful FA Cup campaign continues with a 1-0 victory in a very grim place indeed.
May 17th 2008: Portsmouth v Cardiff City - Redknapp wins his first proper trophy in the game that ###################################################################
##################################################################################
############################################################################
August 17th 2008: Chelsea v Portsmouth - #######################################
################################################################################
########################################################################
#############################################################################
September 28th 2008: Portsmouth v Tottenham - Portsmouth given a penalty to take the lead. Tottenham denied a penalty. Pompey run out 2-0 winners against Our Hero's future employers. The 88th minute sending off of a Black man was of minimal consequence.
November 11th 2008: Manchester City v Tottenham - The new Spurs supremo sees his side grab a 2-1 victory in the most meritocratic of matches. The story - City take the lead; Dean sends off City's Fernandes in 26th minute; Spurs take the lead; Dean sends off City's Dunne; Assou-Ekotto irrelevantly disappears up the tunnel in the 89th minute in a further ########################################################
December 13th 2008: Tottenham v Manchester United - A hard-fought 0-0 draw with a Ronaldo goal chalked off.
February 8th 2009: Tottenham v Arsenal - The infamous disallowed goal for the offence of "Being Black in the penalty area", followed by the sending off for the offence of "Scoring and making me look amateurish on television and being Black and fouling". Another first half sending off and another overachievement against the market in a 0-0 draw.
10 matches.
8 overperformances against the market price for Redknapp's team (9 if not for Benjani).
7 decisions in favour of Harry when matches level or one goal differential ie competitive.
0 decisions against Harry in the same circumstances.
1 FA Cup Final Winners Medal.
1 Freedom Of The City Of Portsmouth.
And note that the average time of the first sending off is the 22nd minute - maximum impact.
Some questions for the Premier League/Professional Game Match Officials Board/FA (PL/PGMOB/FA):
Why has Mr Dean been given 11 link-ups with Redknapp since the start of last season, when 4 would be a more valid number?
Why have the balance and timing of match decisions been so biased in favour of Redknapp's teams?
Why doesn't anyone monitor this sort of thing?
Why did Dean get the FA Cup Final just two years after being banned for his role in the online betting site, Arbitros?
Who makes the decisions at the PL/PGMOB that allows what would appear, on the face of it, to be not only biased officiating but also institutional bias in the selection of referees to the benefit of one certain individual?
Is it Keith Hackett?
Is it one of his officers?
Who?
It is our fucking sport...
These are reasonable questions to ask.
And, while we're at it.
When two of the highest profile referees have a racist bias in their officiating, why isn't anybody at the PL/PGMOB monitoring that particular bubble of nonsense?
All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Monday 23 February 2009
TwitterSoap #
29 Hours Without A Goal...
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Owen, He's Always There Or Thereabouts
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Illegal Arms Dealer On The Run
Arkady Gaydamak has shown inner strength by running away from debts in Israel after getting just 3% of vote in Jerusalem mayoral poll. Trying to sell everything, everywhere, including Beitar Jerusalem - his publicity vehicle. Pompey fans take note.
PC Webb - Simply The Best?
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Would Keith Hackett clone him if he had the option?
He Claims To Be A Socialist
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Lets Get Quizzical
Which Premiership referee is linked to one ########## club, is racist, is otherwise anti-southern, is anti-catholic and has certain other links? And, it is not ###########...
Who Coerces Gays?
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ScudamoreWorld Hyperreality Alert
Our Great Leader intends the twinning of every Premiership club with leading clubs from the Asian Champions League. #############################################
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Statute Of Limitations
Berlusconi uses them. Isn't it a pity that David Mills can't? Tessa Jowell - such a fine judge of character :) And the City of London police keep arresting our latter day version of Bonnie and Clyde - Brady and Sullivan. The hypercriminals lack B&C's refinement.
Calamity Ousts Adams
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Player Power?
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Illicit Video Technology
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Changes Of Referee in Premiership
The number of matches recently in the Premiership where the referee has been altered late on is bordering on market manipulation. There is no justification in either the number of alterations or the delay in making the information public. These are not private markets for proprietary gain.
The Fat Fencer Takes A Quarter
The Fat-Ol'-Fellow-With-The-Belly-Out-In-Front increased his stake in Arsenal to more than 25%. Not long before Dein is back now. Kind of feeling nostalgic about that really - the hair, the duplicity, the smarm, and a Fat-Ol'-Fellow to boot...
No Eye Contact, Repeated Nervous Head Movements, Anxious To Get On With The Game...
Sam Allardyce: "Body language is 65% of communication." He's been watching Howard too. A major weakness in the whole shenanigans is this - referees are only human...
The $20 Million Rigged Match
There are those on this planet who dare believe that the Sir Allen Stanford $20 million PR extravaganza was a rigged neoreality. ##############################
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How did he come across that knighthood anyway? Why hasn't Michael Owen got a knighthood yet?
20 Minute Half-Time? Why Stop There?
So the Premier League is expanding the sport to suit its own commercial interests in a neat little ruse perpetrated by the various power bases. The Half-Time Market has its window increased by 33%. We suggest an hour. Including between 'normal' time and extra time too. The football must not be allowed to repeatedly get in the way of the insider betting opportunities in the private markets. The fragmented market operators deserve their slice of the action because they put so much back into the sport.
Everything Is Okay In The Police, Apparently
Jack Straw, who oozes duplicity in everything he does, claims that there is no longer any racism in the police. Black police officers beg to differ, but, strangely enough, it was Mr Straw who got the primetime slot. He must be correct. He is a Socialist, isn't he?
First Against The Wall
When the world still possessed a financial system worthy of the name, once per year those cheeky chappies and chapesses from the private equity sector would race their private jets across the Atlantic on the way to their yearly shindig, "The Super Return". The Economist bemoans that, at this years' event, there was only one Bentley and no private aeroplanes. These people deserve our money. We must bail them out with loans that will never be returned. We should trust them despite their past mistakes. Surely they wouldn't gamble with it again?
All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
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Owen, He's Always There Or Thereabouts
##################################################################################
##############################################################################
####################################################################
Illegal Arms Dealer On The Run
Arkady Gaydamak has shown inner strength by running away from debts in Israel after getting just 3% of vote in Jerusalem mayoral poll. Trying to sell everything, everywhere, including Beitar Jerusalem - his publicity vehicle. Pompey fans take note.
PC Webb - Simply The Best?
###########################################################################
########################################################################
########################
Would Keith Hackett clone him if he had the option?
He Claims To Be A Socialist
#################################################################################
############################################################################
###########################################################################
##############################################################################
Lets Get Quizzical
Which Premiership referee is linked to one ########## club, is racist, is otherwise anti-southern, is anti-catholic and has certain other links? And, it is not ###########...
Who Coerces Gays?
##################################################################################
##############################################################################
#########################################################################
##############################################################################
##############################################################################
######################################################################
ScudamoreWorld Hyperreality Alert
Our Great Leader intends the twinning of every Premiership club with leading clubs from the Asian Champions League. #############################################
#############################################################################
######################################################################
#################################################################################
######################################################################
Statute Of Limitations
Berlusconi uses them. Isn't it a pity that David Mills can't? Tessa Jowell - such a fine judge of character :) And the City of London police keep arresting our latter day version of Bonnie and Clyde - Brady and Sullivan. The hypercriminals lack B&C's refinement.
Calamity Ousts Adams
###############################################################################
#####################################################
############################################################################
######################################################################
Player Power?
###############################################################################
#########################################################################
##############################################################################
#############################################
Illicit Video Technology
##############################################################################
##########################################################################
#############################################################################
####################################################################
#################################################################################
##############################################################################
Changes Of Referee in Premiership
The number of matches recently in the Premiership where the referee has been altered late on is bordering on market manipulation. There is no justification in either the number of alterations or the delay in making the information public. These are not private markets for proprietary gain.
The Fat Fencer Takes A Quarter
The Fat-Ol'-Fellow-With-The-Belly-Out-In-Front increased his stake in Arsenal to more than 25%. Not long before Dein is back now. Kind of feeling nostalgic about that really - the hair, the duplicity, the smarm, and a Fat-Ol'-Fellow to boot...
No Eye Contact, Repeated Nervous Head Movements, Anxious To Get On With The Game...
Sam Allardyce: "Body language is 65% of communication." He's been watching Howard too. A major weakness in the whole shenanigans is this - referees are only human...
The $20 Million Rigged Match
There are those on this planet who dare believe that the Sir Allen Stanford $20 million PR extravaganza was a rigged neoreality. ##############################
############################################################################
#############################################################################
##################################################################
#####################################
How did he come across that knighthood anyway? Why hasn't Michael Owen got a knighthood yet?
20 Minute Half-Time? Why Stop There?
So the Premier League is expanding the sport to suit its own commercial interests in a neat little ruse perpetrated by the various power bases. The Half-Time Market has its window increased by 33%. We suggest an hour. Including between 'normal' time and extra time too. The football must not be allowed to repeatedly get in the way of the insider betting opportunities in the private markets. The fragmented market operators deserve their slice of the action because they put so much back into the sport.
Everything Is Okay In The Police, Apparently
Jack Straw, who oozes duplicity in everything he does, claims that there is no longer any racism in the police. Black police officers beg to differ, but, strangely enough, it was Mr Straw who got the primetime slot. He must be correct. He is a Socialist, isn't he?
First Against The Wall
When the world still possessed a financial system worthy of the name, once per year those cheeky chappies and chapesses from the private equity sector would race their private jets across the Atlantic on the way to their yearly shindig, "The Super Return". The Economist bemoans that, at this years' event, there was only one Bentley and no private aeroplanes. These people deserve our money. We must bail them out with loans that will never be returned. We should trust them despite their past mistakes. Surely they wouldn't gamble with it again?
