HMRC raids Newcastle/West Ham due to suspected tax fraud

Feels like this merits a standalone thread.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-39716009

Several arrests, including Newcastle's managing director. The authorities made an appearance at Stamford Bridge, though with no arrests, and there may be other teams caught up. This feels like it could be football's next big "well, but, everyone was doing it!" scandal.

 

Not sure if you saw but has been discussed in Premier League thread

 

Yeah, thought it merits a standalone. If the clubs were found to be systematically flouting tax laws, it's entirely possible (maybe even likely) that there'll be forced relegations this year or next.

 

I wonder how deep this goes. HMRC have been after football for years.

Swindon are the precedent for this... imagine if WHU got relegated

 

Can't see Wet Spam getting relegated this season..........It is going to take a couple of years before it gets to court.........What worries me though is the suggestion that other clubs are also involved. I just hope Saints aren't one of them.

 

There's nothing we can do if Saints are, so I would not worry unnecessarily Beddy. I think the clown we have in the White House and the semi hard right-wing (policies that are on the borders of acceptability and downright craziness) Government that we have here in the UK, are bigger concerns.

 

It seems that Marseille and an agency in France are the main culprits here.

Don't see anything major happening tbh.

 

Mike Ashley's Newcastle United and Gold and Sullivan's West Ham United??!

Couldn't happen to nicer people!

 

It won't be out and out criminality....it will turn out to be something that a clever dick accountant thought he could get away with and was probably congratulated on at the time. It seems to be about reducing liability by paying players in a 'secret' way....so I suspect other clubs may have been doing the same especially when paying foreign players who seem to feel they should be paid tax free.

 

That's a bit of a sweeping statement.

 

It was....I really meant some of the most highly paid players. It happened in the past...the ones that thought that the wages quoted should be paid in entirety.

 

It read very much like some thinly veiled xenophobia. Can you cite any recent examples of this?

 

For God's sake!

If I'm being xenophobic you'll know it.

Cannot think of any named examples, but it was known in the past for players abroad to expect tax-free wages. It is entirely possible that people of all races (regardless of gender, sexuality, height, width, religion, political persuasion, taste in music) are capable of greed and criminality.

 

That's what we like. Equality.! We like to be [seen to be] a fair minded bunch here.

 

what about Gingers , are you gingerphobic ?

 

Ah, but whose God?

 

I thought it was quite common knowledge (or perception at least) that wages quoted abroad are after tax? I always thought that anyway. Was something with Toure (if I remember rightly) where he wanted 250k after tax

 

Stop it. Teasing is not allowed!!

 

You Islanders are all the same

 

Islandophobia.