Manipulated Markets

All financial markets are gamed by insiders seeking cornered structures, collaborative manipulations and inappropriate competitive advantages.

The surprising factor is that human behaviouralism results in exactly the same corrupt edifices being constructed across the market continuum - Goldman Sachs betting against disinformational advice sold to clients, banks working together to manipulate the LIBOR (London Inter-Bank Offered Rate), football agents working to inflate the values of their clients, bookmakers working in unison to achieve the required outcomes in criminalised football matches...

The parallel simplicities of these corruptions are marked - due to minimal external enforcement of the rules and laws in existence, the perpetrators do not have to put much effort into covering their murky tracks.
So they don't.

In this post, we explore these parallels and the issues arising.

The Economist: "It [the LIBOR] is supposed to be constructed using banks' own honest estimates of what it costs for them to borrow money. But regulators around the world suspect that LIBOR... has been subject to manipulation."
Banks' individual borrowing costs prove to be remarkably similar considering their varied levels of risk.
The Economist continues: "The court documents suggest that a group of traders regularly contacted one another to discuss how to influence the Yen LIBOR rate."

And so it is with football betting markets and the player transfer markets.

Primary level betting organisations, taking their cue from the highly liquid underground Dark Pools that are the foundation of postmodern football, co-ordinate match prices between themselves to optimise returns from the event.
This disguises the hyperreality of corruption from the public eye.

Take a fixed match that is regarded by insiders as a certainty but the information leading to this outcome is not open source.
Market makers will price the event based on an array of inputs that maximises their combined returns - if one firm were to suggest that Team A should be priced at 1/100, the market would be destroyed.

This collaboration between the market makers works along competitive pricing in the micro ie the bookmakers want to rip off mugs primarily but their competitor firms secondarily and strategically.

Or take the transfer market.
Agents, club agents and club managers hold a series of private meetings whereby the value of a player is assessed.
But this 'value' is not real - it is an inflation on price to the benefit of the various agents and the club manager(s) involved in the deal.

Once again, football on the whole loses out so that insiders might take a much larger slice of the action via their percentage cuts and the variety of brown envelopes and briefcases changing hands.

The Economist prints the case filing on the LIBOR manipulation where one trader from a whistleblowing bank (Trader A) helps to manipulate the market with a Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) insider: "Trader A explained to one RBS IRD trader who his collusive contacts were and how he had and was going to manipulate Yen LIBOR. Trader A also communicated his trading positions, his desire for a certain movement in Yen LIBOR and gave instructions for the RBS IRD trader to get RBS to make Yen LIBOR submissions consistent with Trader A's wishes. The RBS IRD trader acknowledged these communications and confirmed that he would follow through. Trader A and the RBS IRD trader also entered into transactions that aligned their trading interests in regards to Yen LIBOR."

Or...

Bookmaker A explained to Bookmaker B who his collusive contacts (bookmakers, players, agents, referees) were and how he was going to manipulate the match outcome. Bookmaker A also transmitted his trading positions, his desire for a certain result and gave instructions for Bookmaker B to get his organisation to use its contacts to enhance the match manipulation. Bookmaker B acknowledged these communications and confirmed that he would follow through. Bookmaker A and Bookmaker B also entered into transactions that aligned their trading interests in regards to the match outcome.

Or...

Agent A explained to Manager B who his collusive contacts (other agents, club agents, managers) were and how he was going to manipulate the transfer fee. Agent A also transmitted his player valuations, his desire for a certain minimum transfer fee and gave instructions to Manager B to use his contacts to inflate the price. Manager B acknowledged these communications and confirmed that he would follow through. Agent A, Manager B and other interested parties also entered into transactions that aligned their financial interests in regards to the inflated transfer fee.

All of which is illegal, although in football that matters little as there is no regulation and being bent is a core competency.

But this is short-termist and psychopathic.

Civil cases may be brought against the perpetrators.
* Large individual cases might be brought by either other bookmaking organisations or the club owners with respect to betting and transfer corruptions.
* Traders on the wrong side of manipulated bets or club employees suffering the consequences might bring class action suits.
* Traders whose winnings are limited or clubs who lose out on future transfer fees might also have a case if intent can be proved.
* Individual bettors can group together to create class action suits to reclaim losses on events manipulated by insiders.

The similarities in the forms of financial market manipulation is enhanced in a wired world where mass behaviouralisms become global consciousness 'wisdoms' at a pace while the individual manipulators believe that their omnipotence places them ahead of the curve.

When actually there is no robustness whatsoever in such rubbish in/rubbish out corruptions.
Just a symbiotic relationship between market makers and crime.

Still...
The criminals who manipulate financial, betting and transfer markets utilising the same tactics...
... some of them are even the same individuals/organisations.

What a weird fluke!

Occupy Football

Football is Fixed/Dietrological attacks on two wings - we expose to the public some of the blatantly surreal data that indicates the degree to which football is criminalised and we transform the game from within by working alongside other bodies who possess an interest in saving the sport.

This post deals with the former.

The Occupy Movement is preparing a Global Spectacular for May Day.

Manchester, a historical centre of revolutionary verve, is hosting the derby between Manchester City and United tomorrow evening.

United will avoid defeat at Eastlands and the title will be all but won.

We have previously exposed the extensive control that Manchester United have both over Mike Riley and the PGMOB and the selection of referees, plus the remarkable biases in decision-making by some of those selected officials.

For example, Marriner (tomorrow's ref), Foy, Walton, Jones, Mason combined give us 53 United Wins, 16 Draws and 2 Defeats...
... 2 losses in 71 matches!!

As the mainstream media avoids any mentions of the extensive corruptions underpinning the Premier League, the voices of the frustrated have been restricted to fan websites and blogs...
... peripheralised in other words.

But the hyperrealised spectacle needs a media platform, namely BSkyB.

Although the EPL can (and do) control what happens on the pitch, they are in a more fallible position when it comes to controlling the people who are paying their hard-earned cash to watch the criminalities live.

Now, Citeh fans, we would not suggest anything so uncouth as pitch invasions but direct action will make a difference.

Chants, Spectaculars, Banners, Flags, Mancunian Mockery.

The public data is overwhelming...
... use it.

Occupy Football

Noam Chomsky: "Occupy came along at a time which was ripe, and the strategy I thought was brilliant. If I had been asked I wouldn’t have advised it. I never thought it was going to work. Fortunately I was wrong. It worked very well. Two major developments took place I think, and if it can be sustained and expanded it’ll be extremely important. One was just changing the discourse, putting things on the public agenda that were simmering in the background but were never articulated in a focused fashion -- like inequality or financial corruption and the shredding of the democratic system, the collapse of a productive economy. These things just became common coin. That’s very important.

"The other thing that happened, which is hard to measure, is the creation of communities. The Occupy communities were extremely valuable. These were communities that just kind of spontaneously developed out of mutual support, public interchange and the kinds of things that are very much lacking in an atomized society like ours’, where people are kind of alone. The social unit that the business world strives for is a dyad, a pair. You and your television or you and your computer screen. That was broken by the Occupy movement in a very significant way. Just the possibilities of cooperation, solidarity, mutual support, public discussion, democratic participation is a model which should inspire people. A lot of people did participate, at least peripherally.

"If these two developments could be sustained and expanded there could be a long-term impact. It’s not going to be easy and there are major challenges. Tactics will have to be readjusted as always, but it was a real breakthrough. If you think about what’s happened in just a few months it’s quite startling."

 Time to Startle Ferguson and Sky

Sir Minty, a Dodgy Bank, a Shady Company and a Goat-Bothering Brotherhood

Interesting connections-

Gavin Masterton, former boss of the Bank of Scotland and close friend of David Murray, retired from BoS in 2001 and started up a company called Stadia Investments Group. All SPL clubs at that time were BoS customers (except Celtic) and they almost all needed major improvements to their grounds which, coincidentally, were provided by SIG.

This was good for the business of Murray International Metals whose book value was bumped up just in time to be sold for £125 million when the new BoS bosses didn't like the look of Murray's enormous bank debt and pressed him to do something about it.

