Absoloutely Superb Article.
Hopefully not the beginning of the end. And dont rant on about Man Utd bias, read the bloody arguement and see it from an overall point of view and what it could mean for the game as a whole.
Rules? Next they’ll be getting away with murder
Martin Samuel
Columbo Hey, I’m sorry, I’m making a pest of myself.
Ken Naw!
Columbo Yes, yes I am. I know, it’s because I keep asking these questions, but I’ll tell ya, I can’t help myself. It’s a habit. (Murder by the Book, series one, episode one.)
Typical. You wait all season for an FA Premier League whitewash and then two come along at once. And what a cracker, that second one. Alastair Campbell would be proud.
On Sunday morning, it was revealed that the League was investigating Everton and Manchester United over the transfer of Tim Howard and his subsequent failure to appear in a match between the clubs on April 28; and then on Sunday afternoon it announced the matter considered and closed. Wow. You can’t get service like that anywhere on a Bank Holiday weekend usually. I once queried a parking ticket with Islington council and it dragged on for three months.
No disrespect, but under normal circumstances the Premier League’s approach to time-keeping is bordering on Caribbean. For instance, Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano signed for West Ham United on August 31, 2006, and the new owners disclosed the third-party arrangements governing the deal on January 24, 2007. It took until March 2 for the club to be charged and April 27 for an independent commission to hear fully the evidence and punish.
Yet at approximately 5pm on Friday, May 4, a Premier League spokesman confirmed to me that there would be an investigation into the Howard transfer, and at half-time in the match between Arsenal and Chelsea on Sunday, May 6, the same gentleman called to announce the deal had received the green light.
Columbo You know how a person always does something one way and then he suddenly does something another way? I immediately think . . . (taps head). (Playback, series four, episode five.)
And no doubt it was circumstantial that within an hour, Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, was due to be in front of the cameras, the Premiership title secure, glass of celebratory champagne in one hand, sponsors name plastered over the backdrop, but there does seem a degree of expediency about this conclusion. Not to mention a dash of the crass, the craven and the reckless in a decision that paves the way for football to become a veritable Dodge City of side deals, quid pro quos and clandestine alliances.
To recap, last week, in this column, I raised the issue of Howard’s withdrawal from the match between Everton and Manchester United at Goodison Park. As Howard had become a permanent signing for Everton on February 14, 2007 (loan deals are not subject to the constraints of the transfer window and can be completed at any time, with no further performance restrictions), there was no reason why he should not have played.
Instead, Everton fielded an understudy, Iain Turner, who was directly responsible for United’s first goal and partly at fault for the second. Everton said that as a condition of making the deal permanent. there had been an agreement that Howard would not play against United if the title race was still live. This would be a clear case of third-party interference and demonstrated inconsistency on the part of the Premier League.
The following day I was contacted by Dan Johnson, of the Premier League, to take issue, saying that Howard had no such clause in his contract and the League would not have allowed it because it would be a breach of third-party rules. I told him the information had come directly from Everton, on the record and without persuasion. It had been stated as a matter of fact, in response to a straight question about Howard’s absence. David Moyes, the Everton manager, had also made no secret of it in his press briefings before the game. There was a short silence, which I broke by asking if the Premier League would now investigate, as there appeared to be a serious discrepancy. Johnson said he would get back to me.
After no word and several telephone calls, late on Friday afternoon, Johnson did confirm that there would be an investigation as there was no paperwork to suggest Howard should not have played. And on Sunday, with United’s ninth Premiership title less than an hour away, Johnson confirmed that the matter had been swiftly resolved. Having spoken to both clubs, he could verify there was no written agreement that Howard could not play. But, of course, we knew that.
“So, if Howard could have played, why didn’t he?” I asked. “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Everton,” Johnson said. But I had asked Everton, the previous week. Everton said Howard did not play because of an arrangement with Manchester United; and its existence in writing was no longer the issue.
Columbo I was just wondering because your beach house and his beach house, they’re fairly close, aren’t they?
Brimmer No. It’s a couple of miles.
Columbo That close! Isn’t that a coincidence? I’ll tell ya, this case is just full of ’em. (Death Lends A Hand, series one, episode two.)
For the record, these are the other Everton matches in which Moyes chose not to play Howard this season: Peterborough United (away), League Cup, September 19, 2006; Luton Town (home), League Cup, October 24, 2006. And then United at home at a time when Everton were fighting tooth and nail for a Uefa Cup place. Draw your own conclusions.
Columbo You turned the radio down but not quite off when I told you Eric Wagner was dead. It’s all right. I do the same thing. You know, when I’m listening to the game and my wife interrupts. I can’t help myself. I want to hear that game and I don’t care how important the interruption. (The Most Crucial Game, series two, episode three.)
And we’re not that different to the lieutenant. I think United are the best team in the country and perhaps the most exciting in Europe. Like a great many people, I hoped that commitment to the beautiful game would be rewarded with the league title. Yet the next day there were forests dedicated to the glory of their title win and no mention of the inconvenient little scandal that the Premier League had brushed under the carpet to wave it through untroubled. And the fact that, again, the happy ending was placed before sporting good is alarming.
Yes, technically, third-party interference does carry the threat of a points deduction, but considering the precedent set over the transfers of Tévez and Mascherano, nothing could really have spoilt Ferguson’s champagne moment. There would have been no deduction of points even if the Premier League had investigated fully, rather than taking a coward’s way out. And that was its duty. Vital issues were at stake; and still are.
Columbo Well, what do you know, here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn’t even notice. (The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case, series six, episode three.)
The Premier League argues that, with nothing in writing, the most Everton could have been charged with is not fielding their best team, and the horse bolted from that stable long ago. Yet the Howard case does not equate to, for instance, the shadow Liverpool XI that lost to Fulham last week. That Liverpool team, full strength or not, was selected by Rafael BenÍtez, the Liverpool manager. The Howard selection was, by Everton’s initial admission, subject to the wishes of Manchester United.
So what is there to stop a similar raft of convenient understandings taking place this weekend, with relegation at stake? Could close friends Paul Jewell, of Wigan Athletic, and Neil Warnock, of Sheffield United, come to an agreement? What about the equally convivial Ferguson and Alan Curbishley, the West Ham manager? “Maybe next season I will need to call some of my friends,” José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, deadpanned on hearing of the Premier League decision. And, while that may not form an exhaustive list, kinship is not required to make a deal work; just mutual interest.
Indeed, as long as nobody puts it in writing, what is there to stop the Premier League becoming a powder-keg of alliances, given that the governing body displays no desire to operate as anything more than a glorified fixtures secretary? Gentlemen’s agreements are notoriously hard to prove; but the one around Howard was not. Many statements were matters of record or had third-party corroboration. At the very least, there was enough information to issue a warning; or show the Premier League cared.
Columbo See, now there you go. You’re looking at your watch again.
Roger Stanford Will you do me a favour? Will you please keep quiet?
Columbo Why? It’s only a dumb theory of mine. (Short Fuse, series one, episode six.)
OK, I’ll be brief. The point is that the moment the Premier League loses the motivation to govern or accepts that certain aspects of the business of football can no longer be governed, the game takes a sinister turn. The cosy arrangement that took Howard out of a critical match this season could one day be replaced by something considerably more cynical, by two unscrupulous owners or managers, for money. And nothing will be in writing then, either.
Managers are already talking quite openly about the need for certain clubs to play fair and field the strongest teams on the final day of the season. This is how it began in Italy. And we know where it ended.
...sorry 4 the ranting
