[SatNav21]

Liam popped into my work yesterday and my mate asked him plan for next season and he said he has option to come back for pre-season check on injury progress/trial

[Rodney's Moustache]

Dave In Footie Heaven, on 30 April 2017 - 04:20 PM, said:

Well 3 games is a good grounding for ghats view pointhe, was he on the way back after injury ?




So the club are blaming g CT for spending all this money yet in every other instance DA has to be consulted.

Not sure if he'd not played for a while prior to coming here so I'll be generous and say that he may not have been at his best

[Sammy Spireite]

SatNav21, on 03 May 2017 - 06:56 AM, said:

Liam popped into my work yesterday and my mate asked him plan for next season and he said he has option to come back for pre-season check on injury progress/trial

is "your work" a local lettings agency?

[Looker-on]

This is very long, but it is worth persevering with. It is another investigation by a foreign newspaper into Morris Pagniello, owner of the Genova International Soccer School, upon which some of the less reputable "Academy" schemes here in the UK seem to be based. This is of interest to us as it outlines how unscrupulous Academy owners manipulate the children and young adults in their care and milk their parents dry. It also includes a number of names to watch out for in any future CFC takeover news.

Here is the original, for anyone handy in Romanian:

http://www.gsp.ro/gs...ala-509602.html

And here is Google Translate, run through the Enigma machine. The photos referred to in the text can be seen in the original story.

EXCLUSIVE: Paginiello's Secrets - Why CFR Lied About Collaboration with the Italian Associated with Italy's "Dirty Soccer," plus Testimonies of Parents and Children Fooled by an International "Deception "

The picture below, taken on August 26, 2014, is an involuntary tribute to technology. At the same time, it is a huge farce of fate.
(my note - a photo of Morris, Abel Balbo and The Pope (!) appears here in the original)
In the picture, Pope Francis laughs and looks at the smartphone of the man with the slicked black hair. In the middle, Abel Balbo (The Pope's fellow countryman) smiles. Balbo, the former Argentinean international, has a double role at the meeting. It is the invitation of his friend Javier Zanetti, who came to the Vatican to discuss a peace match proposed by the pope himself, and at the same time he is a technical director at Genova International School of Soccer, the right-wing (?) football school.

The unknown in the picture is called Maurizio Antonio Pagniello, also called Morris. The Italian ready to make his selfie with the Pope is associated by the Spanish Intelligence Department with a Calabrean mobster group who runs football matches around the world.

"Morris is a wretched bounder* who deserves to be in prison"
Keegan Shankland, former CFR International player at Cluj

*Bob's swear filter steps in - the original suggested that the name of Morris's dad might be missing from his birth certificate!


First untruth: money taken by CFR

The group also has links in Romania. In the summer of 2016, Pagniello was involved in talks to take over four clubs in League 1 and League 2: FC Brasov, Poli Timisoara, U Cluj and Unirea Tarlungeni.

Three years before, in the summer of 2013, Pagniello led another team from Romania for several months, established after a partnership with CFR Cluj, and enrolled in the Romanian fourth division. Pagniello convinced the Romanians to partner with his football school, Genova International School of Soccer (GISS), an entity with a dubious reputation.

The Romanian team born of this association existed in a summer and autumn and was named CFR International Cluj. Now that Pagniello's involvement in Spain and Italy in two cases of match-fixing has come to light, the Gruia club officials are trying to delineate themselves from the controversial Italian.

In the relationship between CFR and Pagniello, "no money was moved from accounts," CFR President Iuliu Muresan said last week.

The Gazette contacted David Shankland, the coach of the academy set up by CFR and Pagniello in Canada. "Morris used the CFR name and paid, if I'm not mistaken, 4,000 euros per month. 40,000 euros per year. He paid some money. I think he had to make an initial payment for three months. After that, I do not think he paid." Shankland's account contradicts Mureşan's words.
Pagniello also appears in the Romanian Trade Register. In April 2013, the Italian became associated with a paid share capital of RON 1,000 in SC General International Management SRL. Pagniello's associate with equal rights in this company is called Vasile Boca.

