Match Fixing - Norfolk MP to ask question in Parliament

[canary cherub 1]

Norman Lamb (Lib Dem North Norfolk) is to ask the minister for Culture, Media and Sport tomorrow whether City v Derby is the match under investigation.

 

[Mr. Bump 0]

He''s my hero.

[Camuldonum 0]

Let me guess what the answer is going to be - if he gets one.

1."The Football League are currently investigating information relating to the results of football matches under their jurisdiction.  I am advised that at this stage their investigation is currently in the preliminary stages and it would be inappropriate for the Department to comment upon  it.  This is a matter for the Football League to whom the enquiry by the Hon. Member should be addressed."

 

2. Or: "My Department have not been informed of any such investigation by the Football League"

3.Or: "We have no knowledge of the matter."

4.Or: "The question by the Hon.Member for Norfolk North should be addressed to the relevant authority."

5. Or:  “What discussions has he had with the FA on allegations of match fixing and unusual betting activity involving the Norwich City versus Derby championship match on Saturday, October 4?”

Answer: "None."

Where the **** are Dixmar''s odds when you need them?

All of  my money is on 5 and does it count in the Ardee league table?[:|]

And Archant terribly, terribly late on this story.  Not good local reporting.  I expect the Editor wanted someone else to stand it up?  Too dodgy for him?  No one needs to answer.[:P]

 

 

 

 

[dhickl 0]

...or as Sir Humphrey would say "Well Minister, if you ask me for a straight answer, then I shall say that, as far as we can see, looking at it by and large, taking one thing with another in terms of the investigation, then in the final analysis it is probably true to say, that at the end of the day, in general terms, you would probably find that, not to put too fine a point on it, there probably wasn''t very much in it one way or the other. As far as one can see, at this stage"

[Camuldonum 0]

or as Sir Humphrey would say "Well Minister, if you ask me for a straight answer, then I shall say that, as far as we can see, looking at it by and large, taking one thing with another in terms of the investigation, then in the final analysis it is probably true to say, that at the end of the day, in general terms, you would probably find that, not to put too fine a point on it, there probably wasn''t very much in it one way or the other. As far as one can see, at this stage.

Minister nods.

Minister: "So what do you think I should say at this stage?"

Sir Humphrey: "As you''ve asked Minister, I don''t think we should say anything at this stage."

The thing about Yes Minister is that it was touted as a send up whereas it is pretty close to reality.

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

[quote user="Camuldonum"]

or as Sir Humphrey would say "Well Minister, if you ask me for a straight answer, then I shall say that, as far as we can see, looking at it by and large, taking one thing with another in terms of the investigation, then in the final analysis it is probably true to say, that at the end of the day, in general terms, you would probably find that, not to put too fine a point on it, there probably wasn''t very much in it one way or the other. As far as one can see, at this stage.

Minister nods.

Minister: "So what do you think I should say at this stage?"

Sir Humphrey: "As you''ve asked Minister, I don''t think we should say anything at this stage."

The thing about Yes Minister is that it was touted as a send up whereas it is pretty close to reality.

[/quote]

Really?

We didn''t know that up here.

Thanks.

OTBC

 

[paul ncfc 0]

Apparently he spoke to the Fa on Sunday and they said our game with Derby was one of those under investigation,it would be typical if at the moment we couldn''t even win a game that someone was trying to lose.

[William Darby 0]

Why assume Derby was trying to lose, we''ve been making a mighty fine effort at it lately

[Shack Attack 0]

Here''s a link to the story just in case anyone has missed it.

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=BreakingNews&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=NOED15%20Oct%202008%2018%3A44%3A19%3A947

Although I''m naturally curious to see whether it is our game that is being investigated I''m not entirely sure what the point of the question is. Firstly I would suggest he''s very unlikely to get a straight answer and secondly, even if he does it will only be to confirm that the game in question is being investigated. If the FA take as long to investigate this as they do most things then confirming which game is being investigated is just going to taint the two teams involved until the investigation is complete.

Why would the MP for a constituency with many Norwich fans wish to do this and might his constituents who have no interest in football whatsoever feel that maybe there are more important things he could be doing?

[William Darby 0]

The point of asking a question in Parliament is not necessarily to get an answer straight away,  I''m not expecting an answer straight away. It''s an excise in lodging a point to the Government from the public to get this crap sorted out one way or the other.  And not brushed under the carpet,  cos once a question is put to the Government they''re supposed to respond satisfactorily.  (supposed to)

[Tumbleweed 106]

one would have to assume that it is the losing team which would be involved as that is easier to do than make sure you win. I''m not sure what the point is of asking the question since it just whips up speculation when we need the team to focus on beating Bristol City.

[Jim Smith 2,578]

1. The MP is quoted as saying that the FA confirmed to him that it is our game.

2. Given that i fial to see the point in asking the question in parliament.

3. The result means nothing. The accusation is there was an attempt at match fixing. Does not mean it was successful. Alternatively the betting may not have been about the result but about when the next goal would be scored, a red card, a penalty in the next 15 minutes etc

 

[Jonzey 0]

Can I play devil''s advocate?

Assuming the unusual betting patterns as mentioned on Sky Sports news were for a Derby win, then how do you make sure a team wins?

[Jim Smith 2,578]

Can see your point but the betting patterns were apparently at half time when Derby were winning 1-0 and still had 11 men. The alledged pattersn were supposed to be indicative of a major on field event having occured when nothing had. 5 minutes into the 2nd half their keeper is sent off and we get a penalty. Seems to me it is more likely to be centred around that but then who knows!