SIG was liquidated in around 2004 or 2005 with debts of £25-28 million.

The relationship between Masterton and Murray seems to have been consistently helpful to Murray to an excessive degree.

Masterton is still a director of Dunfermline FC who famously lay down in their final match of the 2003 season at Ibrox, allowing the Huns to win the SPL title on goal difference.

It also appears that Murray's takeover of the Huns in 1986 was made possible by Masterton's guarantee, on behalf of BoS, to underwrite the £6million which Murray needed at that time. Ever since, the two of them appear to have been - how shall we put it? - as thick as thieves . .

{Guest Post written by ##### ######}

They Did It Their Way!

Tomorrow sees the final ever Auld Firm match between Celtic and Her Majesty's Rangers & Crooks (HMR&C).

"We've loved, We've laughed and cried.
We've had our fill; our share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
We find it all so amusing...

"For what are men, what have they got?
If not themselves, then they have naught.
To say the things they truly feel;
And not the words of those who kneel.
The record shows we took the blows -
And did it Our Way!"

When Celtic are given back the seven stolen titles, the score is Celtic 50 Rangers 47.

The Battle is Over...
... the Rebels have Won 

Hail Hail!!

The Fixing of Glasgow Rangers v Zenit St Petersburg - A Flashback

The post below was originally published on the Football is Fixed blog on October 5th 2008.

The questions remain - whereabouts did the money end up in both Glasgow and Munchen?
And, in the former case, was tax paid to the HMR&C?

Another criminal hyperreality hidden away in the corridors of power.

For security, isolationism and avoidance of libel, certain parts of this post are masked from view.
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"The Guardian economics editor, Larry Elliott, has written that the Prime Minister 'resembles a tragic hero in a Hardy novel: an essentially good man brought down by one error of judgement'. What is this one error of judgement? The bank-rolling of two murderous colonial adventures? No. The unprecedented growth of the British arms industry and the sale of weapons to the poorest countries? No. The replacement of manufacturing and public service by an arcane cult serving the ultra-rich? No. The Prime Minister's 'folly' is 'postponing the election last year'." - John Pilger.

When truth is replaced by silence," said the Soviet dissident Yevgeny Yevtushenko, "the silence is a lie."

The Guardian is similarly silent when confronted with the global menace of underground football betting markets and matches rigged by teams, players or match officials.
So, while everybody else was discussing the dreadful standard of refereeing in the Premiership last weekend, the leading left-of-centre (sic) comic gave us "We Should Treat Our Referees Like Gods" by Steven Wells, a man who is evidently celebrating life in another solar system.
Journalistic abdication at its lowest ebb...

If you were diligent and observant, you may have spotted a brief glimpse of the most major footballing story of the week in The Guardian - it was online for a few hours before the hyperreal news took over.
So, while The Guardian focused on the critical newsworthy significance of a grown man swearing at journalists in a press conference, the Real news was absent.
Silence.
Apart from repeated coverage of the swearing - firstly, the breaking news, then, the transcript, followed by the video and the whole hyperreal farce being nicely terminated by a piece discussing the "awful lot of fuss there's been about Joe Kinnear's cussing".
How far up their own backsides do these people wish to venture?

Anyway.
Real news.
It is alleged that Zenit St Petersburg bought last year's UEFA Cup via bribery, affecting both the Semi Final against Bayern Munchen and the Final in Manchester against Rangers.
While resisting the urge to utter "shame" in the latter case, this is not really the done thing.
Damn Russki's buying matches - that's Communism for you.

This story isn't just some gossipy bit of nonsense - its the Real McCoy.
Leading Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, famous for investigating Pinochet and Argentinian war criminals, Henry Kissinger and American war criminals in Guantanamo, has had 20 members of the leading and global Russian underworld gang, Tambovskaya-Malyshevskaya, arrested in Spain. They have been held since June.

Garzón has phone intercepts where Gennadios Petrov, the gang leader, discussed the buying of the Semi Final 2nd Leg against FC Bayern.
Petrov is known to have links with Zenit and El Pais stated: "... that the organisation of Petrov had interests in Zenit, is manifestly clear."
Meanwhile, ABC said that Petrov boasted of spending €20-40 million buying match outcomes in the latter stages of last year's UEFA Cup. A further part of the tape reveals that "50 million" had been paid to the Bavarian side to lose the Second Leg of the Semi Final in Leningrad.

Garzón has asked German prosecutors to help with an investigation. FC Bayern are evidently shocked that this Reality has come to light - the media responses have been reactive and revealing.
Eventually, a Bavarian spokesperson settled on the statement that FC Bayern have "no knowledge of such suspicions", followed by a rather defensive conclusion that they would respond more fully once they had seen the degree of the leak.
Excellent.
Build your defence around the gaming of the potential case against you.

Meanwhile, Zenit deny dishonesty and are threatening all sorts of shenanigans in response. They would be wise to wait for the release of the conversations on the Operation Troica tapes before adding buffoonery to their alleged criminality.

UEFA plan to investigate.
UEFA spokesperson, William Gaillard, stated with resolve: "We are going to look at this closely."
What?
As closely as you looked into Dynamo Tbilisi and Panionios, or the final Albanian Euro 2008 Qualifiers, or Liverpool v Besiktas in the Champions League or etc etc etc etc etc.
The same fate awaits all such investigations - bureaucratic burial at headquarters.
Bad for the brand, you see...

Early Warning GmbH are the 'police force' that UEFA utilise to investigate suspicious betting patterns.
They might as well as have used a latter day Inspector Clouseau.
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In the Semi Final First Leg, there was a clear agenda against Zenit - the match was refereed by leading UEFA light, Ľuboš Micheľ.
He gave Bayern a penalty which they proceeded to miss, he booked Zenit players with uncanny targeting, in that three of the four bookings resulted in key players missing from the Second Leg, including Andrei Arshavin. The suspensions meant that the Russian side went into the second match with only two fit and eligible defenders.
FC Bayern received no bookings, despite 13 fouls.
Indeed, Bayern would have won had not Lucio scored an improbable own goal to level things up.

In the First Leg, Bayern were rated at 76 by our Trading Team (100 = maximum; 0 = minimum).
In the Second Leg, Bayern fell to a slightly unbelievable 33.
4-0 Zenit triumphed.
Henning Øvrebø officiated and there was nothing in his performance to suggest that he was involved with the alleged corruption. Indeed, he booked Pogrebnyak leading to the star striker missing the Final.
If Bayern were receiving kickbacks, it certainly did not show up in their summer transfer activity. ###########################################
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So, what about the Final itself, that glorious day when half of Glasgow vomited profusely in Manchester, in order to demonstrate their evolutionary zeal?

Well, once again, there was nothing in the performance of the match referee Frojdfeldt to imply involvement in illicit activities.
This would leave the bribery of opponents as the only feasible route to ensure victory.

One of the features of the Final was the unusual linkage between the participants, represented to public perceptions by former Rangers manager, the incompetent Dick Advocaat, being manager of the victorious Russians.
Usually, when we start sousveillance for motives, we seek out financial need rather than straight greed - it is a higher threshold of need that creates the incentives to bend Realities for personal gratification.
It is a known fact that Rangers chairperson, Sir Murray, had, and still has, credit-crunchitis as his property empire crumbles away.
Surely a Loyal Team with Loyal Supporters would not act with such treachery?

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These betting patterns and the named accounts are rather revealing are they not??

So far, so believable, if still slightly fuzzy.

There are some questions that are raised by the mainstream media's lack of willingness to publicise this massive story and by UEFA's inability to eradicate the menaces of gambling and match fixing.

Firstly, if Zenit did buy the Final AND Rangers had nothing to do with the illegalities, why aren't the British press jumping up and down, and generally raising a racket?
It was a European Final.
'Gers were potentially robbed of glory.
This most certainly isn't on the level of the Panionios game!
You also might think that a rabidly anti-Russian press in Britain might just have run with this story...

Secondly, in the words of one of our readers, "The Guardian don't really like let on about fixed matches, do they?"
That's what being pally with the bookies does for your journalistic integrity...

