Whatever we write about today will be overshadowed by the news of our quarter final opponents in the Champion’s League draw due to take place this morning. So this week’s Rant Friday will focus on the big news of the day.
Inspired by some ‘revelations’ from fellow bloggers yesterday, I want to examine the possibility of some ‘manipulation’ of the choice of opponents in the final stages of the CL.
The chances of us getting manu or Barça are 7:1, as is the case for all scenarios in today’s draw. What is the chance that there are powers working behind the scenes that would wish to influence the outcome?
There is corruption in football. The examples cited yesterday of bizarre far eastern gambling patterns, floodlight failures at significant points in games, prosecutions in Italy, Spain and Germany proving that officials and players have taken money to influence results, all substantiate the fact that there is a level of corruption in the game. The rumours of corruption in English football have been bubbling below the surface for years. George Graham was one scapegoat, who probably took the rap for many others. It was rumoured that Brian Clough only escaped action due to his ill health, and of course the Artful Dodger of the prem, ‘Arry Redknapp is yet to face charges for some dirty dealing.
In 2008, UEFA submitted a 96-page report to Interpol alleging that 15 football matches were fixed. The games are believed to have been in the Champions’ League, Uefa Cup and Intertoto Cup. As the European governing body convened in Lucerne for today’s draw for the Euro 2008 finals, an official said: “It’s all based on betting patterns, nothing else, and this is what we set up our early warning systems to look for. Those ‘early warning systems’ have been ringing loudly for years now.
So how could the draw be fixed – and do we care? The 2008 quarter final draw was predicted correctly in advance by a thread in the Liverpool Echo newspaper and bookies stopped taking bets on the outcome. The mechanics of fixing a draw are various. The obvious one is to alter the feel of the balls, possibly chilling or heating them, but I’m sure David Blaine could come up with a dozen different means. The system can never be fullproof.
It is more than likely that the fortunes of Arsenal have already been influenced unfavourably by some form of corruption. Abramovich’s millions have not prevented them going out of the CL two years running courtesy of some rather dubious refereeing. In addition, we ourselves were subjected to bad refereeing decisions in 2008 against Liverpool.
Could it possibly be that whichever players are fit, whoever our opponents are chosen to be, however well we perform, we will be affected by forces beyond our control ………or is that one conspiracy theory too many?.
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Morning all
arsenal vs bayern munich is something i dont want at all
Morning addicts
Congrats in coming up with an idea for this post Rasp and turning it into such an interesting read.
I don’t know!
Wow good tabloid style wind up stuff. this blog really is the bees knees, love it, great post.
I suspect that like most conspiracy theories this one is based on rumour and innuendo. Football fans in general have a habit of thinking the world is against their side. Who we draw today is IMHO probably immaterial we are capable of beating all the remaining teams. Why the paranoid around meeting the Mancs? we are due some luck against them, they are just another team.
On the other hand bent referees are far beyond the pale and any caught, whether by football authorities or the press should immediately have the full weight of the law thrown at them.
Lets just enjoy the draw and more european fun
aj
It’s simple, if we get Barcelona it’s rigged and if we get Bordeaux it’s not.
Sorry should be paranoia
Oh no it sounds like there’s going to be a lot of nail biting this morning.
If only it was just the luck of the draw but I do feel there’s more to it than that.
wenger – I agree with you on that, if we can avoid Bayern, Barça, Inter and the mancs then that sets it up nicely for a proper final between us and one of the other stronger teams.
I disagree London – I reckon if we get the mancs and the two french teams are in different halves then its definitely rigged.
When was the last time there were 2 french teams in the last 8 anyway?
Morning Peaches
Yes, I see your point…..Arsenal – Manu…..definitely rigged
Football is entertainment and being the biggest TV attraction in the World, it is prone to corruption.
Would Sky have become the megalith it has become without the inspired idea of buying football?
