Why is The Telegraph the only British paper reporting this? The others are eeringly silent, while they make a big deal of the Southampton staffer.
Dodgy Dutchman and former Dutch international, Hasselbaink, has also been implicated ... and all the journos are reporting that story ... even you could have given it a mention in here instead of/alongside the OHL one "Hypocrite! First cast out the beam from your eye, and then you will see clearly to cast out the splinter from the eye of your brother." - Matthew 7:5 ... I made a post about OHL in the Belgium sub (the one which was reposted in here). The lack of reporting on the OHL story probably has to do with the fact that OHL is merely a tiny struggling club in the graveyard that is 2nd division football in Belgium (+ no transfer had taken place but Houtput was interested in the shady deals with the fictitious company of the journos) ... FYI, Houtput was a fresh face at OHL and he resigned on the spot ... why would Brits care about OHL? After thorough investigation in European leagues (and elsewhere), I would expect plenty of heads on platters ... wouldn't surprise me one bit that there are many dirty Brits, Belgians, Frenchies, Spaniards, Italians, EEs, etc. in football and obviously many many dodgy dutchies ... were British journos also interested in Doyen's TPO toy in the Eredivisie, Twente? (Doyen owning rights of 7 players for which Twente was punished) ... lots of #DirtyDutchies and #DodgyDutchies. @PuckVanHeel
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink ain't Dutch! He is an African Catholic born in Paramaribo, super-corrupt Suriname (has become more corrupt after independence ). He never played for a Dutch club in the Eredivisie.. he failed to establish himself in the second division, then played amateur football for two years.. has lived for more years abroad than in the Netherlands. Just kiddin' I agree that the integrity and independence of the Dutch game and Eredivisie has been compromised the last decade or so. With the Twente deals and Vitesse their business with Chelsea. More and more it appears as if the Eredivisie is turned into a vassal state for the Premier League and Murdoch his wishes... Loan players, ownership structures, the cheap hijacking of youngsters... Vitesse is prioritizing the foreign (Anglosaxon) players over giving the Dutch players playing time... Murdoch has managed to bring down the KNVB board of directors. There are always bad apples, but it hasn't become better for sure! However, the Netherlands is still one of the least corrupt societies on earth. Just as countries as e.g. Sweden. I strongly disagree with his policies, but former UEFA president Johansson (a Swede) mentioned the (relative) "honesty, openness and directness of the Dutch" as traits in an 'Aftonbladet' interview: "Van Praag is volgens Johansson competent en beschikt over de noodzakelijke ervaring. Bovendien roemt hij de eerlijkheid, openheid en directheid van de Nederlanders. Oud-voetballer Figo is ook een eerlijke man, zegt Johansson." Is that just coincidence and flattery that he says so? I don't think so. Directness is often also seen as a bad trait... it has a shadow side. The sports and football culture hasn't been particularly corrupt, relatively speaking. Back in 1965 the famed 'World Soccer' magazine talked about the "integrity" within the Dutch sporting scene... It's a long standing Protestant tradition We have always been an irrelevant force within the FIFA melting pot of corruption. A nice proxy indicator for the who's who of soft soaping are the awards the FIFA themselves give to other persons... It is an irrelevant piece of metal but that's how they massage and soft soap the power brokers. The Netherlands has only one recipient, while Uruguay has four, Switzerland four, Mexico five, Germany twelve etc. It is signalling of which countries are high up in the FIFA power machine (Uruguay is a nice Spanish speaking bandwagon). Netherlands has never been, period. And the only recipient (Cruyff) received it as late as 2010, while the classic FIFA royalty as Charlton, Beckenbauer and Pelé got it in the early 1980s. Belgium has one recipient too (your/our former FA president Peeters). D'Hooghe was destined to be the second after his long career in the ExCom but I think he has dropped the ball isn't it? Think also about what we know from WADA. Netherlands doesn't belong among those countries who use (or are allowed to use) the TUE backdoor route... The Americans, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, Brits have used the TUE backdoor route like madman! NL doesn't belong among that "heavy user" group. Nor is it acting particularly illegal through the front door. 'We' haven't been on the "watch list", or high up the violations list (2014 results) - the front door. To cut the story short: there are rotten apples everywhere, especially in this business. Netherlands has been compromised and is more vulnerable now. But - let's be honest - it remains one of the least corrupt societies on the planet. In particular northern Netherlands Europol and Interpol are especially focused on Eastern Europe, and of the big leagues Italy, Spain and Germany happen to be the most vulnerable/susceptible to criminal activity (up to bribed referees like Hoyzer, which is a tip of the iceberg underneath). We should always be wary and suspicious - at times.