Thirdly, where exactly are Early Warning looking for match fixing? Because, in our humble opinion, it cannot be in the right locations.
Large numbers of matches are fixed at all phases of the three flagship UEFA tournaments.
Worse still, the professionals who are rigging the matches are gaming the policing!!!
Early Warning live up to their name - they provide UEFA with early warnings of unusual betting patterns in the early market stages. #########################
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All senior trading professionals make the vast majority of their earnings out of fixed matches - primary agents do the fixing, while secondary ones #############
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Unless proper and rigorous barriers are put in place, matches will continue to be rigged both for glory and betting purposes.
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As it currently stands, we know of certain market operators who trade one way in the early phases of the market in order to engender the required response from Early Warning, before coming in with late liquidity in the opposite direction. UEFA are none the wiser.

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Of course, by Monday morning, this story will never have happened.
It is an invalid Reality. It cannot be reported.

If UEFA want to resolve the issue of integrity in football, they are going to have to team up with FIFA and go after these private markets.

There you go, Early Warning, investigate it...

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke LVI!

The PGMOB Select Group of referees for Premier League games features the ludicrously small number of just 18 officials.

This is a structure seemingly primed for corruption.

But the hyperreality is worse still.

Stuart Attwell has been demoted due to the poor standard of his officiating.
Peter Walton was forced to retire early following disclosures about his alleged biases - he is no longer in the country.
Martin Atkinson has been overlooked since he gave the ghost goal to Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final (presumably 18 Chelsea matches without refereeing any defeats has finally been noticed).
Although, hilariously, Atkinson has been given the Europa Cup Semi Final at Bilbao this evening!
Howard Webb, Mark Clattenburg together with Atkinson are away in Turkey training for Euro 2012 from next Monday.

This leaves just 13 referees for the key matches next week with Webb and Clattenburg being forced to squeeze in a match before flying out.

Serie A has 32 top flight referees, the Bundesliga has 22 and La Liga 19.

The result of such a select Select Group is that rookie referee Mike Jones, for instance, is going to be a busy man.
His diary?

Thu: Athletic Bilbao v Sp Lisbon (AAR)
Sat: WBA v Aston Villa (4th Official)
Sun: Spurs v Blackburn (Referee)
Mon: Man City v Man Utd (4th Official)

As the standard of officiating in the Premier League is truly dire, what on earth are the justifications for having such a miniscule number of match referees?

The Premier League integrity is Graphene thin...

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke LV!

Lord Redknapp of The Sandbanks or Woy The Hedge or Stuart Pearce?

A colleague has had an entertaining conversation with a senior HMR&C official and was informed that the police found copious amounts of ###### ############ ######## when the mansion of a certain individual was raided.

But.

Someone made a dog's breakfast of the paperwork on the case resulting in the pitiful Rosie 47 Spectacle.

You have to develop some level of respect for Lord Redknapp - no matter how heavy, how powerful, how underworld, how mafiosi, how taxing his associates and enemies, the man with the wobbly face holds his own.

As for the next England manager...
... makes no difference as there are enough criminalised players in the side to ensure that the English bookies will never have to pay out on anything so irritating as an English success.

But hey...
... somebody messing up on the paperwork.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke LIV!

So.
Paul Clark of Duff Phelps, the Rangers administrators, is strongly critical of the decision to impose a transfer embargo on the club and he is absolutely beside himself that his old work colleague Craig Whyte has been fined and banned for life from Scottish football.

Firstly, Whyte should be imprisoned.

Meanwhile Ally McCoist makes assertions regarding the SFA Judicial Tribunal: "Who are these people? I want to know who these people are.”
All three members of this panel have subsequently received threats and are under high level police protection.

Interestingly, so are we.

Is this what British football has descended into?
Death threats, menaces, insider gambling, third party ownership, fixed matches, police protection - we could, if we so desired, entirely demolish the careers and reputations of some very senior individuals in both Scottish and English football...
... but we strategically elect not to do so.

Moreover, previous owners need to explain spectacles like the Zenit St Petersburg Fixed Final.

And Dick Advocaat, the man who began the financial shenanigans and who also benefited in a range of ways from the ZSP farce, should act as the threshold date-wise beyond which all unfairly won Scottish Premier League titles since 1998 are returned to the rightful owners, Celtic FC.

But.
Whyte and Clark being former project colleagues...
... and Clark putting the interests of his friend criminally high on his hidden agenda.

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke LIII!

There were 13 players from the Primary Tier G14(18) power lobby teams one booking away from missing the Champions League Final.

Between them they accumulated 16 fouls and three players will miss the game in Munchen.

Chelsea had 5 players one booking away from missing the showcase.
These players committed 4 fouls.
The result being that all four miss the Final.

Put another way...
... The G14(18) teams committed 47 fouls and received 9 bookings in total, while Chelsea committed 10 fouls and were given 6 bookings and a sending off and a penalty against them.

Luiz Gustavo alone committed 9 fouls!!

Three points.

Firstly, not one Real Madrid or Barcelona player who was in danger of being banned even fouled during the 210 minutes of football.

Secondly, Roman Abramovich needs to extend his already considerable array of vory and krysha to be treated equitably by UEFA.

And, thirdly, as the Spanish season is now effectively over, the odds on a Spain Euro 2012 triumph should shorten after tonight.

Not one non-G14(18) team has won the Final since the Champions League was formed...
... we see no reasons for that sequence to be broken this season.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke LII!

There are very strong rumours emanating from some key underground Asian market makers that John Terry was allegedly the footballing equivalent of a non-trier in horseracing last evening.

The betting turnover on the match globally was the most voluminous we have ever seen...

But surely the Club Captain, Former England Captain and Alleged Celebrity Racist would not be involved with his associates betting against his own team...
... surely!

But.
If he was.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke LI!

Over £5 billion of conspicuous professional insider trading went down the pan when Fernando Torres equalised for Chelsea in injury time last evening.

Now that is some way to start repaying your £50 million transfer fee!

For once Fantastic Football Fucked The Frigging Fixers.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke L!

The solutions to the major end-of-season Champions League events are always truly holistic.

First we had Mourinho sending through Art of War strategies to help Chelsea against Barcelona.

Second we had both Barcelona and Bayern Munchen utilising their G14(18) power webs to energise the excellent refereeing performance from Cuneyt Cakir - Chelsea committed 10 fouls (just two more than Barca) had 6 bookings, a sending off, a penalty against them and the result that four of the punished players are banned from the final...
... in Munchen.
For comparison, Tuesday's three matches in Serie A and Premier League produced 82 fouls and 9 bookings!

Thirdly we finally realise what a fantastic decision it was by West Bromwich Albion to replace Roberto di Matteo with an Omerta Outfit.

And, fourthly, having disgraced themselves, the victims and football in general by their behaviours during the minute silence for the people murdered at Hillsborough by South Yorkshire police, we are now able to look forward to that same level of evolved rationale for a match in Germany against either Mourinho or, worse still, Germans.

Still 82 fouls and 9 bookings...
... or 10 fouls and 6 bookings and 1 sending off.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XLIX!

Andre Marriner is the appointment for the Manchester derby.

In 14 Man Utd matches that he has officiated, the Reds have won 12, drawn 1, lost 1.

The 4th Official is Mike Jones who was described as "rubbish" by David Moyes after the game with Everton yesterday. When a referee, United have not lost one game out of the 9 that he has refereed.

So the two key officials appointed by Red Riley have overseen one Man Utd defeat in 23 games.

Integrity or what?

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XLVIII!

On May 16th 2009, we produced a post about which currently serving referee should take over running the referee's body, the PGMOB, when Keith Hackett retired that summer.

We suggested that, for an array of reasons suiting the powers-that-be, Mike Riley would be selected...
... and so he was.

Riley has presided over the most corrupted window in Premier League history.

Take the bias in favour of Manchester United - why does Sir Ferguson have such control over the selection of referees for games involving both Manchester clubs?

Well, Mike Riley's last four years as a referee should provide you with an answer.