All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Thursday 19 February 2009
Are Harry Redknapp And Mike Dean Having An Affair? #
You parrot-clawed, thrush-beaked, pigeon-chested, self-opinionated, sod-minded, suet-brained, ham-faced, mealy-mouthed, streptococcus-ridden gang of gobshites, to slightly paraphrase Myles na Gopaleen.
We, at Football Is Fixed, do not hold Our Great Leader and his ############# coterie in a very high regard.
The twisted sanctuary of ScudamoreWorld is trying to sell an incredibly fake reality with a premium on mediocrity to an increasingly incredulous audience.
In our next two footballing presentations, we address two major ######## conspiracies.
The first relates to the inappropriate relationship between a leading Premiership manager and an equally high-profile PGMOB match referee.
The second relates to the equally inappropriate practices, including insider trading, match-rigging, child-trafficking, money laundering, that sort of thing, at leading firms of British football agents and the affecting of Premiership match outcomes.
Since the beginning of last season, Mike Dean has refereed 11 matches featuring teams managed by Harry Redknapp.
In these alleged sporting contests, Mr Dean has shown an obviously unconscious bias to the man with the whiskey-face on him.
Portsmouth/Tottenham have overachieved against the market price in all but two of these matches. In the first, Mr Dean provided Pompey with an injury-time penalty that Benjani managed to miss against West Ham, and in the other, our contact informs us that certain insiders at Portsmouth had short-sold their team in this year's opener at Chelsea.
Aside from this event, Dean has given Redknapp 3 penalties in favour and none against, plus, for good measure, 4 sendings off in just 10 matches. To 'balance' things out statistically, Dean has also sent off two of Redknapp's players - one in the 88th minute when Redknapp was 2-0 ahead ie irrelevant, and one in the 89th minute when Redknapp was 2-1 ahead and the other team was down to nine men ie equally irrelevant.
Furthermore two of these matches occurred in the Portsmouth FA(ke) Cup triumph last season including, inevitably, the final itself. This was the game, of course, that Pompey keeper David James stated that he "knew" they were going to win, before hurriedly withdrawing the remark.
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There are 19 match referees on the PGMOB Select Group roster because Shinawatra's sidekick Mark "New Hair" Clattenburg is banned for allegedly threatening the family of his ex-business partner together with ####################################
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There are 38 games in the season. Throw in the two cup competitions (15 matches involving Redknapp) and so with 78 matches in total since the beginning of last season, an interested observer might assume that each team should meet up with each match official, on average, on four occasions.
Statistically, looking at matters on a distribution level, the likelihood of Mr Dean randomly being selected for 11 Redknapp events in this window is 1 in #########.
About the same as the Earth being hit by an asteroid, as it happens...
But what about the mechanisms that allow such a gross distortion of our hyperrealities?
The PGMOB are supposed to select match officials both meritocratically (there is allegedly a merit table although one referee of our acquaintance refers to it as the Keith Hackett non-merit table), and without bias to the teams involved.
How did something with the statistical probability of an astronomical end to the world come to pass without the active input of somebody very senior within the PGMOB?
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And, what is it with BSkyB and an inner grouping of match officials, including Mr Dean?
Out of 64 Sky live televised matches this season, Mike Dean and the Kipper have refereed 9 matches apiece while PC Webb has been given 16 games - precisely 25% of all of the matches shown by Sky?
Over 50% of the games going to the same three officials?
As Myles said: "The coincidence has that inscrutable felicity that is usually associated with the more benevolent manifestations of Providence."
Of course, it was only a couple of years back that Mr Dean was banned for a few months due to his invalid links to an online betting site called Arbitros (referee, geddit?). It is certainly a positive that the PGMOB treats the integrity of our game with such an assured vision of hyperselectivity.
I know, why don't we take a brief glance at the players that Arbitros Man has sent off in this current season in ScudamoreWorld, shall we?
Emmanuel Eboué
Ashley Young
Sébastien Bassong
Gelson Fernandes
Benoît Assou-Ekotto
Lassana Diarra
Amdy Faye
Richard Dunne
Now Dean has it in for the Abu Dhabi United captain, Richard Dunne, as he is currently averaging sending off the man on one occasion each season.
So, let's remove yer man from the listing, shall we?
And so, who do we have left?
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Got it!!!!
They're all Black!
Excellent, so our resident of the Wirral manages, within just one minor collection of human characteristics, to exhibit ####################################
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Apparently, I have to say 'allegedly' here.
But we have got files and files of information regarding the activities of Mr Dean and Mr Redknapp in a whole spectrum of different business arenas, both historically and in the present.
The facts that we display for you in this place are merely soundbites of the symphony of shenanigans in our possession.
Mike Dean's last dramatic performance, for that is the only way to describe his input, was the draw between Spurs and Arsenal in the last round of Premiership matches. This was the game where he disallowed a perfectly good Arsenal goal and sent off Eboué.
But, guess who is the 4th Official for Tottenham's visit to Humberside on Monday evening?
What! Surely it is not Mike Dean getting a twelfth game with his mentor?
Surely not!
Tell us it is not so...
Without the input of Arbitros Man over the last eighteen months, we would see Mr Redknapp as the Real quality of manager that he is, rather than the Freedom of the City-gaining, FA Cup-winning, relegation-surviving genius who apparently warrants beatification at the very least.
And all this is without the bungs inquiry, without the City of London police inquiry into fraud and money laundering, without regarding the state in which Our Hero left Pompey with 90% of turnover going on wages, without any assessment of gambling activities, and without any overview of his property empire.
Still, it is certainly a great relief to see Pascal Chimbonda reunited with Redknapp courtesy of Glaswegian agent Willie McKay.
And it is with this character that we will begin our dissection of the British transfer market and the role of dodgy agents in our next post.
There is an important point to be made here with regard to Mike Dean, Harry Redknapp and Willie McKay.
Unbelievably, each had a mother...
ScudamoreWorld - Shite Reflecting Booster Technology.
All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
We, at Football Is Fixed, do not hold Our Great Leader and his ############# coterie in a very high regard.
The twisted sanctuary of ScudamoreWorld is trying to sell an incredibly fake reality with a premium on mediocrity to an increasingly incredulous audience.
In our next two footballing presentations, we address two major ######## conspiracies.
The first relates to the inappropriate relationship between a leading Premiership manager and an equally high-profile PGMOB match referee.
The second relates to the equally inappropriate practices, including insider trading, match-rigging, child-trafficking, money laundering, that sort of thing, at leading firms of British football agents and the affecting of Premiership match outcomes.
Since the beginning of last season, Mike Dean has refereed 11 matches featuring teams managed by Harry Redknapp.
In these alleged sporting contests, Mr Dean has shown an obviously unconscious bias to the man with the whiskey-face on him.
Portsmouth/Tottenham have overachieved against the market price in all but two of these matches. In the first, Mr Dean provided Pompey with an injury-time penalty that Benjani managed to miss against West Ham, and in the other, our contact informs us that certain insiders at Portsmouth had short-sold their team in this year's opener at Chelsea.
Aside from this event, Dean has given Redknapp 3 penalties in favour and none against, plus, for good measure, 4 sendings off in just 10 matches. To 'balance' things out statistically, Dean has also sent off two of Redknapp's players - one in the 88th minute when Redknapp was 2-0 ahead ie irrelevant, and one in the 89th minute when Redknapp was 2-1 ahead and the other team was down to nine men ie equally irrelevant.
Furthermore two of these matches occurred in the Portsmouth FA(ke) Cup triumph last season including, inevitably, the final itself. This was the game, of course, that Pompey keeper David James stated that he "knew" they were going to win, before hurriedly withdrawing the remark.
##########################################################################
#######################################################################
###########################################################################
#########################################################################
######################################################################
There are 19 match referees on the PGMOB Select Group roster because Shinawatra's sidekick Mark "New Hair" Clattenburg is banned for allegedly threatening the family of his ex-business partner together with ####################################
#########################################################################
###############################################################################
There are 38 games in the season. Throw in the two cup competitions (15 matches involving Redknapp) and so with 78 matches in total since the beginning of last season, an interested observer might assume that each team should meet up with each match official, on average, on four occasions.
Statistically, looking at matters on a distribution level, the likelihood of Mr Dean randomly being selected for 11 Redknapp events in this window is 1 in #########.
About the same as the Earth being hit by an asteroid, as it happens...
But what about the mechanisms that allow such a gross distortion of our hyperrealities?
The PGMOB are supposed to select match officials both meritocratically (there is allegedly a merit table although one referee of our acquaintance refers to it as the Keith Hackett non-merit table), and without bias to the teams involved.
How did something with the statistical probability of an astronomical end to the world come to pass without the active input of somebody very senior within the PGMOB?
###############################################################################
#############################################################################
###########################################
#######################################################################
##################################################
And, what is it with BSkyB and an inner grouping of match officials, including Mr Dean?
Out of 64 Sky live televised matches this season, Mike Dean and the Kipper have refereed 9 matches apiece while PC Webb has been given 16 games - precisely 25% of all of the matches shown by Sky?
Over 50% of the games going to the same three officials?
As Myles said: "The coincidence has that inscrutable felicity that is usually associated with the more benevolent manifestations of Providence."
Of course, it was only a couple of years back that Mr Dean was banned for a few months due to his invalid links to an online betting site called Arbitros (referee, geddit?). It is certainly a positive that the PGMOB treats the integrity of our game with such an assured vision of hyperselectivity.
