As the footballing world wait with baited breath to see what punishment Manchester City and Chelsea will receive, following Everton’s ten point deduction, I wonder if anyone was aware of another ongoing probe involving Newcastle United?
I had no idea that the club was being investigated, until I stumbled across an article in the Daily Telegraph dated the 29/11/23 and it involves agents fees, unpaid vat and unpaid national insurance.
The enquiry goes back to 2014 and includes probes during 2017 and 2018. HMRC issued notices to the club in January 2018 relating to alleged unpaid VAT totalling £2,034,802 plus interest between February 2011 and October 2016 and unpaid National Insurance totalling £4,250,714.01 plus interest, a court fee and legal costs.
Newcastle tried to get the High Court to rule that the HMRC return all the documents seized in those raids, but just this week the judge denied them as HMRC confirmed that the investigations are still ongoing and there will be a civil proceedings at the end.
Rather than these probes being football related, it seems to be more of an involvement by government departments – so, if found guilty, I can’t see any footballing punishment (points deduction etc) but more likely to be a financial punishment…. with all the oil money sloshing around St. James’s Park now, I don’t think that would be to much of a concern, but it’s remarkable how this has slipped under the radar of the public awareness… unless I’m the only one who hadn’t picked up on this?
While not affecting The Arsenal (as far as we know) at the moment, it does show the scrutiny being used in all areas within the footballing world to ensure everything is above board and squeeky clean.
Elliott Buss, a partner in Hacker Young accountants and a specialist in the taxation of sports clubs, says: “HMRC is really cracking down on the football industry to recover what it sees as a significant amount of unpaid tax. Football clubs are a subject of particular concern and HMRC now have these clubs’ tax affairs in their sights.”
“The growing proportion of agents’ fees being paid by clubs is drawing the attention of the taxman to the possibility that not all tax due on these payments is being paid.”
Remember, it’s being reported that the Spuds are being investigated with regards to the transfer of a player that dates back to 2014.
Let’s hope that the Arsene Wenger era was as clean as we all believe it was!!
ken1945
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All the teams issues will pale into comparison with the charges against Citeh !
OT. CITY 0 SPUDS 1 Son 6 mins, SPURS first attack. COYS!
AND ANYONE WHO STUPIDLY WANTS A DRAW IS NOT THINKING STRAIGHT We badly NEED A SPUDS WIN. PLAINLY.
Damn! City equalise straightaway! now 1-1.
I don’t mind a draw as it stands TBH.
City spurs what a game this is, fantastic! Great football from both sides. 1-1 at present but won’t finish like that.
Good piece Ken One name that makes me tremble though; RAUL SANLLEHI!
This could finish 6-3 !
Whatever makes you think City’s gonna concede again. so lucky Haaland forgot his scoring boots amongst other missed chances thanks to their beautiful crossbar. URGH!
They did, twice more.
What a goal from City!!
DAMN! Spurs ever spursy. Nice piece by the way, Toon are in for some serious head! they’ve seen nothing yet.
The legendary Frenchman was equally at depth with his handling of the purse strings as with the diet and how beautiful game should be played.
But experience taught me, when you throw that much mud on the wall as in the Citizens case, you will find some sticking.
Yes, spurs equaliser!
Not that I could ever want spurs to win, that would be perverse!
I SEE YOU DONT DO SENSIBLE THEN! We badly need the non rival Spurs to beat or at least draw with a proper rival , in City.
Seems you dont realise that sensible truth.! More fool you! Folks whom would rather Spurs drop points even when a winwould held us are not bright.
With City guaranteed at least 25 wins and 5 draws (80 points), you would expect sensible fans to root for Spurs to win against City, our sternest challenge to winning the league.
And I see you don’t do irony or humour Jon,! I’d put the ‘shake my head’ emoji, but you wouldn’t get that either. It’s 3-3 now, oh dear.
You are not speaking honestly GB. Reading ALL your posts above, I believe you wanted Spurs to drop points, which is hardly a bright thing for a sensible GOONER TO WANT.
IS IT!!.
BTW, I do humour a AND irony extremely often which you would well know, IF you read my posts on here over the MANY years I have been a JA regular.
As you said “I don tdo humouror irony,” then clearly you DONT read my posts. or you would KNOW I DO and often too.!
I really wanted a draw, and I got one, even though I predicted 3-2, I think a draw is the best result for us. By the way, of course I read your posts as I like a good laugh at the way you patronise everyone.
