Hampster Gull
Well-known member
- Dec 22, 2010
- 13,465
UEFA are scum, allegedly
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[Football] Man City reported to UEFA after fans booed Champions League anthem
- Thread starter cyberleech
- Start date
Marty___Mcfly
I see your wicked plan - I’m a junglist.
- Sep 14, 2011
- 2,251
I believe UEFA are slightly less corrupt than FIFA. Relatively speaking.
They may be the next organisation to be dismantled by legal action after FIFA has been blown apart.
They may be the next organisation to be dismantled by legal action after FIFA has been blown apart.
It is amazing to think there is a very real chance they are going to be fined a large amount for this, whilst Serbia and Albania got a £80,000 fine for a full scale war, Serbia had to play the next two games behind closed doors as well.
Croatia also got £80,000 fine for having a swastika on the pitch for a game played behind closed doors because of racist behavior!
It's almost as if they are trying to put the attention away from them....
Croatia also got £80,000 fine for having a swastika on the pitch for a game played behind closed doors because of racist behavior!
It's almost as if they are trying to put the attention away from them....
Blue Valkyrie
Not seen such Bravery!
To be honest if the goons want to boo something so trivial as a song, they can't think much of the competition anyway, so kick them out.
Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Think you're missing the point somewhat.
Blue Valkyrie
Not seen such Bravery!
Maybe. But for goons to boo a song is just loutish, ill behaviour.
Can someone explain the point I've missed ? ??
Why so?
The leader of UEFA is currently undergoing investigation, I am shocked it has not happened before, for whatever the reason.
Blue Valkyrie
Not seen such Bravery!
Surely that is an investigation that needs to run its course ?
Surely that is an investigation that needs to run its course ?
Surely the fact it has even come to an investigation is enough to boo, what ever the outcome.
Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Martin Samuel has it bang on, as usual
Boo.
We know it gets to them. We know they hate it. We know they possess that incompatible, dangerous combination of having fragile egos yet enormous self-regard. So we should use that. Boo, gentlemen. Boo. Get out. You’re no good. We don’t want you. Boo.
Just when you thought those at the top in football could not be any further divorced from the reality of their circumstances, comes this. A threatened charge on free speech. An impending fine on freedom of expression. Nothing that happens at Manchester City when the Champions League anthem is played genuinely offends our sensibilities. Nobody invades the pitch, or vandalises the surroundings. There is no extreme nationalism, no racism, sexism or homophobia. No words, even. Just a noise.
A lowing, universal expression of contempt aimed at UEFA and their machinations. It is the gentlest form of protest really. If UEFA’s leaders got what they really deserved there would be demonstrations, boycotts, people on the streets, the odd burning torch. They would be ferried to the stadiums in armoured cars, not limousines. But supporters are a docile, accepting lot, really. They boo. And not a person either, a theme tune. They boo a brief blast of cod-classical that has come to represent UEFA’s elitism and its corporate priorities. And it isn’t even their song, by the way.
The Champions League anthem is an arrangement of Zadok the Priest by Handel. When the Queen dies and Charles III succeeds to the throne, some watching the scenes in Westminster Abbey will wonder what UEFA has got to do with it. Zadok the Priest has been sung at every coronation anointing a new sovereign since 1727.
UEFA engaged Tony Britten, an English composer, to provide words and a special arrangement. They couldn’t even come up with a new piece of music. Now, they treat the piece as if it is their own, and sacred. No mockery is allowed, no dissent, no disapproval. Announcing that proceedings had begun against City, UEFA even cited the rule that had been broken. “Article 16 (2G). Disruption of competition anthem”. So what are we supposed to do? Stand silently in awe and admiration? Cower at UEFA’s mightiness and wonder? Look upon their great works? The president is suspended from all football activity for 90 days. His stand-in looks like going the same way. The fuzz could turn up at any minute for the rest of them, Franz Beckenbauer included. Booing? They are lucky we don’t bring rotten fruit.
That UEFA should come up with even the hint of a charge while mired in scandal only confirms how out of touch its hierarchy is. The organisation has never been held in greater opprobrium than now. Michel Platini, the president, is under suspicion and temporarily suspended while a £1.35m payment from FIFA president Sepp Blatter is probed.
His acting replacement, Angel Maria Villar Llona, was barely through the door when it was revealed he, too, is facing sanction from FIFA’s ethics commission, while Germany’s bid for the 2006 World Cup – the last to be held in Europe – and its most famous footballing son, Beckenbauer, are also under investigation.
In the circumstances, one would imagine the organisation would wish to keep a low profile in the face of the critics, but no. They are coming out swinging, against the most benign of opponents: the fans. They want Manchester City to tell their supporters to shut it, to quell a protest against an organisation they – rightly – do not trust. Yet City’s worst fears about UEFA would appear to be confirmed by this latest action. Why them? Why always them? And why now?
