applecentral
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- 5 May 2011
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Sad but trueSo you could say he's the master of puppets...I'll get me coat!
Sad but trueSo you could say he's the master of puppets...I'll get me coat!
It takes just under an hour and a half though!There’s a direct tram from Didsbury to Rochdale. Every cloud.
Any background on Fordham for me?
UEFA looked into Fordham & said it was OK, but they wanted us & other clubs to wind down these schemes.Only what’s out there in terms of the Der Spiegel leak.
The only question I’ve got on the Fordham one is why wasn’t it part of Uefa’s case against us
I think the two issues get mixed up on this thread, and I admit I am as guilty as anyone for doing this. The first is the matter of the 115 very serious charges brought against us by the PL. Fortunately we have briefed Lord Pannick to argue our case and I think we are very safe in his hands. In addition we trust our owners and opinion on here appears to be overwhelmingly that our evidence is indeed irrefutable. What we find impossibly difficult at times is to keep the PL charges separate from our belief that the PL is little, if anything, more or less than a vehicle for the protection of the "red cartel" as Sir Mark Hendrick describes it. Lord Pannick will not fall into this trap but what our club should be doing, and I'd be surprised if it isn't, and our fan organisations should be doing as well, is making representations to MPs and other representative bodies to ensure the regulations which the IR works with are in the best interests of football and the fans. What our owners have done for our club and our city are models for the English game.
Yes but mcfc and nothing else matters .Sad but true
The most commercially successful football league on the planet will not benefit from the dead hand of government regulation.Andy Burnham was on the Sports Agents podcast a week or so ago and made an important point in this respect. He said that there was an obvious conflict of interest between the PL being both the promoter of a product and the regulator of it. I think that is spot on. Plainly there is a potential conflict between the role of developing the PL brand as much as possible and the role of ensuring regulatory compliance amongst its members. One of the reasons a lot of non-blues think we will "get off with it" is precisely because of that conflict. In recent years there have been a fair few instances of, for instance, professional bodies having their trade union and regulatory functions separated, so that for instance doctors' interests are promoted by the BMA but their conduct is regulated by the General Medical Council. Solicitors are protected by the Law Society but regulated by the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority.
In the case of the PL, the reality however seems to be even more nuanced. I would say there is wide recognition, at least on this forum, that the red top clubs, rags and dippers in particular, have a disproportionate amount of influence over the PL. The example everyone knows of is their role in the recruitment of Richard Masters, with the additional interview and the surprising withdrawal of other candidates who would have been offered the job before him. Surprisingly, or not according to perspective, that story (whilst plainly true as I recall it) did not get much traction amongst the mainstream media.
It seems to me the appointment of an independent regulator can only be a good thing. At the very least, we could be satisfied that a regulator with a statutory remit would be much less likely to do the bidding of the red shirts. At the very least, we would know that disciplinary charges were not brought from a desire to nobble a competitor. At best, an independent regulator can bring an end to some of the corruption that has surrounded the game at PL level.
Only what’s out there in terms of the Der Spiegel leak.
The only question I’ve got on the Fordham one is why wasn’t it part of Uefa’s case against us
I don't either.I don't think there is a smoking gun anywhere in these allegations, or a gun of any kind. Not even a water pistol.