"I am a close friend of the CFR club. I am in love with Mr President (Mr. Iuliu Muresan), Mr. Zamfir (formerly former sports director Răzvan Zamfir), Mr. Andone and Mandorlini. Until the company was set up, a school sponsorship agreement was to be made ... In the first two months, Morris sent the money or came personally and paid off, "says Boca, a 63-year-old businessman who served as project manager At the academy.

Mureşan says he does not remember if the CFR International team was registered in the 4th League: "I do not know. I am still finding out myself, but I do not believe it."

The president's friend, Vasile Boca, contradicts him: "They signed up for the fourth league and they think they played about five or six matches. After that, they did not show up. They did not send money to pay the match fees, these taxes. There may have been some disagreement with the Canadian coach. After I left, their numbers halved, then there was a month or two without playing, when they just trained "

Team coach David Shankland has a slightly different version: "CFR has provided us with the team coach (ie one on wheels) and helped us join the fourth league. With their names. I think I played 10 matches. I played until the winter break."

Carter's contract, Pagniello's player

CFR International included Australian, Canadian, American, Singaporean and Indian players.

The games were played on land in Cluj County, and images from some games are available on the Pagniello School Facebook page. In one of them, the footballers descend from the CFR team coach!
In September 2013, GISS stopped posting about their Romanian team. Instead, they covered the games of the main CFR team in which Anthony Carter, an Australian footballer from Pagniello's school, was involved.

Vasile Boca: "Most children brought from Morris to Cluj were from overseas. They could not stay for more than three months without a visa. But then I got it. He only planned to keep them for three months anyway, and then he brought others to replace them."

Although Iuliu Muresan tries to clarify Pagniello's role, saying that no money was transferred, Pagniello's player Carter was under contract to CFR until the summer of 2016 when he left for Portugal in Trofense. Carter was involved in five games for CFR

The bait: "friend" with the stars

On the Facebook account of Pagniello's academy, there are pictures of all major football stars, from Ronaldo, Zidane, Maradona, Ancelotti to Del Piero or Nedved. Inevitably, everyone is called "friends," "collaborators," or "representatives" of the Genova International School of Soccer.
A simple search on Google reveals dozens of clubs in Europe, Asia, America or Australia who at one point announced that they had been partnering with Morris Pagniello.

At the time of this article, a group of Japanese children are "in evidence" at the Leganes first league Spanish club, following a "collaboration" with GISS. No one can say exactly what the details of the partnership are.

Keegan Shankland, the coach of CFR International, is considered a victim of the Italian: "Morris has arranged for me and a friend to go for a trial in Italy with a club named Pro Vercelli. When I got there, I found out that the trial had finished! We trained there twice, but the people at Pro Vercelli didn't even come to watch us."

However, the young Canadian followed Pagniello to Cluj, where Shankland junior played for the mixed team trained by his father. David, the family's senior, explains: "This Pagniello must be unmasked. Watch how he gets young players whose dream is to become footballers and squeezes the money out of them and their parents. He has more than 100 players.

How does it work?

He goes to a club and says, "Take this player. We will pay you 500 euros per month for him." For a small club in southern Europe, that money means something. But in fact, parents pay for it. It costs him 500 euros to keep a player there, but the player's parents pay Pagniello 2,500 euros. "

When CFR International collapsed, Shankland had to pay off the debts left in Cluj by Pagniello. "We lost about 40,000 euros because of him. A few weeks before we left Cluj, I had to pay for the accommodation of the players, I had to pay for renting the training ground. I paid the hotel, I paid for an MRI for one of the players. I paid from my pocket, and I was not paid by Pagniello."

