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[Blablurn]

Dat Club World Cup trophy.

 

[Linius]

Can you feel the excitement of the start of the season?

Spoiler

But I'm also afraid we lose...

 

[Manager]

That sounds a right mess I feel sorry for the player.

Some talk about that stuff here:
http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...layer-trades-boost-third-party-balance-sheets

"We are financial products. A football club is like a factory, and we are its outputs. You have to be realistic."

It is not often you hear a human being reduce himself to the status of a balance-sheet item. But with these words that is exactly what Eliaquim Mangala, a France-international defender at the Portuguese champions, FC Porto, has done. Mangala's words were in response to being confronted with the fact he is not merely an intangible fixed asset belonging to his club but also to two offshore funds whose investors' identities have carefully been concealed.

The point was brilliantly illustrated by the France 2 programme Foot business: enquête sur une omerta, as its reporters presented Mangala with a cardboard cut-out of himself. The bottom half of his silhouette belonged to Porto, but the rest belonged to two other companies, Doyen Sports Investments Ltd and Robi Plus.

According to regulatory filings from the stockmarket-listed Portuguese club, on 14 December 2011 Doyen bought 33.33% of Mangala's "economic rights" for about €2.65m. It turned out Mangala was not even aware that Robi Plus had also bought an additional 10% of the player's rights. Porto has never made clear what Robi Plus paid for its share of Mangala.

Robi Plus's accounts for the year to the end of July 2012 (which show no sign of the Mangala investment either, by the way) were signed off by the director Mauricio Delmenico. France 2 broadcast a conversation its journalist had upon apparently contacting Delmenico. The voice heard at the end of the phone, said to be Delmenico's, declared that he manages Robi Plus's affairs for Luciano D'Onofrio.

Now D'Onofrio has an extensive, and colourful, football history. In the 1980s he was the general manager of Porto, was once an agent to Zinédine Zidane and was a vice-president of Standard Liège. That was all before he was sentenced by the French courts to two years in prison (18 months of it suspended) and banned from all football activity for two years after his implication in fraudulent activity in transfers involving players as famous as Christophe Dugarry and Fabrizio Ravanelli.

Had Delmenico apparently not admitted D'Onofrio's involvement, it would have been impossible to know about his alleged involvement in the deals. Given the man's history, it is small wonder no one told Mangala (himself a former Liège player, incidentally) about it, whatever his views about football's factory production line.

The lack of transparency arises from the fact that Robi Plus is a bearer-share company. This means that, although it is a firm registered with the UK government's Companies House, it need not give details of its shareholders. In terms of its ownership transparency, this makes it little different to entities held offshore in secrecy jurisdictions and tax havens. Whoever holds the shares owns the assets of the company, but whoever that is need not be made public.

As for Doyen Sports Investments, a Malta-based company, its website carries a Who We Are section which conspicuously does not tell who the shareholders or principals are, although it does describe itself as "probably the most recognised private fund investing in the football sector." It lists names as high profile as Radamel Falcao among its players, although his move to Monaco in France this summer would mean this is merely as a client-agent relationship and not as an "economic rights" stakeholder (the reason for this will be given below).

This football-investment fund is run by Nelio Lucas, who has been involved in player-investment deals for the best part of a decade. Doyen says its model is that of a lender providing liquidity to clubs who have restricted access to more traditional bank finance. It insists its stakes in players' economic rights confer it no control over the destiny of their careers, which remain the province of their clubs. "There is the right way to do this," said one person with knowledge of Doyen Sports Investments' activities. "It's transparent, fit and proper and not dictating where the players go.

"The idea is to cover themselves on the loan so they never lose money on the principle of the loan. "Or if they get lucky as they did with Atlético Madrid and Falcao they do make decent money on top. But there is another model where some dictate where the player goes but that's not what Doyen are doing. I know Nelio would absolutely welcome regulation and control of the industry."

That would help. But things are at least already fairly transparent from the clubs' end. According to Benfica's accounts for the 2012/13 season, Robi Plus also bought the entire economic rights to the Lisbon club's players Luciano Teixeira and João Mário Fernandes last December. The transaction for the two players cost Robi Plus a grand total of €500,000. It meant that when Teixeira moved to Metz and Fernandes to Atlético Clube Portugal in the summer the proceeds went to Robi Plus, not the Portuguese club.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Delmenico, D'Onofrio, Robi Plus or Doyen. Indeed, no rules are being broken, for it is only in England and France that third-party ownership of players is banned. (Though Mangala is a France international, the fact he plays in the Portuguese league means the ownership practice is permitted; had Manchester City carried through with a £30 million bid for him during the summer window, Doyen and Robi Plus would have had to divest. But having paid perhaps no more than €2.65 million, or £2.22 million, for a 43.33% cut of the transfer fee had it gone through, they would presumably have been comfortable doing so.)