I have to disagree with you here. Use 'google news' and you notice plenty of British articles about Wiggins and Froome. Some are maybe not good and acts of jingoism (Walsh) but still... That is different with that OHL / Houtput incident.
Yeah, the funny story about that Austrian coach in Den Haag (not Happel, the one with glasses) who once said in an interview that he saw a player of his team step outside the pitch and stopped playing. He asked his player why he did that and he still was baffled by the answer that he did it, because a player of the opponent was injured and being treated and he thought it unsporting to play with the whole team against the handicapped opponent
Apart from that former Nike football boss (and he has received a passing mention), the Dutchies have stayed outside the whole FIFA unraveling. Unlike many other small and big countries (e.g. Jamaica, Chile etc.). It is this man: Listen to what he says, too. It's still possible that he'll be fully exposed.
I'm not sure whether it was at Den Haag... But I cannot find it at the moment. I know of such anecdotes at the time yes (1950s to first half of 1970s).
Just saw this story: http://www.espnfc.us/fc-copenhagen/story/2971516/fc-copenhagen-ceo-confirms-atlantic-league-talks Pretty interesting if true.
It's telling that the progressive ideas originate from Belgium and Denmark nowadays. There's an interesting - but true - anecdote in JC14 his autobiography about him helping to develop twin games. The KBVB has been far more receptive in evaluating/implementing such ideas than the stagnant KNVB.
Take a look at Chelsea's new partnership with Nike for the sponsorship on their shirt: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/13/chelsea-new-kit-deal-nike-60m £60M per year. That's bigger than the operating budgets for all Dutch teams other than the Big Three and maybe AZ.
Oddly the distribution of TV money in Holland is less equitable than in all of these leagues ... reportedly Spain's new deal will be more equitable (on par with France) ... the Eredivisie's ratio is 5,3
I don't know much about how the TV money is distributed in Holland. I know that Ajax and PSV matches are often shown abroad and maybe those clubs get extra money. Benfica in Portugal has some special agreements about foreign broadcast rights. Maybe there are other examples as well. EPL is the most equitable as the graph shows and in the US we can either watch on television or streaming all EPL matches on a given weekend.
Small clubs often get squeezed in Holland when a new TV rights deal is negotiated ... that VVV Venlo's director is a proponent of the BeNe League is very odd ... most likely they wouldn't get in ... why would he feel this way? The distribution of TV monies is much more top heavy in Holland than in other W.European countries (it was already less equitable than la Liga, FFS, and this season it even looks bad according to S.European standards) ... in Belgium the distribution of TV monies is quite equitable (in line with England, Germany and France) ... it's a hard one to explain for the greedy top of the Eredivisie ... I very much doubt that smaller clubs are gagging for financial strangulation in Holland (or in Van Gaal's words: "financial sex masochism"). PS after more than 25 years of talking about the BeNe League (PSV's chairman first floated the idea in the early 90s), we do not even have "detailed research" nor has anything of the women's BeNe League pilot been publicized ... foolishly I had hoped for some kind of evaluation.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...in-football-manager-2017-and-its-going-to-ma/ Interesting article. Especially about naturalizations.
Did anyone read this book by Peter Kennedy & David Kennedy? Football in Neo-Liberal Times: A Marxist Perspective on the European Football Industry.
LOL, a Marxist book on football that costs well over $100 US. I don't think I'm going to read this one!!! I guess I could rent it for a reduced price but still................
The FIFA has fined the Spanish FA for not excuting the transfer rules on minors U18 with 220 000 swiss francs.
http://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2140086-cas-tribunaal-keurt-transfer-amerikaan-15-naar-ajax-af.html What is the difference with Pulisic?
Pulisic has Croatian citizenship because of a grandfather which is why he was able to sign as a 16 year old. I'm not saying that this should be permitted but that's the way the screwy regulations are. Hilton tried to get around the FIFA regulation by signing with an indoor football team and then move on to Ajax.