On Manchester United matches, Riley helped the Reds to 11 wins, 3 draws and 0 defeats.
On Manchester City matches, Riley gave the Blues 1 win, 1 draw and 6 defeats.

So the man who selects Red referees for Red matches is himself a Red.

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XLVII!

Five hyperrealities to dwarf your weekend...

1) So who will referee the Manchester Derby? Webb, Atkinson and Clattenburg are away on a training session for Euro 2012 on Monday. Red Walton has been forced to retire early. Lee Mason has been removed from refereeing two of the last three Man City games. Chris Foy, Mike Jones (described as "rubbish" by David Moyes at Old Trafford yesterday) and Anthony Taylor are merely 12th men for Ferguson. Mark Halsey is prohibited due to refereeing the penultimate match at Old Trafford.
Which leaves Mike Dean - a referee who has been anti-Mancunian teams generally - Phil Dowd (with whom City have only won 7 out of the last 22 matches that he has officiated) or Andre Marriner (14 United games, 12 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat) as the only valid officials.
Marriner for Referee?
There will be Red control.

2) Robin van Persie, who had absolutely nothing to do with the agreed draw with Chelsea on Saturday, was named PFA Player of the Year on Sunday.

3) As we posted last week, Reading and their promotion are backed by hot money. As Matt Scott says in the Telegraph: "The man [Chris Samuelson] fronting the Russian takeover at Reading has been accused in US court papers of being the subject of multiple high-profile money-laundering investigations."
In a statement before US bankruptcy courts: "Most prominent were the probes by the French Central Office for Combating Grand Financial Offences (OCRGDF) a principal French governmental agency investigating major financial frauds, and the Economic Investigation Service (FIOD/ECD), the Netherlands money laundering watchdog.

“In the early 2000s Samuelson was also investigated by the FBI in connection with the Bank of New York money laundering scandal.”
And Football is Fixed can reveal that there is a Gibraltar-based bookmaking organisation involved in this collection of criminalities.
Last week Richard Scudamore referred to Reading's promotion as "fantastic".

4) Juventus manager Antonio Conte is refusing to talk about the fixed match between Novara and Siena last season when he was manager of the latter.
Former Siena midfielder Filippo Carobbio, who now plies his trade with Spezia, told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Saturday that Conte knew Siena's 2-2 draw with Novara last season was being rigged.
Juventus moved three points clear at the top of Serie A on Sunday night via a penalty and the early sending off of Roma's keeper, Stekelenberg.

5) As we predicted when the choice was made, the appointment of Undiano Mallenco as 12th man for Real Madrid against Barcelona was the title decider. Real Madrid have bought La Liga title through rampantly biased refereeing over the season.

So, five illicit manipulations against the integrity of the sport and five winners rewarded for such manipulation.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XLVI!

The PGMOB have removed Lee Mason from his second Manchester City match in three games this afternoon - Lee Probert will now referee the Wolves event after Kevin Friend took over for the West Brom one.

Presumably nothing to do with the decisions that Mr Mason made in the Man Utd/QPR game nor the fact that United are yet to lose when he officiates nor the opinions expressed by Roberto Mancini on Friday.

There have been six changes to match referees or assistant referees over this weekend in the Premier League...
... that is more changes than there have been in the Bundesliga in the last decade and a half.

In one weekend!!

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XLV!

ARSENAL V CHELSEA WAS A FIX.

The Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea yesterday was fixed...
... it was an agreed draw, an outcome that suited both sides.

We were informed by our primary Asian brokers of the fix yesterday morning and the professional insider money took on the mug money throughout the day.

Mr Wenger found it "a strange game" while Robin van Persie opened his mouth too wide in the matchday programme with "We have to win, it's as simple as that, and I can promise you that we will go for it. We have everything that it takes to put in another very good performance."

Really?

Numerous individuals, match officials, club officials and agents were investing in the match outcome.
The betting patterns are very revealing.

Still...
... those of you buying a ticket, or subscribing to Sky, or betting on the match like it was real, your lives are irreparably poorer for yet another experience of ScudamoreWorld criminality.

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XLIV!

In his Friday press conference, Roberto Mancini spoke out about the refereeing bias that has accompanied Manchester United's tainted title triumph.

"... after some of the situations I saw in the last three or four weeks, I think it is really difficult for us... The rules are not the same for everyone... When I was in Italy I always thought here there were the best referees. My idea has changed."

Previous posts have reported on the tilts in decision-making in favour of Man Utd by Chris Foy, Lee Mason, Howard Webb and, in particular, the recently retired Red Walton but, in this post, we wish to focus on the Big Games that Mr Webb referees involving Manchester United - matches against Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City.

From season 2006/07 when Webb first started regularly getting the Big Games, he has been referee at 17 such events.

v Arsenal - 3 Wins 1 Draw 1 Loss
v Chelsea - 2, 2, 0
v Liverpool - 2, 0, 1
v Man City - 2, 0, 1
v Spurs - 2, 0, 0

Totalling 11 Wins 3 Draws 3 Losses.

Eight Penalties/Sendings Off in Favour of Utd, Two Against.

"The rules are not the same for everyone."

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XLIII!

Martin Atkinson, who gave Chelsea the ghost goal and elected not to send off Petr Cech for last man challenge, has refereed 16 matches in the Premier League featuring Chelsea.

Chelsea have won 13, drawn 3 and lost zero.

Chelsea have also won both FA Cup Semi Finals under Mr Atkinson's tutelage.

18 major games with 15 wins and no defeats.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XLII!

These structures should not exist - are there not enough countries with no involvement in the Champions League Semi Finals!?

FC Bayern/Real Madrid - English Referee
Chelsea/Barcelona - German Referee

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XLI!

Reading are promoted.
Leafy Berkshire town to bring greater variety to the Premier League.

Reading are rumoured to be owned by Russian 'businessman' Boris Zingarevich although his son Anton is the public face - this is the identical structure to Portsmouth when Gaydamak Senior and Junior orchestrated the asset stripping of a proud football club.

John Madejski referred to "the Zingarevich family" in his promotion euphoria...

The website 'Russian Mafia' details Boris Zingarevich and his methods of doing business.
See the collection of newspaper articles detailing alleged murders and other behaviouralisms that should not be welcome in the Premier League at http://www.rumafia.com/person.php?id=204

Thames Sport Investment (TSI) is the company behind Reading's promotion.
As Matt Scott says in the Telegraph: "TSI is not a company or limited-liability partnership incorporated in the UK, making inquiries less straightforward...Chris Samuelson, who has so far been the public face of TSI, is a director of Mutual Trust SA, a financial-services firm based in the Swiss canton of Vaud specialising in incorporating discreet investment vehicles in offshore jurisdictions."

Richard Scudamore needs to pretend that we have a fit and proper persons ruling.

He has spoken: ""All of a sudden Reading came through in the last three or four months - the run they've been on has been brilliant and they've done it with a couple of matches to spare, which is fantastic."

As long as they have money, they will be welcome into Scudamore's Betting Parlour, no matter what the source of the money or the manner of its secretion.

Still.
A Berkshire town...
... and a St Petersburg mafia man.

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XL!

When Roy Hodgson and John Colquhoun were turfed out of Liverpool for Northampton and Konchesky and for playing like Fulham, Colquhoun used his links with Jeremy Peace to get Roberto di Matteo removed from his post as manager of West Bromwich Albion so that Mr Hodgson and his good self might be installed.

And so it came to pass...

Now.
West Brom are a bog standard lower division side whose manager will only commit to a new contract if there is a clause allowing him to leave if a better offer comes along.

And.
Di Matteo has taken over at one of the biggest teams in the world - won 10 drawn 2 and lost only one of 13 matches since taking over, including beating the best side in the world.
And Di Matteo is always true to his contract.
Like Guardiola.
Like all good managers.

Still...
Getting sacked by West Brom and having one foot in the Champions League Final.
Where is the managerial sabermetrics?

It doesn't exist.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXXIX!