So, no rules broken, but as those in the industry acknowledge, the integrity risks are clear. Other funds than Doyen might perhaps be less scrupulous about how they exert power over their player transactions. The temptation to push players around a carousel of clubs, each time earning a cut of the transfer fees, must be strong for businesses whose investors and financial activities are hidden behind a wall of tax-haven secrecy.

And what if club executives or managers are shareholders in those funds? Or bookmakers with a penchant for match-fixing? There is a fine line between controlling the destiny of a player's career so that you know which club he will play at next and having sufficient control to demand he be sent off or score an own goal while playing there.

France 2 cleverly illustrated the risks by showing a FIFA 13 video game between Porto and Sevilla FC, wherein the players were labelled according to who owned or part-owned their "economic rights". It demonstrated how in some jurisdictions players on opposing teams could belong not only to the clubs whose shirts they wear but also to the same third-party company whose shareholders are unknown.

Again, there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by anyone involved in the France 2 investigation into the matter, but it is clear the football authorities have misgivings about the involvement of these brassplate companies. Michel Platini was asked why UEFA had not tackled it. "I have tried," he responded. "But no one would listen."

The truth is the world player-transfer system is a matter for FIFA, not UEFA, to control and regulate. So France 2 moved on to ask Jérôme Valcke, the world governing body's secretary-general for his thoughts. "It is unacceptable; it's modern-day slavery," he said. "We're working on it."

FIFA certainly is: in August Valcke wrote to FIFA national associations, executive-committee members and confederations to explain that FIFA had mandated the Centre de Droit et d'Economie du Sport to investigate the economic and financial impact of third-party ownership.

Its findings cannot come soon enough.

 

[Tubie]

I'd long ago learned not to be picky in farewells. They weren't guaranteed or promised. You were lucky, more than blessed, if you got a good-bye at all. At least he left us his wigs behind <3


buy Vidal, steal Pogba, take everything. We're done, drained, depleted, BVB, bereft of life, cadaverous. Bring the curtain down, the shows over...and not with a bang but an Allegri.

on a positive note, have a nice day everyone! xoxo

La Decima drained me and I know it won't get better in my lifetime. It will be another 30 year wait for la Undecima.

 

[GQman2121]

Excited for the Community Shield today. It always feels like the first real meaningful match to kick start the season.

 

[brokenbeans]

Today feels like one of those Sundays when I sit back and think "I wanna watch the Goonies again"

 

[Linius]

Excited for the Community Shield today. It always feels like the first real meaningful match to kick start the season.

Even though the clubs playing for the super cup usually don't give a fuck, it's a traditional start of the season. And it's still sore to lose it.

 

[Blablurn]

buy Vidal, steal Pogba, take everything. We're done, drained, depleted, BVB, bereft of life, cadaverous. Bring the curtain down, the shows over...and not with a bang but an Allegri.

on a positive note, have a nice day everyone! xoxo

Dayum!

 

[Yurt]

^That was for you ;*

La Decima drained me and I know it won't get better in my lifetime. It will be another 30 year wait for la Undecima.

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS CL winners problems -_- ITS NOT THE SAME TUBIE ITS NOT THE SAME

 

[Blablurn]

That Champions League shirt is sexy as fuck. It basically screams: "Don't play us. We're going to win anyway."

 

[cartoon_soldier]

That Champions League shirt is sexy as fuck. It basically screams: "Don't play us. We're going to win anyway."

But you won't win the CL

 

[L1NETT]

Bradford City are among a host of clubs who want to take Newcastle youngster Rolando Aarons, 18, on loan

Carbo you burberry wearing chav, tell me he's the next Sterling

Please

Oh and

Leeds United: I belong in the Championship - Dave Hockaday

DAVE, YOU WERE SHIT AT FOREST GREEN ROVERS

Hahahahahahhahaahhahahah

 

[brokenbeans]

Got EA access, when I play Madden 25 it's like Moyes in charge at United.

