The Premier League Thread

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Newcastle United and West Ham raided by HMRC officers on Wednesday morning

HM Revenue and Customs officers were deployed at 6.30am on Wednesday in raids on the training ground and main offices of Newcastle United at St James' Park , and the London Stadium, home of West Ham.


A number of arrests were made related to £5m of suspected Income Tax and National Insurance fraud and Sky Sports News HQ understands that one of those was Newcastle's managing director Lee Charnley.


The raids are understood to be part of a wider HMRC investigation into the transfer of players between clubs in France and the UK.


It is thought their focus has been on remuneration in terms of image rights, benefits in kind and payments to agents, which may have defrauded the public purse.


A statement from HMRC read: "HMRC has arrested several men working within the professional football industry for a suspected Income Tax and National Insurance fraud.


"180 HMRC officers have been deployed across the UK and France today. Investigators have searched a number of premises in the north east and south east of England and arrested the men and also seized business records, financial records, computers and mobile phones.

"The French authorities are assisting the UK investigation, have made arrests and several locations have been searched in France.


"This criminal investigation sends a clear message that, whoever you are, if you commit tax fraud you can expect to face the consequences. As this is an ongoing investigation HMRC is unable to provide any further detail at this time."


A West Ham United spokesperson said, "The Club is cooperating fully with HMRC to assist their enquiries. No further comment will be made at this time."
 
Looks serious, but if it's tax related it shouldn't end with transfer ban or point deduction.
 
It sounds odd to say this considering his time with Liverpool, but I've got a huge amount of respect for Rafa Benitez.

To go from managing to Napoli and Madrid then to Newcastle is one thing, but then when they got relegated and he stayed with them my respect went up even more tenfold.

But also during his time at Chelsea when he got so much stick from their fans, he acted with class and professionalism throughout.
 
Rafa is a *****, but you have to admire his massive elephant balls. Imagine if they don't go up, he'd be finished as a high profile manager.
 
So Newcastle & West Ham to be turfed into the Vanarama before the FM18 final date please.. some great saves coming next season :lol
 
wkdsoul said:
So Newcastle & West Ham to be turfed into the Vanarama before the FM18 final date please.. some great saves coming next season :lol
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I was just thinking that last night looking at Forest in perilous danger of dropping down to League One.

But then you couldn't pay me to do them. Scab Bastards! (Which probably means nothing to most the young ones on here haha.).
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
I was just thinking that last night looking at Forest in perilous danger of dropping down to League One.

But then you couldn't pay me to do them. Scab Bastards! (Which probably means nothing to most the young ones on here haha.).
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Old Man Scouse! Vintage grumbling lol.

(says ancient me :) )
 
wkdsoul said:
Old Man Scouse! Vintage grumbling lol.

(says ancient me :) )
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Lol. There's certain L'pool songs mentioning Forest that I often think whenever they get an airing, a lot of today's fans must think 'WTF is with the Forest thing? We don't play Nottingham Forest like forever!'

Little do they know of that massive rivalry/ hatred from when they were our main challenger.

Derby's another one from down there. But at least they aren't a bunch of Scab Bastards!

*Calms.
 
I don't think standing is ever going to be a truly safe option. Emotions are high, you're up on your feet, it's much easier to throw a rock, punch somebody or do something stupid, then another guy does the same thing, it snowballs and before you know it there's a tragedy on your hands.

I've seen enough violence and danger in my time as a match going fan - and Poland in the 90s was no better than 80s England - to know that controlling the crowd is always going to be infinitely easier if people sit on their *****. Sad but true.
 
Tyton said:
I don't think standing is ever going to be a truly safe option. Emotions are high, you're up on your feet, it's much easier to throw a rock, punch somebody or do something stupid, then another guy does the same thing, it snowballs and before you know it there's a tragedy on your hands.

I've seen enough violence and danger in my time as a match going fan - and Poland in the 90s was no better than 80s England - to know that controlling the crowd is always going to be infinitely easier if people sit on their *****. Sad but true.
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Not in the rail seats. That's the key difference. It's a potential snowball/ domino effect in seats as they are if something goes wrong and someone falls forward. Which is all the more ironic as there's not an away game that isn't the whole section standing. And many big home games to they turn a blind eye to 'safety' on when they want your support. The hypocrisy from clubs is beyond despicable. The rail seating is as safe an option as there possibly could be. You're limited in number to the number of seats on a row. There's space. There's the barriers in front of you so you aren't falling over chair backs around your ankles. The whole nine yards. Fantastic answer that's been tried and tested. They work.

Sadly, in England, ALL that matters is money. and when it comes to seats, they disgracefully hide behind the safety line. I can't see a return to any form of standing as they'd both have to charge less, and have to pay to convert areas of seats. But at least we're having the debate now which is something.

As someone who there but for the grace of God nearly lost his life on a terrace in something nobody should EVER have to experience and deal with, I'd have standing back in a heartbeat. Never once felt unsafe standing on the Kop. Had a few instances of going over the seat in front since it was rebuilt.
 
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