"If you want some accessible but informative insight into football then I suggest you couldn't do better than the Political Economy of Football website, which is not only intelligible but comes with the added bonus of being written by Addicks fan Wyn Grant." Ben Hayes - Charlton Athletic programme
China has put two dozen former football officials, players, coaches and referees behind bars in an attempt to clean up the game which has been rife with corruption. Two former national soccer chiefs and the disgraced national football team captain each got ten and half a years to enjoy the amenities of the country’s prisons.
Italian police visited the national team’s training ground near Firenze earlier this week as part of an ongoing match fixing investigation. Among those arrested in the latest phase were Stefano Mauri, the captain of Lazio.
Police from Cremona in northern Italy are leading the so-called ‘Last Bet’ investigation which is said to involve eight matches from the 2010-11 season. It is alleged to involve several teams in the top three divisions and an international betting syndicate that extends to Singapore and South Africa.
It often seems to be one step forward two steps backward at Rangers. After yesterday’s court victory, Sepp Blatter and his bunch of cronies in Switzerland have stuck their oar in and are issuing all sorts of threats to the Scottish Football Association (SFA).
Rangers have won a court case against a transfer ban imposed on them by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). The ban would have seriously compromised their ability to compete next season.
Although the High Court found in favour of the Football League in a ruling on the football creditors rule, it does not finally resolve the issue. The rule allows clubs and their employees to be paid ahead of other creditors if a club becomes insolvent.
Revenue & Customs, who have an obvious interest in overturning the rule, have failed in an attempt to have the rule declared null and void. The Revenue is considering an appeal, a move it was given permission to take.
I am well aware that the number of sports lawyers is on the increase: they tend to dominate academic discussion of football. It’s a very interesting area of the law to be in and can be lucrative.
It’s therefore interesting to get in depth reflections from four lawyers on their clubs and their relationship with them. The four clubs are: Manchester City, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Bournemouth.
Queens Park Rangers are facing a battle in the High Court after being served with a writ for £750,000. Carlos Dunga, the former Brazil captain and manager, claims that he lent the club a sum of money from 2005 to 2007 when the club had previous ownership.
One of the most loyal supporters of Preston North, Robert (also known as ‘Ben’) Casey, has felt obliged to serve a High Court writ to reclaim £250,000 he lent the club in 2007.
Casey, who was instrumental in designing the new Deepdale asked for his money back in August 2010 but at that time he was told the club couldn’t pay him. The writ goes on to claim that further promises and offers have been unacceptable to Casey.
Top European clubs could ultimately decide to leave Uefa and the Champions League and form their own breakway competition as a solution to the constraints imposed by the Financial Fair Play regulations. There is a growing fear, exemplified by the move of Nicholas Anelka, possibly to be followed by Didier Drogba, that financial power in football may start to shift from Europe to Asia.
The Bribery Act came into force in July and some clubs are worried about its possible impact on them. This is not a reference to payments or hospitality to the officials or even the players of the opposing team, which have not been unknown in countries such as Italy, but to the implications of the legislation for corporate hospitality at games. In these difficult times clubs do not want any threats to an important income stream that helps to keep them afloat.