Correct on all counts. Spurs are not to be underestimated this season. Laughed at yes, as always.
COME ON MY “BELOVED” SPURS (he lied!!) as its time to stop being Spursy and time to beat one of our proper rivals. LATEST IS 2-2 WITH 76 MINS GONE.
My word
I know, it’s shocking.
YES, AND ITS ALSO HUMOUR! Remember “humour” that thing you claimed,albeit laughable wrongly, that “I dont do”!
WOW.!!! 3-3 EXACTLY 90 MINS GONE. KULUEVSKY A GREAT HEADER.
Anyone who doesn’t think spurs are rivals and contenders obviously hasn’t watched this game.
Historically, Spurs plays well against well against City. They do not have the squad depth to challenge for the league this season.
GB I WATCHED THE GAME AND DONT AGREE WITH YOU. So that makes your post incorrect, by definition.
City through on goal after being fouled. REF INITIALLY PLAYER ADVANTAGE THEN BLEW UP TO STOP PLAY CITY THUS DENIED A GOAL.
That’s one of those incidents that will be forgotten when people tally up all the things that went against us compared with our rivals.
DAVII. So true!!
So many fans everywhere are so one eyed and always think ONLY their own team are being singled out for refs- who as they stupidly write – “cheat”.
Ironically, refs are about the only honest people in football They are usually grossly inefficient but contrary to many fans silly posts, they do not CHEAT!
Though, ,I realise I AM PREACHING to someone who has long known this IS the case, I have too,sadly. SIGH!
Great result for us, if you’re a sensible Gooner of course, who actually thinks about things and looks at the bigger picture.
I agree with your assessment. We now have the meanest defence in the league conceding only 11 goals. If we are to go one better and win the league, our defense will be crucial. I watch Liverpool go gung-ho and feel they just won’t be consistent enough especially their backline to make it a 3-horse race. City, in my opinion, are our strongest opposition.
Let’s hope Unai Emery does us a favor by taking points off City, who visit Villa who boast a perfect home record this season and have scored the most goals at home (23 in just 6 games).
City will be without Rodri and Grealish, who picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season, when they visit Villa Park on Wednesday. Doku was taken off due to injury concern, who might also be a doubt. The last time they lost Rodri to a red card, they lost their 3 games against Newcastle, Wolves and Arsenal.
Here’s hoping they drop more points against a well-drilled Villa with an imperious home form.
Actually things don’t seem to click for city btw December and January but becomes a different animal February onward which sees them drop little to no points but i bet that won’t be the case this season.
Finished 3-3 FAB!!! Spuds, I LOVED YOU TIL THE FINAL WHISTLE WENT.
NOW its over, I cant stand you again, now you have proved(past tense!!) of use to us.
Same here. lol
Can’t believe i was “in that number” lol
What a game, Haaland alone could have score all six goals, what Postecglou could have possible told them after the break.
Surely Pep will be livid
I was a bit surprised how open Spuds played against the Citizens, they seems naive and all over the place, the break must have come at the perfect time for them
Peps comment on the ref:
“I won’t make comments like Mikel Arteta” 🤣🤣🤣
Good for him then for chosing not to be a Hypocrite
Super excited but gutted Liverpool escaped earlier today, now it’s our turn to take the stage on Tuesday. COYG!
Interesting. I wasnt aware of that Ken.
In fact when I saw this my first thought was wondering how it didn’t get reported more than it has. Makes me suspicious right away.
To go back that far UK law says they have to suspect fraud otherwise it’s only 6 years.
btw I saw a couple of things in other places that made me wonder if Ken on JA would write about them so I checked back here but didnt see anything.
One was about bringing in sin bin and yellow cards in football. Most people saying all well and good but prob just another thing they get wrong lol. But I thought, well, maybe the impact of a sending off will be less if they dont have to decide all or nothing between either letting him stay on the field for the whole match or sending off for the whole match.
The other one I think was only captains to talk to referee. Be interesting to see how that pans out! To start with they wd have to send 10 players off lol
Shame that comments on your piece seem to be hijacked by some other City-Spurs stuff.
NEUTRAL, Yes Ken DOES do investigative articles more thoroughly than anyone else I can call to mind..
Together with many football folk, esp thos who have played thegame and have made their views known, I am MUCH AGAINST sin bins.