I know, why don't we take a brief glance at the players that Arbitros Man has sent off in this current season in ScudamoreWorld, shall we?
Emmanuel Eboué
Ashley Young
Sébastien Bassong
Gelson Fernandes
Benoît Assou-Ekotto
Lassana Diarra
Amdy Faye
Richard Dunne
Now Dean has it in for the Abu Dhabi United captain, Richard Dunne, as he is currently averaging sending off the man on one occasion each season.
So, let's remove yer man from the listing, shall we?
And so, who do we have left?
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Got it!!!!
They're all Black!
Excellent, so our resident of the Wirral manages, within just one minor collection of human characteristics, to exhibit ####################################
##########################################################################
##############################################################################
####################################################################
Apparently, I have to say 'allegedly' here.
But we have got files and files of information regarding the activities of Mr Dean and Mr Redknapp in a whole spectrum of different business arenas, both historically and in the present.
The facts that we display for you in this place are merely soundbites of the symphony of shenanigans in our possession.
Mike Dean's last dramatic performance, for that is the only way to describe his input, was the draw between Spurs and Arsenal in the last round of Premiership matches. This was the game where he disallowed a perfectly good Arsenal goal and sent off Eboué.
But, guess who is the 4th Official for Tottenham's visit to Humberside on Monday evening?
What! Surely it is not Mike Dean getting a twelfth game with his mentor?
Surely not!
Tell us it is not so...
Without the input of Arbitros Man over the last eighteen months, we would see Mr Redknapp as the Real quality of manager that he is, rather than the Freedom of the City-gaining, FA Cup-winning, relegation-surviving genius who apparently warrants beatification at the very least.
And all this is without the bungs inquiry, without the City of London police inquiry into fraud and money laundering, without regarding the state in which Our Hero left Pompey with 90% of turnover going on wages, without any assessment of gambling activities, and without any overview of his property empire.
Still, it is certainly a great relief to see Pascal Chimbonda reunited with Redknapp courtesy of Glaswegian agent Willie McKay.
And it is with this character that we will begin our dissection of the British transfer market and the role of dodgy agents in our next post.
There is an important point to be made here with regard to Mike Dean, Harry Redknapp and Willie McKay.
Unbelievably, each had a mother...
ScudamoreWorld - Shite Reflecting Booster Technology.
All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Wednesday 18 February 2009
The Predator State #
"The Predator State" is the title of the latest publication by Professor James Galbraith (son of J.K.).
In the words of the man: "The Predator State refers to the takeover of state power by private interests masquerading behind conservative principle and basically acting for private clients and private profit."
This is the crux of the matter.
As the Economist states: "In a fight, the regulators have the legal power. But the financiers have the political power."
This post, which is a sequel to "¡Que Se Vayan Todos! - All Of Them Must Go" that we churned out last week, addresses the progression from where we stand now on the cusps of Depression to the Real demise ahead, and assesses the mechanics of decline as well as the paucity of intellectual robustness behind the free market capitalist model.
Reflexivity, Behavioural Economics, Psychopathic Personality Disorders, Fractal Mathematics, an Analysis of Shadow Banking and Markets, the Instability of Government Finances, the Black Market, Global Regulation, and Darwinism and Markets are all incorporated into a Collective Scenario Analysis of the state of play.
And we use the word "play" deliberately.
For that is what this crisis represents to the insiders - a game, a competitive and volatile opportunity where serious money may be made by correct market timing.
Ah! The Dichotomy of the Insider - informing all and sundry that everything is hunky dory when, in Reality, Hanky Panky and his hocus pocus ensured that everything is, in fact, Something Awful.
The remainder of this post and the market advices included within are solely for the delectation of our ever-expanding group of subscribers.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
In the words of the man: "The Predator State refers to the takeover of state power by private interests masquerading behind conservative principle and basically acting for private clients and private profit."
This is the crux of the matter.
As the Economist states: "In a fight, the regulators have the legal power. But the financiers have the political power."
This post, which is a sequel to "¡Que Se Vayan Todos! - All Of Them Must Go" that we churned out last week, addresses the progression from where we stand now on the cusps of Depression to the Real demise ahead, and assesses the mechanics of decline as well as the paucity of intellectual robustness behind the free market capitalist model.
Reflexivity, Behavioural Economics, Psychopathic Personality Disorders, Fractal Mathematics, an Analysis of Shadow Banking and Markets, the Instability of Government Finances, the Black Market, Global Regulation, and Darwinism and Markets are all incorporated into a Collective Scenario Analysis of the state of play.
And we use the word "play" deliberately.
For that is what this crisis represents to the insiders - a game, a competitive and volatile opportunity where serious money may be made by correct market timing.
Ah! The Dichotomy of the Insider - informing all and sundry that everything is hunky dory when, in Reality, Hanky Panky and his hocus pocus ensured that everything is, in fact, Something Awful.
The remainder of this post and the market advices included within are solely for the delectation of our ever-expanding group of subscribers.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Saturday 14 February 2009
Its A Certain Family Affair #
Client clubs being merged and acquired, familial power hierarchies spreading their influence, an entirely non-rigged FA Cup draw, the chance for Sméagol to get an assisted victory in the campaign to place Chelsea under the auspices of a certain externalised entity...
How could we not take this match as our Live Scam Broadcast Event for the season?
Any sign of Mr ###############, Loose Guus, at the Vicarage?
But Sméagol is wearing an Italian suit.
We is precious...
7 mins - Didier seems to be trying. For now. Scott Loach saves - the England Under-21 keeper is like a non-compromised, non-egomaniacal version of Calamity (who, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with the sacking of Mr Adams - check ######## ###########################################################################).
11 mins - If this is the world's favourite cup competition, the sport is in a state.
12 mins - Still no ############## from Mike Dean - #############################
##############################################################################
####################################################
13 mins - Chelsea should score after a pitiful attempt at an offside trap. Kalou fluffs the lay off.
14 mins - The pitch is cutting up which would work against a skillful team. Fortunately, neither Chelsea or Watford would fall into that category.
15 mins - Setanta give us a view of Loose Guus, ################### himself, next to a certain Oligarch. Why isn't Mr # on the bench? Is the director's box a tax free zone?
17 mins - Cashley Cole booked for a minor assault - Sméagol complains to the 4th Official. Being a cross it creates uncertainty as Petr Cech is no longer fearless.
19 mins - Dean gives an entirely fake free kick to Russia on the edge of the penalty area. Lampard lines it up... Inevitably hits the wall. Watford's Football Consultant, Frank Lampard Snr, looks on. We are family...
22 mins - Dean gives Watford a throw-in. Sméagol complains to the 4th Official. Tries to grab the man's wedding ring unsuccessfully. Skulks back to the bench.
24 mins - Mike Dean gives an entirely fictitious foul to Chelsea once again on the edge of the area. ###########################################################
#################################### Lampard gets shot on target - a state of shock around the office...
27 mins - Chelsea pressure building as the superior fitness kicks in.
28 mins - Drogba shows lack of confidence by hitting the centre of the goal, and hence the keeper, with a shot. Setanta cuts to Roman clapping and laughing - "a Droggie shot on goal, ho ho ho."
31 mins - Totally unexpectedly, Mike Dean has removed his refereeing outfit and is streaking towards the dugouts carrying a Chelsea scarf, while holding aloft a betting slip. In Reality, he gives Watford a free kick near the corner flag.
33 mins - The Gap get a corner. Dean ends the attack via a decision against some random Watford player for the offence of "challenging for the ball against my market position". ##########################################################
35 mins - Anelka hits the post. Didn't realise he was on the pitch...
36 mins - Mr # looks anything but pleased with affairs. Why can't we just watch Mr # and Mr A? Tis better than the sporting fare. #################################
#######################################################################
37 mins - Difficult to resist the temptation to watch Olympiakos harass Aris instead of this N'Zogbia-inducing boredom.
38 mins - Dean fails to give Chelsea a foul but compensates almost immediately by going for a neoreal nonsense. As is his wont. ###################################
###########################################################################
39 mins - When Whalley Range First XI used to play Whalley Range 2nd XI, we used to swap players at half-time. Will this happen here at the Vicarage?
40 mins - "Watford Gap, Watford Gap, A Plate of Grease and a Load of Crap..." Now who sung that? Some excessively white folk ensemble, I seem to remember. Who cares?
41 mins - A flurry of Watford attacking wing play results in a couple of corners as the tension, allegedly, builds. A Rasiak header on target but straight at Cech. So no goal.
44 mins - Dean stops the Gap from taking a quick free kick by sitting on the ball - manages to avoid eye contact with all and sundry. Even an advertisement for Tic-Tacs would be a more riveting watch than this.
45 mins - Half time. Roman applauds. Mr ############# is not looking a happy tax exile.
Well the bookmakers will be relieved to have avoided at Ch at HT/ Ch at FT mug earner.
Shall we listen to Steve Maccer's disinformation?
No, lets watch 10 men Aris fight for parity instead.
Or brave El Masry against Al Ahly?
Or even the fat and bloated public schoolboys going in for a spot of eye-gouging at the Millennium?
No, nothing is that bad...
Nearly time for the second half.
Can't wait.
Yo! 2-0 for Olympiakos.
46 mins - So, the big question. Do Chelsea go for the morale boosting victory or do they allow their client team a replay and some cash?
47 mins - Cech clears with a diving header 6 metres outside the area. Gosh, how exciting...
48 mins - Anyway, how did the two primary Sky referees, Webb and Dean, get the two Saturday live cup matches? ################################################### ############################################################## Droggie looking more menacing. More Oligarchical applause.
