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Martin Calladine

@uglygame.bsky.social

7.4K followers 800 following 4.7K posts

Writer of books, most recently: No Questions Asked: How Football Joined the Crypto Con (amzn.to/42aKE0w). Investigative pieces at http://theuglygame.wordpress.com/

theuglygame.wordpress.com

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · Jan 22

🚨 Out now 🚨
NO QUESTIONS ASKED
How football joined the crypto con

What happened when football got into crypto? It's a tale of fraudsters, ghostship firms, bogus investments, pyramid schemes, gigantic losses and organised crime.

Get your copy here: amzn.to/42aKE0w

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 3h

All these people who imagine themselves Prime Ministerial material yet are also too fearful to have an honest conversation about so many things - drugs, Brexit, the housing market - in case they get a negative headline in the Mail.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 3h

It highlights too, I think, the utter pointlessness of the return of Corbyn. The left needs someone comfortable communicating populist socialist policies on camera, not someone who is most at home addressing rallies and marches.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 4h

It says something about how distorted political debate has become is in the UK that you almost never hear a frontline politician talking seriously about harm reduction with drugs yet almost everyday a frontbencher from a national party will make a barely concealed racist claim about immigration.

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 4h

Legalise *and* regulate drugs.

This morning on @jeremyvine.bsky.social:

youtu.be/kBjqQAFdBRQ?...

Should we legalise all drugs? feat. Zack Polanski & Carole Malone | Jeremy Vine

YouTube video by Jeremy, Storm & Vanessa On 5

youtu.be

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 9h

The DOJ also noted that, "They subsequently laundered the proceeds... through ostensibly legal business enterprises, including its online gambling and cryptocurrency mining operations."

Decent chance this may include betting firms that have sponsored PL teams.

www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr...

Chairman of Prince Group Indicted for Operating Cambodian Forced-Labor Scam Compounds Engaged in Cryptocurrency Fraud Schemes

25-cr-312_indictment.pdf BROOKLYN, NY - An indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Chen Zhi, also known as “Vincent,” the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group (Prin...

www.justice.gov

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 10h

There's a lot to unpack with this story, but it's noticeable how many of the alleged conspirators held Cypriot and/or Vanuatu passports and how much of the money was laundered and then stored in UK property.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 10h

The DOJ press release with this story includes the line:

"This highlights how transnational criminal organizations continue to evolve, leveraging cryptocurrency and other digital assets to move their money and mask their crimes."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bitcoin worth $14bn seized in US-UK crackdown on alleged scammers

The UK has also frozen assets linked to the alleged scammers, including a £100m London office building.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 22h

I've more respect for people who commit their very important thoughts to paper with ink and quill than for people making a show of using a typewriter.

Lindsay Gibbs @lindsaygibbs.bsky.social · 23h

The metaphors have become sentient www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMy3RDpW/

Why I still use my typewriters every day (If anyone’s selling their typewriter let me know!) #uncfootball #football #typewriter #lombardi #checklist

TikTok video by Michael Lombardi

www.tiktok.com

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Reposted by Martin Calladine

Kristian Ulrichsen @kristianulrichsen.bsky.social · 22h

In October 2000, I began working at Sportpages bookshop in London, in many ways the most enjoyable job I’ve had.

Exactly 25 years later, I’m thrilled to have written a book that Sportspages would have stocked (unfortunately it went the way of many small independent bookshops).

Hurst Publishers @hurstpublishers.bsky.social · 22h

🇸🇦 ⚽ Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer by @kristianulrichsen.bsky.social is available now!

'A book of tremendous value.’ - Mehran Kamrava

Get 25% off w/code ULRICHSEN25 ➡️ tinyurl.com/33j442px

Kingdom of Football cover showing someone in a Saudi football jersey holding a photo of Saudi ruler.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 22h

Congratulations, that's brilliant news.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

They are a form of legalised cheating available only to the wealthiest and they will inevitably destroy smaller leagues as independent competitions.

That some Premier League clubs will be among the biggest beneficiaries of this doesn't mean that harm won't also be done to English football.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

You can try and control the integrity issues that result when teams from the same MCO group face each other in a game, but there is no regulation that can undo the fundamental integrity issue that their existence presents.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

MCOs have no legitimate purpose in football. They exist to allow owners to buy an unfair competitive advantage and they do so by creating two tiers of clubs: clubs whose purpose is to win as many games as possible and clubs whose purpose is to help other teams win as many games as possible.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

Uefa is bending over so far backwards to accommodate MCOs that it is now in a position to break the world limbo dancing record.

MCOs along with private equity ownership are the two factors that most threaten the future of club football.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Uefa plans to relax multiclub ownership declaration rules after Crystal Palace furore

Uefa is planning to give clubs more time to resolve potential multiclub ownership issues next season

www.theguardian.com

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

Jets lost, got fewer than 100yds offence and scored only 3 points when they got possession inside their half. The other 8 were a safety, a field goal off a recovered fumble (on Den 37) and a field goal following a long kick return (to Den 24). Those last two drives produced 5 total yards of offence.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

Absolutely.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

No doubt. I bet mysteriously a load of government papers will mysteriously find themselves impounded for a hundred years.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

How many of the former Queen, her husband, the Princess Royal and the current King and Queen are we being asked to believe had no knowledge of Prince Andrew's offending?

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

A monarchy is offensive in principle because it assumes some people are superior by birth, but when in practice it also behaves as if young women are sub-human - nothing more than playthings for rapists - then that institution is tainted beyond repair.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

When, inevitably, Andrew is forced to finally accept some kind of demotion and ostracisicm from the Royal Family, he will be presented as an isolated individual, rather than a predator who received substantial financial and personal support from the family over decades of offending.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 2d

Feels like, as a nation, we still haven't reckoned with the fact that the widely respected former monarch contributed millions of pounds to a settlement to help her paedophile son avoid testifying in court in a case bought by one of his victims, a women who later killed herself.

Extract from Guardian story:

But he wrote to Epstein in the message after the photo was published: "I'm just as concerned for you! Don't worry about me! It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it. Otherwise keep in close touch and we'll play some more soon!!!!"

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 3d

Classic first year head coach clock mismanagement.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 3d

Very, very, very bad.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 3d

Are the Jets going to win a game with fewer than 100 yards of offence? When was the last time that happened?

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 3d

Both teams should be fined draft picks for this performance.

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