It is not to their benefit to see a CSK v Bayern Final. MU and Barca have the widest fanbase, so Sky/Canal+ will want them to go as far in the tournament as possible. The chances of their being drawn against each other at this stage may be 7/1, but I believe the odds to be much higher given the needs of the TV channels who control the finances of the CL.
I like Kelsey’s bet that we draw a team beginning with B. I will take that in a double with Kauto Star.
Rasp, as you have stated this was touched upon yesterday by me and others.Is there a conspiracy or is it just a coincidence ?
A few years ago the only form of betting to the general public was horse racing and greyhound racing.
The advent of more and more live football games to a global audience to gether with mobile phones and of course the internet have opened up a brand new audience, and at the same time the revenue in gambling on horse racing has plummeted as the under forty fives( the main stay of betting volume, have turned to a more convenient way of gambling and poker for instance is available 24/7.
Any sport where money is involved is open to corruption.Even a tennis match last year had a dubious betting theme, though nothing was proved.
Money and greed go together, and there will always be the thought that matches could be “arranged” to suit those who control the game.
This year’s line-up features teams from six different nations, in contrast to last year when England and Spain provided six of the last eight teams.
There are more French sides than Spanish or Italian, with Bordeaux and Real Madrid’s conquerors Lyon providing the first quarter-finalists from France for four years.Will Platini be influenced ?
CSKA Moscow beat Sevilla on Tuesday to become the first Russian side in the last eight since 1996.
Bayern have the best record in the tournament, with four-time European champions, compared with three for United and Barcelona.
Morning all,
Hi kelsey, I know you have more ammunition than most on this subject. I think the cynical/realistic view is – yes of course there is corruption in football and it’s all about money. But do you think that corruption will extend to predetermining the outcome of today’s CL draw?
Morning all, Raddy I believe Arsenals star is in the ascendancy and is the double we should be banking on.
Peaches do I remember a team that played just round the corner from the Emirates being labelled a french team and they got to the final LOL
Didn’t Fulham do well last night, Chamakh looked an Arsenal type player last scoring for Bordeaux, be Ironic if he gives us grief this round
The world is corrupt. Our government has already done a deal to supply the US with cheap oil for decades in return for military and intelligence support in the Falklands – an island 3,000 miles away that we have claimed a 200 mile territorial exclusion zone and probably sits upon the an oilfield similar in size to the middle east.
Corruption in football is peanuts in comparison.
Bloody hell Rasp that ripple in our pond is spreading far and wide today. But I cant argue with your logic
Actually nice place nice people in the Falklands been there, now they do deserve some luck.
greetings and salutations, great write up, just having a bit of dinner and a couple of tubes in preparation to tune into the draw. how is everyone?
Hi dandan, sorry I got off topic for a while 😉
Back to the subject, don’t you think the CL draw is often a tedious and slightly embarrassing ritual?
Changing the theme slightly, I reckon Wenger has got a serious selection tomorrow, of the good sort, I hasten to add.
There only three midfield starting berths — with Fabrégas fit, the first is gone; with Song’s return, there goes the second, this leaves just one vacancy which nowadays must go to Diaby but this leaves Nasri on the bench something that I am not convinced will sit well with him, so what to do? He can’t play out on the left as that will already be taken by Arshavin. Out on the right? That is not really his best position and even less when we consider that Rosicky and Walcott operate far better out there.
So what is Wenger going to do with Nasri? One solution might be to leave Cesc on the bench which in theory would help his recovery even further and only bring him on if he is really needed ala Villa at home.
Evening evo, the draw is scheduled for 11:00 GMT but is always a drawn out affair – will that be the early hours for you?
Hi London,
I totally agree. I said yesterday that I hope we don’t rush Cesc back too soon – we need him in tip top condition for the run-in. Nasri’s home form is superb and he played with more freedom when Cesc had to go off and he was the main playmaker.
Yes I do Rasp, but these guys need “There 15 minutes of glory” on a regular basis.
Also it gives me another Half hour before I have to take the wife out and buy her a new computer.
