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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45448548

It seems Tax payers are still having to fork out for the Olympic Stadium. Reports that each game West Ham are being subsidised to the tune of £115,000 to £250,000 by the tax payer.

If there was any doubt that Boris was incompetent, this surely has to be it.

Sussex this reminds me of our conversation about Anderlecht the other day.....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45811859

It seems they will never learn. Im guessing this is huge news where you are?

First I have seen of it, but I havent checked the local news today....now I have, yes, its the headline in both the major Flemish and French news sites.

Never trust Anderlecht

Not really sure of the details, all seems a bit vague, but what has came out is its to do with transfers and the involvement of agents in deals. While that might make it look like Belgian football is dodgy as hell, its probably more to do with the fact that Belgian authorities are the only ones willing to do anything about it.

I mean, if the British police were to raid Wolves, I am sure they would find enough to put about 15 people in prison for a while.

Wolves, Watford and even Forest. The way some agents are involved in football has to mean there is a conflict of interest that just ends up ripping of the fans. Perhaps this will be the start of something much bigger. Belgium authorities find information that might have a huge impact for the European game.

I have a belief myself that people like Mendes must have contacts that run deep into the game, because he has consistently been able to use the most fragile of arguments to avoid any serious investigations into his work. Even the most basic of scrutiny into the relationship he has with Wolves would highlight very worrying problems; the owner of Wolves holding company having a significant investment in his agency company, the exclusive signing of players from that stable, and the nature of those signings all really do point towards Mendes selecting players to join Wolves. The manager involved officially in the deals is his client. The DOF is a personal friend, who is on record saying they have a lengthy personal relationship. He simply defends himself on the breach of conflicting interests and agencies rules by saying its a co-incidence that a club who part owns his company only sign his players, and that he does not pressure or suggest to players, nor to Wolves, who to sign..... which is why top players are turning down Champions League clubs on good money to join a Championship team last year. Barcelona tried to sign Neves, and he ended up playing v Burton Albion.... sounds entirely plausible.

The ease at which he is able to get himself out of trouble is indicative of a lack of desire from authorities to get into his arrangements, probably because naturally any profits end up in brown envelopes to all those stakeholders involved. How many of Mendes top transfer signings have ended up in tax evasion charges? I think all of his top clients have, Falcao/Ronaldo/James/Contraeo/Mourinho to name a few. Each time he is called to court to explain how all these players end up with the same shell compnay system hiding their image rights, and once again, its just pure co-incidence. Co-incidence follows him round a lot, it seems.

The fact the Portuguese authorities never jailed him or pinned him for the Bebe transfer is another classic example; but the problem is, most of his dodgiest deals are beneficial to the clubs in his home country, and so the willingness to engage in his robin hood style transfers which rip of elite clubs in Europe, are happily gobbled up there. I cant remember who it was who said it, but one chairman of Porto or Benfica said he was severely corrupt, that Portuguese domestically talk of him as being dodgy as hell, but he brings money into Portugal like a key exporter for the country, so everyone turns a blind eye and on an international front, would protect him.

Its worth lingering on that Bebe deal. He went for a free transfer from a Portguese Third Division side only about a fortnight before United approached to sign him, to a non-descript nobody club in Portugal. Then all of a sudden Carlos Quiroz goes to Fergie (used to be his number 2, and had just taken the Portugal job) there is this stunning player you need to sign about to go to Real or Barca, Quiroz happening to be a Mendes client, United dont even scout him and simply take a punt for 9 million Euros..... in the meantime, Mendes has the player sack his agent, buys out the players 50% economic rights for a few thousand euros, and within two weeks turns over something crazy like 3-4 million Euro profit on the deal. The player ended up being a League Two standard, and played twice for United in 5 years, the most notable thing he did was nearly clear the stretford end with his first chance. Quite clearly, this was a snatch and grab stitch up.

In fact, United have a habit of doing this with Mendes. Remember Kleberson, the terrible Midfielder.... Mendes. Or Anderson, the total flop, who Man United bizarrely paid about £30 million for after playing just a handful of games for Porto.... Mendes company bought 70% of his economic rights before that transfer. How about Nani, another top priced flop, Mendes..... the list goes on.

Even now, is it not strange that Mendes friend and owner of a Portuguese subsidiary agency, flogs a United Manager (Mendes Client) a player no one has ever heard of in Diogo Dalot, who was so talented he went for £20 million after 6 games, and so talented he is yet to be seen in a United shirt..... when you look at how many Jose Mendes players Mourniho has bought in his day, you can create whole squads.... must be another co-incidence, I am sure in those proven offshore accounts there is no cash as his part of those deals, no way.

In fact, I think Anderson was such a worthwhile project to spend 30 million Euros on, originally the FA refused to valid his work permit, because no one had hardly heard of him. I think United had to fight very hard, using past examples of success with relative unknown youngsters like Ronaldo, to even get him allowed to play.

But its the West Hams of this world that get screwed. They got punished for tevez, meanwhile United signed the player with no problems, and the agent (Joochiban? I think) walked away with millions in his pocket. Helps to be a big club.

I think Real have now said after a series mendes flops they wont sign him anymore, and PSG refuse to work with him, hence he ended up lower down the footballing world at Wolves. Bayern must be pretty upset they spent 65 million on Sanchez, rumours being that James was sent over (both mendes) on loan as a bit of a sweetner, meanwhile Mendes just shipped Sanchez to Swansea, where weirdly he created a similar deal last year to that of Wolves.... it goes on and on

Good read SP

Forest this summer have got 3 Mendes players now on their books.. 2 on loan and one purchased for 13 million. Looks a good player, but for 13 million in the championship he needs to be a complete player.

Forest are trying the Wolves approach of last year. But there can only be so many Portuguese players to go round. In saying that the 3 that have come in, Carvellho, Concalves and Dias all look reasonable. 2 on loan and Carvellho for 13 million.

But so far it seems to be working for Forest, but there is a feeling that this will come back and bite them. Indeed the Forest owner who is as shady as most in football seems to have fallen out with Mendes. Shall be interesting to see how this develops.

I see Usain Bolt has just scored his first 2 goals as a professional footballer. I hope it goes really well for him. It feels like a no-brainer signing someone as marketable as him, even if he then turned out to be nowhere near good enough as a player

although $200,000 US for every 9.58 seconds he spends on the pitch, might make his wages a little on the steep side

Glenn Hoddle has been taken to hospital after falling ill suddenly whilst working on BT sport this morning.

Easy to forget how old people are getting. Hope everything turns out ok

Off to see USG v the mighty Tubize now. Its 5 degrees, raining and the stand is uncovered.......

The things we do for football, ay...

Durhamfootman wrote:Glenn Hoddle has been taken to hospital after falling ill suddenly whilst working on BT sport this morning.

Easy to forget how old people are getting. Hope everything turns out ok

reports now suggest that he is seriously ill. it's his 61st birthday today, seemingly

USG win whoop whoop ....2-0 down after 84 mins, the score three!!!.

Proper party going on now