 

[LTWheels]

It better stop raining heavily before Liverpool's game. I would like my Sky satellite signal to work.

 

[Lakitu]

So do we expect Liverpool to line-up today with something resembling their first 11 next week?

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Who is Liverpool playing?

 

[Lakitu]

Who is Liverpool playing?

Dortmund

 

[Blablurn]

Dortmund

I heard they were good two years ago.

 

[Salazar]

I assume Wooders doesn't want to continue life as a hate figure and fabled imbecile.

 

[Manager]

Mark Robins leaves Huddersfield after losing 0-4 yesterday.

DAVE, YOU WERE SHIT AT FOREST GREEN ROVERS

Hahahahahahhahaahhahahah

His interviews are fantastic. He's put in a position where he's constantly forced to defend himself (specially when his chairman talks shit about him publicly).

The description he offers of himself is nothing if not candid. &#8216;I&#8217;m not in anybody&#8217;s gang,&#8217; he says. &#8216;I&#8217;m a loner. I like to think most people in the game know of me and I&#8217;d like to think most people would respect the work that I&#8217;ve done. I don&#8217;t have a big agent to represent me. I get my head down and work hard. That&#8217;s what I do.&#8217;

The line of not being in anybody&#8217;s gang is one he revisits two or three times. &#8216;Because I&#8217;m not,&#8217; he says. &#8216;All the jobs I&#8217;ve got have been off my own back. I haven&#8217;t been anybody&#8217;s mate.&#8217;

I suggest he sounds resentful. &#8216;I&#8217;m ultra-realistic,&#8217; he says. &#8216;I don&#8217;t drink, I don&#8217;t smoke, I love my wife (Geraldine). If I&#8217;m not working I want to spend time with my wife. I&#8217;m not a lad. I can go out with the lads but I don&#8217;t need a group of lads to feel comfortable. I&#8217;ve never had alcohol so I&#8217;ve never missed it. I can&#8217;t even have a sherry trifle.&#8217;

&#8216;That&#8217;s history,&#8217; he says of that group of former Leeds managers. &#8216;There&#8217;s nothing I can do about that. I have been given this great opportunity and the man who has given me it has looked me in the eye and said, &#8220;I believe in you&#8221;.
&#8216;And that is humbling. That puts a lump in my throat, and I&#8217;ll give him, the players, the staff and the fans everything I&#8217;ve got.&#8217;

Does he deserve it? &#8216;He feels I deserve it,&#8217; he says. Does he feel ready? &#8216;Yeah, I&#8217;m ready. I&#8217;m better than ready. I&#8217;m prepared.&#8217;

He wasn&#8217;t just bright, he was super-bright, joining an accelerated class that saw pupils sit their O Levels and A Levels a year early. He earned &#8216;numerous O Levels&#8217; and, at 17, four A Levels in &#8216;English, maths, history and general studies&#8217;. &#8216;I had been accepted by five universities to study business studies,&#8217; he says. &#8216;I was planning to go to Sheffield because they also had a good football team. But then I was offered the chance to sign with Blackpool and that was that.&#8217;

Self-promotion would not seem to be a strong point. &#8216;It doesn&#8217;t interest me,&#8217; he says. &#8216;I probably could have made more money if I&#8217;d studied for that business degree.
&#8216;I have a brother who&#8217;s a partner in a law firm, another who began in quantity surveying and is now a project manager. My youngest brother is pretty much on the board of a multi-national chemical company.
&#8216;Then there&#8217;s me, kicking a ball around. But I&#8217;m happy with the career I&#8217;ve had. I am what I am and confident in my ability. I appreciate a lot of people wouldn&#8217;t have heard of me, so I would have been a shock to a lot of people. I&#8217;m not daft.
&#8216;Halfway through the five-hour meeting with the president he said, &#8220;Do you know what I&#8217;m asking you to do?&#8221; I said, &#8220;Yes, but do you know what you&#8217;re asking me?&#8221;
&#8216;Because I&#8217;m not a name. And it will get bumpy.&#8217;

Then after yesterday's match, losing 0-2:
Leeds All Over &#8207;@LeedsAllOver Aug 7
Just heard an interview with Hockaday where he spelt out team and said there's no I in team. FFS.

The Scratching Shed &#8207;@TSSLUFC 35m
Hockaday "tactically I think we got it right." Well, he's not short of confidence, I'll give him that. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28728130 &#8230; #LUFC

But the 56-year-old insisted: "This is what I am used to, this is where I think I belong and tactically I think we got it right."