😆 dandan
Rasp,
I would like to think that the draw is not fixed,but what actually goes on during a game is another matter.
Good point London about Nasri.
id say around 11.30pm – midnight or so for me. will definitely wait up, very important!
I agree about leaving Cesc on the bench tomorrow and playing Nasri in the middle. Nasri’s form at home recently has been awesome – I can see why Wenger had to have him now whereas I was doubtful before.
Bring Cesc on ‘a la Villa’ – well said that man 🙂
Yep i can imagine Wenger taking the Cesc-free (3) points tomorrow. now that we have qualified for the next round of the CL, its 2 more super important games, so he will have the crystal ball out to analyze that for sure! Maybe a bench warmer at best seeing Song is also back!
When is this damned draw… soooo nervous, done a little pull teams out of hat-trick myself and we got Lyon… I’d settle for that but fear worse..
So tense… anyone putting up updates for the draw..
Oooh morning all
1 hour and 14 mins
Radio 909 have just announced that we’ve got Inter and the mancs have Moskow – my friend just phoned to tell me off cos I told her the draw was at 11 🙄
Some people are just so gullible
hahah peaches i wouldnt be surprised if that came out by the way!
the alleged ‘Live’ draw is on uefa.com in 1 hour 10 mins
I shall be out working when the draw takes place so won’t be able to join in the analysis with you all. It might be interesting to try to predict the draw that we think UEFA would like and see how close to the outcome that is?
The draw is in 2 mins for CL and an hour and 2 mins for Europa Evo
lol, i recall that match, kelsey
featured the mad monk, davydenko
ranked about 50 places higher in the rankings than his opponent
went 1 set up… and his odds stayed flat, instead of dropping
the odds on a 2 sets to 1 loss, went down dramatically.
it was clear theft, but as kelsey states, impossible to prove.
even if 2+2=4
That sounds like a good game rasp, heres my thoughts
UEFA would like to have us and the mancs in the same half, the two french teams in opposite halves. Keep Inter and Barça in separate halves
Arsenal v Moscow
Manu v Lyon
Bordeaux v Barça
Inter v Bayern
hey peeps….
good post rasp, im totally believing of the conspiracy theory. it happens too often.
for one thing im hoping nobody is sticking their hands in the ball bag today 😉 should be drawn the lottery way!
If we get the mancs , its rigged! and they are the ones i really wanna avoid.
The draw programme has started, i didnt know they were doing the draw for the whole thing today – semis and final included. Exciting huh!
Anway i hope it hurrys up and finishes cos my 3 year old is missing his cbeebies!!!
Oh and a fab post yesterday mrs peaches…. you should write them more often!
arsenal v CSKA is a horrible tie
they could be anything, long trip, no glamour about the tie at all
not sure why so many gooners want them?
i would be gutted to get them.
I think they would want to put barca and united in the same half. Can’t have the possibility of a repeat final, and the two french teams in opposite halves.
Arsenal v Barcelona is the dream final that most football fans would want.
and SFhawke we would have every chance in a final like that because barcelona wont stop us trying to play 🙂
Yes, if the gods are smiling on us, we will meet and beat Barça in the final…..
agreed, i would prefer a 2 legged semi with barca
hey up its hands and balls style draw
here we go…
lyon v bordeaux 😆
French derby – wait for the English derby 🙄
bayern v utd
got that wrong
arsenal v barca!!!!!!!!!
shit
2 great matches to look forward to.
No probs – as long as we don’t concede at home, we’ll win the tie 🙄
well i got the B right, but the wrong one. Anyway stay positive it could have been worse.
utd final
We play Manu in the final
we play bayern!!!
If only we had a world class goalkeeper – it’s our achiles heel.
