Disclaimer: Despite the headlines this blog is not your usual piece of transfer bollocks. You have been warned.
Markets
It may be news to young football fans but the modern transfer market is barely 13 years old when the transfer window was first introduced to English football by FIFA in 2003/04. Yes, the concept of a football transfer existed in England for more than 100 years when the Football Association (FA) introduced player registration sometime after 1885. But for most of the intervening years there was really no “free” market for the services of a footballer. It is a historical fact that sometime after the Football League was formed in 1888, the owners decided that restrictions had to be placed on the ability of richer clubs to lure players from other clubs to prevent the league being dominated by a handful of clubs. From the start of the 1893–94 season onwards, once a player was registered with a Football League club, they could not be registered with any other club, even in subsequent seasons, without the permission of the club he was registered with.
The transfer system remained unchanged until the Bosman ruling in 1995. The case for ending Football League-type restrictions on player transfers was brought to court by Jean-Marc Bosman, a former Belgian footballer who in 1990 was registered with Belgian club RFC Liège. His contract had expired and he was looking to move to French team Dunkerque, but Dunkerque refused to pay the transfer fee of £500,000 that Liège were asking for. Bosman was left in limbo and his wages were cut by 75% due to him not playing. After a lengthy legal battle, he won his case when the European Court of Justice ruled that players should legally be free to move when their contract expired.
The point of the preceding historical overview is to remind my readers that the existence of a transfer market and the window is a very recent phenomenon with little in the way of repetitive historical data on which to establish some trading rules. Complicating things even further is the current transfer market does not function year-round. Trading is artificially restricted to the transfer window; i.e. two months in summer and one month in winter. No wonder there are such huge distortions in the demand and supply mechanism and ultimately in prices.
Despite the relative youth of the transfer market, it is important for us Arsenal fans and others to understand its driving forces to avoid being manipulated by the various market participants as well as to better understand the moves made by Arsene and the club. In my last blog I shared with you the role of Greed and Despair as the two primary emotional drivers in the stock market which are equally evident during the transfer window. I emphasized that in in both markets the full-time professionals will consistently exploit and profit from these emotions.
Why the stock market as a frame of reference? Because it is the oldest and biggest market place in the world where the public (individuals, speculators, investors, and institutions) compete to make money. Stock trading of some sort has been around since the middle of the 16th century. But the modern stock exchange was first officially formed in London in 1773, 19 years before the New York Stock Exchange which eventually became the pre-eminent stock market by the 19th century paralleling the rise of New York as the centre of world commerce and finance. Despite repetitive bubbles and crashes, malfeasance and scandals, stock markets continue to exist and grow in size. At the close of 2012, the size of the world stock market (total market capitalization) was about US$55 trillion. By country, the largest market was the United States (about 34%), followed by Japan (about 6%) and the United Kingdom (about 6%).
Irrational Behavior
Due to their long history as well as the money at stake, stock markets have been studied to death by academics and professionals aiming to identify trends and behaviours which are repetitive and predictable. One such repetitive feature that is absolutely comparable to the transfer market is the irrational behaviour by many of the participants. Many of you may recall in the late nineties the mantra of “irrational exuberance” by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan to describe the behaviour of investors running up stock prices during the dot.com bubble which eventually went splat.
It seems to me the very definition of irrational behaviour is Manchester United’s who sold Pogba to Juventus for £500k and four years later repurchased him for an eye watering £89.25m according to TransferMkt.com. As the highest valued transfer ever by United, it is reasonable to assume that during his five year contract he will be earning top wages at United, at least comparable with the £300k per week reportedly earned by Rooney. Added to this expensive acquisition are the transfers of Mkhitarayan (£35.7m) and Bailly (£32.3m) with wages to match. Ibrahimovic was acquire on a free but nobody doubts that he is earning top whack given his celebrity status worldwide.
