[Albion] Football Ownership

[portlock seagull]

With all the furore surrounding Chelsea and Newcastle, I picked up a remark in Guardian podcast where they discounted all but one owner (Norwich, also bottom!): “once oligarchs, hedge funds, absent billionaires, tax exiles are removed, you’re left with a chef (Delia) and 2 Professional gamblers (Brentford and Brighton), one of which is named in the Panama Papers (Tony)”

What does Tony being named in the Panama Papers actually mean, if anything? It was the inference more than anything, almost a willingness to bracket nearly every PL club as having questionable integrity, that caught my ear. Which naturally feels very unfair, if not total bollocks.

 

[m@goo]

I had a quick Google...

It looks like it's a report about off shore accounts which were possibly used for tax evasion purposes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers

 

[Springal]

Have to be careful - but the lack of the ability to trace Tony Blooms wealth easily may be / should be a concern and you'd assume some element of off-shoring is involved given as an individual he is not a director in companies in the UK other than that we know (Brighton, Starlizard) - and I had been told he had a lot of commercial property in the City of London (around London Wall) which may or may not be true but cannot be validated easily through public records.

If he wasn't third generation Brighton with a family link that can be traced back to the area for a long time then we would probably be more concerned I imagine

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

With all the furore surrounding Chelsea and Newcastle, I picked up a remark in Guardian podcast where they discounted all but one owner (Norwich, also bottom!): “once oligarchs, hedge funds, absent billionaires, tax exiles are removed, you’re left with a chef (Delia) and 2 Professional gamblers (Brentford and Brighton), one of which is named in the Panama Papers (Tony)”

What does Tony being named in the Panama Papers actually mean, if anything? It was the inference more than anything, almost a willingness to bracket nearly every PL club as having questionable integrity, that caught my ear. Which naturally feels very unfair, if not total bollocks.

Rather dosappointing for the Grauniad, because this is a classic 'he who is without sin cast the first stone' narrative, which is normally used by those wishing to defend the indefensible, whether it's tax management, tax avoidance right through to 'bantz', casual racism/sexism, and onward to torture and genocide. Whataboutery in fact.

And so we should not criticise Newcastle or Chelsea.

Poor work by the Grauniad, there.

 

[The red pepper kid]

Also Bloom has aussie citizenship ?, can/does that help ?

 

[doogie004]

The fact is we all break the law speeding , cash jobs , they just are able to do it at a different level . It’s a case of where Do you draw the line


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Being listed in the Panama Papers doesn’t confirm any criminality.

There’s a significant difference between Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Have to be careful - but the lack of the ability to trace Tony Blooms wealth easily may be / should be a concern and you'd assume some element of off-shoring is involved given as an individual he is not a director in companies in the UK other than that we know (Brighton, Starlizard) - and I had been told he had a lot of commercial property in the City of London (around London Wall) which may or may not be true but cannot be validated easily through public records.

If he wasn't third generation Brighton with a family link that can be traced back to the area for a long time then we would probably be more concerned I imagine

I wouldn't. I would be concerned about anyone who is not 'Brighton threw and threw' buying the club, regardless of their antecedents.

The issue of how dirty the money is represents a different type of concern. There is nothing in Tony's portfolio that would suggest anything untoward.

Even though I'm a bleeding heart socialist according to some, I don't have any problem with someone who is deemed to be legally wealthy owning a club. They have no interest in making it fail. And it is not usually the case that a rich man buys a football club just to asset strip it. I can think of only two examples - us and Donny Rovers.

The problem is what is regarded as legally wealthy in the UK. We have weak laws brought in by successive governments that lets people from abroad launder money in the UK, from Russian oligarchs all the way up to medaevil Islamist torture kingdoms.

And of course nothing will change all the while bleeding heart liberals like the Grauniad foolishly lump the likes of Bloom in with the Saudis. All you have to do to maintain the status quo is demonstrate that Bloom is 'clean' and this is easily done using the 'accused of nothing' procedure.

 

[Springal]

The issue of how dirty the money is represents a different type of concern. There is nothing in Tony's portfolio that would suggest anything untoward.
.