49 mins - Lampard fires wide.
50 mins - Close up of Mike Dean looking like Jasper Carrot on mogadon.
51 mins - Close up of Sméagol looking like Ray Wilkins on one.
52 mins - Another Dean free kick for Russia on the edge of the area. That is four and counting... The incredibly talented (sic) Ballack hits the wall. The equally skilled Mikel does the Row Z thing.
54 mins - Another Muppet shot from the Junior. Blocked outside the area.
57 mins - If Watford defender Doyley was booked, would it be a D'oily Carte?
58 mins - Is there a spread market out there on the number of occasions the tv cameras focus on the Oligarch? If so, this is not a market to short-sell.
61 mins - Ballack shoots over from 2 metres. Roman thinks that is a real hoot.
62 mins - Chelsea are battering the Gap.
63 mins - Snake Plissken is coming on. Lampard has another shot. Blocked. Corner. Goalmouth scramble. Mike Dean drags a defender wide creating the space for Anelka. Deflection and a corner. #####################################################
##########################################################################
65 mins - Another corner. Comes to nothing. Ballack heads wide when he should have done better. How useless is he?
66 mins - Torosidis puts through his own goal to land the suitable result in Piraeus.
68 mins - Watford score!!! Snake scores. Can Chelsea Escape from Watford Gap? The Oligarch looks rattled - it must take something to rattle somebody who was lost around £14 billion in the last twelve months.
70 mins - The Sméagol Effect continues.
72 mins - So how long will it take for the Reserves to let in an equaliser?
74 mins - Five minutes! Chelsea score.
75 mins - Oooh its a winner from Anelka.
78 mins - The out of work City traders are bouncing up and down behind the home goal. The magic of the cup means that Champions of England/ Champions of Europe will be quaking following this performance. Really...
82 mins - Bollock has been dropped to the bench. Shakes hands with the Watford boss on the way past. Ahhh... ######################################################
##############################################################################
83 mins - Snake robs some overrated millionaire but the cross is hooked wide.
85 mins - The game is dying a death. So is this match...
90 mins - What price Chelsea getting a suitable home Quarter Final tie? No prices offered, we would guess.
90 mins - Cech saves with his legs. Immediately, Anelka seals his hat-trick at the other end. Sméagol throws a wobbler.
We is a successful manager.
90 mins - The fat lady has hit the high C. There is nothing like a competitive game of football, and this was nothing like a competitive game of football...
Well, there's ninety minutes that I'll resent wasting at the end of my life.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription or by hacking into our intranet.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
How could we not take this match as our Live Scam Broadcast Event for the season?
Any sign of Mr ###############, Loose Guus, at the Vicarage?
But Sméagol is wearing an Italian suit.
We is precious...
7 mins - Didier seems to be trying. For now. Scott Loach saves - the England Under-21 keeper is like a non-compromised, non-egomaniacal version of Calamity (who, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with the sacking of Mr Adams - check ######## ###########################################################################).
11 mins - If this is the world's favourite cup competition, the sport is in a state.
12 mins - Still no ############## from Mike Dean - #############################
##############################################################################
####################################################
13 mins - Chelsea should score after a pitiful attempt at an offside trap. Kalou fluffs the lay off.
14 mins - The pitch is cutting up which would work against a skillful team. Fortunately, neither Chelsea or Watford would fall into that category.
15 mins - Setanta give us a view of Loose Guus, ################### himself, next to a certain Oligarch. Why isn't Mr # on the bench? Is the director's box a tax free zone?
17 mins - Cashley Cole booked for a minor assault - Sméagol complains to the 4th Official. Being a cross it creates uncertainty as Petr Cech is no longer fearless.
19 mins - Dean gives an entirely fake free kick to Russia on the edge of the penalty area. Lampard lines it up... Inevitably hits the wall. Watford's Football Consultant, Frank Lampard Snr, looks on. We are family...
22 mins - Dean gives Watford a throw-in. Sméagol complains to the 4th Official. Tries to grab the man's wedding ring unsuccessfully. Skulks back to the bench.
24 mins - Mike Dean gives an entirely fictitious foul to Chelsea once again on the edge of the area. ###########################################################
#################################### Lampard gets shot on target - a state of shock around the office...
27 mins - Chelsea pressure building as the superior fitness kicks in.
28 mins - Drogba shows lack of confidence by hitting the centre of the goal, and hence the keeper, with a shot. Setanta cuts to Roman clapping and laughing - "a Droggie shot on goal, ho ho ho."
31 mins - Totally unexpectedly, Mike Dean has removed his refereeing outfit and is streaking towards the dugouts carrying a Chelsea scarf, while holding aloft a betting slip. In Reality, he gives Watford a free kick near the corner flag.
33 mins - The Gap get a corner. Dean ends the attack via a decision against some random Watford player for the offence of "challenging for the ball against my market position". ##########################################################
35 mins - Anelka hits the post. Didn't realise he was on the pitch...
36 mins - Mr # looks anything but pleased with affairs. Why can't we just watch Mr # and Mr A? Tis better than the sporting fare. #################################
#######################################################################
37 mins - Difficult to resist the temptation to watch Olympiakos harass Aris instead of this N'Zogbia-inducing boredom.
38 mins - Dean fails to give Chelsea a foul but compensates almost immediately by going for a neoreal nonsense. As is his wont. ###################################
###########################################################################
39 mins - When Whalley Range First XI used to play Whalley Range 2nd XI, we used to swap players at half-time. Will this happen here at the Vicarage?
40 mins - "Watford Gap, Watford Gap, A Plate of Grease and a Load of Crap..." Now who sung that? Some excessively white folk ensemble, I seem to remember. Who cares?
41 mins - A flurry of Watford attacking wing play results in a couple of corners as the tension, allegedly, builds. A Rasiak header on target but straight at Cech. So no goal.
44 mins - Dean stops the Gap from taking a quick free kick by sitting on the ball - manages to avoid eye contact with all and sundry. Even an advertisement for Tic-Tacs would be a more riveting watch than this.
45 mins - Half time. Roman applauds. Mr ############# is not looking a happy tax exile.
Well the bookmakers will be relieved to have avoided at Ch at HT/ Ch at FT mug earner.
Shall we listen to Steve Maccer's disinformation?
No, lets watch 10 men Aris fight for parity instead.
Or brave El Masry against Al Ahly?
Or even the fat and bloated public schoolboys going in for a spot of eye-gouging at the Millennium?
No, nothing is that bad...
Nearly time for the second half.
Can't wait.
Yo! 2-0 for Olympiakos.
46 mins - So, the big question. Do Chelsea go for the morale boosting victory or do they allow their client team a replay and some cash?
47 mins - Cech clears with a diving header 6 metres outside the area. Gosh, how exciting...
48 mins - Anyway, how did the two primary Sky referees, Webb and Dean, get the two Saturday live cup matches? ################################################### ############################################################## Droggie looking more menacing. More Oligarchical applause.
49 mins - Lampard fires wide.
50 mins - Close up of Mike Dean looking like Jasper Carrot on mogadon.
51 mins - Close up of Sméagol looking like Ray Wilkins on one.
52 mins - Another Dean free kick for Russia on the edge of the area. That is four and counting... The incredibly talented (sic) Ballack hits the wall. The equally skilled Mikel does the Row Z thing.
54 mins - Another Muppet shot from the Junior. Blocked outside the area.
57 mins - If Watford defender Doyley was booked, would it be a D'oily Carte?
58 mins - Is there a spread market out there on the number of occasions the tv cameras focus on the Oligarch? If so, this is not a market to short-sell.
61 mins - Ballack shoots over from 2 metres. Roman thinks that is a real hoot.
62 mins - Chelsea are battering the Gap.
63 mins - Snake Plissken is coming on. Lampard has another shot. Blocked. Corner. Goalmouth scramble. Mike Dean drags a defender wide creating the space for Anelka. Deflection and a corner. #####################################################
##########################################################################
65 mins - Another corner. Comes to nothing. Ballack heads wide when he should have done better. How useless is he?
66 mins - Torosidis puts through his own goal to land the suitable result in Piraeus.
68 mins - Watford score!!! Snake scores. Can Chelsea Escape from Watford Gap? The Oligarch looks rattled - it must take something to rattle somebody who was lost around £14 billion in the last twelve months.
70 mins - The Sméagol Effect continues.
72 mins - So how long will it take for the Reserves to let in an equaliser?
74 mins - Five minutes! Chelsea score.
75 mins - Oooh its a winner from Anelka.
78 mins - The out of work City traders are bouncing up and down behind the home goal. The magic of the cup means that Champions of England/ Champions of Europe will be quaking following this performance. Really...
82 mins - Bollock has been dropped to the bench. Shakes hands with the Watford boss on the way past. Ahhh... ######################################################
##############################################################################
83 mins - Snake robs some overrated millionaire but the cross is hooked wide.
85 mins - The game is dying a death. So is this match...
90 mins - What price Chelsea getting a suitable home Quarter Final tie? No prices offered, we would guess.
90 mins - Cech saves with his legs. Immediately, Anelka seals his hat-trick at the other end. Sméagol throws a wobbler.
We is a successful manager.
90 mins - The fat lady has hit the high C. There is nothing like a competitive game of football, and this was nothing like a competitive game of football...
Well, there's ninety minutes that I'll resent wasting at the end of my life.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription or by hacking into our intranet.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Friday 13 February 2009
¡Que Se Vayan Todos! - All Of Them Must Go
"Conceive my guile, my duplicate duplicity, my play on ignorance and gullibility! Is it any wonder that I have gone into the banking business?" - Flann O'Brien.
