Soccer’s dark side

Essentially, the problem in this case is that the FA and League forbid major investors to own more than one club to prevent collusion between teams. But Robson and his associates were caught on camera apparently encouraging would-be investors to buy into several clubs. It is an accusation that Robson, 53, strenuously denies. The former Man U captain, who is recovering from throat cancer, is currently taking legal advice.

For many, though, this latest revelation is just the tip of an iceberg of dodgy deals and unbridled greed - evidence that the world’s most watched sport faces all kinds of problems.

High on the list of dark influences tarnishing the game is illegal betting. Underworld syndicates are at work on many levels, especially here in Asia. Bizarre refereeing decisions and poor team performances, even in local leagues, hint at interference, though proving wrongdoing is notoriously difficult.

And if it happens on the pitch, you also have to ponder the likelihood of it occurring in the board room, or higher.
Only recently FIFA - soccer’s ruling body - banned one of its executive committee members, Mohamed Bin Hammam, from all international and national football activity for life after being found guilty of bribery. If he was on the take, surely lesser mortals are also likely to be tempted.

Could these dark influences also include the middlemen who broker the sale of a player from one club to another? It’s rumored that a coach in Thailand was on the take from an agent who brought in foreign players.

In the Premier League, the antics of millionaire soccer players with egos the size of Wembley Stadium are fodder for the tabloids. Superstars like Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand and even mild Ryan Giggs are just some of those who’ve been caught up in seedy sex scandals. While it could be argued that these are merely rich boys having fun, there’s no doubt the game’s image is sullied by their outlandish behavior.

No one really knows their influence on younger players who see them as role models. It is certainly disturbing that a group of teenagers, all on the books of professional soccer clubs, were recently involved in a horrific rape case in the UK. Were they merely aping the carefree attitudes of their seniors?

Meanwhile, it is reported that soccer scouts are scouring countries in Africa and Asia for talented youngsters whom they groom and then sell on at a later stage. Unless this practice is controlled, it is not entirely unreasonable to see it becoming another form of human trafficking.

But the players and the scouts are not alone in scandalizing the game; owners are also regularly pilloried for questionable deals that can affect a club’s long-term financial future. Fans are forever skeptical about the board’s motives, but ultimately there’s not much they can do.

Ironically, it was Robson himself who highlighted the parlous state of soccer today when he told TV reporters during the undercover meeting: “I disagree with people when they say football is a sport. When the Sky (TV) money came in, that changed. Football is a business.”

On the pitch, Robson’s skills and judgment were sublime, earning him the nickname ‘Captain Marvel.’ Off the pitch, these wonderful qualities seem on occasions to desert him. A few years ago, Robson appeared alongside former Liverpool star Steve McMahon in a TV ad to promote a company called Profitable Plots, which sold land in England worth millions of pounds to hundreds of investors in Asia. The Singapore-based company has gone out of business, and is now under police investigation following complaints of cheating. It evidently owes huge sums to its customers. Although there is no suggestion that Robson was involved in the ownership, management or any wrongdoing related to Profitable Plots, his association with the company does not reflect well on him.

In the Bangkok operation, filmed in Bangkok’s officially franchised Manchester United Bar by Channel 4’s Dispatches, Robson is seen with representatives of London Nominees, a Hong Kong-based company with connections here in Thailand that runs a football investment fund “investing in football clubs, players, franchises, merchandising and sponsorship in this outstanding growth industry.”

Robson is listed on its website as an adviser to the fund. Also at the meeting were the company’s chief executive Andrew Leppard, its lawyer Steve Burkill and the bar owner, Joe Sim. Leppard is well known in Thailand, having been a part of the now-defunct financial advisory, Barclay Spencer.

The football fund was launched by London Nominees in February, 2010. It named Carlos Alberto Torres, captain of Brazil’s 1970 World Cup winning side, as its chairman of football, who leads “an expert invest ment panel, alongside fellow professionals including Bryan Robson, Peter Reid and Jim Smith.”

At that time, its Thailand operations were based in Sukhumvit Soi 33, but is now said to be working out of Pattaya.

The filmed exchanges between Robson and the reporters are in dispute, and both the player and London Nominees have issued statements suggesting misrepresentation of the meeting in question. Included is the following: “Any suggestion Bryan Robson would participate in any breach of League rules is strongly denied.”

One of the more intriguing characters in the Channel 4 production is Robson’s chum Joe Sim, who is described as chief adviser to the Thai FA. Sim makes much of his friendship with Sir Alex Ferguson and other famous names in the world of football, including ex-FIFA executive Mohamed bin Hammam, who, as mentioned earlier, was recently banned for life for bribery.

During the meeting, Sim is seen boasting that Ferguson dispenses betting advice to him, but this has been disputed by lawyers acting for the Old Trafford boss.

The program also alleges Sim has an online gambling operation here and further claims he has close links with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a past owner of Manchester City.

In his statement following the Dispatches film, Robson says: “This entire episode is yet another example of some representatives of the media behaving in a totally unacceptable way in the manner in which they obtain and then present information.”

However this unsavory episode turns out, there will always be something rather sad and depressing about Robson’s involvement. Here we have one of the most gifted, courageous and respected players of his day being filmed by undercover reporters in a Bangkok bar. Clearly he was ill advised to go beyond his remit and talk openly about the business oppor tunities in football today. And his words may well have been misrepresented by the TV program. But it is all rather symptomatic of the malaise now affecting the game. At least he was absolutely on target with his belief that soccer ain’t what it used to be.

Luckily for him, most of us will quickly forget this incident and remember Bryan Robson OBE as one of the finest players ever to grace a soccer pitch.