I am not saying Tony Bloom in any way has dirty money, but his wealth cannot be easily traced can it? What do you count as his 'portfolio' - as from public records you can only really trace this to Starlizard and there is no way he has amassed enough through that to bankroll the Albion in the way he has

 

[Justice]

Have to be careful - but the lack of the ability to trace Tony Blooms wealth easily may be / should be a concern and you'd assume some element of off-shoring is involved given as an individual he is not a director in companies in the UK other than that we know (Brighton, Starlizard) - and I had been told he had a lot of commercial property in the City of London (around London Wall) which may or may not be true but cannot be validated easily through public records.

If he wasn't third generation Brighton with a family link that can be traced back to the area for a long time then we would probably be more concerned I imagine

He had to step down from Starlizard due to PL ruling.

 

[SAC]

I wasn't aware of TB's being listed in the Panamar Papers. Not great to be listed alongside Putin's mates, the king of Saudi Arabia, Mark Thatcher and David Cameron's Dad.

 

[Springal]

He had to step down from Starlizard due to PL ruling.

Sorry you're right - it is 'Blue Lizard' he is a director of

 

[B-right-on]

Haven't seen this posted before but GNev and Carragher make some valid points here

https://youtu.be/7D1FUaQen3U

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I wouldn't. I would be concerned about anyone who is not 'Brighton threw and threw' buying the club, regardless of their antecedents.

/QUOTE]

Throwing, twice, around to buy Brighton, Harry through what means?

 

[maltaseagull]

I wouldn't. I would be concerned about anyone who is not 'Brighton threw and threw' buying the club, regardless of their antecedents.

/QUOTE]

Throwing, twice, around to buy Brighton, Harry through what means?

I was very tempted to comment along similar lines but didn't want the accusation of being a member of the pedant grammar police.

I wish I had though

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

With all the furore surrounding Chelsea and Newcastle, I picked up a remark in Guardian podcast where they discounted all but one owner (Norwich, also bottom!): “once oligarchs, hedge funds, absent billionaires, tax exiles are removed, you’re left with a chef (Delia) and 2 Professional gamblers (Brentford and Brighton), one of which is named in the Panama Papers (Tony)”

What does Tony being named in the Panama Papers actually mean, if anything? It was the inference more than anything, almost a willingness to bracket nearly every PL club as having questionable integrity, that caught my ear. Which naturally feels very unfair, if not total bollocks.

If someone is named in the Panama Papers, though that doesn't confer illegality, it does indicate highly aggressive tax avoidance, which in my view is ethically completely wrong.

Obviously I've got loads of time for TB and everything he's done, but i'm not going to be like one of those Chelsea fans singing Abramovich's name. If the person who owns my football club is doing something which contravenes my values then i'll call it out.

Having said the above, because of the opaque and complicated nature of offshore investing (and we'd know zero about it if it hadn't been leaked), I'm not in a position to know exactly what has been done. Though I believe sticking your money in tax havens to me is completely wrong, and if i'll slate Jimmy Carr and the rest for it, it would be hypocritical not to slate Tony Bloom in the same way.

Finally I should just be clear i'm not trying to draw some equivalence here between the actions of Newcastle, Chelsea owners and our owner. This, to me, is a stand alone issue.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I was very tempted to comment along similar lines but didn't want the accusation of being a member of the pedant grammar police.

I wish I had though

Do you seriously think I wasn't having fun with what Henning Wehn calls 'English Vordplay'?

 

[WATFORD zero]

There's no doubt that TB likes to keep his interests private, but it isn't really a 'rags to riches' story based on gambling. His grandfather Harry (vice chairman in the 70's) was a multi millionaire and I think that the family have always had very well managed diverse interests across the world. TB has simply kept this up very successfully. And simply doesn't even start to cover the complexity involved

Not quite the 'Professional gambler who has made all his money through gambling' that the press always like to portray

 

[maltaseagull]

Do you seriously think I wasn't having fun with what Henning Wehn calls 'English Vordplay'?

Yep!


So many very knowledgeable informed posters misuse too, their and of, I made the mistake of including you in that esteemed group.

Apologies

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Yep!


So many very knowledgeable informed posters misuse too, their and of, I made the mistake of including you in that esteemed group.

Apologies

No need to apologise

(I though I'd been whooshed; for some reason I like being whooshed. Call me wired...)