[Matt Juler 208]

From BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/norwich/7673347.stm

The Football Association is looking into match-fixing allegations relating to the Championship match between Norwich City and Derby on 4 October.

Betting patterns during the 2-1 victory for Derby County will also be the subject of a parliamentary question in the House of Commons on Thursday.

Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, will ask sport secretary Andy Burnham if he has heard from the FA on the matter.

"I have to stress this is an allegation," said Lamb.

He told BBC Radio Norfolk: "When anything like this enters our game the whole thing''s destroyed because you lose trust.

"It''s important the FA investigates this as a matter of extreme urgency."

The Sunday Telegraph last week confirmed that unusual betting patterns involving a Championship game had been reported on the Asian markets on Saturday, 4 October, but did not specify the match.

"The Sunday Telegraph didn''t mention the game but it''s since emerged that the game did involve Norwich City and Derby County - a game I was at - but I have to stress this is an allegation," said Lamb.

 

[WeAreYellows49 0]

Oh dear Norwich City, this is a face in hands moment isn''t it?  Now this has broken I hope the Club make a statement.

[Matt Juler 208]

I don''t see why at all... Surely from us losing at halftime, it could only be a Derby Country attempt at fixing a match with a swing?

[Syteanric 1]

interesting to read that we have been contacted by the FA but Derby, apparently, Haven''t.

jas :)

[Jim Smith 2,578]

I agree mate - swing at half time would suggest the money was going on the team who were losing coming back although i suppose the bets could have been based on anything!

[foxile 0]

Hope your not found guilty of this, always liked you as a club.

[Jim Smith 2,578]

Traders for British firm Spreadex noticed "a massive movement at around half-time". An expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he had "not seen anything like this in 10 years of working in the industry" and expressed concern for "the integrity of the English game".

In the Asian gambling market it is common to place a handicap on one of the teams. In this case the handicap made an enormous, unexplained swing that would indicate a major on-field event when nothing of that nature had occurred. However, later in the match a major on-field event did occur.

 

Yes but if conceding a goal is the "major on-field event" they are referring to then there had already been one in the first half. There had however been no red cards or penalties!

[Jim Smith 2,578]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]

Traders for British firm Spreadex noticed "a massive movement at around half-time". An expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he had "not seen anything like this in 10 years of working in the industry" and expressed concern for "the integrity of the English game".

In the Asian gambling market it is common to place a handicap on one of the teams. In this case the handicap made an enormous, unexplained swing that would indicate a major on-field event when nothing of that nature had occurred. However, later in the match a major on-field event did occur.

 

Yes but if conceding a goal is the "major on-field event" they are referring to then there had already been one in the first half. There had however been no red cards or penalties!

[/quote]

Sorry to be clear those first 2 paras are from the telegraph report that first broke the story!

 

[anothatracksuitmanager 0]

logically speaking it would take something amazing for 2 whole teams to fix a match, it is a logistical and financial minefield. So your looking for a few key individuals who could make mistakes or miss chances that could influence the game, I think that''s what we are looking at, who the individuals or are is really impossible to guess at.

[Matthew Quinn 0]

I would like to believe otherwise but if anyone threw the game it must have been us. I mean we lost after all. If Derby were trying to lose the game we surely would have been good enough to beat them, wouldn''t we?

[yellow blood 0]

Given the number of penalties we have conceded this season, it would be a pretty good bet that our game would involve a penalty...anyone want to give me odds?

[Jim Smith 2,578]

[quote user="Matthew Quinn"]

I would like to believe otherwise but if anyone threw the game it must have been us. I mean we lost after all. If Derby were trying to lose the game we surely would have been good enough to beat them, wouldn''t we?

[/quote]

 

Erm no! I recall back in the day one of the games Grobbellar was alledged to have been trying to fix was a game between us and Liverpool at Carrow Road and whilst I don''t know whether those allegations were ever proven we failed to win that one as well! I remember watching the video to see if could try and pick out any signs and basically it looked to me like he kept diving/going to ground really early and our stikers kept shooting striaght at him or against his legs!

As has been said above its virtually impossible to fix a match as you would need loads of players in on it! You can bet on all sorts now though not just the result.

[WeAreYellows49 0]

Dr Gibson......

“I have contacted the FA. They phoned me back and said ''yes, that''s the game''. They also said that they hoped to have a report out within a week.

Not long to wait [O]

[Bruce Eats Walkers! 0]

 

It is more than likely that only one player was involved, how dodgy would it be to try and involve team mates or opponents in this type of thing, all it would take is for someone to rumble you and bye bye carrer.

Lets just hope that nothing untoward is going on, and that if this has happened that the individual(s) involved (Be they Derby or Norwich) are punished and that neither club or it''s fans have to suffer because of one or more individual(s) greed and stupidity.

 

 

[Web Team - Vince 0]

The facts in the case are not yet established and even speculation about any individual player''s actions during the game can be libellous, so I have edited some messages.The press has been slow covering this because they don''t have evidence - so cannot safely publish (including repeating) specific allegations unless what they are reporting is covered by privelege, e.g. Parliamentary privelege, hence this story is widespread today because of what has been raised by MPs Lamb and Gibson in the Commons.

[canarytom 0]

It would be pretty poor if it turns up that we couldn''t even win a game that was meant to be rigged in our favour!