Meanwhile their noisy neighbours City refuse to be outdone, splashing lavishly on Stones (£47.3m), Sane (£42.5m), Gabriel Jesus (£27.2m), Gündogan (£22.9m), Bravo (£15.3m), Nolito (£15.3m) and a few more in single digits. It is commonly known that City pay top-top wages in the league and apparently out of favour players like Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Eliaquim Mangala are difficult to move on because interested clubs cannot match their contractual compensation. This is a prime example of a club obligated to pay premium salaries of once big signings now surplus to requirements.
It is widely known that contrarians will constantly outperform the prevailing market sentiment during market extremes. In our case during the transfer window Arsene Wenger consistently exploits and profits from the irrational behavior of City, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs et al. This is despite thousands of mainstream media articles, blogs and tweets that Arsenal is being left behind. Arsene refuses to buy high and sell low. He waits until the opportunity develops to get superior value at relatively lower market prices than his competitors. Once the timing is right, usually towards the end of the window, he moves in for the kill (Cazorla, Alexis and now Lucas Perez come to mind).
Herzfeld and Drach (“H and D”) in High-Return, Low-Risk Investment explains that the reason for this irrational behaviour goes much deeper than people reacting to extremes (e.g. when Arsenal go on a bad run) or to the media brainwashing us to believe that transfers are the key to success (when there is ample evidence to the contrary). I will briefly touch on these underlying reasons in the hope that it may help us cope with the repetitive nonsense that prevails during the transfer window.
1. Psychological Gratification
People like to be liked. Being with the crowd is much easier psychologically than being against If everyone is doing the same thing, there is a feeling of camaraderie. (I experience this on Twitter everyday. If the big accounts are slagging Wenger for “dithering” in the transfer market then it is par for the course for the vast majority while those of us who decry the nonsense and point to Wenger’s consistent 20-year success in the window are treated as lepers). This bonding however reduces clear recognition of the risks inherent in the crowd’s behaviour, leading to major losses when crowds ignore reality. Crowd followers are lemmings. Buying and selling players in the transfer market is not a team sport; there are winners and losers with millions at stake.
2. Short-Term Illusion
When a dramatic price event occurs and becomes the centre of attention, seemingly logical reason to justify the price change accompany the sensationalism. The reasoning baits the trap. Usually a major price move has occurred before the sensationalism , the move itself created the sensationalism. The end result is monies are attracted (through supply/demand) to aggravate the price change. If the price move is up, the sensationalism will attract buyers (demand) and push prices higher. If the price move is down, the sensationalism will attract sellers (supply) and push prices lower. H and D note that anyone with experience with the investing public knows that those who get involved with after-the-fact sensationalism tend to repeat their behaviour even though they repeatedly lose (Man United I am looking at you).
Translate the above to the transfer market: The tendency at the beginning of the window is to push prices higher. The big monied teams like PSG, Barca, and Madrid usually storm out of the blocks in their greed to get the best asset on the market. The media and blogs sensationally justify the high prices as the going “market rate” with no reference to quality (e.g. see most of the recent blogs by the Sage of Dublin). There is the usual round of sensational media reports in England and from Europe justifying higher prices and United, City, Chelsea are lured in to pay hand-over-fist for less than top-top quality players. In a year or two many of these high priced transfers prove to be a bust. Meanwhile a measured long-term player like Arsenal will wait until the end of the window to pick up usually young, promising talent on the cheap at reasonable prices whom it can develop as world class players. Fabregas, Van Persie are examples and it is likely Bellerin and Gnabry will follow this route. Just as an aside, in my opinion, if Diaby did not suffer that horrific assault on his ankles in that last game of his first year he would have been a great-great player in the class of Fabregas and Van Persie.
3. Justified sensationalism
H and D note that automatically ignoring (or taking positions directly opposite) prevailing sensationalism can be a mistake. There are positions when the sensationalism is correct, the price movement is justified and the price direction is very likely to continue. Thus in 2007-2008 when the run on Lehman Brothers became apparent and Bear Sterns was being shut down and investors began to bail from firms holding dodgy mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. It would have been right to go with the flow. The important thing is to use common sense to differentiate between justified and unjustified sensationalism. The easiest example in the last ten years of unjustified sensationalism has been the yearly pre-season prognostications by the vast majority of pundits in the commercial media that Arsenal will fall out of the top-four because it failed to spend like its big rivals. They consistently fail to educate the public that Arsenal is a self-sustaining club that could never match United or the sugar-daddy clubs in spending, it would simply go bankrupt. Similarly they consistently under report the role of Arsene Wenger as a genius of a manager who despite lesser resources has consistently outperformed his big spending rivals.