Goal line technology is not enough and the repeated mainstreaming of the state of play in the development of this limited technology every time there is a colossal (and public) travesty of justice in football is becoming somewhat hackneyed.

The mainstream media are also responsible for the framing of this technology argument - the limited msm exposure for Wenger's views on video technology across the field of play (as opposed to merely goal line) being merely the latest example.

The key aspects being addressed here are the numerous occasions where the outcome of football matches are being directly decided by incorrect applications of the rules of the game by referees.
The aim, surely, in any balanced sport is to eradicate these frequent errors to return some semblance of integrity to the sport.

Well, no...
... that is not the strategy as it happens.
The strategy is rather to be dragged kicking to the repeatedly delayed start date for the limited use in some leagues of goal line technology by 2013/14 season while protesting that even this small concession will destroy the game as we know it.

But the game as we know it nowadays is a gambling extravaganza - a £10 million bet on a EPL game on the day of  match is par for the course in the Asian underground markets.
The volume on some major turnover events is several billion pounds - this is the crux of the matter.

It is an unfortunate hyperreality that referees have become the conduit of choice for the fixing of matches but their field-of-play omnipotence made them the obvious target. Across the world, various tactics are being used to offset these fixes - changing referee late on, only announcing appointments close to kick off, using foreign officials etc.

Video technology across the pitch with each manager having three calls per game would transform the sport into the competitive spectacle it once was. For it is not just the 'seeing' of events on the pitch that matters but also the incorrect interpretations of the rules of the game.
All communications should be on open-mike and the selection of match officials needs to be randomised having taken into account any inappropriate linkages recognised in the patterns of previously refereed matches.

The only losers are the clubs and bookmaking organisations that control match officials and the vast array of insider gamblers and consortia that benefit from the contorting of your footballing realities for their criminalised and proprietary profit.

Still, football being the sport most corrupted by the influence of insider betting...
... and the insiders in football being the slowest to react to the benefits of video technology to prevent such criminality.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXXVIII!

The Guardian could not have timed their spurious ill-founded and disinformational campaign in support of the referees any more poorly - three articles in one week is not balanced journalism...

Martin Atkinson with a ghost goal and a non-sending off in the biggest English match of the day.
Mark Halsey with two entirely incorrect decisions regarding penalties in the biggest Premier League game.
Euan Norris with two assymetric decisions that decided a Scottish Cup semi final.
And Chris Foy starting the weekend off with a Favour for Fergie by booking Tevez for diving rather than giving the penalty.

Quality.

With Atkinson's historical favouring of Chelsea, the PGMOB bias to Man Utd, Mr Norris and his tilt to Rangers and Foy's 14 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss on Man Utd games, the mistakes were par for the course!!!

As The Guardian told us Roy Hodgson had said, the English referees are "probably the best in Europe" - at what exactly?

Hodgson's West Brom gained a victory at the weekend with pet ref Jon Moss in control - perhaps that is good officiating in Hodgson's myopia.

Meanwhile Willie McKay's Doncaster Rovers were relegated from the Championship. Doncaster manager Dean Saunders blamed all four goals his side conceded on poor decisions and questioned whether referee Mick Russell should be allowed to officiate again.

Arsene Wenger believes it is time football embraces the assistance video replays would provide for referees, as has been done in cricket, tennis and rugby league.
"We need to assess the global situation and I think all of the football authorities need to sit together and see how we can improve it," Wenger said.
"It's time for us to help the referees and all be united and have a less conservative approach. And opt for video because video will help the referees.
It will not question their authority, it will give them more credit, more authority and less mistakes.
"(Video replays) would not stop the game. Sometimes it will give an even more flow to the game.
"We have to accept that we have the most conservative approach compared to any other sport. It can be a strength. But on the refereeing side, I think it's a weakness."

Can't see the bookmakers and the other power-brokers in the game allowing that...

Still four big televised games on Grand National Weekend altered by seemingly random decision-making - "hoping and guessing" as Mark Hughes said...

What a weird fluke!

Who's Comolli Now?

One of the core problems with inbred structures is that new thought takes longer to evolve.
So it is with applying science to football.

In recent years, the pseudo-science of sabermetrics has been introduced into football - a sport for which it is patently not suitable. At best, sabermetric inputs are peripheral to any player evaluation, at worst they are useless.

Developed in baseball, sabermetrics has value in sports where we are dealing with a continuum of discrete events eg cricket.

Football is real-time.

Arrigho Sacchi: "This philosophy marked the difference between me and Silvio Berlusconi tactically speaking. He thought that football was a beautiful game played by skilled individuals. I thought - and I still think - that it is a beautiful game played by a team collectively."

Football is an integrated team-sport in real-time.

Pattern recognition at speed is the key skill both on the pitch and off it.
That is why the New York Yankees employ over twenty statisticians.

And that is why Lionel Messi is, by some distance, the best player that we have ever seen...
... or are ever likely to see.

The first 234 goals of Lionel Messi's phenomenal career are shown in a fifteen minute clip on YouTube.
Two things stand out - firstly, no two goals are the same, all are choreographed, all improvised, frequently around a theme (take his replicas of Maradona's two goals against England in the Malvenas Encounter). It is jazz football, the man is a dancer, the best that we have ever seen. Priceless.
Secondly, the beauty of Messi is a team process - an interaction between Messi and his colleagues that creates the space, the angles and opportunities for goals to be scored.
That is why he is so much more devastating with Barcelona than Argentina.

The Enhanced Sabermetrics Project (ESP)  is an Holistic Process with a variety of inputs that has been developed to provide a true current evaluation of any footballer.
Our aim is to improve the efficiency of the transfer market as the opportunities for arbitrage within the inefficiencies on offer at the moment are significant - the differential between true price and market price can be as high as $25 million!

The whole Moneyball concept when applied to football is nothing more than reductionism.
The wrong things are still being measured and when, by chance, the right things are being observed, it is generally not for the correct reason!

There is always a problem when academics get involved in football or footballers get involved in academia.
There is obsessive focus on the micro often without even being aware of the macro.
No lateral vision, no innovation, no intuitive consciousness.
How can one possibly do the holistic?

Football Moneyball is a scam like Freakonomics or Econometrics - no scientific overviews of a scenario but rather a simplistic niche cause and effect  in just one small piece of the jigsaw and a belief that such a slant equates with some form of reality.

To truly evaluate the value of a footballer we need to move into the territory of abstraction and decontextualisation...
... but that will have to wait for another day.

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

Piermario Morosini RIP

The day after Fabrice Muamba collapsed with heart related issues, a Third Division Spanish player Sergio Granero also collapsed from a heart attack during a match.

Now less than a month later Piermario Morosini has died of a multiple heart attack playing for Livorno.

The ages of these players 24, 21 and 25.

The Economist: "It [erythropoietin] can be used to boost the number of these [red blood] cells in anaemic patients to healthy levels. But WADA officials knew that because red blood cells carry oxygen to muscles, having more of them increases endurance. The side-effect of thicker blood, though, is increased risk of cells clogging blood vessels, which can cause a stroke or heart failure - a chance many dopers would be willing to take in return for superior performance."

Muamba's collapse was during a critical FA Cup Quarter Final while Granero's team are challenging for promotion and the Pescara/Livorno match in which Morosini died was important at both ends of the table.

The players below have all died on the field of play/ training ground due to heart failure in the last 3 seasons - Daniel Jarque (Espanyol), Maurizio Greco (Guldenstern Stade), Endurance Idahor (Al-Merreikh), Batholomew Opoku (Kessben FC), Goran Tunjic (Mladost FC), Ambrose Wleh (Invincible Eleven), Wilson Mene (Prek Pra Keila), Lokissimbaye Loko (FC Beaumontois), Naoki Matsuda (Matsumoto Yamaga), Bobsam Elejiko (Merksem SC), D Venkatesh (Bangalore Mars) and now Morosini.

Is the complete absence of any robust testing regime leading to risks being taken and lives lost?

Piermario Morosini RIP.

What An Incredible Fluke XXXVII!

Barcelona are going to be mugged at Levante this evening.

Next week it is Real Madrid.

