The Guardian Of The State Of Play - Referee Fetishism

Sid Lowe: "Matchfixing is the ultimate crime in football. If it is not a competition, it is nothing."

Suppression of truths makes a parody of journalism.

Newspapers have a tenuous relationship with football fans as demonstrared by Liverpool fans boycotting The Sun and Celtic Bhoys and Ghirls confronting the pro-Sevco bias in Scottish media.

When mainstream media (msm) provide news which is merely public relations or attempt to reframe realities to private agendas, we are in a situation where free media becomes distorted to totalitarian templates.

So it is with the refusal by British msm to face up to matchfixing, corrupted players and referees on these isles.

Since a number of former referees have slated the terrible standard of officiating in the Premier League this season, there has been a concerted effort by certain outlets to paint a different picture.

Online today, the Guardian has SIX different articles portraying referees as victims.

We have Chelsea exhibiting a poor respect-to-referee ratio (a robust mathematical construct!), Ibrahimovic swearing at a ref, a Cypriot referee having his car torched, Aurier apologising after a ref rant online, an eventual acknowledgement by the paper that Chris Brunt took on Anthony Taylor in a tunnel and Greg Dyke telling us that player pressure on officials is "pretty scary".
Following on from Barney Ronay's recent forays into "let's stop talking about referees" and "the excellence of our officials", this is more than bizarre 'journalism'.
It is referee fetishism!

This demand for respect would have more credence if the general perception was that the Professional Game Match Officials Board (pgMOB) referees were doing their job even remotely to a professional standard.
They are not.

This attempted whitewash spreads over to television with numerous pundits twisting themselves into Houdini-like contortions to explain the latest travesty of justice on the field of play.

And these millionaires and their acquiescent lackeys are unaware of the bubble in which they exist.

Talk to fans at Celtic, Arsenal, Manchester City and United, Liverpool, Everton and Chelsea etc etc...
... or talk to chief executives, market makers and owners, and a different reality emerges - one of an utter lack of confidence in officials and a suspicion that poor refereeing is linked to betting market activities.

Last night I went to see some proper football - the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League between Buxton (nicknamed The Bucks) and Ramsbottom (nicknamed Tup's Arse). It was the most exciting game that I have seen this season. End-to-end football, no controversy, no bookings, hardly any fouls due to the quality officiating by a refereeing team from South Yorkshire.

The ref was a different standard of quality compared to Jon Moss and others at the pgMOB completely undermining the legitimacy of pgMOB only utilising 15 core officials.

But, rich bastards beware...
... without marked improvement in the officiating in the Premier League, the financial bubble will burst sooner rather than later.

NB: And later in the day, in a truly Orwellian twist, Keren Barratt - the man in sole charge of selection of Premier League referees - is removed from his post two months early for reasons that our lawyers have advised us not to discuss.
Keren Barratt - the man whose name had only ever appeared once in the msm - is replaced by PC Howard Webb.
ScudamoreWorld - a mockery of reality!

http://trichotomoustriptychities.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/mocking-zeitgeist.html 

Poyet Out!

Gus Poyet: "I am one of the few in football who is honest" - says man who employed our services and then refused to honour deal. #Sunderland
— FOOTBALL is FIXED (@footballisfixed) March 15, 2015

We tweeted the above in the aftermath of Sunderland's 0-4 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday - a result that leaves Poyet on the brink.
However, don't expect him to resign as a Guardian individual close to the club writes "... the suspicion is the Uruguayan would rather welcome the sack and its attendant pay-off."
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Vicente Rodriguez on Gus Poyet: "He is the worst person I've come across in football. For me, he is a selfish person, very egocentric... I have seen things here [Brighton & Hove Albion] that I have never seen in my career."
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This whole unpleasant narrative began at the 2013 Championship Play-Off Semi Final 2nd Leg between Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace, The tie was in the balance after a 0-0 draw in London when certain individuals within the Seagull's hierarchy decided that it would be a good idea to spread excrement around the Palace dressing room for their arrival at the ground - an arrival that was deliberately delayed by erroneous routing of coach according to Palace manager Ian Holloway.
Poyet sent a furious email to staff at the club after Brighton were beaten 0-2 and was then suspended for an alleged breach of contract. He decided to take action against the club over wrongful dismissal after he was eventually sacked by Tony Bloom, the Brighton owner.