Playing a Blinder
I am going to take the unusual role of saying the club has recognized an element of justifiable sensationalism among the fans this summer and responded by playing this transfer window brilliantly. They, I am sure, are keenly aware of the desire of the supporters to see the club actually compete for the title, knowing full well that finishing 10 points behind Leicester last year has left embers of discontent that can be easily become a conflagration in the hands of the usual pyromaniacs. The early acquisition of Xhaka and Holding as well as the bid for Vardy was a signal of serious intent. As Wenger said early in the window we need to score some more goals and defend even better. As I write the acquisition of Mustafi and Lucas Perez is all but finalized.
In my opinion Lucas could be the final piece of the puzzle; an experienced, aggressive, speedy forward who can score goals and assist. The last time Wenger brought such a predator was in 2007 with the acquisition of Eduardo from Shakhtar Donetsk who was then described as a “striker with lightning speed and a poacher’s instinct in front of goal.” Dudu only scored 12 goals from 22 starts in his first season at the Arsenal, eight of them in the PL, but he was starting to flourish amid the hustle and bustle of English football until Martin “Tiny” Taylor’s challenge left him with a broken leg and dislocated ankle. Up to that point in time, together with Adebayor leading the line, we were on a title-winning run, 5 points atop the table. If Lucas, in his first season, can in anyway duplicate Eduardo’s performances, he together with Walcott, Sanchez and Giroud being fed by Ozil and Xakha, could help us score the goals badly needed during the harsh winter months, when title challenges are made or broken. If he does, we could be in with a shout by the beginning of May.
In closing, I thought Arsene and Ivan would have executed their transfer strategy down to the wire. Instead our summer business is done and dusted by August 29th. Too bad for Sky, BT, ESPN and the BBC, the sensationalists. Leave it to our friend Mel to express my sentiments in his inimitable style:
Positively Arsenal 
Positivistas: Today is DIY day but in between tasks I am in the lab working on something. With any luck it may be ready by tomorrow.
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So Mark Halsey confirms what many of us on PA have been saying for years contrary to the twats elsewhere who said we were conspiracy theorists and other shibboleths for simply observing what was self-evident; the PGMOL was a corrupt body under the sway of the football establishment who would do anything to favor Manchester United and punish Arsenal. As thee great Peter Tosh said:
“You can fool some people sometime but you can’t fool all the people all the time,
Now you see the light……”
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when you add in to the pgmol stuff, the bpl chairman saying it is important for the bpl for man utd to be successful, you have all you need for one to know they whole thing is corrupt.
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If Mark Halsey has any evidence he wishes to put forward in relation to corruption that he is aware of, or has been part of, then I would be DELIGHTED to hear it and I would recommend it is brought to the attention of both the football authorities and the legal authorities in order that appropriate further investigation and action can be taken against any individual, club or organisation involved.
The difficulty with Mark Halsey is however that he is a man prone to headline grabbing “revelations” following which nothing ever follows. He is also a former referee who, if any of those who are interested in god important subject, has a long history of dispute with the PGMOL.
Try Googling ” Mike Halsey BT sacking” or “Mike Halsey Mourhino Wonderful person” or even “Mike Halsey Ferguson text and calls”
As I say no one will be more delighted than when Mike puts up the full evidence.
The difficulty is however, is that if these allegations remain allegations, it stains every club, every referee, every game, every result.
One can only hope it does not emerge that Clattenburg was not told by the PGMOL to not see the Musa penalty at the King Power.
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“Mark Halsey stunning rant Manchester United Liverpool and Chelsea” is another good one.