Tonight's referee is Texeira Vitienes - the man whose last 7 key match-changing decisions ie sendings off and penalties in Barca games have been against the Catalunyan side.
Fully 47% of all such decisions against Barcelona in La Liga in this window have been made by this one man!!

Dropped points would be perfect for the Madrilenos but otherwise we predict a sending off and a ban and/or that any of the Barcelona players one booking away from a ban will be cautioned (Valdez, Adriano, Dani Alves, Fabregas, Thiago are all in the squad).

Buying Bookings on the Spreads is probably a nice little earner if you are into that sort of thing...

'Tis the footballing equivalent of the tactics used by the generalissimo.

Still...
Every time there is a red card or penalty against Barca, there is virtually a 50% chance that it is Sr Vitienes blowing the whistle.

What a weird fluke!

NB A tough game, a penalty apiece, the only foul committed by any of the above was a booking (and a ban) and if you bought bookings, you will be quids in...

What An Incredible Fluke XXXVI!

April 11th 2012: Football is Fixed post a blog about the lack of scientific basis to Damien Comolli's methods of evaluating footballers.

April 12th 2012: Damien Comolli sacked.

Mr Henry should have a chat with us. 

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXXV!

The final call of the charlatans when dealing with corruption in football is that such shenanigans even out over the season.
Really.

Below are the tilts in the decisions of referees in the Premier League for season 2011/12 based on the following formulation.
We'll call it the Referee Index.

Referee Index calculated as follows: Key Penalty or Sending Off +/-1 (only valid if relevant, ie a Penalty awarded in 90th min at 0-4 down is irrelevant); Ghost Goal +/-1; Foul/Booking Average >10 +0.5; Foul/Booking Average <5 -0.5; Penalties and Sendings Off not given -/+1; Penalties and Sendings Off mistakenly given +/-1. Each match is totalised and cumulated over the season and the Referee Index = (Total Integer in Favour of Club/ Total Seasonal Integer) x 100.

The figure in brackets represents the current league position.

1. Manchester United - Referee Index 73 (1)
2. Fulham 68 (9)
3. Tottenham 66 (4)
4. Bolton 61 (18)
5. Swansea 60 (14)
6. Everton 55 (7)
7. Man City 56 (2)
8. Stoke 54 (12)
9. Aston Villa 53 (15)
10. Chelsea 52 (6)
11. Blackburn 51 (19)
12. Sunderland 48 (11)
13. QPR 47 (16)
14. West Brom 46 (13)
15. Liverpool 46 (8)
16. Arsenal 45 (3)
17. Newcastle 44 (5)
18. Norwich 40 (10)
19. Wigan 33 (17)
20. Wolves 22 (20)

* Until the match between Wigan/Man Utd last evening, the two clubs treated most harshly were in the bottom two positions.
* The most favoured team, the Manchester Manipulators, are top on both counts.
* Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Norwich and Newcastle would be in a stronger position with more egalitarian refereeing.
* Blackburn, Swansea, Fulham, Bolton and Stoke are very lucky boys.

No conspiracy theories.

It is not conspiratorial to declare that when Foy, Walton or Mason have been refereeing Manchester Utd Premier League games, the most powerful team in the land have only been defeated once in 47 games.
This isn't an angle 'tis public data.
Check it.

As is the performance of Mr Walton in games involving the Manchester teams after Shinawatra took over - out of 22 Premier League games refereed by Walton, City never won and United never lost.

We are just arbitrageurs of the neohyperrealities of postmodern football.

Still...
The Manchester Manipulators receive the most help from referees and are top of the table...
... Wolverhampton Wanderers are punished excessively by referees and are bottom!

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXXIV!

In less than one week...

The PGMOB were forced to take Lee Mason off the Man City/WBA match last night fearing a crowd reaction to his dire performance on the Man Utd match at the weekend.

Alex Ferguson following the Wigan game: "I thought Phil Dowd had a disappointing night, I must say."

Kenny Dalglish refers to "inexcusable" and "unexplainable" decisions against his side.

Mohamed Al Fayed says referees are "too easily influenced by the more powerful clubs and individual owners", and wants to let the public know "the transparency of the processes by which referees are allocated to games".

Mark Hughes: "We are desperately disappointed with the performance of the referee... Managers have lost faith in referees."

Roberto Martinez: "I go to a lot of football and I don't want to go to a game and see that the wrong calls are given so clearly." He went on to describe the performance of the officials as "disgusting" and "horrific".

The Guardian on Arsenal/Man City: "Mario Balotelli should be off after a horrendous leg-breaker of a challenge on Alex Song... Presumably Martin Atkinson didn't see it."

The Guardian on Spurs/Norwich: "To the vein-bulging fury of Lambert, though, there was no penalty award. He sprinted down the tunnel to remonstrate with Phil Dowd."

The Guardian on Fulham/Chelsea: "Mark Clattenburg was well positioned and awarded the penalty instantly, though not for Murphy's studs-up challenge but instead for Kelly's vague misdemeanour. All were confused and Fulham deeply aggrieved."

Football is Fixed exposes the full extent of the 'bias' in favour of Manchester United from three PGMOB referees Chris Foy, Peter Walton and Lee Mason, who, between them, have only overseen 1 Man Utd defeat in 47 matches.

...

Meanwhile Roy Hodgson utilises The Guardian to inform us that Premier League referees are "probably the best in Europe."
The PGMOB have given West Brom Jonathan Moss as referee again next weekend (see below).

And Marina Hyde in the same rag attacks the people complaining about the state of refereeing with the following nonsense: "But I can't bring myself to feel that it's anything other than a cocktail of misplaced victimhood and low-level bullying – the unsporting pique of the poor loser, doled out by people who demand respect at every turn but see no reason to afford it to others."
And we can't bring ourselves to take seriously anyone who is so in awe of power that she has worked for Murdoch and accommodated Piers Morgan.

Furthermore...
The Guardian output is overseen by the West Brom club agent John Colquhoun - rubbish in, rubbish out.

And on the subject of Jonathan Moss, this is from our blog post of January 28th...

"Take the previously mentioned Jonathan Moss - the 'coincidences' regarding the number of West Bromwich Albion games that he gets to officiate and the immensely peculiar tilt in his decision-making in those matches.

Since being promoted to the PGMOB Select Group in the summer, Mr Moss has been referee or 4th Official six times in 26 West Brom matches.
In the light of his historical decision-making in West Brom matches, is this valid or wise?
Seven times Mr Moss had refereed WBA, 7 victories, 4 penalties in favour and none against, 3 sendings off in favour and none against. Then on his first Select Group appearance refereeing the Throstles, he gave them a penalty in a highly suspicious Carling Cup Tie at Everton."

But...

Football en masse thinking one thing...
... and the professional gamblers associated with The Guardian stating another.

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XXXIII!

Several of our team are in the process of developing a robust model for the evaluation of players in the transfer market as the current market is both highly inefficient and analyses undertaken by the Moneyball Brigade are simplistic in the extreme.

Some clubs wish for a better system of valuing transfer targets.

Although the vast majority of such research is proprietary ie it pays our bills, we have made the decision, with the approval of our backers, to focus on one area of major concern - namely, club agents.

Club agents destroy the standing of the club that employs them for personal financial gratification.

By bringing in players that they represent directly, represent via 3rd party arrangements or gain from in extended mutual beneficial structures, these agents devalue the overall quality of the team.

Furthermore, as it is in their personal interests to inflate transfer fees (and hence their percentage), they jolly well do!

These negativities are markedly enhanced when the club agent and club management are in cahoots.
Think Portsmouth!

To prove our point, we are going to focus on Liverpool FC.

Under Rafa Benítez, Liverpool finished 5th, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd and 7th in the Premier League with a Champions League triumph and losing final thrown in for good measure.

When Roy Hodgson with club agent John Colquhoun took over for the 2010/11 season, the impact was disastrous as players were purchased on highly skewed reasonings.

The outcome?
The manager/agent pair were sacked after half a season with Liverpool sitting in 12th position having only won seven out of 20 league games and having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Man Utd and the League Cup by the might of Northampton Town.

