The English FA: Going Through The Premier League Motions

Greg Dyke, head of the English Football Association, the body in charge of the English Premier League table, recently mused aloud if any World Cup bid had been won without what he described as “a pile of bungs”. Really Greg? You’re going to pretend to be surprised that in an effort to win a few billion in revenues some nations were willing to spend a few million over the odds and under the table to win the bidding process? Really? The whole capitalism thing just pass you by, did it Greg?

Of course Greg Dyke is famous for having been in charge of the BBC, an organization that doesn’t believe in capitalism, which might explain why he’s apparently so shocked and appalled all but constantly these days, something he tempers with cynical disappointment in front of the television cameras. However the English FA as an institution, having bid for a few World Cups in its time, must be aware of such practices, after all, they must have tried them too, right?

Fines From The English FA

• Chelsea fined 50K
• West Ham fined 40K
• Chosen One ejected

The English FA being in complete denial is nothing new of course, and their distance from reality can be proven without having to delve into the FIFA Corruption Scandal™ or their reaction to it. One merely need glance at recent goings on in Premier League games to know they’re out of touch with what’s really going on. For instance take Chelsea vs West Ham back in October where a couple of Premier League goals put the Hammers ahead at the end 2-1, much against the odds at Bet365 which under UK gambling laws can only be unrealistic about Stoke’s prospective Premier League results.

 You can tell he was upset, can’t you?

The English FA: Worth Precisely That Much

London derby matches are never very good tempered if we’re honest about it and certainly not if they’re Premier League fixtures, but Chelsea out did themselves by having five players booked, one of them sent off and the manager removed for having stalked and menaced the referee at half time, with West Ham no better following their players apparent attempted lynching of the very same official on the pitch. The English FA was not amused, but their reaction is so amusing it’s almost a sick joke.

The English FA’s reaction to this appalling display by Premier League players? Pathetic. Both teams were “severely warned as to their future behavior” with West Ham getting fined forty thousand quid and Chelsea getting fined fifty grand, with their “chosen one” Jose Mourinho receiving a ban from the next game AND a fine of forty K. Which sounds jolly good, doesn’t it? They were bad, they were punished. But these are teams in the Premier League standings. What is forty thousand to them? I’ll tell you. It’s sweet FA.

Manchester United just released their quarterly revenues, up 39.3% to some 123.6 Million GBP. Now Chelsea and West Ham might not be that rich, but they’re not poor either, and to anyone earning over a 400 million a year a 50k fine is nothing, it’s so paltry that it isn’t even symbolic, it’s a joke. Premier League predictions are manifestly not my forte, but it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to spot that a wagged finger and a pocket-change penalty imposed by the English FA isn’t the way to improve on pitch behavior, but I suppose it funds the English FA’s bung fund, doesn’t it?