The distrust of UEFA by Manchester City fans goes back to the early days of the Abu Dhabi takeover. From Platini’s first denouncements of foreign ownership and investment – when English football and Manchester City were singled out – it was clear there was little love on either side. Then came the £50m fine for breaching financial fair play rules that City supporters felt was driven by the established elite clubs such as Bayern Munich and Manchester United, and indiscriminate – Paris Saint-Germain received the same punishment, as if the two projects are interchangeable.
A debacle in Moscow last season was the final straw. City had previously experienced racism against their players in Europe, and felt unsupported by UEFA. CSKA Moscow’s ground was ordered to be closed after repeated racist incidents. Then City were told away fans were banned too. Many had already booked their travel and were out of pocket. To make matters worse, some of the few allowed in on the night – sponsors, members of that famous football family – sold their tickets at high prices to locals. So Moscow had some support in the closed arena, but not City. Again UEFA did nothing.
So City fans boo; and have booed for many years now. Yet it took until Wednesday’s game with Sevilla – when the reaction was barely noticeable, and certainly no louder than on previous occasions – for a UEFA match official to take offence. The referee, Bas Nijhuis of Holland, is unlikely to have been the instigator – and the referee assessor, Sandor Piller of Hungary, has other priorities.
Usually instances involving crowd behaviour are documented by the UEFA match delegate – on this occasion, Geir Thorsteinsson, president of the Football Association of Iceland. Yet City confirmed that no mention was made of booing in the debriefing that always follows Champions League matches, and Thorsteinsson was in attendance. So when precisely was he, or one of his colleagues, offended, and why were City not made aware at the time? A cynic could speculate Thorsteinsson was asked to listen out for dissent, knowing it would take place, and then react accordingly. It will only add to City’s suspicions about UEFA’s motives.
And where do we go from here? Are other forms of peaceful expression banned, too? Bayern Munich supporters arrived late at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday in protest at the £64 price of admission. By being deliberately absent when the Champions League anthem was played, did they also disrupt it according to Article 16? What of fans who sing club songs throughout? How exactly are we supposed to respond to UEFA’s pomposity these days? What level of subservience is required by this cabal of time-servers and maybe crooks?
Blue Valkyrie
Not seen such Bravery!
OK, if that's the hive mind wisdom. Just looks like a bunch of ill behaved louts to me.
But I've probably missed the point.
Dick Knights Mumm
Take me Home Falmer Road
I really hope it catches on. Booooo.
JBenno
New member
Surely that is an investigation that needs to run its course ?
Really?
'Don't Boo the ref lads, I know he is having a shocker but we really need to accept that he is innocent until proven guilty before booing him''
C'mon, Booing is really the only currency a football fan on the terraces has isn't it?
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
Uefa don't even have the right to the music seeing as it's been nicked from Handel.
I suspect not many of us are familiar with the anthem for the UEFA Europa League.
It was written by (the then) son-in-law of Michel Platini, who also has a son who works for Qatar Sports Investments.
Sepp Blatter has a nephew whose employer received a £6m interest free loan prior to the last World Cup.
Jack Warner's son has pleaded guilty to ticket fraud for the 2006 and 2010 World Cup.
Nepotism, cronyism and corruption are at the core of World Football.
In all of this there is still the issue of the Garcia report into the 2018 and 2022 WC bids, which FIFA has chosen not to publish. If you put a mafia organisation such as FIFA together with a mafia state such as Russia (I'm currently banned from visiting there) then it's hardly surprising when unusual decisions are made.
I appreciate that some might say the Qatari bid is above board because it was backed by Sir Alex Ferguson, but I wonder what could have caused him to back the bid?
It was written by (the then) son-in-law of Michel Platini, who also has a son who works for Qatar Sports Investments.
Sepp Blatter has a nephew whose employer received a £6m interest free loan prior to the last World Cup.
Jack Warner's son has pleaded guilty to ticket fraud for the 2006 and 2010 World Cup.
Nepotism, cronyism and corruption are at the core of World Football.
In all of this there is still the issue of the Garcia report into the 2018 and 2022 WC bids, which FIFA has chosen not to publish. If you put a mafia organisation such as FIFA together with a mafia state such as Russia (I'm currently banned from visiting there) then it's hardly surprising when unusual decisions are made.
I appreciate that some might say the Qatari bid is above board because it was backed by Sir Alex Ferguson, but I wonder what could have caused him to back the bid?
Papa Lazarou
Living in a De Zerbi wonderland
Did he wake up one morning to find one of his horse's heads in his bed? Or was it cash?
pasty
A different kind of pasty
Man City fans at Sevilla tonight 
Dick Knights Mumm
Take me Home Falmer Road
Ha ha. Booooooooo!