PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

[cheekybids]

If we do get fucked, I'm blaming Oasis.

You’ll just have to roll with it…

 

[bluemanchester]

I have appeared as an expert witness quite a few times in a past life, albeit always at magistrate / sheriff court level and in connection with food quality / contamination issues. My view is that flipping a coin would probably give a more accurate judgement. I was normally asked to appear by a food company although at times I did warn them that sometimes my evidence might not be to their advantage but I would have to give it as I saw it.

Anyhow let me give you an example of a case where I thought that there was a cut and dried ‘not guilty’ verdict coming.

The case involve a metal bolt in a sausage. By the time I got the evidence it had been mauled by a public analyst. However it was clear that the sausage had been cut along its length and the bold was more or less central and the head had been approximately flush with the plane of the cut with the shaft of the bolt at right angles to the length of the sausage. That in itself is unlikely. We put some bolts of the same size and shape through the sausage filler at the Research Association where I worked, and admittedly with a small sample size, they tended to go through into the sausage with the head leading the way and with the shaft following at an angle of about 30 degrees. The head normally went towards the outside of the sausage. This would be expected as the sausage meat would tend to push the head forward with the shaft following. I analysed the metal that the bolt was made of and found it to be cadmium plated, such bolts would not be allowed in food machinery. The bolt was a good match for bolts used in telephone exchanges at the time.

The public analyst had reported that as he pulled the bolt out of the sausage with tweezers the force require was such that it indicated that the bolt had been cooked inside the sausage rather than being pushed in afterwards. We cooked bolts in sausages, pushed bolts into sausages and screwed bolts into sausages and measures the force required to pull them out with an Instron and found no difference between the force required pull out the bolt between that which had been cooked in the sausage and that which had been pushed in and a very small,increase in the force required to remove the bolt that had been screwed into the cooked sausage.

My colleague, a meat technologist, carried out a factory inspection and found no bolts resembling those found in the sausage (though he didn’t go 30’ up to the roof to inspect the sheilded fluorescent light fitting). The metal detector consistently rejected a pack of sausages with the bolt inside one of the sausages and the factory records showed that the metal detector was functioning correctly and had been checked as required on the day the sausage had been manufactured.

In my view we had assembled irrefutable evidence that the bolt had not got into the sausage in the factory. Certainly enough to to raise reasonable doubt that it had been the result of a factory incident.

At the court case the complainant who was a telecom engineer working in an exchange gave evidence. He was a middle aged slightly below average height and slightly above average weight for his height, bespectacled and balding. Asked for his account of how the bolt had been discovered he responded “I was making supper for my disabled wife……..”. At this point I thought that simply because the alternative to it being a factory incident was, effectively, to accuse him of deliberately putting the bolt into the sausage that the magistrate would find it easier to find the company guilty, which he did. Perhaps the under threat Scottish “not proven” verdict (which was in my view the most appropriate verdict in many of the cases I was involved in) would have provided an escape route for the magistrate.

It really is funny how different scenarios are played out. In one instance when I worked in catering a piece of wire from a serving utensil had got in the packaging alongside, not in the food, and wrapped for take out. A few days later an environmental health officer came knocking with the piece of wire. He explained he had received a complaint and had to come check our procedures. Having satisfied himself that it was accidental he left with no further action. He did say with what happened it is doubtful there
would be a prosecution as it was a forrign object and if it had been an animal part it would be different. A few days later the customr who complained came in explained it was him who complained. He was a police officer and he said the reason he complained was, in his words, he had had a shit day at work and wanted to take it out on someone. Make of that what you will. I thought he was a nasty vindictive tw×t.

EDIT. Don't know why I told that story in this thread as I forgot I was reading the Premier League charge City thread and it has feck all to do with that. Old and tired thats my excuse. ;-)

 

[Coatigan]

You’ll just have to roll with it…

Fucking hell, I skipped 40 pages for that?

 

[grim up north]

What do they think City will do?

City will present their evidence at the due time in the appointed place.

They aren't going to spend that day in a chippy in Cleckheaton. But they can't do anything before the due time.

Which chippy in Cleckheaton

 

[grim up north]

OMG
On holiday with the family in Costa del Sol area which I have been coming for over 35 years.
In a bar tonight whilst ordering drinks, one grandchild unsure of which crisps to to have
Chose a blue pack, then from the bloke next to us commented , nice Everton colours.
I replied nah man city bud, then I got the full onslaught of abuse, cheats,115, oil money ect etc
I said whoa mate, let's see what happens when the verdicts arrive
He continued with city bingo phrases and getting more angry by the second
Then it turned nasty and very heated
My family and grandchildren were very scared and upset
Luckily for us the bar staff and other customers witnessed everything and jumped in and escorted the dickhead out of the bar before it got proper out of hand
I couldn't believe what had just happened
This is now becoming a serious social problem
We need this sorting one way or another soon
CTID

Had the same thing from an Everton fan on Costa Blanca sat in bar got the full bingo card. Asked him why Everton had admitted to cheating apparently they have extenuating circumstances I laughed at him and bought him a pint

 

[Dodge]

I have experienced genuine hate over this in the last couple of months. Was having a bit of genuine banter with a mate and a rag interrupted and called City "corrupt" and me "trash" (something I have never been called in my 59 years before or since). The local walking football committee blamed me for it and dismissed it as "banter". He even threatened me verbally after a coming together that he initiated in a game of Walking Football - little man syndrome. Not that I was scared of him but it wasn't great. The local walking football committee did nothing about that either and effectively blamed me again!

My daughter who plays to a good standard and is head of her house at school but she doesn't tell people at school that she is City.

This is what the hateful media have done and the nastier elements of society have latched onto it.

Kevin Horlock likes this post.

 

[LesBleuMiserable]

Fucking hell, I skipped 40 pages for that?

Don’t look back in anger!

 

[mancboy]

Don’t look back in anger!

Maybe he can slide away

 

[berryblue]

Which chippy in Cleckheaton

The one that sell chip muffins.

 

[grim up north]

The one that sell chip muffins.

Not been in that one it’s mainly tea cakes but it’s Yorkshire