Surprisingly, Shankland followed Pagniello to Zakynthos, the second league in Greece, where the Italian tried to take over the club. "He had two guys who wanted to take over Zakynthos. They tried to squeeze the president, trying to leave the club without money so they could take it over. I imagine they did that in Spain too. " The Canadian coach says that he finally realized what Pagniello was up to and warned the president of Zakynthos about the risks of his partnership with Italian investors. The takeover of the club fell through, and Shankland remained 18 months in Greece. "I thought I'd sue him, but he's so dirty that I did not have a chance. Be sure it's everywhere. He's in Australia, he's in Spain, he's in America.

Hunting for rich parents

Another former Canadian player brought from Pagniello to Cluj, Jordan de Graaf, says "Everything that happened to me was suspicious. The players he brought in were very weak and all were told they had the chance to play with the pros. With all flights and a month of accommodation at the Italian academy, I think Morris owes me 10,000 Canadian dollars. My father was sending him money, so I do not know exactly how much he paid for everything. "

David Shankland, former coach of CFR International Cluj: "When I called him to say that accommodation had to be paid, Morris told me that he had given money to Vasile Boca. So I thought Vasile was robbing us of money. Now I know Vasile was honest. Perhaps Morris used us and Vasile, telling us he had sent money. We were in the middle. I did not talk to Vasile anymore, but then I felt embarrassed. I realized Morris was playing us. He probably told Vasile that I took the money
Boca says he dined a few times with Pagniello, occasionally hearing some incredible stories:

"He told me how they were in Australia. How he met with the kids there. He took Roberto Baggio with him. His role was to be at dinner with those who had dinner. They also paid an entrance ticket, of course. A sum to attend dinner with Roberto Baggio, where he talked to their sons about how to become a footballer. "
"It was evil. The disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was accompanied by an Indian child whose father was a multimillionaire. The private plane with which he came to Cluj was paid for by that father. Morris told the father that his son was very talented in football, but he had problems with physical training, and he found the man who would handle his training. Ben Johnson "

Dinner with Ancelotti, myth or reality?

On GISS Facebook, there is a poster promoting a meet & greet with coach Carlo Ancelotti, an event that Pagniello's school claimed to be organizing in Vancouver, Canada, on September 26, 2015. Entry tickets cost $ 300.
Ancelotti was on vacation in the Canadian city where his wife, Barrena McClay, lives: there is no evidence that the coach participated in Pagniello's dinner. Instead, the night before, Ancelotti drank in town with Pirlo and Lampard.

The Gazeta talked with a former collaborator from Italy to Pagniello. Under the protection of anonymity, he said: "Morris has moved his football school headquarters many times. He has the habit of not paying, he just rents the bases, he does not have his own base. When he moved his headquarters to Vicenza, he left his debts at the base, and also owed money to the coaches."

This post has been edited by Looker-on: 06 May 2017 - 10:26 AM

[Siberian Spireite]

I hope they brought their wellies because it sounds like they were knee-deep in Cluj.

[dim view]

Looker-on, on 06 May 2017 - 09:32 AM, said:

How does it work?

He goes to a club and says, "Take this player. We will pay you 500 euros per month for him." For a small club in southern Europe, that money means something. But in fact, parents pay for it. It costs him 500 euros to keep a player there, but the player's parents pay Pagniello 2,500 euros. "

The parallel being then that.....

Over 2 seasons, Graham Senior paid out 2,500 euros a month to Pagniello, who then gave CFC 500 euros a month (call it sponsorship) to take Liam, and CFC then paid Liam 500 euros a month as wages.

CFC get a player for nowt. Pagniello pockets 2000 euros a month net and uses the publicity of one of his starlets making it to the bigtime with CFC to attract more kids at 2500 euros a month.

Then Liam goes out on loan to Whitehawk and Pagniello naturally wants a slice of any fee Whitehawk are paying CFC, arguing that it is pure profit for CFC. So Turner tells Whitehawk they can have Liam for nowt.