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I’ve also read the “A5 defends referees” article!
Today’s legends game was excellent in a stadium that was mainly positive although the Mexican wave started up in the second half at a time the players looked tired and the crowd looked bored. Fortunately the game picked up again and it finished on a high.
I however have a knack of getting monkeys sitting next to me, you know like the Looney on the bus, only this time there was four of them.
They come in late, talked most of the way through the first half left early to get a drink then come back in the second half with only 20 minutes to go one by one so they kept getting in the way. Then they continued talking even saying they were glad these shit old players didn’t play for ARSENAL any more. One was wearing the redcurrent last season at Highbury shirt and is probably one of those I want the old ARSENAL back wobs they were definitely wankers I know that.
Apart from that the game was great, watching some of those players, who you could see was slowed down by age, creating the odd spark of magic was brilliant with Winkle especially good organising all around him and even recreating the Paulo Do Canio ref incident.
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I enjoyed it too Ian, it was nice to just enjoy an entertaining game where both sides were cheered and their contributions aknowledged. Arsene is obviously well respected – I noticed at the end the teenage son of one of the Milan players got his mum to take a picture of him with the great man, it was so sweet!
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some claims that a few idiots were chanting wenger out at the charity game today.
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Bent as a nine bob note.
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Well A5 I have to be consistent and await the facts. You are right to observe that Halsey has an agenda. But I won’t recant my observation the PGMOB is very much a part of the establishment. It is an indisputable premise. Evidence of corruption is still pending.
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And as long as they enjoy the intoxicating excitement of social media mentions in their drab little lives Eddy I am sure they will keep on chanting.
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Ed, I was at the game today, sat fairly near the managers, I must admit I didn’t hear any Wenger out chants, don’t think they would have gone down too well in today’s atmosphere either…..but that’s not to say they didn’t happen.
But I did have a cry baby behind me…look at the players we once had, now look at what Wenger has reduced us to..nobody around now fit to lace their boots ..and the usual shite like that.
Anyone who cannot just relax and enjoy what was a charity game and a chance to see heroes wear the shirt again without using it as an excuse for descending into such negativity clearly has something missing in their lives or their brain chemistry. And anyway, I think our current squad looks rather good at the moment.
As for Halsey, I know he is tainted, and likes the media, but that doesn’t mean he is lying or exaggerating, I guess this will fit into the we will never know category, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least some truth in his words. You see things like Rooney elbowing Macarthy of Wigan right in front of the ref (Clattenberg….who is generally a rather good ref) and not only getting away with that, but facing no retrospective action, then reports emerge said ref was thinking of quitting over the pressure of such incidents……there may be an explanation, but sometimes, it is hard not to wonder what goes on behind the scenes in such events.
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I was block 11 definitely no chants from behind the north bank goal or that end of the east stand
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ArsenalCentral @AFCCentralHQ 4h4 hours ago
Ozil: “I recently read that I haven’t stayed anywhere longer than 3 years. At Arsenal, I am now going into my 4th year. It says a lot.” #afc
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anicoll
I think it’s asking a lot of Halsey (or anyone in that situation- grave misgivings, or perhaps a lot more). Going to the relevant authorities (FA?) and naming names means taking on PGMOL, and almost certainly the Premier League and Sky (and the rest of Newscorp, with Talksport the latest addition) to boot.
It would define the rest of his life. There’d also be the catch-22 of him needing specific and strong enough claims so as to completely implicate himself : why did he not quit on the spot? Why did he not seek out the relevant authorities immediately?
Obviously, you and I approach this from opposite perspectives, with you being adamant the referees are clean, and me feeling sure there’s something wrong with them, but I still think what I’m saying applies in principle, even if you remove the name Halsey and just think what any ref would be up against if he felt, or knew, things weren’t right.
That ref would need killer evidence to step forward, would be doing so in a climate where he rightly wondered if any of the authorities were trustworthy, and would know he was entering a phase of his life where he would come under incredible scrutiny and face the wrath of very big hitters defending themselves and the product.