Barca Tommy
Cesc has his chance to show his future employer’s what they’ll be missing for the next two seasons.
naah i meant we’ll play barca in the final rasp
bayern in the final rasp….. damn i should give up
Oh I see, not possible now of course tommy
i wonder if the french bloggers are howling at conspiracies now!!!
of course it is rasp ….
bodeaux bt lyon
bayern bt manu
arsenal bt barca
inter bt cska
bayern bt bordeaux
arsenal bt inter
bayern get thumped by arsenal
Whaaaaaaaay “oh what a party, oh what a show, with Barca coming to town” Magic love it, a real foorball match, TH14 is coming home.
We’ve got the bum half – the mancs have the two french teams and Bayern – jammy
Sorry tommy – I misunderstood!
My verdict on that draw is … not fixed
My verdict on some inexplicable refereeing decisions during games – fixed
we’ve only got the bum half cos we got barca peachy… i think we’ll beat inter or cska….
Barçelona at the Emirates – Thierrys stomach must be churning, he didn’t want to get drawn against us…..
its ok rasp… i cant type today LOL
anyway at least we’re in for a quality game with barca… they will play, we will play and hopefully the best football will win…. and hopefully henry will be very subdued!!
😦
If we beat Barça, we will get to the final and hopefully play Bayern – I don’t want manu in the final.
I’m off now, laters all 😉
I agree rasp – draw definitely not fixed except Irish has just texted that ‘a french team in the semi’s – le petit suspicious non?’
Yeah that Thierry Henry – he never turns up for the big games 😆
Livers – don’t be sad – we’re going to have 2 great games against Barça – home and away – we can do this – Fortress Emirates and we always score …….
i think we match up well with barcas team that played against valencia last… only thing is i hope that gallas is back we definately need him back now.
Thats my biggest worry!
Are we home or away first leg?
we are at home london
Well that has just taken care of the order of my short European breaks….Barcelona, Milan, Madrid…..culinary wise does it get any better?
Its a shame that we’re at home first round 😦
The first game wil be either 30/31 March thats only a few days away 😆
ive just had a look over the past coouple of seasons with champions league 2 legged affairs…. and i don’t believe there is much in it with who progresses home or away first
don’t condcede if you are home first
You’re probably right tommy but when the 2nd legs at home you kind of know what you’re up against…….
Look how well we did against manu when all we needed to do was to score and stop them from scoring 😳
yes well when you are away first, you have to score!
so we failed on two counts there!
Our midfield is as good as Barça’s, our attack is as good if not far off: Henry..Arshavin? The Russian is going to be up for that game more than any other player on the field. There is not a great deal of difference in our keepers, Valdes is not that good. Our wing backs are as good as each other. Vermaelen is as good as Pujol and will be better shortly is he isn’t not all ready. With Gallas back we have the beating of them. However, the huge advantage we have is that Barça play football and that is our ideal battle terrain.
Slipping into depressing chat here – keep the faith.
As rasp said earlier, shame we don’t have a world class goalie – everything else is fine but we know we can’t really rely on Almunia to pull anything out of the hat and if he’s flapping…….. 😦
Gallas, Gallas, Gallas…..pleeeeeeeaaase come back.
Almunia has been playing better lately, I can’t think of a significant mistake since his return after Fabianski’s debacle against Porto.
yep totally agree london…. gallas is essential.
and im feeling very happy peaches not depressed and very optimistic!
A very good home game and we’ll be in the final!
hopefully amunia will play very well in this shop window and get offers to go back to spain in the summer.
Wenger is going to love this tie, he must live for games like this, the opportunity to pit his wits against Guardiola in a batle of the passing game….Wenger’s wet dream….he will have the boys fighting fit and up for it.
where is everybody i thought it would be buzzing on here today london
I’m buzzing about it
I have this sickly feeling Fish head may need to play.. unless Wenger rests Campbell for the Birmingham game..