It is hardly an exercise in superstring theory to reach the conclusion that the current Depression bears many similarities to the one that began in 1929.
Bubbles, greed, disinformation, insider trading, the cornering of markets etc, all in a lightly regulated environment.
And the institutional responses have been virtually identical too.
The slashing of interest rates, political support, officials buying into the market in order to support the price, playing the currencies, quantitative easing...
The differences are merely those of magnitude.
We understand that Ben Bernanke is an expert on the 1929 Depression, but we didn't realise that his expertise are in the implementation of such a financial crisis rather than its effective prognosis and treatment.
Neoclassical free market economists are a menace.
Their greed is psychopathic and their modelling is simply not robust.
We start this post by looking at how the banks have mismanaged risk.
George Soros: "We are in a far from equilibrium situation."
When the various protagonists were employed in profiting from the selection box of bubbles that were being globally inflated, their entire risk assessment was based on a naively linear form of mathematics.
The statistical treatment of risk was thus set so that it covered 99% of potential hyperrealities. To extend this percentage further leads to efficiency issues, in a capitalist's eyes at least, and risk/return assessment is short-termist in a psychopathic marketplace with the result that the 1% of incidences that are not covered by the normal distribution are neatly swept under the carpet and dutifully ignored.
Consequently, the system is primed to engender Black Swan uproar events.
But this is only a tip of a colossal iceberg.
Fractal mathematics renders the normal distribution useless as a risk management tool.
Benoît Mandelbrot, for example, has shown that the stock market should show daily volatility greater than 7% once every 300,000 years. In the last century, 7% volatility was breached 48 times. We could quote numerous other comparisons of similar instances.
The outcome, inevitably, is a steady flow of systemic crises that are not only not predicted by risk management but are, in many cases, exaggerated by the internal processes for accommodating risk.
And even where the risk may be monitored to a desirable degree, the repackaging and reselling of risk around the financial marketplace leads to all market participants failing to anticipate where the real risk lies.
This, of course, was the foundation of the credit crunch - financial institutions would not touch one another with a bargepole for fear of contamination.
Markets are functions of psychological and economic mechanisms, but evolutionary selection underpins the former and undermines the latter.
This produces various windows where the markets are primarily psychological in format.
We are currently in such a window.
Edmund Phelps: "Risk assessment and risk management models were never well founded. There was a mystique to the idea that market participants knew the price to put on this or that risk. But it is impossible to imagine that such a complex system could be understood in such detail and with such amazing correctness... the requirements for information... have gone beyond our abilities to gather it."
In the short period since we last updated the progress of the Depression, or 'downturn' if you are a BBC viewer, the onslaught of catastrophe and even more catastrophic response continues without remorse.
* The American Stimulus - Despite obstructionism from the previous regime, the US has revealed the latest handout to save the financial world.
Obama - "Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands, and the scale and scope of this plan is right."
Paul Krugman (this year's Nobel Prize winning economist) in response: "No, they didn't, and no, it isn't."
The plan has been hijacked by the middle ground.
It will not succeed.
* The Bubble in Government Bonds - January was the worst month for government securities in decades. But if the US selects an inflationary strategy to magic away its debt, government bonds will be directly in the path of the ensuing hurricane.
* Quantitative Easing - Both Britain and the US are responding to the crisis by quantitative easing or, in the English language, printing more money.
Now, where's that wheelbarrow...?
* Goldman Sachs estimate (and thanks to Hank Paulson, they should know) that the total value of troubled bank assets ie toxic assets is $5.7 trillion. The government handouts are simply a giveaway. They are not substantial enough to dislodge the systemic dysfunction.
* In Britain, Slack Jaw and his cronies are actively devaluing the pound in order to make British manufacturing more competitive. Our savings are not safe and their relative value is deteriorating, while our taxes are utilised to save the perpetrators of the crisis at our expense and, much more importantly, significant future risk.
And yesterday, the British government's Architect of the Depression appeared before a committee of MPs to be quizzed on his mismanagement of the financial sector.
But the occasion was, as expected, a neoreality.
Slack Jaw had been provided with the questions ahead of time and is too poor an actor to learn his lines without repetitive and excessive use of a script.
What a pseudo-democratic farce that charade turned out to be...
* Bad Banks - Both the US and Britain are introducing the concept of Bad Banks - do we not already have such entities in munificent abundance?
Joking aside, this is a very very very bad idea indeed.
All responses to the current crises have been reactive, there is no auxiliary to supplement the non-sustainability of the free market system.
The Bad Banks idea comes from Sweden, who utilised such banks to deal with their financial crisis in the 1990s.
The differences between the crisis in Sweden and the global Depression of today are paramount here.
The Bad Banks idea cannot be scaled up.
Both Britain and the US have excessively large financial sectors that, inevitably, contain equally large amounts of toxicity.
The amount of rubbish that the government would have to accept in order to establish Bad Banks is not viable.
As The Economist states: "The real worry is that the ultimate public price tag is much bigger than today's figures suggest."
* The Free Market Hit - It is the Friedmanist territories who continue to suffer the most in this Depression due to their inability to factor in risk and their excessive greed and idiocy. All countries who embraced free market ideology are being exposed to not only the Depression but also an assault on their currencies. Nowhere near enough money has been released to rescue the Good Ship Neocapitalism with the result that it is in these territories that the largest job losses and the most business failures are to be found.
* Disinformation - The deeper the mess, the greater the economy of truth in the mainstream media.
Two examples...
Firstly, British officials are buying into the stockmarket to support prices. There has been no public disclosure of this tactic (one would have to hesitate to call it a strategy) and yet a threshold has been drawn and officialdom will repeatedly intervene to prevent the markets plummeting below these barriers.
For now...
Secondly, in Asia there is political censorship regarding the state of the markets. For example, in the US client state of South Korea, when critical brokers' opinions are quoted in the media, regulators now want an explanation.
This has an impact on the hyperrealities in that, in 2008, South Korean brokers published 17,335 reports, of these there were 14,903 "buy" signals and precisely zero "sell" signals.
Despite this gross abdication of governmental and journalistic duty, the stock market still fell by 41% last year.
* The Lunatics have taken over the Asylum - When everybody with a strategic view was questioning the risk management of the markets, Alan Greenspan attempted to put us all at peace: "Regulation of derivatives transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary."
Of course, Greenspan has since entirely altered his mind about the Reality of free markets.
But, throughout the build up to and the onset of this Depression, inappropriate free market ideologues have been in charge of policy.
Paulson has skulked off with his bonuses, while Bernanke continues to fail to see the big picture.
The new Treasury secretary Tim Geithner was involved in the conveyor belt of incorrect responses to the crisis implemented by Paulson/ Bernanke.
Geithner is the past.
He has already been a considerable part of this "flood-tide of corporate larceny".
If Obama or Slack Jaw had serious intentions to address the Real state of the planet and the financial system, they would have utilised non-neo economic input.
But Obama is in the hands of the Chicago School, while Slack Jaw takes advice from hedge fund managers and the like.
Where is the input from Joseph Stiglitz, Nouriel Roubini, George Soros etc?
In the second part of this post, we will look at the year ahead in the global markets as the Depression deepens.
André Sapir: "Government policy should not be aiming to avoid a repeat of 1929: it has already failed to do that. Instead it should aim to avoid 1930-32."
Football Is Fixed - Inverting The Phase Of The Image.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
It is hardly an exercise in superstring theory to reach the conclusion that the current Depression bears many similarities to the one that began in 1929.
Bubbles, greed, disinformation, insider trading, the cornering of markets etc, all in a lightly regulated environment.
And the institutional responses have been virtually identical too.
The slashing of interest rates, political support, officials buying into the market in order to support the price, playing the currencies, quantitative easing...
The differences are merely those of magnitude.
We understand that Ben Bernanke is an expert on the 1929 Depression, but we didn't realise that his expertise are in the implementation of such a financial crisis rather than its effective prognosis and treatment.
Neoclassical free market economists are a menace.
Their greed is psychopathic and their modelling is simply not robust.
We start this post by looking at how the banks have mismanaged risk.
George Soros: "We are in a far from equilibrium situation."
When the various protagonists were employed in profiting from the selection box of bubbles that were being globally inflated, their entire risk assessment was based on a naively linear form of mathematics.
The statistical treatment of risk was thus set so that it covered 99% of potential hyperrealities. To extend this percentage further leads to efficiency issues, in a capitalist's eyes at least, and risk/return assessment is short-termist in a psychopathic marketplace with the result that the 1% of incidences that are not covered by the normal distribution are neatly swept under the carpet and dutifully ignored.
Consequently, the system is primed to engender Black Swan uproar events.
But this is only a tip of a colossal iceberg.
Fractal mathematics renders the normal distribution useless as a risk management tool.
Benoît Mandelbrot, for example, has shown that the stock market should show daily volatility greater than 7% once every 300,000 years. In the last century, 7% volatility was breached 48 times. We could quote numerous other comparisons of similar instances.
The outcome, inevitably, is a steady flow of systemic crises that are not only not predicted by risk management but are, in many cases, exaggerated by the internal processes for accommodating risk.
And even where the risk may be monitored to a desirable degree, the repackaging and reselling of risk around the financial marketplace leads to all market participants failing to anticipate where the real risk lies.
This, of course, was the foundation of the credit crunch - financial institutions would not touch one another with a bargepole for fear of contamination.
Markets are functions of psychological and economic mechanisms, but evolutionary selection underpins the former and undermines the latter.
This produces various windows where the markets are primarily psychological in format.