Anyway, even if what Halsey says is true, there’s still the question of whether or not PGMO were merely trying to deliver real justice after the event- i.e ‘we got it wrong on the pitch, so lets put it right’ (by breaking the rules, admittedly).
My bet is he has received a lot of phone calls, and none of them were friendly or from people with an appetite to find out the truth wherever that may lead them.
I expect he’ll backtrack in the next day or so, but that won’t be easy with the statement he made.
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Good morning Rich,
I have failed to express myself clearly if you believe that my position is that referees are clean.
My position is that if Halsey, or anyone else has evidence that referees are unclean i.e. corrupt, knowingly dishonest, in receipt of favours in cash or kind, then he or she must bring that evidence out as swiftly and completely as possible.
In the years I have watched football I doubt not one has ever passed without the claim that referees are corrupt on English football, particularly in the top flight. Never, not once, has any credible evidence been put forward to support that proposition.
I have seen plenty of incompetence, plenty of errors, plenty of inexplicable decisions – but in that what happens on a football field is not much different to what happens in everyday life that I come across.
In relation to Halsey’s alleged revelation whether this has anything to do with it being a recognisably slow football weekend news wise I don’t know. Clearly I am suspicious (banned winkey)
Halsey’s beef with PGMOL goes back to what he saw as their acquiescence in his removal from BT Sports following his retirement – he is perhaps rather less the ‘concerned citizen’ than one might imagine.
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The trouble is, if Halsey just took a phone call or was told, would be very hard to show that as evidence. So in a way, this is a bit of a throwaway remark.
I am sure the vast majority of refs , even those who appear not to like us……are clean and do their best, though certain managers past and current , England players, Spanish Brazilians and clubs clearly apply more pressure to them than others.
Thats the individual refs. But their organisation, the PGMO, if they are clean, this secretive organisation don’t always do a great job in showing the world.
Not as if bent refs and ref organisations are without precedent in Western Europe either. Ok, I know, Italian structures can sometimes lend themselves to corruption, sorry any Italians on here.
As Rich says, maybe refs are told to keep quiet to secure justice over situations where a ref has made an honest mistake , or been unsure. But that’s a potentially slippery slope. We have all seen incidences that would appear to be beyond an honest mistake….RVP in Barca thanks to a future head of European refs anyone?
I want to believe our refs are clean because if they are not, there is no point to something we invest so much time and emotional energy in. But with the money floating around, brand pressure, the power and influence of the clubs, media, organised crime, illegal bookies, corrupt agents, if all our refs and the body that runs them really are clean, they are a special breed indeed
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Old fart’s thoughts on the legends.
What a pleasure to see many of the old faces. Obviously no where near as fast as in their prime but showing many of the silky skills of their youth. Mark O, Manu Petit, Kanu, a near unrecognisable Bobby Pires, Freddie L,and Spunky brought back some good memories. Such a pity that the two great saves (one by Spunky, the other by Jens) fell so kindly for Milan to get the 2 goals.
Kanu’s hat-trick and Bobby’s closer had me cheering as though it was last week’s game.
A great way to fill the interbloodynational break. And from what I could see of the attendance there were many Gooners as happy as I was.
A similar scoreline against the Saints will be just fine. Keep the faith
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Halsey….it seems he is getting more specific
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/09/04/mark-halsey-reveals-incident-he-claims-he-was-told-to-lie-about/
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Morning anicoll
You express yourself pretty well on this topic so that was probably just lazy wording from me.
My take is that outright corruption- money changing hands, direct orders to fix results,etc- is fairly unlikely (the risks are stupendous), and that instead we have a… something, a system, a way of operating, which can deliver similar results to those you’d get if outright corruption were taking place.
A person makes it known what they think of something; another party acts in accordance with it; a career progresses.
I’m aware of the comical element to my stance. For instance : ‘yes, everyone thinks refs (and the world) are against their team; and all of them are wrong; but…refs really are against my team.’
Nevertheless, that’s where I got to over time. So my starting point ,some years ago, was that there is something very wrong with refereeing in this country, and that we stand alone as victims of it (though others can suffer on individual days).