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

dim view, on 06 May 2017 - 05:37 PM, said:

The parallel being then that.....

Over 2 seasons, Graham Senior paid out 2,500 euros a month to Pagniello, who then gave CFC 500 euros a month (call it sponsorship) to take Liam, and CFC then paid Liam 500 euros a month as wages.

CFC get a player for nowt. Pagniello pockets 2000 euros a month net and uses the publicity of one of his starlets making it to the bigtime with CFC to attract more kids at 2500 euros a month.

Then Liam goes out on loan to Whitehawk and Pagniello naturally wants a slice of any fee Whitehawk are paying CFC, arguing that it is pure profit for CFC. So Turner tells Whitehawk they can have Liam for nowt.

Crowbar the name 'Bingham' into this somewhere and it's very difficult to dismiss, my friend.

[dim view]

MDCCCLXVI, on 06 May 2017 - 05:42 PM, said:

Crowbar the name 'Bingham' into this somewhere and it's very difficult to dismiss, my friend.

A.G. says that Liam has had next to no dealings with Bingham. Who am I to argue?
Any idea who Liam's current agent is?

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

dim view, on 06 May 2017 - 06:17 PM, said:

A.G. says that Liam has had next to no dealings with Bingham. Who am I to argue?
Any idea who Liam's current agent is?

Good question.

Perhaps 'AG' can tell us.

[dim view]

MDCCCLXVI, on 06 May 2017 - 06:49 PM, said:

Good question.

Perhaps 'AG' can tell us.

This 'model' is worrying though in't it.

Here's a man who seems to have sufficient contacts to seduce dozens of parents on an international scale into paying him 2,500 euros a month because he can claim rightly or wrongly that he has contacts with a professional football club(s). With that kind of potential earnings, it's almost worth buying a football club on the never never.

What's even more galling is that if the arrangement had been properly handled at CFC, I can't see a lot wrong with it. It might rely on interacting with gullible parents but you can point to hundreds of enterprises that successfully do that and it just may have thrown up a superstar.

[Mr Mercury]

MDCCCLXVI, on 06 May 2017 - 06:49 PM, said:

Good question.

Perhaps 'AG' can tell us.

As is quite common in these threads, people appear from nowhere to throw themselves / others / associates to the mercy of social media pleading innocence, naivity and ignorance. It all goes well for a few posts until genuine posters ask genuine questions they then disappeR into the ether and are rarely heard of again!

[brockwell-spireite]

Mr Mercury, on 06 May 2017 - 09:59 PM, said:

As is quite common in these threads, people appear from nowhere to throw themselves / others / associates to the mercy of social media pleading innocence, naivity and ignorance. It all goes well for a few posts until genuine posters ask genuine questions they then disappeR into the ether and are rarely heard of again!

He explained his appearance pretty articulately in his opening post didn't he? As well as the fact he wouldn't post anymore. For example it's been claimed the player was on £1000 a week ... now it's 500 euros...quite a difference, which one is it?

speculating about things online like this can damage someone's reputation and nobody seems to care....Until someone asked f2 a question that is, then the responses were "he has his personal reasons and doesn't have to explain himself" which by the way I fully agree with and it's not a pop at f2, just pointing out a double standard.

Remember the original poster tried to give you an explanation.. he wasn't obliged to tell you anything before "disappearing" but your response makes it sound like he has something to hide simply because he doesn't respond to every theory and allegation on this board made by people he doesn't know.

I understand why people are suspicious of goings on, but remember not everybody is to blame and clearly not all information and gossip is true.

[Mr Mercury]

brockwell-spireite, on 07 May 2017 - 07:41 AM, said:

He explained his appearance pretty articulately in his opening post didn't he? As well as the fact he wouldn't post anymore. For example it's been claimed the player was on £1000 a week ... now it's 500 euros...quite a difference, which one is it?

speculating about things online like this can damage someone's reputation and nobody seems to care....Until someone asked f2 a question that is, then the responses were "he has his personal reasons and doesn't have to explain himself" which by the way I fully agree with and it's not a pop at f2, just pointing out a double standard.

