Harry Gregg is dead. Gregg was the best Manchester United player ever. He was the best, not because of his considerable playing skills, but because he was the hero of the Munich Air Crash. He ran back to the burning plane and pulled out the wounded before a massive explosion blew it up. He was … Continue reading One of our Greats is Gone…
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Grey Market of Match-Fixing in European Football
Its about the grey market – il sistema – of points buying or match-fixing. This is the unspoken of secret that lurks at the heart of many European football leagues. If you have seen the announcement by the Spanish authorities of their request for a ban and jail some 41 of their top footballers, you … Continue reading The Grey Market of Match-Fixing in European Football
Tennis Match-Fixing
Credible and good. The Buzzfeed investigators – John Templon and Heidi Blake – should be congratulated. Three more facts. One, I was with a major monitor of sports gambling fixes. They are experts in this world. Their people were estimating approximately one fixed match a week in the the tennis world. Two, I interviewed a … Continue reading Tennis Match-Fixing
Requiem for a FIFA President & More to Come
See below from last week, when a number of people close to the investigations showed me some of the documentation. The other stories from FIFA sources are, now, legendary. When Blatter heard of the arrests at the five-star hotel in the spring, FIFA-insiders claim he hid for several hours, mobile phone switched off in case … Continue reading Requiem for a FIFA President & More to Come
Its Going to Get Really Bad
There will be more arrests in the FIFA scandal. I am not speaking of Loretta Lynch’s cheeky announcement this week in Zurich. I am not speaking of Jerome Valcke being relieved of his duties. I spoke this week with a number of key people with close connections with the US FBI investigation. What they have … Continue reading Its Going to Get Really Bad
Czech Kudos, Turkey’s Embarrassment and Yet More Dodgy Officials
To start January with good news: well done the Czechs! I have just returned from the Czech Republic and the police there have done something almost unparalleled in the match-fixing world. They have swooped in and arrested 25 people and busted up an alleged match-fixing ring in the lower divisions of their football league. Well, … Continue reading Czech Kudos, Turkey’s Embarrassment and Yet More Dodgy Officials
Canada’s Embarrassment
It was the incompetent meet the tolerant of corruption. If you had the good fortune to miss last weekend’s draw for the Women’s World Cup hosted by the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and FIFA, then you missed one of those dreadful ‘Yes sir/no sir’ events beloved by branch managers across Canada when their foreign bosses … Continue reading Canada’s Embarrassment
It Just Got Worse: More on Greek, Turkish Football and Systems of Corruption
After thugs beat up the one of the referee coordinators with iron bars you would not think it could get worse. It just did. Yesterday, the Greek press published articles about a letter signed by UEFA and FIFA that warned the Greek authorities about their stance on corruption in their football leagues. You might think, … Continue reading It Just Got Worse: More on Greek, Turkish Football and Systems of Corruption
It is All Happening Again: Greek, Turkish Football and Systems of Corruption
To start with the obvious: I like Greece, I like Turkey. I love many of their peoples and I intensely dislike what I now have to write. However, it is the truth, so here goes: Greek football is deeply corrupt. Actually, that is an understatement. What I should say, is that Greek football is so … Continue reading It is All Happening Again: Greek, Turkish Football and Systems of Corruption
Malta, Migrants and Drowning
VALLETTA, MALTA—It is the memories of the dead children that keep Marco Cauchi up at night. “I have recovered hundreds of corpses from the sea. And when you find decomposed children — it is not nice. Then you go home and you see your own children,” said Cauchi. “How different the world seems when you … Continue reading Malta, Migrants and Drowning