On July 22nd 2013, we contacted Richard Bevan at the League Managers Association (LMA) to offer to help Poyet in his action against Brighton as, having known Bloom for nearly two decades, we questioned his suitability (as an ex-bookmaker and current professional gambler) to be in charge of a football club.
Bevan responded on the 25th and we sent through an outline of what we might offer on the following day.

Interestingly, Bevan denies receiving this email although we know his office opened the communication and Gus Poyet referred directly to contents within (and Bevan's reaction to such content) when I eventually spoke with him on August 15th.
So we instantly have to surmise that Mr Bevan entertains economy with truths!

After speaking at length with Poyet, we sent through a detailed dossier including all of our evidences about Mr Bloom and his modus operandi. We discussed gambling, financial issues, money flow information, strategic options, a listing of potential contacts and an assessment of Bloom's psychological flaws.
In that time was of the essence, the files were delivered on word of mouth agreement (a fact that I regret as I trusted Poyet and Bevan despite my lawyer's insistence that I was making a mistake in such trust).

Early in November, Poyet and Brighton & Hove Albion reached an out-of-court settlement. This was the primary strategy that we suggested to Poyet as we knew that Tony Bloom, in a window of attempting to launder his reputation, would not wish for certain details to become public.

On November 11th, I wrote to Poyet: "I was delighted to hear that you have reached a suitable settlement with Tony Bloom and Brighton & Hove Albion. I know that my input has helped you considerably on this matter... I would think that a token gesture payment for my time and efforts would be reasonable as agreed."
 
Poyet responded: "At the end everything was sorted, somehow, really difficult people to deal with (sic). Please send me an address where I can send you a "token". Regards and thank you very much."

In the following month we provided Poyet with assessments of his new job at Sunderland and addressed fitness issues, sabermetrics, corruption in the Premier League and general analytics.

But no "token" ever arrived.

On January 3rd 2014, we decided to burn our bridges and move on - "... very disappointed in your behaviour. In that you have not sent the "token" you promised, you are not a man of your word."

We terminated our communications with Richard Bevan at LMA on February 12th 2014: "By the way, your comment about not receiving the email of July 26th is an economy of truth on your behalf.
We know that the email was received and opened and Poyet referred to your reaction to the email in a phone conversation. So you bend realities and Poyet isn't true to his word."
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On August 20th 2014, Malky Mackay and Iain Moody were reported to the FA and accused of being racist, sexist and homophobic in a shocking series of texts between the two during their time at Cardiff City.
Richard Bevan and the LMA responded to this news by claiming that the offensive texts were merely "friendly banter" causing a huge uproar in the game.
Leading anti-racism campaigner Jason Roberts tweeted: “LMA actually wrote this. They are actually being serious! Somebody drafted that … WOW!”

                                                           Don't Mess With Tan

Vincent Tan and Cardiff City called on Richard Bevan to resign over the "friendly banter" comment, stating that his position had become "untenable".
The club statement read: "That the LMA has sought to criticise the club for the timing of the report to the FA is preposterous, because the offensive communications have been in the knowledge and possession of LMA for many months... It was made clear to them [Malky Mackay and Iain Moody], and their LMA appointed lawyers, that the nature of the communications meant the club was under a duty to report their findings to the FA... The LMA was therefore complicit in the attempt to conceal these messages... We consider that Richard Bevan's position is untenable and we call for his resignation."

Of course, Bevan didn't resign and the story was quickly buried by an acquiescent mainstream media as Bevan, Mackay and Moody have rather influential friends in the inner loop of British football.

In that we are talking about racism here, it is worth mentioning that Gus Poyet expressed a desire to go to court to defend Luis Suarez in his racism case with Patrice Evra, leading Sir Alex Ferguson to comment:
"I'm surprised by Gus Poyet's remarks. It's inappropriate at a time when people throughout the world are condemning racism.
"I can understand why he wants to support someone from his country but I think he should think more about it. His criticism of Evra is a bit silly."
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One of the primary reasons for the festering nature of the game in these isles is that virtually all positions of power are occupied by those who are quite evidently not fit for purpose, not a fit and proper person or of highly questionable integrity.