We are currently in such a window.
Edmund Phelps: "Risk assessment and risk management models were never well founded. There was a mystique to the idea that market participants knew the price to put on this or that risk. But it is impossible to imagine that such a complex system could be understood in such detail and with such amazing correctness... the requirements for information... have gone beyond our abilities to gather it."
In the short period since we last updated the progress of the Depression, or 'downturn' if you are a BBC viewer, the onslaught of catastrophe and even more catastrophic response continues without remorse.
* The American Stimulus - Despite obstructionism from the previous regime, the US has revealed the latest handout to save the financial world.
Obama - "Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands, and the scale and scope of this plan is right."
Paul Krugman (this year's Nobel Prize winning economist) in response: "No, they didn't, and no, it isn't."
The plan has been hijacked by the middle ground.
It will not succeed.
* The Bubble in Government Bonds - January was the worst month for government securities in decades. But if the US selects an inflationary strategy to magic away its debt, government bonds will be directly in the path of the ensuing hurricane.
* Quantitative Easing - Both Britain and the US are responding to the crisis by quantitative easing or, in the English language, printing more money.
Now, where's that wheelbarrow...?
* Goldman Sachs estimate (and thanks to Hank Paulson, they should know) that the total value of troubled bank assets ie toxic assets is $5.7 trillion. The government handouts are simply a giveaway. They are not substantial enough to dislodge the systemic dysfunction.
* In Britain, Slack Jaw and his cronies are actively devaluing the pound in order to make British manufacturing more competitive. Our savings are not safe and their relative value is deteriorating, while our taxes are utilised to save the perpetrators of the crisis at our expense and, much more importantly, significant future risk.
And yesterday, the British government's Architect of the Depression appeared before a committee of MPs to be quizzed on his mismanagement of the financial sector.
But the occasion was, as expected, a neoreality.
Slack Jaw had been provided with the questions ahead of time and is too poor an actor to learn his lines without repetitive and excessive use of a script.
What a pseudo-democratic farce that charade turned out to be...
* Bad Banks - Both the US and Britain are introducing the concept of Bad Banks - do we not already have such entities in munificent abundance?
Joking aside, this is a very very very bad idea indeed.
All responses to the current crises have been reactive, there is no auxiliary to supplement the non-sustainability of the free market system.
The Bad Banks idea comes from Sweden, who utilised such banks to deal with their financial crisis in the 1990s.
The differences between the crisis in Sweden and the global Depression of today are paramount here.
The Bad Banks idea cannot be scaled up.
Both Britain and the US have excessively large financial sectors that, inevitably, contain equally large amounts of toxicity.
The amount of rubbish that the government would have to accept in order to establish Bad Banks is not viable.
As The Economist states: "The real worry is that the ultimate public price tag is much bigger than today's figures suggest."
* The Free Market Hit - It is the Friedmanist territories who continue to suffer the most in this Depression due to their inability to factor in risk and their excessive greed and idiocy. All countries who embraced free market ideology are being exposed to not only the Depression but also an assault on their currencies. Nowhere near enough money has been released to rescue the Good Ship Neocapitalism with the result that it is in these territories that the largest job losses and the most business failures are to be found.
* Disinformation - The deeper the mess, the greater the economy of truth in the mainstream media.
Two examples...
Firstly, British officials are buying into the stockmarket to support prices. There has been no public disclosure of this tactic (one would have to hesitate to call it a strategy) and yet a threshold has been drawn and officialdom will repeatedly intervene to prevent the markets plummeting below these barriers.
For now...
Secondly, in Asia there is political censorship regarding the state of the markets. For example, in the US client state of South Korea, when critical brokers' opinions are quoted in the media, regulators now want an explanation.
This has an impact on the hyperrealities in that, in 2008, South Korean brokers published 17,335 reports, of these there were 14,903 "buy" signals and precisely zero "sell" signals.
Despite this gross abdication of governmental and journalistic duty, the stock market still fell by 41% last year.
* The Lunatics have taken over the Asylum - When everybody with a strategic view was questioning the risk management of the markets, Alan Greenspan attempted to put us all at peace: "Regulation of derivatives transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary."
Of course, Greenspan has since entirely altered his mind about the Reality of free markets.
But, throughout the build up to and the onset of this Depression, inappropriate free market ideologues have been in charge of policy.
Paulson has skulked off with his bonuses, while Bernanke continues to fail to see the big picture.
The new Treasury secretary Tim Geithner was involved in the conveyor belt of incorrect responses to the crisis implemented by Paulson/ Bernanke.
Geithner is the past.
He has already been a considerable part of this "flood-tide of corporate larceny".
If Obama or Slack Jaw had serious intentions to address the Real state of the planet and the financial system, they would have utilised non-neo economic input.
But Obama is in the hands of the Chicago School, while Slack Jaw takes advice from hedge fund managers and the like.
Where is the input from Joseph Stiglitz, Nouriel Roubini, George Soros etc?
In the second part of this post, we will look at the year ahead in the global markets as the Depression deepens.
André Sapir: "Government policy should not be aiming to avoid a repeat of 1929: it has already failed to do that. Instead it should aim to avoid 1930-32."
Football Is Fixed - Inverting The Phase Of The Image.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Sméagol Versus Scolari - Sahiagraha #
José Mourinho has been massively successful in Spain, Portugal, England and, now, Italy.
Luiz Felipe Scolari has won the World Cup and remains one of the most successful and respected managers in the world game.
Steve Clarke is, arguably, the premier assistant coach in the British game.
Avram Grant took a dysfunctional squad to the brink of Champions League glory.
Sméagol was a poor player (the initial water-carrier), and is a sensationally underachieving coach with a nice sideline in rogue punditry on behalf of ######
########################################################################.
Mr Abramovich would appear to be doing a Rafa...
Sméagol, Jamie Redknapp, Frank Arneson, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack - Kenyon's Keystone Kops.
The turning point was undoubtedly Mourinho walking out just prior to the title-deciding game at Old Trafford last season. From that point on, the club 'lost' some of their players, most obviously Didier Drogba.
The hyperreal turning point would have to be Terry's slip and a miss in Moscow but, by then, the Real stability (financial and otherwise) had long since become a major infrastructural concern at the club.
Scolari was the last chance.
In the first third of the season, Chelsea were the best team in the Premiership.
Then Steve Clarke was more tempted by the probability of imminent unemployment through West Ham going into administration than continuing in the dysfunctional atmosphere at Stamford Bridge.
Sméagol was put forward by ###############.
The rest is history.
Fake history, but history nonetheless.
Hyperhistory, in fact.
Aside from an inappropriate and, ultimately, broadly challenged management structure, there are other reasons that Chelsea find themselves in their current malaise.
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A further factor is Abramovich's loss of attention.
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No clubs are being bought currently.
The time comes closer when the repayment of £700 million or so in an eighteen month window will be Chelsea's primary concern.
So far, so obvious.
There are two other core reasons why Chelsea are spontaneously combusting.
The first of these factors was also utilised to startling effect at Tottenham Hotspur prior to the takeover by ########### - dressing room unrest.
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For Juande Ramos to be sacked so soon after winning the League Cup and despite having been forced to sell over £50 million worth of forwards was ludicrous.
The sacking of Scolari after less than a full season is equally so.
The second factor relates to the machinations of the Premier League and the PGMOB.
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If Lampard hadn't been done over by the Kipper and if the denied penalty had been given against Hull, Scolari would still be in his post.
Kipper demonstrating the Butterfly Effect here.
Who knows where this might end?
And the first game for Sméagol is a visit to one of Chelsea's client teams, Watford, in the FA Cup Fifth Round.
You hyperreally couldn't make this up!
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What chance Sméagol being given a fake run to non-meritocratic full-time appointment, and an FA Cup Final victory against #################?
We jest not!
In our view, Sméagol is worth the best part of a tenner.
At most.
And that is before one takes into account his propensity to utter disinformation as a matter of habit.
Consequently, the man is a liability.
The Premiership is dumbing down.
This is not a creative strategy at the onset of the Depression.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription or by hacking into our intranet.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Luiz Felipe Scolari has won the World Cup and remains one of the most successful and respected managers in the world game.
Steve Clarke is, arguably, the premier assistant coach in the British game.
Avram Grant took a dysfunctional squad to the brink of Champions League glory.
Sméagol was a poor player (the initial water-carrier), and is a sensationally underachieving coach with a nice sideline in rogue punditry on behalf of ######
########################################################################.
Mr Abramovich would appear to be doing a Rafa...
Sméagol, Jamie Redknapp, Frank Arneson, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack - Kenyon's Keystone Kops.
The turning point was undoubtedly Mourinho walking out just prior to the title-deciding game at Old Trafford last season. From that point on, the club 'lost' some of their players, most obviously Didier Drogba.
The hyperreal turning point would have to be Terry's slip and a miss in Moscow but, by then, the Real stability (financial and otherwise) had long since become a major infrastructural concern at the club.
Scolari was the last chance.
In the first third of the season, Chelsea were the best team in the Premiership.
Then Steve Clarke was more tempted by the probability of imminent unemployment through West Ham going into administration than continuing in the dysfunctional atmosphere at Stamford Bridge.
Sméagol was put forward by ###############.
The rest is history.
Fake history, but history nonetheless.
Hyperhistory, in fact.
Aside from an inappropriate and, ultimately, broadly challenged management structure, there are other reasons that Chelsea find themselves in their current malaise.
###############################################################################
###########################################################################
#######################################################################
###################################################################
##############################################################
############################################################################
A further factor is Abramovich's loss of attention.