Although, in many ways, Kenny Dalglish was the correct choice to rescue the club from this abyss, Damien Comolli brought in entirely invalid valuation methods - how many Liverpool supporters really believe that the club have got value for money out of Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam, for example?

Last season's 6th position is a distant dream with the currently devalued squad.

The key idiocy in this whole process is attempting to utilise the Billy Beane Moneyball strategy for a sport for which it is evidently not suited.

Baseball is like cricket - a conveyor belt of discrete events that might be analysed in accumulation or singly.
Football is a team sport where it is the performance of the entire team entity that is the key configurative parameter.

The data tells you everything you need to know.

Liverpool FC under a reasonably astute manager averaged 4th position in the Premier League and won the Champions League.
Liverpool FC under Hodgson/Colquhoun were placed 12th.
Liverpool FC under Dalglish/Comolli are averaging 7th position.
And Champions League qualification is off the agenda.

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XXXII!

On Sunday morning (to suit the Asian betting markets of course), Levante met Atlético Madrid.

El Rojiblanco were already running on empty following their Europa League assertions of just two and a half days earlier in Hannover when they were 'welcomed' by Iglesias Villaneva, the match referee.

During the mis-match, Atlético committed 13 fouls, below the average in La Liga, yet were greeted with 7 yellow cards and a sending off.
Two of the bookings (Salvio and Mario Suarez) resulted in a ban as, obviously, did the sending off of Miranda.

This means that Atlético will be short of three key players for the match tonight against Real Madrid.

The manipulations in favour of Mourinho's men don't stop there however.

Yesterday it was announced that Undiano Mallenco will be reffing El Clásico at the Camp Nou on April 21st.
Barcelona are already at a major disadvantage in that their two Champions League Semi Finals are just three days from the event while Franco's men have two four-day gaps but the selection of Mallenco is Fergusonesque in its direness.

Only two match officials are less supportive to Barca and none are more favourable to Real!

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXXI!

Tomorrow evening Manchester City are playing West Bromwich Albion.

The Referee is Lee Mason.
The 4th Official is Chris Foy.

Lee Mason on Manchester United Premier League games - 6 Wins, 1 Draw, 0 Losses (103 points seasonal extrapolation).
Chris Foy on Manchester United Premier League games - 14 Wins, 4 Draws, 1 Loss (92 points seasonal extrapolation).

Only one Man Utd defeat between them in their entire careers.

Well Red.

Ferguson wants to secure the title when United visit Eastlands and is distorting the integrity of the sport in so doing.

Indeed, if you add in the recently retired Red Walton to the List of Shame (15 Man Utd Wins, 6 Draws, 0 Losses in his career), these three referees who make up one-sixth of the PGMOB roster are totalising 35 Wins, 11 Draws and 1 Loss on Manchester United in the EPL!!!

Just one defeat in 47 Premier League matches!!!

And guess who is the referee for City's match against Norwich at the weekend?
Chris Foy!!!

Of course, none of this really matters anymore as City could 'be allowed' to win their next three games, while United could post two draws out of the next three matches and the Manchester Manipulators will still wrap up the title with a victory at Eastlands.

But be wary of trading on historical information...
... and that applies also to the ludicrous selection of Mr Jonathan Moss on the West Brom/QPR poker hand at the weekend - this allows John Colquhoun and his Set to make the outcome whatever they desire.

What a weird fluke!

NB The PGMOB, under pressure, pulled Lee Mason from the City/WBA game at 15:00 on day of match. Replaced by Kevin Friend.

What An Incredible Fluke XXX!

When bookmaking organisations see no benefit in allowing a market on a match to exist eg agreed draws at the close of the Serie A season in Italy or very overwhelming insider trading on non top-tier matches where liquidity issues prevent the options of hedging and/or balancing the books (never mind turning an honest profit), the market is suspended or terminated.
Or, at the very least, there are restrictions on volume.

Evaluating such stances across the bookmaking world is revealing.

For example.
The team that global bookies refuse to price up most frequently in the Championship in England is Peterborough United.

They are, of course, managed by Darren Ferguson, son of the Great Manipulator Himself!

A Casino Chip off the Old Block.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXIX!

As part of our enhanced security, we monitor the individual locations and IP addresses of the many tens of thousands of hits that Football is Fixed receives each week.

As one might expect for a blog that exposes corruption and criminality in the major European football leagues (with a particular emphasis on England), the accumulated totals of hits from territories such as England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Eire, Portugal, France and Brazil feature strongly.

Similarly, English speaking countries with some interest in football are also very evident eg USA, Canada and Australia.

Beyond this it gets interesting.

The following territories are also prominent - Israel, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Saudi Arabia, Iceland, Finland, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Bahamas, British Virgin Isles (BVI), Indonesia, Russia, Nigeria, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Jersey, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Anguilla, Antigua, Jamaica, Romania, Albania, Poland, Turkey etc etc.

Although a few of these countries are footballised, the remainder are offshore environments and/or gambling centres where, by complete coincidence, the world's more dodgy bookmaking and professional trading organisations gravitate.

Indeed, adjusted for population, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, Finland, BVI, Cayman Isles, Bahamas, Jersey. Anguilla and Antigua are the territories that are most interested in what our team has to say.

Major centres of offshore bookmakers and shell companies are, per head of population, our primary audience!
Sunny places for shady people!!

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXVIII!

Hail Hail!!
Against all the early season odds, Glasgow Celtic were crowned Scottish Premier League Champions on Saturday.
A true Easter Uprising!

Without going for the Schadenfreude/Fr Ted Crilly/Bjørge Lillelien angle on hyperrealities, the Hun Boys took one hell of a beating.

But in the land of Dallasgate, there were dark forces working against the Celtic triumph as ever.

Take leading Scottish referee Willie Collum (the one who walks out for the second half actually in the midst of the Rangers team).

Since becoming a SPL official, Collum has shown a marked bias in favour of Rangers.
Looking at the key match-changing sendings off and penalties that Collum has handed out, Rangers have a 15-1 tilt in their favour while Celtic have a 2-3 tilt against.
These decisions included a remarkable penalty in one Auld Firm game that could only have been seen through Collum's extra pair of eyes in the rear of his head.
Oh! And then there was the fixed Scottish League Cup Final between Celtic and Kilmarnock.

Why is this sort of stuff not spotted and acted upon?

Collum, as we are repeatedly told in apparent justification of his bias, is a religion teacher at a Roman Catholic school.
Poor kids.

God certainly appears to move in mysterious ways in favour of the goat-bothering brotherhood north of the border.

And while we're at it...
... where did all the money go that Rangers FC received for throwing the 2007/08 UEFA/Europa Cup Final against Zenit St Petersburg?

And why aren't Celtic being given the 7 corrupted titles won by Rangers since Advocaat started the financial shenanigans?
Milan got it and they were as guilty as Juve...
... so why not Celtic?

But, Celtic managing to win the title in one of the most criminalised leagues in Europe...

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXVII!

Most entertainment industries, and football is no longer a competitive sport but rather a corrupted spectacle, select their best actors for the major theatrical extravaganzas.

Ah! But the Premier League is different.

On a day with huge global television coverage due to both the holidays and the absence of many other leagues, the EPL gave us Lee Mason to ruin one game (Mason lives just fifteen minutes from Old Trafford and is yet to referee a Man Utd defeat - his performances on United matches scaled up over a season would result in a total of 103 points!) and PC Martin Atkinson who, in his old day job, could have arrested Mario Balotelli three times in the first half for actual bodily harm but chose instead to try to keep his beloved Chelsea's 4th place hopes alive instead of applying the rules of the game.

Once the match was a done deal, it was time to return to form.

For in the last three seasons, out of the last 26 sendings off in the EPL perpetrated by PC Atkinson, only 5 have been white English players.
11 of the victims have been Black.

Institutional racism in the British police force overflows into the English game.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXVI!

So Roy Hodgson wants the England job: "I could quite easily say there should be a clause in the [West Brom] contract that, if someone else wants me, compensation can be agreed."

