Blind Hammer reflects on how the mega Carabo rich clubs are protected.
Liverpool have been fined £200,000 – half of which has been suspended – for fielding an ineligible player in their third-round Carabao Cup win against MK Dons .
They incurred this fine because Spaniard Pedro Chirivella, who came on as a substitute in their 2-0 victory, did not have international clearance.
Imposing a £100,000 fine is like giving a light slap on the wrist with a newspaper for the mega rich Anfield outfit. Their last reported turnover exceeded £300 million.
No such leniency or understanding was available to West Ham when they similarly blundered in the same competition back in 1999.
Then in a fateful game in the quarter finals , against Aston Villa, Harry Redknapp introduced in the final minutes Manny Omoyimni, in a move designed to wind down the clock.
What Redknapp was oblivious to was that Omoyimni had already featured in an earlier round whilst on loan at Gillingham.
West Ham hard fought win over Aston Villa was ruled null and void, and rather than proceeding to a semi-final place they were ordered to take part in a replay . Predictably they lost the replay 1-3 and their Cup dreams were over for another season.
Senior staff at West Ham, Graham Mackrell and Alison O’Dowd found their careers blighted as they had to resign as a result of this fiasco.
Harry Rednapp, desperate for a fine rather than forced to replay complained that Omoyimni had only touched the ball twice whilst on the pitch. This fateful error affected the lives of many at the club, players and staff alike.
Nowadays, in contrast, the EFL are desperate not to annoy the mega rich clubs and will do anything to preserve their glamour tie against Arsenal in the next round.
As always it it one rule for the rich and quite another for the rest.
COYI
Hello David,
Regarding the Liverpool fine:
May I draw your attention to the fact that two weeks ago Grays Athletic were kicked out of the FAcup for fielding an ineligible player.
Liverpool now can play on and collect many times the fine through tv rights, ticket sales etc.
It’s not what you do but who you are that matters (more so today than ever).
The money in the game has discouraged me from attending football matches now. I have been going to watch Bradford City since 1987, seen us in every domestic competition including all 4 divisions, gone to see Park avenue in the 6th and 7th tier also constantly. Prices have distracted me from going to none league, and the way the sport is governed it’s been 2 and a half years since I have been to City game. Just fed up of it if honest. Now I see if there are any offers or watch a team at a higher level for the same money. I refuse to get SKY because single handedly they have ruined this and many other sports with their money. I know many people feeling the same, supporters of other clubs in other divisions, and I mean supporters that have followed their club for decades, not the ones that watch a team on the telly or only started going because of a bit of low level success in recent years. There are a couple of solutions to your article. Stop going or support none league clubs, or maybe create a break away league run by true fans of the sport. I’ve no affinity now with many sports men, there are no Gazzas out there or Roy Keanes, there’re no Terry Butchers anymore.I can’t even recall the latest wonderkid who wants to play just for the sake of playing, the most recent is probably Wayne Rooney when he first broke onto the scene. The football bubble will burst and it will implode massively.
Another great article Blind Hammer, I totally forgot about that incident with back in ‘99’
Yeah when I saw the fine for Liverpool I thought it was low.
It’s definitely shocking how clubs out of the so called top 6 are treated.
I’m still reeling and bitter about how we got done over with the Tevez affair. It took ages to pay that off and it hurt the transfer budgets for a while.
Absolutely spot on David. .the ‘mega rich’ in most forms of sport (Ferrari eg and drivers) get away with far more than the lesser clubs/teams. .and the more that you think about it it’s true in many walks of life..but soon maybe West Ham will be in that vein can you see the powers being lenient towards us??probably not .
COYI
Unfortunately its a sad fact of life, not just modern life, that the rich and powerful can make mistakes and then make financial amends where as the less fortunate are deemed to have transgressed the clearly set out laws and must be held to account and punished with the full extent of that law . . .