Remember the original poster tried to give you an explanation.. he wasn't obliged to tell you anything before "disappearing" but your response makes it sound like he has something to hide simply because he doesn't respond to every theory and allegation on this board made by people he doesn't know.

I understand why people are suspicious of goings on, but remember not everybody is to blame and clearly not all information and gossip is true.

Yes that's a fair response when read in hindsight. Just seems to be too many new posters appearing then disappearing that's all. He was much more articulate than most of them.

[dim view]

brockwell-spireite, on 07 May 2017 - 07:41 AM, said:

He explained his appearance pretty articulately in his opening post didn't he? As well as the fact he wouldn't post anymore. For example it's been claimed the player was on £1000 a week ... now it's 500 euros...quite a difference, which one is it?

speculating about things online like this can damage someone's reputation and nobody seems to care....Until someone asked f2 a question that is, then the responses were "he has his personal reasons and doesn't have to explain himself" which by the way I fully agree with and it's not a pop at f2, just pointing out a double standard.

Remember the original poster tried to give you an explanation.. he wasn't obliged to tell you anything before "disappearing" but your response makes it sound like he has something to hide simply because he doesn't respond to every theory and allegation on this board made by people he doesn't know.

I understand why people are suspicious of goings on, but remember not everybody is to blame and clearly not all information and gossip is true.

He hasn't given any clear explanations.
He didn't mention 500 euros.
He didn't say he wouldn't appear any more. He said he had nothing to add on a particular question.
He made a statement about Bingham/Liam which is disputed in CFC minutes.
He brought up the subject of Liam's new agent even though nobody had asked.

Clearly not all information and gossip is true.
Did you become his agent as soon as Liam's clearance came through?

This post has been edited by dim view: 07 May 2017 - 08:11 AM

[Benno Spire]

dim view, on 06 May 2017 - 07:31 PM, said:

This 'model' is worrying though in't it.

Here's a man who seems to have sufficient contacts to seduce dozens of parents on an international scale into paying him 2,500 euros a month because he can claim rightly or wrongly that he has contacts with a professional football club(s). With that kind of potential earnings, it's almost worth buying a football club on the never never.

What's even more galling is that if the arrangement had been properly handled at CFC, I can't see a lot wrong with it. It might rely on interacting with gullible parents but you can point to hundreds of enterprises that successfully do that and it just may have thrown up a superstar.

You have to ask whether anyone at CFC was on a commission for taking these players

[brockwell-spireite]

dim view, on 07 May 2017 - 08:11 AM, said:

He hasn't given any clear explanations.
He didn't mention 500 euros.
He didn't say he wouldn't appear any more. He said he had nothing to add on a particular question.
He made a statement about Bingham/Liam which is disputed in CFC minutes.
He brought up the subject of Liam's new agent even though nobody had asked.

Clearly not all information and gossip is true.
Did you become his agent as soon as Liam's clearance came through?

No you mentioned 500 euros yesterday as part of your theory and the £1000 per week previously....you also mentioned seeing a spread sheet of players wages but not how you came across it or if you had the players permission?

"AG" also suggested you or anyone else could contact the player directly didn't he? But you obviously prefer to just speculate on the thread.

I am not and never have been Liams agent not that it is any of your business, I know you think you are being clever in the way you word that question but I'd ask you to be careful about not making false statements about me.

[Benno Spire]

brockwell-spireite, on 07 May 2017 - 08:25 AM, said:

No you mentioned 500 euros yesterday as part of your theory and the £1000 per week previously....you also mentioned seeing a spread sheet of players wages but not how you came across it or if you had the players permission?

