TV’S SHREEVES SHOWS PIE BET IS NO JOKING MATTER
By pure coincidence, Sutton were in need of a reserve keeper on Saturday, but for those still struggling with the significance of piegate, allow Geoff Shreeves to explain.
In the wake of Wayne Shaw’s unusual behaviour during Sutton’s match with Arsenal last week, Shreeves, who asks the questions for Sky at all the big matches, revealed his own experience with the novelty betting market.
Shreeves said that during roberto Mancini’s time as manager of Manchester City, he was contacted through email by a very high profile firm of bookmakers. They wanted him to ask Mancini a particular question at the next match, because they were making a market on it.
The price, they said, would be 28-1, and Geoff and his mates could all have a flutter. But he had to ask the question.
Shreeves says he was shocked, and not a little worried — he could easily have lost his job had he complied — so deleted the email without replying. He does not even know whether the market was made. But let’s not pretend all novelty bets are innocent. At best, they are dubious ploys to attract publicity and at worst they have a potentially harmful influence — Shaw hunting for a pie at half-time to set up the stunt when, as Sutton’s reserve goalkeeper, he should have been in the dressing room listening to his manager.
equally, a company that thinks it can influence the Sky broadcast is not a thousand miles away from believing it could direct the real action, too.
Corruption, in any form, rarely starts big. It grows, as the corrupters become confident and their influence increases. The reason the Gambling Commission are investigating Sun Bets over the supposed trivia of 8-1 laid on Shaw eating a pie, is not because they feel the crime of the century has been committed, but because the integrity of the industry is at stake.
They need to be convinced the bookmaker was not in control of the bet — because, as Shreeves’ story indicates, it wouldn’t be unheard of and, if suspected, must be stopped at the earliest opportunity.