Posted:
Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:36 pm
by account deleted by request
Platini: Liverpool's Besiktas clash NOT part of UEFA probe
Dec 5 2007
Michel Platini today confirmed that Liverpool’s 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas in the Champions League is not part of UEFA’s investigation into match fixing allegations.
The UEFA president admitted that online betting is becoming a major threat to the game and revealed he personally met with European police and politicians to assist with ’protecting the game’.
Speaking in Dublin today at the official launch of The Football Association of Ireland’s new headquarters at the National Sports Campus, Platini expressed his concern at the vast sums of money bet on European games.
He insisted: “There is nothing in that (Liverpool v Besiktas) no, nothing.
“We have some games under investigation, and one is more important than the other.
“We have some teams but not a huge amount of games. But there is no national association and there are some clubs which come from the Intertoto Cup.”
Platini added: “This is a big danger for football, but we have an early warning system, to protect the game against the amount of money coming from Asia, from betting.
“We are here to protect the game. I went to Brussels six months ago and came back one week ago to ask the European police to take care of the sport because there are so many things we cannot do anything about.
“The violence, the racism, the betting - there are many dangers for our sport so we asked to help.
“I asked the politicians in Europe to help us to protect our game too. But it is very complicated with illegal betting, very complicated to investigate.
“Who is responsible? The president? the club, the referee, the defender, the goalkeeper, the forward? Who can you go to see who is responsible?
“It is very complicated but we need to get a solution with the politicians or police. It is a huge problem with the sport.”
Platini also revealed he has not been approached by the FA in relation to the selection of Steve McClaren’s successor as England boss.
When asked about reported contact with FA chief executive Brian Barwick the former French international added: “No. It didn’t happen?”
The task to appoint a national manager for both the FA and FAI appears to have become more difficult as the temptations and rewards at club level increase.
But Platini, as a former manager of the French national team, believes international management is not a distant second to club management.
He joked: “Who said this, Arsene Wenger?
“If he was the coach of a national team he’d say the opposite.
“National teams are more popular. If you look at the audience of the World Cup or the European Championships - the national teams have bigger audiences than the clubs.
“Remember, I was coach of the national team, not of a club.”
As usual, first they throw the sh!t and than absolve us of blame.
Posted:
Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:19 pm
by josip84
Quite frankly, I think you are not treating Platini as he should be treated. You almost consider him an enemy, I'm sure he isn't. As a President he has constantly claimed he wanted to make the game cleaner and fight against the domination of money in football. Ha has always said that the preponderance of money was killing the game. He is just keeping his promises, doing exactly what he said he would do.Once again, I must say I am sure the suspicion was on Besiktas, not on LFC, as many other forumers pointed out before me. IMHO Platini has started doing a good job for the future of the game of football, and I' m sure all football lovers will have to admit it very soon.
Posted:
Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:39 pm
by The Manhattan Project
Maybe people were placing bets on Liverpool hammering Bessie's Kats because they thought the Reds would surely exact a terrible revenge for our loss in Turkey.
Posted:
Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:26 am
by Valbuena
It's unsuspect bet in Asia who have do this history...But we know since Grobelaar that you love bet....
Posted:
Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:04 pm
by burjennio
wasnt the grobelaar thing thrown out of court? And wasnt it the s~n that set the whole thing up in the 1st place?
Posted:
Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:44 pm
by Owzat
The Reading - Liverpool result is a match needed fixing, too late now