#############################################################################
##########################################################################
########################################################################
##############################################################################
#########################################################################
##############################################################################
#####################################################################
##########################################################################
No clubs are being bought currently.
The time comes closer when the repayment of £700 million or so in an eighteen month window will be Chelsea's primary concern.
So far, so obvious.
There are two other core reasons why Chelsea are spontaneously combusting.
The first of these factors was also utilised to startling effect at Tottenham Hotspur prior to the takeover by ########### - dressing room unrest.
#######################################################################
##################################################################
##########################################################################
########################################################################
#########################################################################
#########################################################################
For Juande Ramos to be sacked so soon after winning the League Cup and despite having been forced to sell over £50 million worth of forwards was ludicrous.
The sacking of Scolari after less than a full season is equally so.
The second factor relates to the machinations of the Premier League and the PGMOB.
############################################################################
################################################################################
############################################################################
##############################################################################
############################################################################
##########################################################################
If Lampard hadn't been done over by the Kipper and if the denied penalty had been given against Hull, Scolari would still be in his post.
Kipper demonstrating the Butterfly Effect here.
Who knows where this might end?
And the first game for Sméagol is a visit to one of Chelsea's client teams, Watford, in the FA Cup Fifth Round.
You hyperreally couldn't make this up!
#############################################################################
##############################################################################
##########################################################################
################################################################################
#############################################################################
#############################################################################
#########################################################################
######################################################################
What chance Sméagol being given a fake run to non-meritocratic full-time appointment, and an FA Cup Final victory against #################?
We jest not!
In our view, Sméagol is worth the best part of a tenner.
At most.
And that is before one takes into account his propensity to utter disinformation as a matter of habit.
Consequently, the man is a liability.
The Premiership is dumbing down.
This is not a creative strategy at the onset of the Depression.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription or by hacking into our intranet.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Saturday 7 February 2009
From Autarky To Autarchy #
Arsenal.
Arsène.
Arshavin.
Arse Over Tit.
De-evolution...
This post, which details the reasons why our Trading Team believe that Aston Villa will grab the fourth Champions League spot this season, is for subscribers only.
The "whole paraphernalia of humbug of pretence" will be ceremoniously rolled out to celebrate a new entirely fake threshold in the ScudamoreWorld-inspired demise of Arsenal FC.
The Fat Man may soon be squeezing in.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription or by hacking into our intranet.
The annual fee if you join up this February is £15 for 150 posts (excluding the advertorials).
The magic of a Football Is Fixed subscription is that you will make your subscription (and more) back by simply taking heed of our market output.
How win-win do you wish for your life to be in a Depression?
Do it at footballisfixed@googlemail.com.
"You must avail yourself today of this service. Otherwise you might as well be dead."
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Arsène.
Arshavin.
Arse Over Tit.
De-evolution...
This post, which details the reasons why our Trading Team believe that Aston Villa will grab the fourth Champions League spot this season, is for subscribers only.
The "whole paraphernalia of humbug of pretence" will be ceremoniously rolled out to celebrate a new entirely fake threshold in the ScudamoreWorld-inspired demise of Arsenal FC.
The Fat Man may soon be squeezing in.
* All posts labelled # are only available by subscription or by hacking into our intranet.
The annual fee if you join up this February is £15 for 150 posts (excluding the advertorials).
The magic of a Football Is Fixed subscription is that you will make your subscription (and more) back by simply taking heed of our market output.
How win-win do you wish for your life to be in a Depression?
Do it at footballisfixed@googlemail.com.
"You must avail yourself today of this service. Otherwise you might as well be dead."
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Tuesday 3 February 2009
"We All Live In A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House..." #
Hermann Hreidarsson bought his house off Harry Redknapp when he moved to Pompey on a free transfer eighteen months ago.
Harry made a profit on the house of £450,000 in ten months.
Harry looks after his players.
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Oh the pleasure of watching multi-billionaire hyperowners, agents, super-agents, third party practitioners, managers and players exchanging multi-million pound contracts in a Depression.
But there are very Real signs that the boom is over.
Firstly, the main driver of the global football industry in a Depression is to be underground gambling money from the shadow betting markets. Betting turnover is down #% this season and fully ##% in the last three trading months. #################
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Secondly, the spectrum of transfer activity at the English clubs was very disturbing in the January Transfer Window (JTW). Take the Championship. The entire purchase total in the JTW was just £6.3 million (excluding hyperrich QPR who spent £2.5 million by themselves). The vast majority of the deals are loans with most of the rest free transfers. In the Premiership, the most obvious feature is how many players are being off-loaded by the clubs to reduce wage bills - 11 out of Chelsea and Tottenham, 10 out of West Ham, 9 at Fulham and Liverpool - for a variety of reasons, of course.
Thirdly, the total spend in League One was a mighty £200,000. League Two managed just one single paid transfer costing £80,000. The ScudamoreWorld view of this would be that these figures indicate that there is a trickle down effect financially in the English game.
Fourthly, the teams that are in financial distress exposed their degree of toxicity via their JTW endeavours. We have frequently focused on these teams over the last six months.
Portsmouth with a nett spend of -£29.4 million were the biggest disposer of assets. Liverpool at -£14.6 million helped to pay off some of the Hicks/Gillett debt to Wachovia/RBS and came in penultimate position, while Chelsea came in third bottom at -£12 million which had to be expected since Roman has lost 75% of his empire (paper assets or not) in the last 12 months. Newcastle were the next biggest self-harming asset strippers at -£9.9 million followed by West Ham United at -£9.0 million. Then come Fulham who, as we recently posted, purchased a pile of ###### at the top of the market in the summer, leading to a -£5.8 million nett spend and the farming out of as many wage earners as possible in the JTW.
Fifthly, the British pound has seen better days, and there are worse ones to come for the pound is being actively devalued by our rogues-in-office in order to make British exports more competitive. It is significant that there is no major European level deal in this window. The second tier purchases are hardly significant - Arshavin is overrated and Man City inevitably overpaid for de Jong. The other half dozen or so signings from Europe were in the £3-5 million category. The financial muscle of the self-styled "Biggest League In The World" is evidently flagging. This was clearly demonstrated by the Kaká farce.
Sixthly, the new Premiership television deals are to be announced this morning (ScudamoreWorld carefully choosing the day after the JTW in a further piece of gaming of the hyperreality). Our estimate would be that the figures will be in the same vicinity as the last round of negotiations due to the type of auction process that the Premier League (PL) has organised. We were naive not to expect that Our Great Leader would tilt the auction market in his and the PL's favour. The BBC have already agreed a £173 million three-year deal for the highlights package (an increase of 1% on the last deal ignoring inflation, so, in Reality, a reduction) and the channel has gained extra rights including internet rights in the deal.
Making the assumption that the figures are within +/-5% of the previous arrangement, the successful media companies are overpaying for the product. As all of the above together with the increasingly sharp turnaround in attendances (check out the number of empty seats at Arsenal versus West Ham at the weekend) would imply, the product is already significantly overvalued.
And that is before you start to factor in the negative impacts of the association of football with the gambling industry.
###########################################################################
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A few other interesting aspects of the JTW are provided below.
* There would appear to be a power shift within the Abyss.
Tottenham were the top spenders at a nett +£47.8 million (bettered only by Abu Dhabi United's £50 million, Harry will be happy).
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Chelsea, as already stated were offloading their inventory. Abramovich wants out, we reckon. Chelsea's zenith came with John Terry's penalty miss in Moscow last May, although it hyperreally occurred when Mourinho walked out earlier in that season.
That £700 million debt that needs to be paid off in 18 months is going to be an entertaining diversion! And you thought West Ham were fucked!!
Which, of course, they are despite the hugely impressive Steve Clarke.
Check the breakpoints. West Ham were in financial and footballing freefall, in comes Clarke and the team massively overperform against a backdrop of murky chaos. Chelsea were the best team in the Premiership in the first third of the season. Then Sméagol arrived and the first home defeats since the Famine were followed by a decline in form that has been simply precipitous.
And, those crystals that Thaksin Shinawatra had buried at Eastlands didn't do any good, did they?
Richard Dunne keeps playing for the other team while Robinho's travelling and cruising are hardly indicative of a man on a mission. City, potentially but allegedly illegally, utilised Kia Joorabchian in their attempt to strip the image rights from the man who is Kaká. Apart from Shay Given, they have overpaid in their JTW activity and the Kaká affair will ensure that all future transfer targets will take that much more persuasion. The Economist reckons that sovereign wealth-funds would have to sell their overseas assets if the oil price were to fall to $25 - Brent Crude is currently trading at 44, less than one-third of its summer high.
Keith Harris who, despite attracting over 170 potential buyers, was unable to sell Newcastle United, or anybody else for that matter, has finally seen the light: "We're in the toughest economic situation anybody has endured in our lifetime and that means we are unlikely to see much activity on the football takeover scene. This is a wake-up call. The clubs have to realise that it is back to fundamental basics of managing their costs. We have been through a time when the clubs have been overspending, with ordinary players commanding huge transfer fees and wages... The climate has changed."
The Climate Is A Depression, Sir.
In the last two transfer windows, there has been an increase in the number of transfers that are labelled "Undisclosed". Why is this allowed?
We should be made aware of the fullest possible details of all transfer activity. The market must be made transparent rather than exist in its current murky opacity.
We should be told which agents are representing which players in which deals.
We should be told which agents are working with the clubs, both on a consultative and permanent basis as well as on one-off deals.
We should be told about the role, if any, of additional super-agents.
We should be made aware of any selling-on deals or other contortions of contract.