From there I was driven to search compulsively * for insight, clues, minor proofs, all while knowing that large organisations tend to defend themselves as vigorously as any healthy organism and, if dirty, are normally only brought down from without.
How did I get to believing something was wrong in the first place? It was simply the accumulation of events (or ‘evidence’ as it is typically experienced) over a long period. Dozens of poisoned arrows and the spear of game 50 lodged in the old football heart.
What am I on about with a system which produces similar results to corruption but isn’t, provably or even technically, corruption?
Eeee. I can only throw possibilities at that one : utterly ruthless people badly misusing their power for personal advantage; a moderate North/ South bias being expanded and exploited (systematically almost); clever manipulation of English football traditions and attitudes where it serves self-interest; for us, the bad luck of having an exceptionally clean manager in a period of upheaval for English football which saw the game, almost exclusively because of money, become a whole lot murkier and dirtier.
I’ll have to ask for a bit of trust that I could make a better case in that last part with a bit (lot) more time and space
I considered myself fortunate to draw such a polite response (it’s only on refs I’m wary of you,though; I agree with your take on so much else) first time around and am not sure I’ll get so lucky 2nd time, but there it is. Implacable disagreement, but hopefully without any scorn or vitriol.
* I…I…I even read Poll’s book. I read two or three Ferguson books. I think I may have…oh shit…read two…make it stop…Mourinho books.
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Thanks Mandy – now we are making some progress
Looking at the original story in the Sun the Blackburn Stoke game was on 26/11/11 and Halsey says he ‘saw’ the Nzonzi elbow on Shawcross but did not deem it a red card or apparently any offence on the day.
On the Monday, 28/11, he attended the get together of referees at Warwick University organised by who he does not say but that seems a routine event, logically the get together would be called by the PGMOL.
Whilst at the get together Halsey says he received a telephone call from the FA compliance department, who at the FA he does not say, who told him to say that he had not seen the Nzonzi elbow, and that his employers were “not happy with him”. Halsey says he was “furious” – about what I am not clear but thought he had to do what “his bosses wanted”.
Nzonzi was charged on the 28/11, with violent conduct, admitted the charge and was banned for 3 matches.
What should, in my expectation, be entirely easy to retrieve from FA records is who made that call, and what was said, and exactly when.
There is a digital trail that even the dullards of the mainstream media should be able to reel in – assuming it exists – as described by Halsey.
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anicol there may be a record of a phone call from the fa to halsey, but who made the call might be harder to prove, and almost impossible to prove what was said, unless both halsey and whoever phoned him agree on what was said.
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In my playing days, about 25 years ago, and at a low enough level of the game, I was involved in reporting an incident of what could be described as corruption, although no money swapped hands, my club was in a semi final, and the venue was closer to my home than my clubs ground so I arranged to go direct to the match venue, and as was my way, I arrived very early, and on arrival I went for a walk through the venue, and walking in before me was the ref and some of his assistants, I was in my civies and had left my kit bag in my car so nothing to identify that I was a player or involved in the game at all, so I suppose I looked like one of the groundstaff if truth be told. Anyway the ref and co were walking ahead of me, when a high ranking member of the league governing body approached the ref and after the usual small chat, he came out with the line that “it would be good for football in the league if -our opponents – was to win here today”. Now when my team arrived I told the manager and our chairman what was said. The chairman sought out other members of the league board and raised his concerns and was told it did not happen. We in the game had 3 goals disallowed and given free kicks outside the area, and to cap it off we had a penalty given against us for handball when one of our fullbacks was knocked out with a kick to the head and the penalty was given for him touching the ball with his hand as he lay unconscious on top of the ball. We lost. Our opponents I’m sure, as i knew some of their players at the time, and even by the reaction of their team during the game, they could not believe it themselves, knew nothing of the reasons why the got all the luck that day. Now my club tried to get the result set a side and a replay, but got no where. You see we had no proof, just my word, against ref, assistants and league board member who all said it never happened. By the way the club was advised – off the record – by members of the league board and the refs board, that it would be better for us to leave it, as we did not want to make enemies of either. My club boycotted that cup competition for years after and no one gave a damn.
