There are a number of questions that need to be aired over the English Premier League match between Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion.
The game was settled by two goalkeeping errors from Stoke's man with a Squiggle, Thomas Sorensen.
The man might be a Squiggly goalie...
... but is he a convincing actor?
Just to remind you - the first West Brom goal squirmed through Squiggly and was so amusing to the man that he was troubled with disguising his laughter. After a late Stoke equaliser, Squiggly once again went into sixth form drama class mode trying to make out that there were reasons why he made absolutely no attempt to save a ball, once again, almost directly at him, giving Albion victory.
It is our opinion that there were indeed reasons.
A common form of fixed football match features one agent bolstering another via players on opposite sides - remember the event between Fulham and Wigan Athletic when Andy Johnson knew that he was going to score his hundredth goal (despite not having scored for 6 months).
The Squiggly on that occasion was ##### ######## who, by chance, is a client of John Colquhoun/Key Sports.
Colquhoun is also club agent at WBA where he represents James Morrison, Chris Brunt, George Thorne and Saido Berahino.
The West Brom shirt sponsors are the Antiguan bookmakers Bodog.
At market opening, they offered a best price on the planet of Evens money on a Stoke victory - B-Win, a big European firm, in comparison, were offering 3/4 at opening while Ladbrokes went 4/5.
The only other firm on the planet to match Bodog's Evens were Bet Victor - a company known to have close links with John Colquhoun.
Bodog held the tempting psychological price of Evens throughout the market while Bet Victor tempted even more money in their direction by drifting Stoke to 21/20. At any given time in the market, Bodog/Bet Victor were offering the best, joint best or almost the best value on a Stoke victory. The other leading European firms remained in the dark until the off although some of the slicker Asian outfits (including our backers) spotted the Squiggly in the making and were also looking to lay Stoke by the off.
An aside - despite the impact of Chinese New Year, Asian bookmakers are still streets ahead of the Euro-Bozos...
... that is why we work with them.
Now why did one firm from Antigua who sponsor West Brom and one bookie from Gibraltar with links to West Brom both feel so confident about the outcome on Saturday afternoon that they were willing to financially take on the might of the globe?
And by such a distance in value too.
If two of the biggest European firms were offering such markedly shorter odds, why once again was there such confidence in the Caribbean and in some stolen imperial afterthought in the Med?
Onto the game itself, James Morrison's value will have increased from the realisation that if he kept shooting, which he did, he was bound to score. He hit the woodwork more than once as well as scoring the first Squiggly goal.
Sorensen's body language needs to be mentioned at this point.
Our woman at the game (really) pointed out that Sorensen's reactions to tipping one of these shots on to a post were as psychologically uproarious as his reactions to the two goals.
It doesn't look good being angry at a good save and laughing after conceding a goal.
Now we are not saying that Thomas tanked the engine - his uselessness might just coincide by pure chance with a hyperreality and his reactions might be due to behavioural issues.
But the man is very high on our Squiggly list, including in Denmark games of yore, and he has got links to #### #########
Interestingly, as a clear indication of the fragmented cartel in European Match Fixing, there were those working against the Squiggly Scenario - indeed the efforts of gambling stable West Brom (and others including Stoke - owned by Bet 365) are frequently confronted by # #### ############ #########
There is being in the loop...
... and being in the loop.
In summation.
Two firms linked to West Bromwich Albion/John Colquhoun made a small fortune in a match where the gamble was landed only as a result of two incredibly unprofessional goalkeeping errors by a man who has previously enjoyed such correlations on more than one occasion.
The clear winners here are two bookmakers that are based offshore to avoid paying tax who have made oodles of money at no risk to themselves out of exploiting/fortunately benefiting from a Squiggly event to the continued demise of the sport we all love.
Everyone else is in what Sun Tzu might have termed Hyperreal Risk Territory and what ##################/ Dietrological/ Football is Fixed term Thirty Thirty Theory Territory.
Full text as ever is winging its way to Asia...
Kung Hei Fat Choi.
一本萬利
"May a small investment bring ten-thousandfold profits"
