Liverpool pay City £1 million in "spy" settlement for hacking - biggest PL scandal

[BamberBridgeBlue]

A bit of credit to those journalists who have pursued this story.

The interesting aspect for me is not really the limited press coverage, which I think we all now expect, but the response of football's authorities. What are the Premier League, UEFA and FIFA going to do?

I doubt City could use this directly in the on-going arbitration case but it's context; the competitive nature of football and the role of football's authorities in that competition, is illuminating. Consider the investigations and scrutiny of all Manchester City's business, and then compare it to the nature of the offence reported here.

Liverpool fans must be cringing with embarrassment at how their holier than thou club has been exposed.

Liverpool FC target Manchester City employees for new staff and proceed to essentially steal their database of scouting prompting City to rush through the signings of Fernandinho and Navas, and you think it isn’t interesting?

Yeah, doubt it would’ve been mentioned if it were the other way around and we tried to jump in on the Luis Suarez signing. There’d be calls for City to be banned from transfers for 3 years. Whether you find it interesting isn’t the issue. It’s the reaction (or lack of) to Liverpool doing this versus how the press may (would) have reacted had it been Manchester City’s plagiarism.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

If City accepted a pay off, there is nowt else to say about it...... City will put it in the petty cash tin and move on ....
I'm actually surprised so many are so aghast at the thought of dippers nicking stuff, bears really do shit in the woods .... !

I don't think anyone's surprised at the dippers stealing something, just the complete lack of any serious press coverage whatsoever. I mean I'd expect it to be buried half way down the BBC Football home page as a matter of course, but I didn't expect them to literally not write a story at all. Most of the other papers have at least done a story on it, but the BBC has absolutely nothing. Even the Echo covered it.

 

[Metalartin]

Liverpool FC target Manchester City employees for new staff and proceed to essentially steal their database of scouting prompting City to rush through the signings of Fernandinho and Navas, and you think it isn’t interesting?

Yeah, doubt it would’ve been mentioned if it were the other way around and we tried to jump in on the Luis Suarez signing. There’d be calls for City to be banned from transfers for 3 years. Whether you find it interesting isn’t the issue. It’s the reaction (or lack of) to Liverpool doing this versus how the press may (would) have reacted had it been Manchester City’s plagiarism.

It is another nail in the coffin for the majority of our press, we say they go over the top for anything City related and consistently show double standards for Liverpool, United, Arsenal and annoyingly Spurs(not even in the cartel). You are correct in everything you've said on that but none of this should be surprising to anyone. We've been saying it about our press for years now and we've said Liverpool are not the "classy" club they make themselves out to be for even longer than that, in some cases.

It's kind of a win in a way, that this has come to light. No need for any of us to pull our hair out over it.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Were any other city fans actually not arsed by this? The headline sounded mad but when I read it was just someone using an old login once it didn't really get me outraged or owt. Wasnt exactly hacking anyway. Genuinely didn't feel like too big a deal to me. It's clearly not on but I don't know what else there is to say about it... the story is kinda over, no? Agree it'd be a bigger deal if it was the other way around though.

I was very much arsed by it, if only because had the roles been reversed, the media and the FA would have foamed its way to our door like the Lads Alliance heading for the local council offices on getting wind of a planning application for a new mosque. What Liverpool employees did (and which actions were clearly endorsed by their shit box of a club) was theft, just as assuredly as if they’d started working for Lloyds Bank, but still had a spare key for the Nat West Bank they used to be employed by, and used it to sneak back in and empty all the safety deposit boxes. Liverpool coughed up £1 million for a reason.

The (deliberate) lack of interest shown by the media (bar The Times) should be incredible, but there is a cohort of journalists at both the Independent and the Guardian that hate us, whilst editorial decision making at rags like the Mail and the Express seems to be governed entirely by the potential for clicks. I dread to think what the reaction will be when UEFA finally gets around to banning us at the old guard’s behest. It’ll be like someone lobbed an entire cow carcass into a piranha pool

 

[moomba]

That era wasn't exactly the high point of Liverpool in the transfer market. Like I said, still bad, I'm just not personally as worked up about it some of you guys are. I honestly just think the amount of time that has passed has made it drastically less interesting from a journalistic perspective. But thats just my opinion.

I'm not worked up by it.

To me the more telling issue is the failure of our media to investigate and report the same was they would if the boot was on the other foot.

They made a £130m profit on Coutinho who they bought during that period.

Thats paid for Van Dyke, Allison and around £200m other signings.

 

[Blue Til Death]

I don't think anyone's surprised at the dippers stealing something, just the complete lack of any serious press coverage whatsoever. I mean I'd expect it to be buried half way down the BBC Football home page as a matter of course, but I didn't expect them to literally not write a story at all. Most of the other papers have at least done a story on it, but the BBC has absolutely nothing. Even the Echo covered it.

Hardly surprising given the complete lack of empathy and biased reporting from the media .... Salah or VaginaDyke could murder someone and they wouldnt be a single report on it......

 

[roxy]

I'm curious what both clubs said the £1m was for on their accounts as both fifa and the Premier league check our accounts for compliance to financial fair play(thoroughly in our case)
They both should know about this payment and what it was for, so surely they should of investigated it....

Well this is interesting. Just had a look at City's accounts from 2014 on Companies House website not expecting to see anything and there's something called 'Other Operating Income' which was £1.775m in 2014. The previous year it was £0.775m so an increase of £1m from 2013 to 2014. Interesting.

 

[Metalartin]

Thats paid for Van Dyke, Allison and around £200m other signings.

As we know, the Coutinho money went out the same window he left, if you add up who they bought. Still that's a very good point made about the Coutinho signing, although I haven't read any reports that we wanted to sign him. VVD has been instrumental in them closing the gap on us and that Coutinho money directly made way for the transfer. Wasn't that the same season they played Real in the CL final? Which made way for yet more signings that summer.

If he was one of our targets, then we should make a point of ramming that down their throats. Just as they would if the shoe was on the other foot. "Youz should be stripped of last years CL win, cheats la".

 

[Marvin]

Liverpool FC target Manchester City employees for new staff and proceed to essentially steal their database of scouting prompting City to rush through the signings of Fernandinho and Navas, and you think it isn’t interesting?

Yeah, doubt it would’ve been mentioned if it were the other way around and we tried to jump in on the Luis Suarez signing. There’d be calls for City to be banned from transfers for 3 years. Whether you find it interesting isn’t the issue. It’s the reaction (or lack of) to Liverpool doing this versus how the press may (would) have reacted had it been Manchester City’s plagiarism.

I was unclear then. I do not find it surprising that this news has been ignored or relatively underreported given its import because the media bias is well known. It's quite predictable that it has been ignored.

What interests me more is what football's authorities are going to do. It may not be known by many football fans, but this incident will have raised eyebrows right across football, and I don't see how FIFA can ignore it.

 

[give it to gordon]

So when are the PL going to investigate dipperpool ?