By the way the team that beat us went on to win the final too, again with some very dubious decisions in their favor. Nothing as blatant as in the semi but enough to make a difference.
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is it true that Luke Shaw was sent home from the England squad for being a fat fuck.
AFC’s Tafari Moore was called up to the squad to make up the numbers when Shaw left the squad. Moore is on loan at Utrecht, and can play either right or left back, he is with the England u20 squad.
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I don’t think anyone has claimed that Halsey is a knight in shining armour!
Not at all. If Riley wants to shut him up he’ll have to give him some more Wonga clearly the hush money paid to each ref pales when compared to his lucrative racket now past it’s tenth year or season. However like any manager of a squad (that’s what the pgMOB is) hell then have problems with the others asking for an increase too. Ha. Ha. Ha.
Halsey knows what he is doing. Timing and technique: just as the pgMOLs ordained champions for 16/17 looked to benefit from a dodgy call he simply highlights the dodgy call which all can see is dodgy. In comparison to what you see with Fellaini or Costa etc.
Halsey doesn’t need to provide a court order from a judge authorising wire tapping* (Caliciopoli) as that happens in the UK anyway who needs judges! Where’s Piers Morgan when you need him? Attacking the Arsenal.
*fascinating wire tapping type story in the rugby recently – teams hiring PIs to spy on others who could’ve imagined such a thing?
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< clearly the hush money is now spreading thin…
…
–
Halsey just wants an increase in his pension. A bigger slice of the pie. It's a negotiation!
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still an amazing stat that there is not one london based ref on the bpl list, and only one southern based ref.
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If a golden handshake has lost it’s sparkle you need to “spend some (more) money”
heh
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Eds numbers and stats mean nothing in football it’s all about the pashun (and goals scored, and points scored etc.)
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I’d be surprised if Halsey can’t remember who called him from the FA Compliance unit on 28/11/11. He says he was “furious’ and people who make me furious I recall clearly four or five years later. From the FA end it is hardly likely to have been a clerk passing a message.
Big organisation the FA even five years on it will have a record of which phone was used to call the Warwick number or Halsey’s mobile.
As for what was said would the compliance unit routinely record and retain conversations ?
Now there is a thought
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You’ll see elephants that have a better first touch then England LB Danny Rose.
I’d make the hilarious quip that he’s the Carlton Palmer of LBs but that would be unkind to Carlton Palmer.
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I’m looking at irregular betting patterns on “Skrtel red card 60 minutes”
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tbf the old ZX spectrum software they use for those calcs. are not really up to speed but I think even those old boxes would’ve had good odds on MS getting sent off in any game!
What odds can I get on Hart having an agent with a bigger phone book then Fraser Forster? At the least a better witch doctor (injuries)?
Highlight of the season so far has to be the plunditocracy trying to peddle excuses for the understanding that most have had, that Hart is simply an average ‘keeper, no offence meant to JH.
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I suppose a Tottenham fan could make a quip about Walcott’s chance but then again Walcott has scored more goals then Kane, Alli etc combined in a fraction of the minutes in tournament football *coughs*
As I type a beautiful cross from Walcott nearly finding Sturridge.
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I knew Walcott would be a superior option to goal-shy Sterling. Big Sam better learn fast or he won’t last.
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Trying to watch Norway v Ger on Sopcast. It is a challenge to say the least.
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watching it on firstrow…
well played germany
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You don’t need evidence to know that the 50th game against manure was fixed. Any logical thinking man can see the difference between incompetence and a ref who knows the outcome of a game before it starts.
In every walk of life where there is money there is corruption why should football be any different especially when the premier league made the stakes higher. We may have thought we needed to be successful to survive at the highest level through the stadium move but how much more did the glaziers need manure to be successful when it was propping us many of its other businesses. I have no doubt that though old red noses era was indeed great he had more than a little help.
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