Anyway… let’s get all this silly CL stuff out of our minds
West Ham tomorrow 🙂
We owe them one… or 8 🙂
Hi Livers
The draw could have gone in such a way that we might have easily believed that we were going to get to the final but Barça has given us all pause for thought…still as you say, back to West Ham and the trophy we are difinitely going to win 😉
shame we got them a round or 2 too early, but i am over the moon with a glamour tie against a team that wont try to stop us play.
just think if it had been bordeaux lyon cska and inter on the easy route, then we would have been yelling conspiracy!
west ham tomorrow
play sol, then against birmingham we play song at the back cos sol may be needed against barca 4 days later!
We only lose to English teams in the CL so nothing to fear…
See, confidence is back 🙂
Great draw. Our chance for revenge.
I would have preferred something easier, but what the hell …..we can beat them. The Chavs should have last year and we will this.
I
So hows everyone taking it? Super-pumped or got that sick feeling in your stomachs.
I’m oscillating between the two.
Mayank. I am very happy.
The only blot is that the game will be so hyped up we may lose sight of the PL which is the main priority IMO
Haha, yeah imagine drawing to Wolves at home (the match in b/w the 2 legs). I don’t see a point in even playing Arsh for that one. You just know he’s going to be ‘conserving’ himself.
I think if we beat Barca we’ll get a massive boost in our title challenge.
Crafty women, my wife knew I was happy with the draw, so we went out for her a new lap top, she stitched me up for a 17.5″ screen
Both will be super games.
Unless AW decides to try and defend at Barca, play with one up front and 2 DM’s
A super draw where football is the winner. is it possibly better to play them over two legs rather than one. remember some of the great games when we have gone away knowing exactly what we have to do.
Whoever wins this tie will win the the cup
The home tie against Barcelona is confirmed for Wednesday 31st March – so exciting …….
Hi dandan – so you got duped over the lap-top eh, we’re so good at knowing the right time to get what we want 😀
You are probably going to shout at me now…..but they don’t use the cedilla when the whole word is spelt out.
Barça…..Barcelona……..it’s all about which vowel follows the letter “c” I will bore you more one evening when there is nothing else to talk about 😉
You’re absolutely right – why didn’t you tell me yesterday, my post was strewn with cedillas 😳
I should know, I have got a GCE in Spanish
Peaches I learnt long ago,if its only money against a woman’s cunning, give in gracefully.There are some battles that are just not not worth winning.
what’s a GCE..
🙂
I think it is a fair indicator of our chances that Betfair are offering 4/9 on a Barcelona win.
Seems reasonable.
How does one get a logo on the right ?
So what are arsenal then Raddy
Livers. Go into wordpress.com. Then to your profile (if you don’t have one, make one) and in the right hand corner there is a space for your Gravatar.
Follow the instructions…..
13/8 Dandan.
What’s a GCE? Livers is showing his youth 😉
DanDan.
I worked for a few years as a Relate Counsellor, and knowing which battles are worth fighting is a recipe for a successful relationship. Well played Sir.
Cheers Big Raddy
Big Raddy, Unfortunately she is in the lounge with her posh new “puter”. While I am in the kitchen with the pinny on. Doesnt seem to be my day LOL
I have been thinking about the draw,and with a league game at home just before the first leg we can put the tie to bed at home and then worst way get a draw away.unfortunately we have the spuds straight after the away leg.
Either way I feel we have a better chance than most may think .
laptop eh dandan. My wife went shopping for a few things in gibraltar today and spent 400 quid 😉
Kelsey
I’m curious, why Gibralter? Is it just a case that things are cheaper?
tax.
Victor Chandler… he’s a gooner?
Kelsey? 😉
Hi Livers,
Peaches can tell you how to get an avatar (the picture on the right) – she has done it for dandan.
Back to the draw – there are two things I’d like to point out….
First, I correctly predicted our opposition in my pic in the post 🙄 (spelt incorrectly I know London)
Secondly, we will probably have to beat the top 3 favourites (barça, inter and manu) to win the title ….. simples 😛
Hi Rasp
That picture up there is eerie in its accuracy.
