The BBC’s limp expose won’t cause any unease among football’s spivs, says william langley |
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There will be much rubbing of greasy hands in football-land today; a massed shooting of monogrammed cuffs and an overture of baritone cackling. Last night's heavily touted Panorama investigation into 'bungs' - illicit payments made between football folk, traditionally carried in brown paper bags - not only failed to score, it barely made it in to the penalty box.
Most of us would agree that football has become an affront to decency, and, personally, I would like to see as many of its participants locked up as possible.
Yet this documentary, for all its dramatic, sub-Scorsesian flourishes, will bring only relief to the spivs and greasers who infest the game. Where was the killer evidence? Where, beyond the blatherings of a few dodgy agents, was the proof of a single bung?
Nowhere was the lameness of investigator |
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| Redknapp looked more interested in the prospect of an afternoon nap |
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Alex Miller's indictment clearer than in his attempted 'sting' of the veteran manager Harry Redknapp, currently with Portsmouth.
Looking more interested in the prospect of an afternoon nap, 59-year-old Harry was heard discussing the attractions of Blackburn defender Andy Todd.
"I like Toddy, don't I?" Redknapp mumbled. "No, I'd take him. I'd take him without a doubt. I like him. I think he's a tough bastard."
If this was evidence of an illegal approach, we'd better turn the new Wembley stadium into a 100,000-occupancy jail.
A resourceful East Ender, who once played for West Ham with Moore, Hurst and Peters ("We still came 17th, which shows what crap the rest of us were"), Harry is currently sitting at the top of the Premiership with an unfashionable collection of budget buys. No wonder he was laughing the programme off in the days leading up to the broadcast. 
FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 20, 2006
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