Bevan should be dealing with Iain Duncan Smith rather than representing league managers.
Bloom should be forced to come clean about how professional gambling and club ownership are inappropriate bedfellows.
Poyet should be kicked out of English football for good...
... and he should also be forced by the authorities to explain the incredibly suspicious fitness profiles exhibited by Sunderland in season 2013/14 with the eventually relegated Norwich City being particularly impacted upon.
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Over half of the 45,746 Wearsiders who attended Saturday's 0-4 debacle at the Stadium of Light left at half-time.
Club owner Ellis Short and other board members want Poyet out with sporting director Lee Congerton having called previously for Poyet to be removed.

NB: Three hours after this post was published, Mr Poyet was relieved of his duties.

Mocking The Zeitgeist

February 10th 2015:

On this date, we published a Football is Fixed blog about Professional Game Match Official Board (PGMOB) referee Jon Moss and a few statistical flukes relating to his officiating, namely -

a) On 17 occasions, Moss has refereed WBA. In those games, he has given 11 penalties/sendings off in favour of the Albion and none against.

b) There is a positive correlation between volume betting at certain layers in the 60-30 min to Kick Off window and match decisions on the field of play. In the 11 matches where this pattern existed, the dynamic was always replicated in the match outcome and match decisions were tilted 11-1 in favour of the dynamic.

c) We showed a historical relationship between Moss and leading agent John Colquhoun.

d) We have also indicated historically the excessive number of BT Sports Live Matches given to Mr Moss.

e) We have additionally bemoaned the friendship between Alastair Campbell (Burnley FC and War Crimes Apologist) and John Colquhoun.

f) We had previously released a Tweet pointing out that, with the signing of Adam Forshaw, there were now 7 Key Sports/John Colquhoun players at Middlesbrough.

With the arrival of Adam Forshaw, there are now 7 Key Sports-represented players at #Middlesborough!
— FOOTBALL is FIXED (@footballisfixed) January 27, 2015

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http://footballisfixed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/once-dead-good-and-bad-are-covered-by.html

In period after this blog post, below is what the zeitgeist served up...
... a statistically significant rum situation. 
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February 16th 2015

PGMOB announce referees for following weekend. Moss gets to officiate BT Sports Live Match between Spurs and West Ham.

February 23rd 2015

PGMOB release referee lists for two rounds of EPL games in the ten day period ahead. Moss is given the game on Saturday between Burnley and Swansea City together with the BT Sports Live Match midweek between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion.

February 28th 2015

The pre-match betting market on Burnley v Swansea was abusive with an entirely fake engendered gamble being offset by insider trading from from Kick Off minus 30 mins onwards. This is the most simplistic Tubthumping market abuse that one can imagine - the Asians moved beyond this level of disguise two decades ago!
We disclosed the suspect market pre-match on Twitter. Swansea won with a very rare occurrence - an assisted own-goal. This is when a shot going wide is deflected towards goal by one defending player before being helped into the net by another.
For the first time in 12 instances, the insider trading did not occur in the 60-30min window.

@JohnboyMaclean The outcome will be a defeat for the integrity of #PremierLeague football. But beware, market structure is not obvious.
— FOOTBALL is FIXED (@footballisfixed) February 28, 2015

March 2nd 2015

Select Group referees announced for next weekend and Jon Moss is to referee Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough.
For the first time this season, Moss referees lower than EPL, and on Middlesbrough.

March 3rd 2015

Aston Villa v WBA was the type of chaotic event at which Moss excels (Everton 3 Chelsea 6; Man City 4 Spurs 1).
We blogged post-match: "Jon Moss ... denied Villa a penalty and the potential sending off of Foster, before not sending off Hutton for assaulting Saido Berahino before topping it all off with a hugely theatrical point to the spot for the injury time penalty given away by Foster (who should no longer have been on the pitch). A truly Warholian performance."
For the first time in 18 games when Moss officiates, a penalty/sending off went against West Brom.  