Dinner cooked, served and eaten, Mrs dandan settled down for her soaps. me the computer and 5 live as Rasp would say, Simples
Hi dandan,
What’s happened to your avatar? I sent peaches a much cleaner image to upload for you, sometimes it takes a while to come through.
London, yes with the weak £, food is about a third cheaper than in Spain and one get British brands, and alcohol and petrol and tobacco is a third of the price as SH said there is no tax.oh it is only half an hour away.
I know Victor Chandler SH and in fact I knew his father.I believe he sold out but still trade as Victor Chandler.I think the family originally came from Brighton.he has a georgeous wife, then so do I 😉
I see ITV have our home game and Sky the return away leg.
dandan I e mailed you again.
No sign of it as yet, Kelsey, expect the lines are busy
No sweat Rasp. thank you, peaches has been a busy lady today
Sorry dandan I appear to have lost it now while trying to put the new one in – sometimes it takes a while to change but it shouldn’t have disappeared. I’ll just go and check……..
Its definitely still there dandan so hopefully it’ll come back soon 😆
Hi all,
been a while I know but I am on the next leg of my mini world tour, in Melbourne now. Any Aussies out there that can recommend somewhere to see the WH game with a few other gooners?
What an amazing draw, very happy about it and can’t wait for the first match. The two best footballing sides in the world. In some ways I think they could be even better matches because it isn’t the final; the players might play with a bit more freedom whereas some of them tend to freeze in a final. Back in the day we used to have to wait for world cups to come along to see matches like this, and hope that Brazil got drawn against Holland (showing my age now).
Great post Rasp. You should win post of the year for predicting our draw.
Alfa. You lucky lucky boy.
Rasp. I hadn’t registered your work of prescience and Genius….
I read one of the Barcelona blogs and they seems to feel about the same as we do about them – tough draw but great game to look forward to.
Some pointed out that last time they beat us and TH joined them, so maybe this time if they beat us Cesc will join them.
Not the way I see it, 2 players at very different stages of their career but just another twist to add spice to the game.
By the way, I would definitely start Nasri instead of Cesc against WH, to rest Cesc but also we need to have Nasri firing on all cylinders for Barcelona and the rest of the season in case we need an alternative to Cesc (injury, tactics etc.).
One can fully understand SAF’s fury about the different penalties meted out to Stevie G and Rio .
How Gerrard got away with what would be a criminal offence had he done that in the street is amazing. The elbow was not only deliberate it was also cowardly. To hit someone with their back turned towards him was a craven act.
I am shocked that the FA have once again wimped out of their responsibilities. This is the man who kicked a player in the face prior to the last World Cup, a player who dives in every game he plays and a man who punches a DJ when he is surrounded by acolytes to protect him-
One can only be pleased that this excuse for a man is not England Captain.But he will continue to behave this way whilst the FA back him up.
Shame on them, they are not worthy of their highly paid jobs.
Raddy – have you put your post in, theres only a title at the moment
My eye sight is going. I can barely see Raddys avatar now. Anyway, I guess you are all happy with the draw. Well, the trick is to not over complicate the situation, lets just beat them 🙂
Peaches. That is strange because it is in the posts when I look!!
GG. What can I say about my diminishing avatar…. the past is a distant land which gets closer the further you are away from it. One of life’s paradoxes.
Phew, that was heavy for this time in the morning….
BR, I think you are a cricket fan. Just to make you more jealous I was in Wellington a couple of days ago, saw Ricky Ponting staying in our hotel. Left before the cricket started though 😦
That’s right ALfa.
Rub it in on this grey, cold rainy morning!!
I have some good mates in Wellington, and I love the city. I am deeply envious. Have you read the opening chapter of Bill Bryson’s book on Australia (In a sunburned country)? If not find it and buy it. That’ll be an eye opener!
Morning Raddy, shouldn’t the postcode in your title have been N5 instead of E?
I’ve just seen you’ve changed it!
Fine graphic once again Rasp
Thanks Raddy, actually I’ve made some changes, have you seen the most recent version?
Morning all
Theres a NEW POST