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Big Sam Hired n Fired

Further to my post above, on Radio five live this morning a very interesting snippet of information. 

There was the new chair of the newly formed Football Agents association who will be looking at controls, transparency and morals around the football agents. Sam is quoted as saying he met these journalists posing as business men as a favour to his long time friend and agent and was asked to say certain things. Very silly of Sam but you can imagine the driving force behind this. 

However the interesting bit is FIFA banning this association which, if 100% true actually goes someway to the hub of the issue for me.

I am a  finance professional so I speak from bitter experience..... Agents, FIFA, Managers, Clubs and players clearly need stricter controls and transparency of their dealings. If FIFA in the past had nothing to hide then open up their books right ? You would only not do that if they had something to hide, it is not as if they have competitors to worry about.

It will cost the game dearly as it has done with business over recent years however the game can clearly afford it. Infantino and/or UEFA/FA has an opportunity to revolutionise the game here and really make a name for himself/themselves. Lets hope, us real football fans deserve it.   

 
Does Big Sam strike anyone else as a man in his early 60's that is experiencing a midlife crisis? For years I have thought the language and behaviour he exhibits is something I would more likely associate with a bloke in his 20's. Things such as:-

1. Way he mocked Adam Johnson when he was on holiday. Seemed pretty unprofessional for an experience manager to me, regardless of Johnson's actions.

2. In his post sacking conference he said he was off to 'chill', really? A bloke in his 60's using that term makes me cringe.

3.The way he talks about himself in the sting, he acts like he's Billy Big bo**ocks, you would think with age come wisdom and maturity.

I can't say I was shocked by the findings of the sting, nor can I say I really liked him prior to the findings. Unfortunately though I have a horrible feeling that such dealings although illegal, etc. are probably a lot more common than we suspect. Hasselbaink was apparently caught in one, that tore a little piece of my heart off, I fear that a lot of our heroes will be outed in similar fashion before the end of all these undercover journo stings.

 
andy said:
Further to my post above, on Radio five live this morning a very interesting snippet of information. 

There was the new chair of the newly formed Football Agents association who will be looking at controls, transparency and morals around the football agents. Sam is quoted as saying he met these journalists posing as business men as a favour to his long time friend and agent and was asked to say certain things. Very silly of Sam but you can imagine the driving force behind this. 

However the interesting bit is FIFA banning this association which, if 100% true actually goes someway to the hub of the issue for me.

I am a  finance professional so I speak from bitter experience..... Agents, FIFA, Managers, Clubs and players clearly need stricter controls and transparency of their dealings. If FIFA in the past had nothing to hide then open up their books right ? You would only not do that if they had something to hide, it is not as if they have competitors to worry about.

It will cost the game dearly as it has done with business over recent years however the game can clearly afford it. Infantino and/or UEFA/FA has an opportunity to revolutionise the game here and really make a name for himself/themselves. Lets hope, us real football fans deserve it.   
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Sadly, I don't think anything will change unless law enforcement gets involved. Internal changes are impossible because the corruption runs so deep, and they are held accountable to no one. If the public outrage over Qatar didn't clean up FIFA, nothing will short of the government getting involved.

The sting in the United States was a big step, but the US Justice Department is limited. They could only go after transactions that took place using American bank accounts. They were able to get some CONCACAF people as a result. It seems that other countries haven't taken the initiative to prosecute FIFA accounts in those countries, or perhaps they don't have the laws that allow them to do it. Keep in mind that the US Justice Department's investigation was driven by the fact that these football officials owe the US government millions of dollars in taxes and penalties, so the cost of the investigation and prosecution makes sense. If other countries don't have the tax laws, or investigating the officials would cost more than they can recover, it is hard to make a case to the public for spending that money to investigate.

As the FA receives government funding, and there are some fishy relationships between some government officials and English football (West Ham, anyone?), I don't think the English government has a big incentive to clean up the FA either.

 
Joke of a squad selection from Gareth, hardly surprising, would love to know how the likes of Lingard get in to the team, what has he done this season? Jagielka and Cahill picked again, neither in form, meanwhile Curtis Davies still hasn't received a cap, can think of two or three better options than Glen Johnson oh and Wayne bloody Rooney as captain, just brilliant.

 
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Can the FA really afford to be moral on this? Big Sam may have his flaws but he is the only tactical able English manager about, at least for a level this high. Under his management i had genuine hope England could become something again, ok not winning major tournaments but at least go out kicking and screaming and be somewhat competitive against the elite.

Now were are we at, Gareth Southgate, great, so back to picking players on reputation and clueless tactics that's sees the country humiliated against decent opposition, worse thing is, we will probably win the three qualifiers and fluke a result against a half arsed Spain side and Southgate will get the job full time. 

 
All the passion he showed for clubs he managed, they're all erased because of what he did.

 
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