@footballisfixed Without mocking certain operations, there is art in sublety not in the absurd. You are pricking your bubble.
— FOOTBALL is FIXED (@footballisfixed) March 3, 2015

March 7th 2015

What will happen at the City Ground this afternoon when Jon Moss has his first Championship game of the season (featuring a club where seven Key Sports' players earn their living)?

But this is the whole point.
Who cares?

With seven players in one squad and one player in the other and a referee blowing the whistle, any Tom Dick or Harry could achieve whatever outcome they desired.

Little wonder some Asian layers are refusing to accept the late English insider money.

But the questions begging to be asked are these?

How did these appointments come to be made?
How did the original market abusive patterns reach fruition?
How were inverse market outcomes solicited if not, yet again, via matchfixing?

In the final part of this troika of posts, we will demonstrate the manners in which suspicious betting patterns and market holistics might be tied to particular corrupt operations in the marketplace.
 

Farcical Absurdity

Last Saturday, IFAB made the momentous decision to avoid implementing video technology for 42 months minimum.

Last Saturday, Roger East sent off Wes Brown for two fouls committed by fellow Sunderland defender John O'Shea. Despite every other human being on the planet thinking that East got it wrong, the referee claims an entirely disingenuous narrative that borders on bringing the game into disrepute.

Last Monday, the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB - recent attempts at rebranding as PGMOL should be resisted as MOB has a truer ring) made appointments for the one Premier League game next weekend. Roger East is to be 4th Official, a position he also held at both Liverpool and Southampton in midweek. So, East is official at 3 out of 11 matches in window following his blatant error at Old Trafford. What sort of absurdist message is this?

So, anyway...
... to the midweek round of Premier League games.

Every game but Spurs v Swansea had the match outcome potentially affected by erroneous refereeing decisions that would not have occurred if video technology had been in use.

Man City v Leicester - Visitors denied three penalties by Robert Madley, two of which looked solid. As Nigel Pearson said: "Three in one night is a little bit surprising."

Newcastle v Man Utd - Evans and Cisse should have been sent off for spitting. Newcastle denied cast iron penalty by Taylor (a former prison officer of Strangeways Prison who still lives on edge of Greater Manchester).

West Ham v Chelsea - Sam Allardyce thinks Eden Hazard was offside for Chelsea's winning goal and that John Terry should have been red-carded. He's probably right but Andre Marriner was referee so a lottery is guaranteed.

Southampton v Palace - Londoners denied clear penalty for Fonte's assault on Bolassie which was missed by Martin Atkinson.

Aston Villa v WBA - Jon Moss who, in 17 previous matches officiating WBA had given the West Midlands side 11 penalties/sendings off in favour and none against, denied Villa a penalty and the potential sending off of Foster, before not sending off Hutton for assaulting Saido Berahino before topping it all off with a hugely theatrical point to the spot for the injury time penalty given away by Foster (who should no longer have been on the pitch). A truly Warholian performance. But this game also gave us an indication of the value of technology. Villa claimed a goal when the 'strangely' incompetent Foster allowed a shot to squirm beneath him at 0-0. Technology proved that the ball hadn't crossed the line and it proved this information instantly.

QPR v Arsenal - Arsenal denied a penalty and probable sending off for the pulling back of Ozil at 0-0 which Kevin Friend happened to miss.

Hull City v Sunderland - That thoroughly unpleasant individual Gus Poyet is sent to the stands after a Quixotic outburst based around his perception that Sunderland were denied a penalty by Mike Dean. The Sunderland equaliser was scored with an arm, however, so refereeing incompetence evened out here over the 90 minutes.

Stoke v Everton - Everton denied a penalty for a foul on McCarthy that although it began outside the area continued into it as the Everton player attempted to stay on his feet which, unfortunately, was not the interpretation of Mark Clattenburg.

Liverpool v Burnley - Burnley denied a penalty for the pulling back of Danny Ings by the otherwise totally excellent Jordan Henderson. Instead of talking about Hendo's two goals in last brace of matches, all discussion centres around erroneous decisions.

There is chaos on the field of play.
Less importantly, there is chaos in the betting markets (witness the Burnley v Swansea market abuse last Saturday!).

If we didn't know what was going on...
... we'd have to be asking 'What's Going On?'