Is there ‘fixing’ at the top of football?

[Khalekan]

They certainly influence the fixtures, like when they have the big Sky derby weekend, or when both Manchester clubs play both Liverpool clubs.

And whatever happened to taking turns on the home game on Boxing day?

VAR will be interesting if it ever happens, because certain high media profile clubs benefit from decisions a lot more than others, and that's decisions in games or retrospective punishment etc. The media pretty much run football these days.

Actually that used to a regular thing way back before Sky.

The Merseyside clubs would face the Manchester clubs on the same weekend ( or a Saturday afternoon as it was then).....or EFC would play Arsenal at home while the RS travelled to Spurs.

 

[trueblue84]

Actually that used to a regular thing way back before Sky.

The Merseyside clubs would face the Manchester clubs on the same weekend ( or a Saturday afternoon as it was then).....or EFC would play Arsenal at home while the RS travelled to Spurs.

Didn't think that was fixing though. Don't they deliberately take those things into account when scheduling fixtures?

 

[Khalekan]

Was in the today's football thread : crowd were chanting Sky are Shi*, then it suddenly stopped and crowd noise was played.

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/sky-admit-drowning-out-foul-2339853

That is a slippery slope and no mistake.

I also hate the way, after one hears a random spectator or a player shout out a cuss word, the Sky commentator is immediately “apologising” in case Angry in Tunbridge Wells is offended.

It is not your fault Sky, so stop apologising.

Let’s hear the crowd chant, warts and all.

 

[Khalekan]

Didn't think that was fixing though. Don't they deliberately take those things into account when scheduling fixtures?

Yes, I think they did do it deliberately.

Two close neighbors never play at home on the same day so that made it much easier when compiling the fixtures....two or three derbies on the same day, twice a season, made their job a bit easier.

And to be honest, I don’t mind a “themed” weekend where a couple of big derbies take place on the same match week.

Now, what used to get on my nerves was in the early years of the century, then they had the “Big Four” and twice each season they built up a “Super Sunday” when a combination of Chelsea, United, Arsenal and the RS would contest the two games on the Sunday.

That was pure manipulation of the fixtures with no basis in history or convenience for fixture compilers.

 

[ClausThomsen]

The biggest obvious influence is the structure of any tournament that involves seeding or insists on home and away legs. That's all done so that the wealthier clubs with the TV pull will have more of a chance to figure later in the tournament. It's akin to the house edge in a casino - not cheating but certainly nudges things in a certain commercially beneficial direction.

The same kind of thinking is shown in the 3rd place CL group teams moving into the Europa. It's an insurance policy in the event that the groups don't work out ideally.

As for direct corruption then I think that's more about when and where tournaments are played (Quatar?) rather than match fixing which would seem ridiculously complicated and expensive to pull off at the higher end of the sport. Why bother going to all that fuss when it would be easier to try and convince a couple of lower league players to maximise the number of throw ins or corners in a game if you purely wanted to make money?

Other corruption would be along the lines of dodgy transfers and the like.

All the conspiracy theory stuff about individual clubs doesn't really stand up. A few years ago it was the just the Big 4 who were benefitting and now it's the Sky 6. But a few years ago absolutely nobody was paying any real attention to Man City or Spurs and it's only when those teams find a way of getting into the reckoning be it through huge investment or a good manager that mumbles of conspiracy start to appear and the 4 becomes 6.

If these conspiracies are real then it's going to be interesting to see how they get Man Utd back on track this season. Or is that something that should be conveniently ignored for now as it doesn't fit in with the shadowy goings on?

We can moan about rigged draws and the like but pathetically capitulating to the likes of Wigan at home in the FA Cup in 2013 or the likes of Leeds, Norwich or Brentford in the League Cup is the main reason for the club's failings in those competitions. Not some grand overarching masterplan to give Burton Albion a home draw in the semifinal.

 

[EverBlue92]

I also think Leicester winning the league that season was very dubious.

Anyone who watched them play full tilt pressing all over the shop for 90 minutes and never tiring to a man - nah not for me.

Definitely PED's involved and why would the authorities care when it could make it seem like "anything can happen in the PREMIER LEAGUE!"

 

[scratchnsurf]

The tv company providing the money to the clubs also run the betting company that depends on the outcome of these matches. I don’t know how that’s allowed to happen but in any other industry it would appear to be a massive conflict of interest.

Whilst it never should have been allowed in the first place, this isn't true anymore. Sky plc sold most of their stake in Skybet in 2014, with the remainder sold off in April of this year.

 

[daza_1973]

Where there's money corruption follows - Maybe in fifty years time this era the last 20 years, but even more so the last five or so will be looked back on in the same light as Lance Armstrong's Tour de France record.

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

In relation to the specific issue of last night’s semi final draw, there was no “fixing” of the draw IMO.

If Bellamy claims that he saw the draw before it happened, then I would suggest that what he saw was a “rehearsal” as they always have a dry run with these things......or possibly the draw was recorded a short while before being transmitted as “live”, though I think that latter possibility unlikely.

But the main reason I give no credence to that draw being fixed is the fact that the only possible reason for fixing it would have been to ensure Burton were drawn at home in the first leg.

There was always going to be a heavyweight clash in one tie.....Burton being drawn away in the first leg to any of those three teams probably means the tie being all but over before the second leg so not good for Sky.

What to you mean about “doctoring crowd chants”, Grouch?

I haven’t heard that one before.

And they sure don’t do it when the cameras are at Goodison lol

Big fan of a dry run. FA just went up in my estimations.

 

[daza_1973]

I also think Leicester winning the league that season was very dubious.

Anyone who watched them play full tilt pressing all over the shop for 90 minutes and never tiring to a man - nah not for me.

Definitely PED's involved and why would the authorities care when it could make it seem like "anything can happen in the PREMIER LEAGUE!"

Totally agree, lets break the boring Chelsea,City United title dynasty and get fans of lesser teams buying our sports packages - worrying thing is the RS seem to be doing the same routine this year

 

[LEONARD]

MARK CLATTENBURG
CLIVE THOMAS.

 

[mmmmsnouts]

The organisers obviously didn't want Burton anywhere near the final and gave them the hardest task. Fixed like a lot of things in football, allegedly.

Because playing Spurs or Chelsea would have been a cake walk?

 

[anton66]

Because playing Spurs or Chelsea would have been a cake walk?

Spurs, yes.

 

[Frang]

Firstly I’d like to point out that I don’t mean corruption between clubs (I think that’d be too difficult and too obvious to execute)- I strictly mean between the media and regulatory bodies.

After Craig Bellamy’s sheer certainty that he’d seen the semi final draw before it’d “happened”, and now Sky doctoring crowd chants, and last years’ CL draw being pretty much the same situation as City v Burton, is it naive to think that parts of the media are controlling a narrative?

Are they trying to turn football into WWF?

Obviously please use the word “allegedly” liberally, along with ‘in my opinion’

What Bellamy saw would have been a draw rehearsal. And was just beening flippant, maybe in the rehearsal man City v burton came out 3 or 4 times, hence his comment.

Can't belive its a fix

 

[canuckblue]

What Bellamy saw would have been a draw rehearsal. And was just beening flippant, maybe in the rehearsal man City v burton came out 3 or 4 times, hence his comment.

Can't belive its a fix

Burton had a one-in-three chance of drawing City, so saying it's a fix is a stretch.