Is football corrupt?

[bapi]

OK, referees were poor yesterday but we conceded 2 goals from 2 CKs in first 15 minutes. At home. Against this poor Ajax side. In CL. And our performance against Dortmund or Real... This is why we have only 2 points.

 

[Carver]

For me, the clincher to the OP's question, is

"If football is NOT corrupt, why is NOTHING being done to stop the diabolical decisions that we see week in, week out?"

Why is there no review of referees and of refereeing? Why is technology not being looked at? Why is the CL draw done in such a way that *obviously* allows fixing, when they could change it to one that makes fixing impossible?

Isn't video technology being introduced in the next year or two?

Can I ask, in what way do you think it is fixed? The draw that is?

I do agree that the draw needs to be revamped though. It should be the Champions, and the Champions only, that play in the competition. I'd could possibly stretch to allowing 2nd place in, just to make the competition bigger. But 3rd n 4th is bollocks.

That was always my belief SJK, but it's not a competition in ther true sense of the word, it's a money making excercise. When one of the 'popular' teams wins the competition they have better tv audiences. UEFA changed the rules of the draw so that 2 'popular' teams cannot be on tv the same night. This is acceptable for City & United not playing at home on the same night due to policing reasons, but why should a sporting draw be altered because Barcelona and Real Madrid or Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund attract large tv followings? These teams are paired so that they cannot play on the same night. Why? These teams just happen to be roughly the same distance apart, 380 miles, the same distance as it is from London to Edinburgh and gives no policing issues. Now you tell me that this is not 'fixing' the draw, they have altered it in the face of fair competition. (Dortmund & Schalke are the same distance as Manchester to Bolton & play on the same night).

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

For me, the clincher to the OP's question, is

"If football is NOT corrupt, why is NOTHING being done to stop the diabolical decisions that we see week in, week out?"

Why is there no review of referees and of refereeing? Why is technology not being looked at? Why is the CL draw done in such a way that *obviously* allows fixing, when they could change it to one that makes fixing impossible?

Isn't video technology being introduced in the next year or two?

No. In a word.

Okay, I meant goal-line technology.

 

[Chippy_boy]

For me, the clincher to the OP's question, is

"If football is NOT corrupt, why is NOTHING being done to stop the diabolical decisions that we see week in, week out?"

Why is there no review of referees and of refereeing? Why is technology not being looked at? Why is the CL draw done in such a way that *obviously* allows fixing, when they could change it to one that makes fixing impossible?

Isn't video technology being introduced in the next year or two?

Can I ask, in what way do you think it is fixed? The draw that is?

I do agree that the draw needs to be revamped though. It should be the Champions, and the Champions only, that play in the competition. I'd could possibly stretch to allowing 2nd place in, just to make the competition bigger. But 3rd n 4th is bollocks.

Re video technology, yes but only goal line and after god knows how much delay and deferring and putting it off as long as possible. You could hardly call FIFA "enthusiastic adopters of technology" could you. Basically they have tried to keep it out for as long as humanly possible.

Regards the draw, I think it is unecessarily complicated - and deliberately so, in my view - to distract from the potential loop holes and possibilities for fixing. Regards fixing, there's lots of ways it could be done. When the balls are drawn, we have no way of knowing whether they are marked in some way so that the contents of the ball is known. That's just one way, but there are lots.

If they wanted it to be demonstrably fair, they should pull numbered balls from a machine like they do on the lottery and call the numbers out against a pre-published list of teams and their numbers.

-- Wed Nov 07, 2012 11:15 am --

OK, referees were poor yesterday but we conceded 2 goals from 2 CKs in first 15 minutes. At home. Against this poor Ajax side. In CL. And our performance against Dortmund or Real... This is why we have only 2 points.

No, playing as we did, we should have 4 points. I am not saying we have been other than poor in the CL. But even so, we should have 4 points.

 

[Carver]

Good idea for the lottery machines Chippyboy.

They can make a ball heavier and it is likely to sink to the bottom and get drawn first, but I don't know what difference that would make.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Good idea for the lottery machines Chippyboy.