This is not a good idea for England...
... it is only marginally better than appointing 'Onest 'Arry to the post.

When you appoint Hodgson, you get John Colquhoun too - Colquhoun has been the club agent to Hodgson at Fulham, Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion.

Colquhoun has been in this position once before when he was agent for Steve McClaren when the talentless one was manager of England.

Players represented by Colquhoun were shamelessly promoted onto the international stage - there were matches, for example, where all three goalkeepers in the squad were on the books of Colquhoun (David James, Chris Kirkland and Scott Carson) - whether this was a good idea when Mr Colquhoun is a professional gambler is a moot point.

England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 through a mistake by Carson under the watchful gaze of Wally Brolly Man. But the real idiocy preventing qualification came in the arrangement of a friendly match in Austria just four days earlier. This was needless and tiring although it did provide one benefit - Michael Owen, the man with the Timeform Squiggle, was injured and missed the Croatia farce.

Bookmakers close to the Colquhoun Set Up were trading on a draw at Wembley. The Three Lions only needed a draw to qualify and there was huge patriotic mug money on the England win.
Playing with the markets cost England a place in the finals.

And Colquhoun is Scottish! He already has a similar arrangement with Craig Levein, the Scottish manager, resulting in the promotion of more of his clients onto the international stage - for example, James Morrison.

Stuart Pearce might have his managerial limitations but he is not corrupt...
... and in a world where Football is Fixed, that is as much as one can expect of your manager.

But...
One England squad, three goalkeepers on Key Sports' books, one manager on Key Sports' books and an agent with a propensity for insider trading...

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XXV!

'Club Bias Integrity' due to certain PGMOB referees, as mentioned in the previous post, impacts both positively and negatively on the leading teams in the country.

The list below yields the positive and negative biases on such clubs without disclosing which referees are up to what (+ = bias in favour; - = bias against).

Arsenal ---+
Aston Villa -
Chelsea ++++
Everton -
Liverpool ++
Man City --+
Man Utd -+++
Spurs ++
West Brom ++
West Ham ++

* The major London clubs ALL receive positive treatment across the board apart from Arsenal.
* The Northern bunch of problematical referees do not just show 'alleged' bias in favour of teams from their regions.
* Furthermore, some referees have links to more than one club.
* Additionally, collective bias impacts upon realities eg the state of Wolverhampton Wanderers (see historical posts).
* This sort of corruption decides titles and relegations, cup winners and losers, job longevity and dole.
* Mr Scudamore is one of two things - imbecilically idiotic or calamitously corrupt. Which is it Dickie Boy?

It is not difficult to prevent such biases.
If the PGMOB were not criminalised then fans would not have to be abused by the powerful teams in this manner.

But.
Worse still.
Of the 19 PGMOB Select Group referees, more than half show a further even more disturbing bias...
... 'Bookmaker Bias Integrity'.

Onshore and offshore bookies from your septic isle liaise with referees to a degree that completely undermines the integrity of the game.

One match referee is even linked to a leading Russian bookmaker.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXIV!

Our global team of trading professionals are aware of 11 English referees whose performances on the field of play (and off it in certain cases) are problematical in the department entitled 'Club Bias Integrity'.

Actually we know of another but Red Walton has retired and been rewarded for his 'alleged' bias in favour of Manchester United by being appointed as general manager of the Professional Referee Organisation (PRO) in North America - a gift from the Glazers one should assume.

The geographical locations of the Corruption XI are revealing - not one of them lives south of the West Midlands!!

Indeed...
... 10 of them are based in the North where they help to make life grimmer than it already is.

With 35% of the Premier League teams being managed by individuals born within administration distance of Glasgow and 90% of the problematical match officials being from the North, we suggest that Southern Softies get their act together or get a dodgy East European oligarch who cannot afford a razor.

Still...
... yet another reason why Arsenal never win anything.

What a weird fluke!

© Football is Fixed 2006-2012

What An Incredible Fluke XXIII!

For the live BBC tv match between Barnsley and West Ham United this afternoon, the PGMOB selected Anthony Bates to referee.

Mr Bates has officiated West Ham games twice this season.

The first the Hammers won 1-0 against Peterborough via a penalty.
The second the Hammers won 2-1 against Nottingham Forest via 2 penalties.

In 12 other Championship matches that Master Bates has officiated, he has only given 1 penalty in total all season.

His performance in the first half of the Barnsley game is of such a standard that it is astonishing that he is not on the PGMOB Select Group - the whistleblowers who carry out orders from above in the Premier League.

Mr Bates didn't even give a free kick against the Hammers until the 25th minute when the visitors were already 2-0 ahead despite an early two footed challenge and numerous other potential fouls.

We cannot find any other Championship match this season where the visitors have lasted so long without committing a foul in the eyes of the referee.

And who was behind the colossal global gamble on West Ham in the hour leading up to kick off?
86% of the total pre-match money was on a Hammers victory!!

Mind you, the Hammers have been given Jonathan Moss for their next match against Birmingham.
Cue joyous delight for Chris Hughton, the Brummie manager (another member of the John Colquhoun Set - see numerous previous posts).

For, Mr Moss has given Brum a last minute match-saving penalty and two sendings off in favour in a 6-0 win in his two Brummie outings so far this season.

It seems that clubs nowadays are able to literally bid for the required match official...
... and the impact that these types of shenanigans have on insider trading in the betting markets is simply aggregated corruption and fraud.

But.
Three penalties for West Ham in 2 games...
... and 1 for the remainder of the division all season.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXII!

The three core referees whose match performances exhibit (obviously unintentional) bias in favour of Manchester United continue to be utilised in favour of the Red Devils despite the retirement of Red Walton.

Having been given Howard Webb as referee or dominant 4th official to a very junior referee in the last three Premier League games, the EPL have made Chris Foy the 4th official for the next match at Eastlands versus West Bromwich Albion.

This is key for two reasons.

Firstly, even though Fred Done has paid out on a United triumph, the combination of Arsenal away and Foy on the Albion should neatly terminate interest.

Secondly, any sendings off or players reaching the level of a ban for bookings will mean such individuals miss the Manchester derby.

Ferguson wants more revenge and continues to be willing to bring the game into disrepute in so doing.

In 2012, City have not won any match where one of the Old Trafford Three are in charge.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XXI!

Two seasons ago, the English Premier League declared war on UEFA both over financial fair play and the programming of EPL matches to coincide with ones from the Champions League.

The bookmakers, as ever, were most grateful for such impact as the success of the English teams over the previous four seasons had been immensely poor for the bottom line.

So check the data.

From seasons 2006/07 to 2009/10, the number of semi finalists in the Champions League/Europa Cup from England was 11.
Fully 34% of all semi slots were filled by English teams.
Spain came second with 22%.

For the last two seasons, England has provided just 12.5% of semi finalists slipping behind Spain (44%), Portugal (25%) and Germany (19%).

At the very least, this makes it difficult to maintain the 'best league in the world' marketing fallacy.

The data above are revealing...
... but what is it that they reveal?

Either a marked decline in the competitive standard of English football within Europe...
... or that UEFA directly targets miscreant organisations.

Or a bitterly brewed blend of both.

But yet another hyperreality that aids the EPL and the bookmakers to the detriment of the supporter and fan.

What a weird fluke!

What An Incredible Fluke XX!

In the two decades since the European Cup morphed into the Champions League, every single winner has been a member of the allegedly defunct G14 group of teams (there are actually eighteen teams in this inner group).

The trophy has been shared around 12 of these teams but more startling still are the semi finalists.

In the last decade and excluding Chelsea, who are a power base due to Roman's legions, only three out of 40 semi final teams have NOT come from the G14(18) cartel.

Additionally, of the 20 G14(18) winners of the competition, 16 of the winners are from the top tier of the G14(18) ie the most institutionally powerful clubs.

Of course, the G14(18) was supposedly dispanded years ago in favour of the UEFA Strategy Group and then the ECA.

But when does power ever voluntarily relinquish control?

But a cartel controlling the Champions League...

What a weird fluke!