Off field investigation!

Are we going to find ourselves in deep trouble over this?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...and-points-loss-over-forged-hsbc-bank-letter/

 

Bloody Daily Telegraph - grassing Mr Pozzo up. What horse´s head are they after now?

Confirmed from another site:

http://www.wdsport.co.uk/2016/10/watford-under-investigation-over-forged-letter/

Murky waters indeed, but as WD points out - "The letter, fabricated to appear as though it was written by HSBC, was obtained by chairman Raffaele Riva and submitted to the EFL as part of a ratification process to prove Gino Pozzo was a financially credible owner and had the £7m to cover the running of the club for the season, after he went from a 25 per cent shareholder to 100 per cent shareholder (Giampaolo owned 75 per cent of the club when the family first purchased it in the summer of 2012).Quite why the letter concerned proof of funds was forged, when the Pozzo family are estimated to be worth more than £400m, is unclear."

Strange, hope the points column doesn´t suffer.

Wonder if HSBC will put Mr Pozzo down to just a debit card account?

 

A tad odd that they should choose a letterhead from the world's dirtiest bank though.

As this concerns the EFL and not the EPL, should we be really worried?

At least, not until we're relegated...

 

Very worrying.................

Not sure though how serious it will prove.... may be one person may cop for this

 

Is there going to be a new wearer of the infamous red hat?

 

Not sure how this all came about, but the takeover was certainly a very hurried affair as the season was about to start. To issue such a document seems daft, although it is quite possible that the Pozzos didn't wish the league to know where they had their money. To get a "quote" from Raffaele Riva seems odd also as we know that the club doesn't normally say anything until they wish to.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...ve-built-a-footballing-empire-but-it-has-not/

I suppose that the timing of this 'release' is purely coincidental, and not just to add fuel to the fire?

I find it really quite ironic that a one-sided report on alleged tax evasion should appear in a rag owned by the Barclay Brothers - themselves a couple of tax cheats.

 

I wonder who will be responsible.... pretty stupid thing to do ...

 

Seems reallly dumb given that the EFL supposedly rejected a letter from credit suisse because it was out of date it surely would have been simple just to phone the bank and get a reissue especially as our friends and owners have rather a lot of funds albeit maybe do not wish to open up to where they all are. As this is an EFL issue and not EPL talk about heavy points deduction is a pure fabrication on the part of the author, pretty similar t the letter in its authenticity. Has a signature been removed or was it never signed? If the EFL accepted in the original case an unsigned letter it just highlights how weak their checks are.

 

A 40 million charge was raised in August this year, I hope they got all the right approvals for this!! I know they have to be tax efficient but these financial webs worry me...

 

http://www.wdsport.co.uk/2016/10/comment-watford-will-be-looking-for-a-new-chairman/

Riva to take the hit?

 

Getting into bed with rich businessmen is always a risky business....not that my tastes are that way inclined!

 

https://www.watfordfc.com/club/club-statement

Club denies knowledge and investigating

 

What's that old adage about a lie going six times around the world before the truth has got its pants on?

It would appear that someone, somewhere in the chain of events has been either silly or malicious. Apparently there are people that used to work indirectly for the Pozzo's doing this sort of financial referencing who were sacked in 2015... one does wonder how this has come to light. I think this will blow over as a minor inconvenience in due course however unpalatable the situation is currently.

As if the owners of the torygraph should really be throwing stones in the financial glasshouse.

 

Be a shame for the players if they are punished for the actions of those in the boardroom - I guess we might get a fine and suspended points deduction as this is an EFL investigation.

Wonder what the points lost would be - I mean how can that be calculated?

Doubt we're the most popular club in the country atm!

 

No doubt still 'all that's wrong with football'...

 

Can anyone tell us what happened to QPR ?

 

Fined £875K, no points deduction. No points deduction for Bournemouth either for breaching FFP rules, although their fine was somewhat larger at £7.6M.

 

i don't think we need to worry unless we're relegated, and Riva will take the hit, he'll be gone as soon as the investigation is over i suspect. Enjoying other clubs laughing, coz they're desperate to be above us in the table

 

I think it shows how little the FA do, if their whole credit check is just asking people for a letter on a banks headed paper it's no wonder clubs are going to the wall.