I didn't realise the police were involved now, fair enough Am i the only one who doesn't want Black on the bench this weekend?
Sometimes you have to compromise....could have dragged on and he might have won in an employment tribunal anyway. Better to cut line and move on.
Was the word bribe actually used in the video? Don't think I heard that. The whole video needs to be seen to put the conversation in context but aren't people legitimately employed by management companies to look out for players and getting paid for it? Isn't that what scouting is all about? That said, Eric has acted stupidly and a suspension is warranted until the Telegraph provide the full video.
Just back from work, so please excuse the two pages that have slid inbetween this response. My Villa Park ref was this. When he was put in charge of them, they were doomed, not mathematically but everybody knew they had gone. During his time there he allowed players like Lescott & Bucuna not just to walk all over the club, but the fans as well. In the build up to our game Lescott had accidently** tweeted a picture of his £200,000 motor(as a F* you I presume) & Bucana had made it clear he wanted to leave to play Champions League Football (don't laugh!). Eric showed a lack of every leadership quality I've ever known that day, and that's why it was a such a toxic environment (ever heard the home team sheet booed by the home crowd like that?) . The Villa fans were ready for gallows humour that day, but this guy just didn't read the situation at all. They had kids ready to step in, players the crowd would have responded to, but he set the tone that day. That's one reason why he's associated with failure, but if you dig a little deeper there's many others. And in saying all that, once he was given the chance with us I fully supported him, and hoped he'd do well with the opportunity. I feel massively let down. I've seen the footage, I've tried to piece together the dialogue, & I reckon there's a chance he'll worm out of it like Jimmy is currently doing. But I am ashamed to have the association, dodgy back door deals, how ever you paint it up, its a disgusting. I'm not someone who would look for an excuse to get rid, you should be judged by the job you do, but this is September 2nd we are talking about.......unbelievable!
No loss to Saints if they sack him. Not much more than a glorified translator/cone arranger. Get rid, he does not comply with the "Southampton Way" And as you know, I am a big defender of the "Southampton Way"
Not quite sure what you're saying, but no-one is condemning him for behaviour at Villa. His judgement is in question in relation to an allegation about advice he gave. If the club decides that this constitutes a breakdown in trust, then shut the door on your way out is the only way forward. But if the club enquiry decides he has no case to answer then he carries on. The "middle way" is that he is found guilty of a misdemeanour short of Gross PM, in which case he pays a fine and grovels. It's up to SFC now, not the Telegraph. I'll support the decision of the club, as they've proven to be pretty all right to date.
The word bribe wasn't used. That would be silly. Would he have a coffee with us? Remember coffee is the codeword. That's what Pino said. And if you are already paid for doing a job then it would not be right for you to try and earn extra money.........for doing your job. I don't get all this "innocence" stuff for any of these videos. Same and his "public speaking" is the way people pay corruption these days. It is a way to pay people all above board. They aren;t paying $00k for his speech though, that is the cover. As for the others "just talking about how you can get around it." How do they know how to get around it? Why would they even tell people how you could get around it and name people that they could approach. There is no innocence here. These are people that were targetted because they had good intelligence to say that they had done it before and would do it again. They haven't randomly arranged hundreds of interviews in the hope someone takes the bait, they have targetted people that their intelligence had told them have history. They are all guilty of taking back handers. It is fraud. They are taking money under false pretenses which is illegal in terms of players paying them a proportion of the wages as a third party and even worse they are making deals that cost their employer more than they should have cost. I remember years ago there was something r.e. the Bergkamp transfer to Arsenal being £3m more than other people would have been paying?
The word bribe doesn't need to be used for it to be a bribe. Black talked up the likelihood that he could hook them up with coaches who would act against the interests of their clubs in exchange for money. He even told them that they could be bought more cheaply than they might think! And representatives of a management company seek out players is vastly different than having an employee of the club taking money while bragging that they can work one of their players to switch agencies in order to facilitate a scheme that is illegal under the FA's rules, which is what Wright did.
Strong statement from the club that says nothing! He remains an employee. Of course he does. Whether he will be tending his garden on Sunday is open to conjecture.
Should have read that a bit more before I went on my ramble rant! Had a tough day today, and as I woke up thinking about the situation, I'd say its played on my mind a bit too much. Might go find something away from football to do for an hour as this isn't healthy!
He wasn't one of the people conducting the sting...he's saying that he lied in suggesting that some managers have taken bribes. Which may well be true; doesn't in any way negate the rest of the investigation.
How do you know that he isn't fulfilling his role at Saints. If they only wanted him as a translator, they wouldn't have made him assistant manager....he could have had a lower position. Now I don't know how good he is, but I don't know he is bad either.