This will not stamp out the "under-the-table" payments - the game is far too far gone for that - but it will stop players being duped by agents acting against their interests on behalf of the buying or selling club.
When the sums of money were more moderate, this did not matter so much financially.
But the percentage takes on the Kaká deal would have been something else entirely.
This must be better regulated.
Thank goodness that we know that we are able to rely on Our Great Leader to rectify the infrastructure.
#############################################################################
##############################################################
The Worst Missed Opportunity? Manchester United refusing to take a lead from Abu Dhabi United, and talk with Mr Joorabchian about signing up Carlos Tevez. Overpay, its worth it as he's only 24. Sign him up, Sir...
Also, it will further embarrass Our Great Leader to have the 3rd party agreement duplicities aired again in the public space.
"... A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House..."
Unfortunately, the blocked out parts of the posts and all posts labelled # are available in full to Dietrological or Football Is Fixed subscribers only.
But, please enjoy the free snippets that we are posting on this site.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Harry made a profit on the house of £450,000 in ten months.
Harry looks after his players.
###########################################################################
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#########################################################################
#####################################################################
###################################################################
Oh the pleasure of watching multi-billionaire hyperowners, agents, super-agents, third party practitioners, managers and players exchanging multi-million pound contracts in a Depression.
But there are very Real signs that the boom is over.
Firstly, the main driver of the global football industry in a Depression is to be underground gambling money from the shadow betting markets. Betting turnover is down #% this season and fully ##% in the last three trading months. #################
############################################################################
#######################################################################
#######################################################################
############################################
Secondly, the spectrum of transfer activity at the English clubs was very disturbing in the January Transfer Window (JTW). Take the Championship. The entire purchase total in the JTW was just £6.3 million (excluding hyperrich QPR who spent £2.5 million by themselves). The vast majority of the deals are loans with most of the rest free transfers. In the Premiership, the most obvious feature is how many players are being off-loaded by the clubs to reduce wage bills - 11 out of Chelsea and Tottenham, 10 out of West Ham, 9 at Fulham and Liverpool - for a variety of reasons, of course.
Thirdly, the total spend in League One was a mighty £200,000. League Two managed just one single paid transfer costing £80,000. The ScudamoreWorld view of this would be that these figures indicate that there is a trickle down effect financially in the English game.
Fourthly, the teams that are in financial distress exposed their degree of toxicity via their JTW endeavours. We have frequently focused on these teams over the last six months.
Portsmouth with a nett spend of -£29.4 million were the biggest disposer of assets. Liverpool at -£14.6 million helped to pay off some of the Hicks/Gillett debt to Wachovia/RBS and came in penultimate position, while Chelsea came in third bottom at -£12 million which had to be expected since Roman has lost 75% of his empire (paper assets or not) in the last 12 months. Newcastle were the next biggest self-harming asset strippers at -£9.9 million followed by West Ham United at -£9.0 million. Then come Fulham who, as we recently posted, purchased a pile of ###### at the top of the market in the summer, leading to a -£5.8 million nett spend and the farming out of as many wage earners as possible in the JTW.
Fifthly, the British pound has seen better days, and there are worse ones to come for the pound is being actively devalued by our rogues-in-office in order to make British exports more competitive. It is significant that there is no major European level deal in this window. The second tier purchases are hardly significant - Arshavin is overrated and Man City inevitably overpaid for de Jong. The other half dozen or so signings from Europe were in the £3-5 million category. The financial muscle of the self-styled "Biggest League In The World" is evidently flagging. This was clearly demonstrated by the Kaká farce.
Sixthly, the new Premiership television deals are to be announced this morning (ScudamoreWorld carefully choosing the day after the JTW in a further piece of gaming of the hyperreality). Our estimate would be that the figures will be in the same vicinity as the last round of negotiations due to the type of auction process that the Premier League (PL) has organised. We were naive not to expect that Our Great Leader would tilt the auction market in his and the PL's favour. The BBC have already agreed a £173 million three-year deal for the highlights package (an increase of 1% on the last deal ignoring inflation, so, in Reality, a reduction) and the channel has gained extra rights including internet rights in the deal.
Making the assumption that the figures are within +/-5% of the previous arrangement, the successful media companies are overpaying for the product. As all of the above together with the increasingly sharp turnaround in attendances (check out the number of empty seats at Arsenal versus West Ham at the weekend) would imply, the product is already significantly overvalued.
And that is before you start to factor in the negative impacts of the association of football with the gambling industry.
###########################################################################
#################################################################
#######################################################################
#########################################################################
###################################################################
A few other interesting aspects of the JTW are provided below.
* There would appear to be a power shift within the Abyss.
Tottenham were the top spenders at a nett +£47.8 million (bettered only by Abu Dhabi United's £50 million, Harry will be happy).
###########################################################################
#######################################################################
######################################################################
############################################################################
#####################################################################
Chelsea, as already stated were offloading their inventory. Abramovich wants out, we reckon. Chelsea's zenith came with John Terry's penalty miss in Moscow last May, although it hyperreally occurred when Mourinho walked out earlier in that season.
That £700 million debt that needs to be paid off in 18 months is going to be an entertaining diversion! And you thought West Ham were fucked!!
Which, of course, they are despite the hugely impressive Steve Clarke.
Check the breakpoints. West Ham were in financial and footballing freefall, in comes Clarke and the team massively overperform against a backdrop of murky chaos. Chelsea were the best team in the Premiership in the first third of the season. Then Sméagol arrived and the first home defeats since the Famine were followed by a decline in form that has been simply precipitous.
And, those crystals that Thaksin Shinawatra had buried at Eastlands didn't do any good, did they?
Richard Dunne keeps playing for the other team while Robinho's travelling and cruising are hardly indicative of a man on a mission. City, potentially but allegedly illegally, utilised Kia Joorabchian in their attempt to strip the image rights from the man who is Kaká. Apart from Shay Given, they have overpaid in their JTW activity and the Kaká affair will ensure that all future transfer targets will take that much more persuasion. The Economist reckons that sovereign wealth-funds would have to sell their overseas assets if the oil price were to fall to $25 - Brent Crude is currently trading at 44, less than one-third of its summer high.
Keith Harris who, despite attracting over 170 potential buyers, was unable to sell Newcastle United, or anybody else for that matter, has finally seen the light: "We're in the toughest economic situation anybody has endured in our lifetime and that means we are unlikely to see much activity on the football takeover scene. This is a wake-up call. The clubs have to realise that it is back to fundamental basics of managing their costs. We have been through a time when the clubs have been overspending, with ordinary players commanding huge transfer fees and wages... The climate has changed."
The Climate Is A Depression, Sir.
In the last two transfer windows, there has been an increase in the number of transfers that are labelled "Undisclosed". Why is this allowed?
We should be made aware of the fullest possible details of all transfer activity. The market must be made transparent rather than exist in its current murky opacity.
We should be told which agents are representing which players in which deals.
We should be told which agents are working with the clubs, both on a consultative and permanent basis as well as on one-off deals.
We should be told about the role, if any, of additional super-agents.
We should be made aware of any selling-on deals or other contortions of contract.
This will not stamp out the "under-the-table" payments - the game is far too far gone for that - but it will stop players being duped by agents acting against their interests on behalf of the buying or selling club.
When the sums of money were more moderate, this did not matter so much financially.
But the percentage takes on the Kaká deal would have been something else entirely.
This must be better regulated.
Thank goodness that we know that we are able to rely on Our Great Leader to rectify the infrastructure.
#############################################################################
##############################################################
The Worst Missed Opportunity? Manchester United refusing to take a lead from Abu Dhabi United, and talk with Mr Joorabchian about signing up Carlos Tevez. Overpay, its worth it as he's only 24. Sign him up, Sir...
Also, it will further embarrass Our Great Leader to have the 3rd party agreement duplicities aired again in the public space.
"... A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House, A Harry Redknapp House..."
Unfortunately, the blocked out parts of the posts and all posts labelled # are available in full to Dietrological or Football Is Fixed subscribers only.
But, please enjoy the free snippets that we are posting on this site.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Its End To End Stuff And Riley Is A Kipper #
Rafa, cracking up prior to the rather rigged and ragged victory over Chelsea on Sunday: "I don't know what is happening. Actually, I do know, but I can't say anything about it. It is just crazy, you can't control what you can't change. It could be like this for years. The past three years have something in common I don't like."
And the Liverpool Redsocks, with their hyperinflated sense of authority in the hyperreality that is ScudamoreWorld, are indeed dysfunctional - owners who are indebted and incommunicado, splits and dissension in the dressing room, Rafa being desirous of full control over transfer policy à la 'Arry, Stevie G hanging around criminals and attending court, and a manager who has entirely lost his strategic compass.
It was always going to take a Killer from Kipper to drag this sorry outfit to victory over an equally sorry Chelsea.
The remainder of this post focuses on the fake football at Anfield on Sunday and is for subscribers only.
Unfortunately, the blocked out parts of the posts and all posts labelled # are available in full to Dietrological or Football Is Fixed subscribers only.
But, please enjoy the free snippets that we are posting on this site.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
And the Liverpool Redsocks, with their hyperinflated sense of authority in the hyperreality that is ScudamoreWorld, are indeed dysfunctional - owners who are indebted and incommunicado, splits and dissension in the dressing room, Rafa being desirous of full control over transfer policy à la 'Arry, Stevie G hanging around criminals and attending court, and a manager who has entirely lost his strategic compass.
It was always going to take a Killer from Kipper to drag this sorry outfit to victory over an equally sorry Chelsea.
The remainder of this post focuses on the fake football at Anfield on Sunday and is for subscribers only.
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