It's time to dig deeper for dirt
GAME HAS TO BE CLEAN
AMID all the fuss about Arsene Wenger’s future, something very serious got lost at one of his recent press conferences.
The Arsenal manager made the astounding claim that the use of the Video Assistant Referee – trialled successfully last month in the France v Spain game – would make football “healthier” and stop the “desire to corrupt” officials.
Pressed on it later, the Frenchman appeared to panic and backtrack, saying he did not think corruption was going on right now.
But Wenger – whose Monaco team were denied the 1992-93 French league by a Marseille side eventually stripped of the title and relegated due to a bribery scandal – was not convincing.
And you have to ask why he mentioned ending the desire to corrupt, if he doesn’t think it exists?
You sensed he had some serious doubts about games involving Arsenal, with a common gripe in the Champions League being that referees often come from outside the major European leagues. That does not, of course, mean that they are bent.
But you can bet there are certain decisions that have left the Frenchman pondering at the very least.
The big fear is that football, wanting to keep a clean image to continue attracting the big-money sponsors, does not want to look too hard for the dirt.
A few years back I spoke to an official at a Football League club about corruption concerns he had raised.
He believed there had been attempts by what he called ‘The Network’ to fix matches in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
He said he contacted all the relevant authorities but nobody took him seriously, leaving him with the feeling that the powers-that-be were happier to sweep it all under the carpet.
I still have a copy of the statement he made outlining his worries.
Maybe the game truly is whiter than white. But somehow I don’t think so. And it would be fantastic if someone, one day, would be brave enough to stand up and reveal exactly what they know.