What did Utd fans make of the Dispatches programme, the shady dealings and blatant disrespect for FA and Football league rules over club ownership that Bryan Robson was involved in? For me, to hear a former England captain say that 'Football is not a sport, it's a business' was a sad moment and massive indictment on his character. The fact that Joe Sim, the man pulling the strings behind the consortium that tries to circumvent the rules, has such a close relationship with Alex Ferguson is also very worrying. His blatant disrespect for the game, the fans and the rules to protect clubs from greedy businessmen simply looking for profit should mean that any decent Manager would want to steer well clear of him. The sooner there is a select committee review into football club ownership, the better. The game we love is viewed by some as simply an easy money making tool, at the expense of the values that true fans hold dear. The Dispatches programme can be viewed here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/d...es/4od#3212204
Didn't see it, but have heard plenty of chat about it. Let's be honest, modern football is a business. Not sure how being realistic with people looking to buy a football club is an indictment on his character. I am quite struck by the fact that Channel 4 decided to sting a guy who is recovering from throat cancer tho. Is it actually a fact? He makes lots of claims, and may well know SAF, but whether he can actually deliver on anything he promised (didn't he also claim to be mates with Dalglish) is another story. Reminds me of Fergie (the other one!) trying to sell access to Prince Andrew to the NOTY when he knew nothing about it. Not sure what that review would say about football club ownership, or what it could do to change the matter tbh. How do you tell if Kroenke, for example, is buying Arsenal to invest in the club's future or just to syphon off some of that tasty cash sitting in your bank account?
I'm not sure that his Cancer is an excuse for not being investigated. The reason why it's an indictment on his character is because he was deliberately trying to circumvent the FA and Football league rules that are in place to protect clubs from being owned by more than one owner. It's a fact that they are close friends, as admitted by Ferguson's representatives at the end of the documentary and highlighted throughout the programme, with Fergie happy to speak with Sim's friends and have his picture taken with him having dinner with Sim. Also fact is that Joe Sim owns the Man Utd restaurants in Asia that are an official conduit for the club to promote their brand. Fergie's cozy relationship with someone who blatantly breaks the rules over club ownership and encourages consortiums to do the same (milking some of the profit for himself) is very worrying in my opinion. I would hope that a review would give the FA and Football League more powers to ensure that their rules are adhered to and that shady businessmen like Bryan Robson and Joe Sim aren't allowed to bypass those rules in order to personally profit from it. As for Kronke, the fact that dividends are reinvested back into the club would suggest that he is more concerned with Arsenal's overall financial health, than making a personal profit.
Whole programme was bollocks.Fat Thai guy saying I get you this,I get you that.No tapes or paper trail leading to our club regarding any of the main allegations so expect only the wums to get off on it.
Don't be so naive. Your 'international ambassador for Man Utd' was caught on tape deliberately trying to break the FA and Football league rules. The owner of the official Man Utd restaurants was the fixer for those rule breaking deals. Both were profiteering from it. To simply try and sweep it under the carpet is ludicrous. Bryan Robson was once a Utd and England hero - now he is simply a bitch for a fat Thai crook.
Didn't think the journalists were all that credible to be honest. Barnsley Town ffs. In my view, nobody should ever be punished as the result of an undercover sting. If a crime's been committed, get the police involved.
Robson it has to be said doesn't come out if it looking very good. Much of what he says sounds cynical but no more than that. But he is caught on camera openly discussing and plotting the methodology to get around FA rules on multiple club ownership. That has got to have a negative effect on his future career and does cast your club in a bad light because of his role within your club. Ferguson though comes out of it ok for me. He just appears to be a person who has a rather shady guy using his name to influence people without actually participating at all. I think the worst that could be said of him is that he needs to pick his friends/acquaintances a bit better. It is Joe Sim that comes over as the dodgy slimeball. Hopefully Fergie will distance himself from that dick and maybe consider taking legal action against him. The biggest reveal really was the depth of doubt that we can all have now about the real ownership of so many british clubs and the concerns that this raises. Other than Robson though I don't think you really come out of it badly and speaking personally I was disappointed with Robson himself and attach no blame to your club. I would have expected better from him, just as I'm sure both Man U and it fans would have expected better too. Shame to see a legend of football falling short like this.
I honestly think we should just ignore it. Show bad journalism the red card. Why were Channel 4 on the case with this? Did they pay for information? Did they stage the whole thing? Even in the midst of the NOTW scandal, people are taking what the media says at face value. That "journalist" is most likely a slimy little toerag who doesn't deserve a minute of our time. Hopefully Fergie will do the decent thing, keep Robson on and ban Channel 4 from Old Trafford.
What I find most shocking of all is their willingness to allow Robson to manage whichever club they took over! Since leaving Boro, his managerial record has been nothing short of abysmal. It's all well and good researching how best to go about buying multiple clubs and talking about football as a business but you'd think that they may have actually looked at it from a footballing perspective and tried to get the best coach for the job, should a deal have gone through.
There must be something in it for Fergie to instruct his lawyers, damage limitation? Good article Piskie but it was captain marvel and is therefore above any wrongdoing irrespective of seriousness.
What did he do wrong..Advised a dodgy reporter how to get round dual ownership of a club? What i was more upset at was the fact he didn't clock it was a sting from the start!! As for the fact dodgy Joe knew Fergie,the way he was going on about him(and even the reporters picked it up),it seemed that he was more of a friend to Fergie than Fergie was to him.
C'mon people, stop kidding yourselves, the program clearly demonstrated how all these people have contact with each other in order to gain maximum control over football affairs. Mr Sim and Bryan robson help people buy clubs and build them up whilst using his relationship with Sir Alex to get loan players and use his name to promote his works. Meanwhile Mohammed Bin Hammam buys votes and turn a blind eye to Sim's workings. Its one big game, whoever is involved, whether it Bryan Robson, Sir Alex, Sim or Hammam, or indeed any other names mentioned. If they know what they are doing, corrupting the game for their own personal greed, they are a disgrace.
So says the media. They're such paragons of virtue, aren't they? The whole thing was a charade, just like the Murdoch inquiry.
I have worked in thailand for many years and the place is corrupt from top to bottom. Bryan Robson is almost certainly guilty.
Guilty of what? Blabbing to the media? Who appointed them judge and jury? If he'd said it in police custody then I'd agree with you. But he didn't, he said it to a Channel 4 journalist who most likely paid him. Like I said earlier in this thread, United and the FA should take no action based on an undercover sting. Instead, the journalist concerned should have his private life examined and publicly ridiculed.
How much cash was exchanged??? If i go into tesco and put an apple up my jacket I am not stealing. However if i walk out of the shop with it I am. Where is the money he recieved?