They can make a ball heavier and it is likely to sink to the bottom and get drawn first, but I don't know what difference that would make.

My point is really that the existing system is open to being fixed. If you wanted to have an "unfixable" system, they could very easily introduce one.

 

[Carver]

Back to the game, this has only been touched on.

Dzeko kept getting penalised for just standing his ground, it was bizarre.

One of the reasons that I like Aguero is because he's honest. Mario, Tevez & Dzeko have been known to go down too easily at times, but never Sergio, he's even been known to get back up after being partially hacked down in the penalty area to go and chase the ball. What did I see last night, right side of the area, Sergio goes down easily and gets a foul, it was never a foul. The players from both sides had worked out that you land on your arse in this game and it's an automatic free kick (Dzeko non-elbow being the prime example).

The free kick given right at the end, it was a foul to Ajax, Aguero landed on his arse, not deliberately this time. That's probably why the ref gave it to us. (could have been offside but I wasn't concentrating).

 

[stonerblue]

FUCKIN BENT BASTARDS.......

 

[Balti]

No, playing as we did, we should have 4 points. I am not saying we have been other than poor in the CL. But even so, we should have 4 points.

regardless of how we played those unbelievably shit officials have decided that we are on wo points less than we should be

were they bribed? or just unbelievably biased? or just totally incompetent?

whichever it is it is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

For me, the clincher to the OP's question, is

"If football is NOT corrupt, why is NOTHING being done to stop the diabolical decisions that we see week in, week out?"

Why is there no review of referees and of refereeing? Why is technology not being looked at? Why is the CL draw done in such a way that *obviously* allows fixing, when they could change it to one that makes fixing impossible?

Isn't video technology being introduced in the next year or two?

Can I ask, in what way do you think it is fixed? The draw that is?

I do agree that the draw needs to be revamped though. It should be the Champions, and the Champions only, that play in the competition. I'd could possibly stretch to allowing 2nd place in, just to make the competition bigger. But 3rd n 4th is bollocks.

That was always my belief SJK, but it's not a competition in ther true sense of the word, it's a money making excercise. When one of the 'popular' teams wins the competition they have better tv audiences. UEFA changed the rules of the draw so that 2 'popular' teams cannot be on tv the same night. This is acceptable for City & United not playing at home on the same night due to policing reasons, but why should a sporting draw be altered because Barcelona and Real Madrid or Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund attract large tv followings? These teams are paired so that they cannot play on the same night. Why? These teams just happen to be roughly the same distance apart, 380 miles, the same distance as it is from London to Edinburgh and gives no policing issues. Now you tell me that this is not 'fixing' the draw, they have altered it in the face of fair competition. (Dortmund & Schalke are the same distance as Manchester to Bolton & play on the same night).

You'll never find me denying that the Champions League is one big money making exercise. But that doesn't mean it's fixed to ensure specific teams get through and certain others dont. IMO, they want to ensure their matches are getting the biggest TV audiences possible, regardless of whether that should come 2nd to the competition's 'integrity' itself. No, I don't agree with it before you ask, but that's the way it is, and it's been like that for a while.

People would find holes in any format of which FIFA would use. Ironically, the only reason why you were in the Champions League last year is down to the way the current format is, at present. The fact that United, Chelsea & Arsenal have all performed consistently well over the last 8 years or so ensured our co-efficiency was high, thus giving us a 4th qualifying spot.

I didn't hear many people two seasons back complaining about how shit the CL format is because that 4th spot got you a CL place.

The fact that we have 4 CL spots is also probably a big reason why we have so many brilliant, overseas players in the PL today, because there is a wider scope for CL qualification. Had the PL only had 1 CL spot for the last 10 years, you probably wouldn't see the players we have in the PL today nor would you probably not see the players you have at your club today.

There's pro's and cons to every system and every format and unfortunately, money drives everything in the football world.

I imagine Ajax and Dortmund would have feared this group of death more than you did, when it was drawn, but I dont imagine you'll see thread after thread on their forums about how it's rigged/corrupt/bullshit.