"It is one game. We are looking to improve. Millwall have beaten us 2-0. It is all about moments and we did not have moments. We had a go and certainly had the chances to equalise in the second half."

 

[Walshy]

7 days till the season and we still only have Rickie Lambert as our Suarez replacement.

Worrying times.

 

[fuenf]

That Champions League shirt is sexy as fuck. It basically screams: "Don't play us. We're going to win anyway."

It is. It does.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I assume Wooders doesn't want to continue life as a hate figure and fabled imbecile.

He lives in his own image. So don't assume that.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Nobody expected you to either?

 

[KidA Seven]

@mrmujac
ACADEMY NEWS: More reports confirming that Felix Magath has told Larnell Cole and Ryan Tunnicliffe that they have no future at Fulham...


Can't say I'm surprisded at Tunnicliffe. Thought Cole could have made it though. He's decent. Then again, Fulham's youth team has some sort of golden generation from what I can tell.

 

[Manager]

Nobody expected you to either?

He's said some weird stuff the last week.

"After the final match of the season against Newcastle at Anfield, Rodgers walked back to his office with his family. He was asked when he had known the title had gone. Was it Steven Gerrards slip against Chelsea? 'No, no' he said. 'I knew when Jordan got sent off against Manchester City. I knew i couldn't replace him."

edit
Nvm not a direct quote.

"That quote is by Ben Smith in the book: Make Us Dream: The Story of Liverpool's 2013/14 Season by Neil Atkinson & John Gibbons."

 

[Lakitu]

He's said some weird stuff the last week.

"After the final match of the season against Newcastle at Anfield, Rodgers walked back to his office with his family. He was asked when he had known the title had gone. Was it Steven Gerrards slip against Chelsea? 'No, no' he said. 'I knew when Jordan got sent off against Manchester City. I knew i couldn't replace him."

But... that's true? Henderson is the engine in our central midfield and he was an absolutely huge loss.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

@mrmujac
ACADEMY NEWS: More reports confirming that Felix Magath has told Larnell Cole and Ryan Tunnicliffe that they have no future at Fulham...


Can't say I'm surprisded at Tunnicliffe. Thought Cole could have made it though. He's decent. Then again, Fulham's youth team has some sort of golden generation from what I can tell.

Isn't Felix Magath a grade A dick anyway?

 

[GHG]

7 days till the season and we still only have Rickie Lambert as our Suarez replacement.

Worrying times.

RAWK told me that Sturridge is better than Suarez and made Suarez look better than he really was last season.

You needn't worry.

 

[fuenf]

Isn't Felix Magath a grade A dick anyway?

from the moment on when he is signed, he usually starts to develop and destroy a team at the same time. but those two processes dont perfectly overlap, thus there can be a small window in which a team coached by Magath actually looks very good before it disintegrates completely.

 

[tri_willy]

RAWK told me that Sturridge is better than Suarez and made Suarez look better than he really was last season.

You needn't worry.

madness. with suarez around, sturry would not be attracting the kind of attention that he would be getting this season.

 

[TeddyBoy]

RAWK told me that Sturridge is better than Suarez and made Suarez look better than he really was last season.

You needn't worry.

Sturridge is more important to the team than Suarez. Suarez has more technical skill than Sturridge but without Sturridges hold up play we're not direct enough as a team.

 

[GQman2121]

Even though the clubs playing for the super cup usually don't give a fuck, it's a traditional start of the season. And it's still sore to lose it.

But that's on Tuesday. Today is....today!

 

[Walshy]

RAWK told me that Sturridge is better than Suarez and made Suarez look better than he really was last season.

You needn't worry.

Sturridge flourished with and without Suarez last year. For instance, he didn't go missing when Suarez was suspended. He ended up with 13 goals in 11 games in our games without Suarez in 2013.

It's just we need another marquee forward with Sturridge's injury record.

 

[flake]

Good start to a-league all stars vs juve

 

[Salazar]

It's just we need another marquee forward with Sturridge's injury record.

pls

This is the vocabulary of scrub leagues with salary caps

 

[Linius]

But that's on Tuesday. Today is....today!

Huh? Community Shield is your supercup right? Cup winner vs. the league winner?

 

[Arnie]

He's said some weird stuff the last week.