IF ARE ALLOWED IN, THERE WILL HARDLY EVER BE A GAME WHERE ELEVEN PLAY ELEVEN FOR THE WHOLE MATCH.
That would be a retrograde step and MOST fans dont want it.
What IFAB should change is throw ins to kick ins and, IN PARTICULAR stop players AND refs wasting time at free kicks, corners, throw ins, hopefully soon to become kick ins instead!
The ridiculous farce of refs taking often a minute to allow a free kick to be taken is RUINING the flow and enjoyment of the game. Corners also take FAR TOO LONG.
As is VAR too, an awful mistake to have brought in.
Refs need to be FAR more draconian on bad behaviour and diving and be PROPERLY BACKED by the football authorities.
But they are not backed. Sigh!
Jon was cheeky in effectively masterminding and hijacking the author beautiful piece🙂
HOW could you possibly say or even think, as you wrote, that I HAD HIJACKED KENS WELL WRITTEN PIECE i SIMPLY PRAISED IT, as I often do with wisely written pieces. I dont understand your post at all.
It makes NO SENSE Unless, as I suspect, you misunderstood the correct meaningof the word “hijack” which would then provide an understanding of how you incorrectly used “”hijack”.
It is a problem for an English person who understands our language so well and so correctly , to debate sensibly with any fan whose own English language understanding is poor.
The hijacking and subsequent diversion started at 4:40 pm on the thread smarty.
Reading the comments one will be forgiven to think it was a City Spurs live blog.
So, apart from Neutral and AdminPat, did anyone else know about Newcastle? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great result for us by the way (3-3) pity about Liverpool.
No I didn’t
Your article was somewhat hi jacked by events in Manchester
I didn’t know Ken and thanks for bringing it to our attention, also I’m sorry for getting caught up (greatly) in the city-spurs game comments but some of them were like ‘a red rag to a bull’. Yes we got the best result from their game today.
I didn’t know about this Ken, great article that opened my eyes to this. I’m sure to keep an eye on how this develops. Thank you 🙏
No problem about the “hijacking” but I find it incredible that this Newcastle story has fallen under the radar and the section regarding agents fees should send a shiver around the PL.
Sanllehi is a name that could YET drag us into the world of HMRC!!
Neutral, as for the sin bin idea, it’s being trialled at lower levels, but I don’t personally even more pressure pit on referees and, just imagine the stick and accusation they would get from clubs who will accuse them of bias and corruption even more.
As for only the captains approaching the referee, I thought that had already been done, but, once again, they don’t use it…. if I’m correct in my thinking that is.
But I don’t, personally, want more pressure put on referees.
My post below was meant to be a reply to ken1945.
Now you mention it I sort of remember something about only captains talking. Like you I’m not sure what happened to that. I guess they want to make sure it happens now. Suppose they punish players after a match with yellows leading to bans, that would at least keep the matches 11 v 11 while the players realise they shd learn to shut up.
My view on the sin bin is like yours and most ppl I have read, that it would just be another thing for refs to get wrong. Bcos of the way reffing is now (bad). But I kinda think about how the rules should be with a sort of assumption that the ref abilities are sorted out and they do better.
Not making the rules of a game what we think they should be bcos we are afraid the refs will screw it up? hmmmm I think we get the rules right then expect the refs to do their part and do it properly?
It just seems to me that not everything is black and white. So a foul in the 1st minute cd mean someone misses 89 or more mins. If they have a choice to send off for 10 mins, maybe they wd be more likely to do something?
Rugby now sends ppl off with a yellow that can get reviewed and upped to a red. That gives them 10 mins to decide although rugby says they get 8 mins or something to decide if upgraded. Takes the pressure off refs to decide but I dont like the bunker system bcos the specs dont get to hear the discussion and reasons.
It seems that “only the captains could talk to the referee” idea was discussed way back in 2006 by the world cup committee, but nothing seems to have been written into the law books.
It was also proposed that the player being penalised, along with his captain, could talk to the referee, but that also fell by the wayside.
I do like the idea of only captains and I think that’s where the armband signifying said person originated from.
After watching the city players, in particular Haaland, reviving the old United way of trying to bully referees, anyone acting like that should be issued with an immediate yellow card and, if they persist, then a straight red.
Yeah that 2006 WC sounds about right now I read it. That explains it thanks.
Also explains why it didnt get used later in the game as a whole.