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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/

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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 · 10h

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 · 10h

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 · 10h

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 · 10h

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 · 22h

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 · 22h

Absolutely.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 22h

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

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 22h

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 · 22h

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 · 22h

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 · 22h

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 · 1d

Classic first year head coach clock mismanagement.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

Very, very, very bad.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

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 · 1d

Both teams should be fined draft picks for this performance.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

A team with no quarterback - the single most important position in any sport - is somehow ahead.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

Justin Fields is the only quarterback in the NFL who is not a quarterback.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

Calling a fake punt on 4th and 1 is the greatest vote of no confidence a coach can give their team in all of sport.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

It amazes me that everyone who bets with any regularity has a story like this but little seems to get done about it.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

Aye, good points all.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

Who says Bluesky will never recapture the pre-facist magic of early Twitter.

Non-follower replies to a light-hearted post with: "Yawn."

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

Well, indeed. While they've been messing about, Polanski has had so much time to eat their lunch that he's had their starter, main course and dessert and is now drinking their post-lunch cup of coffee.

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

Aye. Suspect the election of Polanski has put a much lower cap on Your Party's potential vote than they'd hoped for.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

I guess all politicians, no matter how selfless, must have a touch of egotism, but for someone to be hanging on like he is - rather than giving a new party his backing and supporting a new generation of leaders - tells you, I think, something about his self-image and conception of party politics.

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 1d

I mean, he could easily say, "I back this party and I'm proud to be one of its MPs, but it's time for new blood."

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