"AG" also suggested you or anyone else could contact the player directly didn't he? But you obviously prefer to just speculate on the thread.

I am not and never have been Liams agent not that it is any of your business, I know you think you are being clever in the way you word that question but I'd ask you to be careful about not making false statements about me.

Someone's touched a nerve. A simple yes or no to the question would have been fine

[dim view]

brockwell-spireite, on 07 May 2017 - 08:25 AM, said:

No you mentioned 500 euros yesterday as part of your theory and the £1000 per week previously....you also mentioned seeing a spread sheet of players wages but not how you came across it or if you had the players permission?

"AG" also suggested you or anyone else could contact the player directly didn't he? But you obviously prefer to just speculate on the thread.

I am not and never have been Liams agent not that it is any of your business, I know you think you are being clever in the way you word that question but I'd ask you to be careful about not making false statements about me.

You are threatening me for asking you a question?
My, we are nervous.
If your contribution on here raises the thought in my mind that you might be his agent then I'm allowed to ask, and it is my business.

I saw a spreadsheet laid out in a pub bar. Why would I need anybody's permission to quote from it?

[brockwell-spireite]

dim view, on 07 May 2017 - 08:37 AM, said:

You are threatening me for asking you a question?
My, we are nervous.
If your contribution on here raises the thought in my mind that you might be his agent then I'm allowed to ask, and it is my business.

I saw a spreadsheet laid out in a pub bar. Why would I need anybody's permission to quote from it?

You could simply ask are you his agent? You could also have asked me that via a private message for example and I would have happily told you in a more polite way.

I never have wanted to get into an us vs them situation on here, but posts like the above annoy me, not worry me. You chose to frame the question the way you did to infer that I am his agent, quite simply you are wrong and fishing and it is misleading.

Where exactly was my threat??? And you say I'm nervous??? Bit ironic that! Next time you feel the need to ask me a question drop me a message I've been clear that I don't like to discuss my personal or business life on this or any other online forum .

So a spreadsheet of player salaries is laid out in the pub... may I ask who provided it? Let me guess... you sat down with half a lime and soda and it was already there?

If the club provided that information then they are being transparent, something many accuse them of not being..

if a club employee leaked it have they broken the law?

Is leaking player salaries good for the club no matter posters suspicions? Is t good for player a to learn player b earns more than him? Is it good for people at other clubs to find out what your better players are earning? Is it good for agents to find out your wage structure ahead of potential negotiations? The answer is probably no to all of the above.

[dim view]

brockwell-spireite, on 07 May 2017 - 08:48 AM, said:

You could simply ask are you his agent? You could also have asked me that via a private message for example and I would have happily told you in a more polite way.

I never have wanted to get into an us vs them situation on here, but posts like the above annoy me, not worry me. You chose to frame the question the way you did to infer that I am his agent, quite simply you are wrong and fishing and it is misleading.

Where exactly was my threat??? And you say I'm nervous??? Bit ironic that! Next time you feel the need to ask me a question drop me a message I've been clear that I don't like to discuss my personal or business life on this or any other online forum .

So a spreadsheet of player salaries is laid out in the pub... may I ask who provided it? Let me guess... you sat down with half a lime and soda and it was already there?

If the club provided that information then they are being transparent, something many accuse them of not being..

if a club employee leaked it have they broken the law?

Is leaking player salaries good for the club no matter posters suspicions? Is t good for player a to learn player b earns more than him? Is it good for people at other clubs to find out what your better players are earning? Is it good for agents to find out your wage structure ahead of potential negotiations? The answer is probably no to all of the above.

I drew the conclusion from your post that Liam Graham's affairs affect your business life. That's because you praise AG's post and he told us that Liam didn't have an agent but now he does. If you don't like people drawing those conclusions then either keep clear of online forums or weigh up the probability of that conclusion being drawn before you hit the enter key. People might say I'm wrong to draw that conclusion but that's a chance I have to take without getting mardy.