Manipulated Markets - The First Ever Post on Football is Fixed

This was our first blog from November 11th 2006.
It is dull!

Desperate for a pertinent question, how about "has anything changed in the five and a half years since?"

No!

Tessa Jowell proved to be ineffectual as did subsequent agents of the state - the acquittal of Harry Redknapp in February proving to be the final hyperreality on the power of the entirely non-regulated football industry.

But, on reflection, we feel that we misjudged the holistic in terms of the degree of corruption in the game.
It has proved to be markedly worse than we initially suspected!

"There are many honest people in the game" proved vastly optimistic!!

Organisations that hover between the white, grey and black markets were initially assessed as being beyond the pale when we explored potential collaborations.
But, that is as good as it gets in postmodern football for the simple reason that, when vast swathes of the industry are trundling around at the bottom of the barrel, one has to stretch the margins of integrity to compete.

Of course, this reward for psychopathy is one of the fundamental flaws with free market capitalism too...
... along with it being a Ponzi scheme in a non-sustainable planetary equilibrium.

We spent too much time seeking other entities similar to ourselves.
We were too naive and idealistic.

Socrates: "As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."

In the end we have compromised and will continue to do so.
It is a shit industry but we'll take our small and peripheral part of that shit for our efforts.

And, on that very point, no responses should be expected to the Consultancy on offer until the end of the month as we are otherwise engaged (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/201213-consultancy-available.html).

Thank you.
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English Football is currently reeling from the impacts of the Stevens inquiry into the bung culture, the standard and ethics of referees and the revelation that Victor Chandler International allegedly took bets from some Premiership Managers and Players. The words “tip” and “iceberg” spring to mind.
I have traded professionally on global football betting markets for the past 15 years. In my experience, all the brokers, market makers and bookmakers that I have traded with take bets from insiders in the game. It is regarded as buying information. Undoubtedly, some of this exchange of information borders on the corrupt. The recent betting scandal in Germany and the uproar in Italy’s Serie A show that this isn’t merely a British problem.
Asian Market Makers regularly accept bets of greater than £1million without blinking (Gianluigi Buffon – the Juventus goalkeeper – was found with betting slips for several million euros in his possession during the Moggiopoli scandal). Inevitably, the liquidity of the Asian markets persuades some football people to enhance their earning capacities. To my knowledge, such individuals include players, managers, referees, bookmakers, agents and the criminal fringe. It isn’t just the Italian mafia centres of Napoli, Palermo and Reggio di Calabria that are actively involved in football markets!
To date, all attempts to clean up the game have been peripheral. In Germany, some selective sweeping under the carpet and wrist slapping went on in response to the referee Robert Hoyzer admitting that he took money to alter football match outcomes. But, I believe that there are other match officials in the Bundesliga who were merely demoted or, indeed, allowed to continue to officiate. In Italy, in the aftermath of calciocaos, two referees were suspended but the other six that were under investigation are still involved in Serie A.
Although there are many corrupt players, it is the match officials who are the key component of this crisis. Some have links to individual clubs, some to bookmakers and some to the underworld. There are also many honest people in the game who are just trying to do their jobs. However, until football cleans up its act, corruption will persist. Falling attendances in Italy and England are partially related to deficiencies in the sport on offer. Although the prawn sandwich brigade remain oblivious to anything, the true fans know when they are being short changed. The recent assertion by Graeme Souness that British football is “the most honest in Europe” is simply laughable.
Tessa Jowell, the Minister for Culture, is aiming to make Britain a clean and well regulated gambling environment. I fully support her and her Department’s efforts but such efforts must extend beyond the protection of the vulnerable and the targeting of company directors with criminal links.
The football authorities also need to take a lead in this area and not just in the betting arena. In the lead up to the last World Cup, there was a real concern within FIFA that Uzbekistan were going to make it to the finals. This would have been politically unacceptable. In the first leg of the Asian Play Off with Bahrain, the Uzbeks won 1-0 and had a penalty denied them by the Japanese official. FIFA ludicrously ordered the game to be replayed and a 1-1 draw resulted. Bahrain won through in the Second Leg on away goals – the official for that second game (obviously by chance in the light of recent occurrences) was a certain Mr Graham Poll!

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