"After the final match of the season against Newcastle at Anfield, Rodgers walked back to his office with his family. He was asked when he had known the title had gone. Was it Steven Gerrards slip against Chelsea? 'No, no' he said. 'I knew when Jordan got sent off against Manchester City. I knew i couldn't replace him."

edit
Nvm not a direct quote.

"That quote is by Ben Smith in the book: Make Us Dream: The Story of Liverpool's 2013/14 Season by Neil Atkinson & John Gibbons."

He's absolutely bang on and many of us concurred that the loss of Henderson was fucking huge.

I've said it before but it wouldn't swap Henderson for any other central midfielder in the league.

I get that there are players with better technique (Ramsey, Cesc etc) but his overall ability to control games and dominate teams is fucking unparalleled. What the other two don't have is his physical prowess and energy.

He's the perfect mix.

RAWK told me that Sturridge is better than Suarez and made Suarez look better than he really was last season.

You needn't worry.

Just as pathetic as those on RAWK for implying that Suarez wouldn't be missed is you for spending your living, breathing minutes reading about it on a forum which has fuck all to do with your club.

I hope you know that.

 

[KidA Seven]

rawk is pretty funny though

I'm sure Sal would agree

 

[GHG]

Sturridge flourished with and without Suarez last year. For instance, he didn't go missing when Suarez was suspended. He ended up with 13 goals in 11 games in our games without Suarez in 2013.

It's just we need another marquee forward with Sturridge's injury record.

This is true, and I do like Sturridge as a player (reminds me of Henry more than anyone else since the great man) but no amount of Lamberts and Lallanas will make up for the loss of Suarez. Either a change in system is needed (to get more out of Sterling, Coutinho, etc) or you need to sign a top striker.

The issue with the latter is the fact that nobody decent is really available at the moment. That's why we still have Giroud as our only main striker...

 

[GHG]

Just as pathetic as those on RAWK for implying that Suarez wouldn't be missed is you for spending your living, breathing minutes reading about it on a forum which has fuck all to do with your club.

I hope you know that.

Calm down son.

Word gets round on the grapevine.

 

[Fintan]

If Cavani really does want to leave, Liverpool should just go for him. They have the money, and despite recent performances, he is class.

 

[L1NETT]

Can't stop laughing about hudders

One game and sack the manager

Hahahhahahaha

Leeds lost. Rotherham lost. Hudders lost and sacked their manager

We won

Best opening weekend ever?

 

[Sviatoslav]

Do we know City's squad for the Community Shield? I'm interested if Javi Garcia is present or not.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Did Henderson just get compared to Cesc?

lol

 

[Manager]

Do we know City's squad for the Community Shield? I'm interested if Javi Garcia is present or not.

He's in Russia, hasn't trained the last couple of days.

 

[tri_willy]

He's said some weird stuff the last week.

"After the final match of the season against Newcastle at Anfield, Rodgers walked back to his office with his family. He was asked when he had known the title had gone. Was it Steven Gerrards slip against Chelsea? 'No, no' he said. 'I knew when Jordan got sent off against Manchester City. I knew i couldn't replace him."

edit
Nvm not a direct quote.

"That quote is by Ben Smith in the book: Make Us Dream: The Story of Liverpool's 2013/14 Season by Neil Atkinson & John Gibbons."

i blame victor fucking moses for that one, had the ball, gave it away cheaply, basically caused hendo to go for the lunge ffs

 

[Linius]

Did Henderson just get compared to Cesc?

lol

They both play football.

They both play for an EPL club.

Comparisons are right there.

 

[Salvadora]

rawk is pretty funny though

I'm sure Sal would agree

Yeah I agree, but it's a bit too vitriolic for my liking.

 

[Arnie]

If Cavani really does want to leave, Liverpool should just go for him. They have the money, and despite recent performances, he is class.

Well it appears we've made something of an offer/enquiry/plea.

Don't know to what extent, like. The reason Cavani would work is because he's also had experience in playing across a three. Whether it's a combination of him, Sturridge, Markovic, Sterling, Lallana etc it should all be quite fluid.

And I concur, I think he's brilliant regardless of his previous season. Been a fan since his Napoli days (not his Parma days, fuck Wooden).

Think it'd be an incredibly difficult one to pull off, though. In my head the season starts with two strikers. Which is hilarious and frightening at the same time. Especially when one of them - my sweet Django - has such an atrocious injury record.