Premier League Should Have Seen Man City Mess Coming

By: Daryl | August 12th, 2008

Despite all the rumours of human rights abuse, Thaksin Shinawatra passed the Premier League club owner “fit and proper test”. Why? Because he had money. Lots and lots of money.

But now Shinawatra is in all sorts of trouble. The Thailand Supreme Court has issued a warrant for his arrest, after he failed to appear in court to answer charges of corruption and tax evasion.

He’s now fled to England, but seems there’s a good chance he’ll be convicted in his absence, at which point the Premier League people will have to re-think Shinawatra’s fit and properness.

Here’s how money grabbing stuffed suit Premier League chief exec Richard Scudamore sees it:

“We have to establish the status of his return to England and where that leaves him as regards to the legal process in Thailand. Our rules are
clear. Somebody has to be convicted of something before they fall under the remit of the ‘fit and proper person act’.

“Until such a time as he is convicted, he falls within the rules. But we have always said that the test is meaningful and has to be applied. We need to make sure that if he is guilty of anything we will deal with it.”

In the meantime, an English football club is turning into a joke. There were big ambitions at Manchester City this season. New boss Mark Hughes thought he was getting in on something big - remember when they were going to sign Ronaldinho?

But now it seems the money is as lacking as the morals. There were all kinds of rumours this week, and they didn’t involve world class Brazilian superstars, they involved the club selling Vedran Coruka and Stephen Ireland in order to balance the budget - without Hughes’ permission.

Hughes could be ready to walk away from the whole mess, and you can’t really blame him.

It seems that most of Shinawatra’s fortune is frozen in Thai bank accounts, and the chances of his getting it back don’t look good at this point.

And so Richard Scudamore will soon be able to declare Shinawatra not a “fit and proper” to run a Premier League club. A conviction in the Thai courts will be the official reason, but I’m sure the turnaround in Shinawatra’s financial fortunes will make the decision a lot easier.

Whatever happens at Man City, the Premier League is going to come out of this with it’s reputation damaged, because the league was too blinded by large sums of money to recognize an unfit and proper club owner when they saw one.

I think this comic by Chris Toy pretty much sums it up.

More from Chris at Studs Up.

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Category: English Premier League

Tags: English Premier League, fit and proper perspon, Man City, Manchester City, Mark Hughes, Richard Scudamore, Stephen Ireland, Studs Up, Thaksin Shinawatra, Vedran Corluka, World Football, World Soccer

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Comments   |  Add your comment

• marcus |  August 12th, 2008 at 6:59 am

  
  
  

  as a city fan, i saw this coming. Typical city

  Posted from United States

  

• Jonathan |  August 12th, 2008 at 8:13 am

  
  
  

  Absolute shambles. Of course, if the FA had a proper ‘fit and proper persons test’ they would have seen this coming a mile off. As it is it seems Scudamore and co were too busy trying to think up new ways of lining their pockets to assess Shinawatra’s ownership of City.

  Still, this is only slightly less embarrassing than being pushed out of your own ground in favour of a Bon Jovi gig

  Posted from Argentina

  

• Aravind |  August 12th, 2008 at 8:56 am

  
  
  

  The EPL is too busy preparing plans for the 39th match to look into “minor” matters like this.

  Posted from India

  

• SoftlyDoesIt |  August 12th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

  
  
  

  Man City ‘turning into a joke’?!? When were they ever anything else?

  The Premier League’s most feared phrase - ‘frozen assets’.

  Posted from United States

  

• RyanJ |  August 12th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

  
  
  

  Y’all are fucked. Sorry. I hate it. Man U had so much potential to do well this season after a decent showing last season. This shows how the premier league and football on a whole has lost it integrity in the name of commercialization. A man who has made a fortune through criminal activity should never allowed to invest in a team. I’m sorry for Mark Hughes, one of the best upcoming coaches. I’m a big Arsenal fan and admire the fact that we haven’t sold ourselves to outside billionaires.

  Posted from United States

  

• miele |  August 12th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

  
  
  

  Ryan J,

  Funny how u put man U instead of Citeh…I understand however, coming from an Arsenal fan, heheh.

  Posted from Australia

  

• Ryan J |  August 14th, 2008 at 2:42 am

  
  
  

  Yes I mean’t Man City. I guess people easily remember the names of winner and not losers, right Miele.

  Posted from United States

  

• jonno |  August 14th, 2008 at 7:05 am

  
  
  

  Glad to see city create such worldwide interest judging where the comments come from. Are you all closet citeh fans, one comment comes from the most commercialized country in the world the USA. How long will it be before the yanks sell the bought on loans and payed for success man u same for chelsea as well, can t you see the premiership is awash with greed and debt and it will be a victim of its own success until then come on city.

  Posted from United States

  

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