Proof Man U a buy out ,rigg & corrupt games fi years

[Sir X]

Inside the sensational match-fixing scandal involving Manchester United and Liverpool

By ADAM CRAFTON
PUBLISHED: 04:36 EST, 8 February 2013 | UPDATED: 06:14 EST, 8 February 2013

• Comments (0)
• Share
• 
  
  

Liverpool have this week been absolved from playing any part in the match-fixing that is alleged to have taken place during their Champions League group stage victory over Debrecen in 2009 but Sportsmail can reveal that the Reds have previously been implicated, along with Manchester United, in their own extraordinary match-fixing scandal – in 1915.

This remarkable, 98-year-old tale tells how four Liverpool players and three United players ‘squared’ a football match, in a move that would rescue United from the threat of relegation, strike a dagger into the integrity of English football, and lead to the heart-wrenching death of one of the finest footballers to grace Old Trafford.
It is April 1915 and United are facing an almighty struggle to avoid relegation from Division One, while Liverpool are in mid-table, with the two clubs facing off at Old Trafford on Good Friday.

Fixers: Sandy Turnbull (second row, third from right) sits next to Enoch West and Arthur Whalley sits on the left of the front row (all three are circled)

MATCH FACTS

Manchester United 2 Liverpool 0 (April 2, 1915)

Anderson (2)
MANCHESTER UNITED: Beale; Hodge, Spratt, Montgomery, O'Connell, Haywood, Meredith, Potts, Anderson, West, Norton.
Manager: Jack Robson
LIVERPOOL: Scott; Longworth, Pursell, Fairfoul, Bratley, MacKinlay, Sheldon, Banks, Pagnam, Miller, Nicholl.
Manager: Tom Watson.
Attendance: 18,000.

The hosts win 2-0, and it is two points that will prove pivotal in their battle to stave off the drop, as they finish the season just two points clear of relegated Tottenham. But the bookmakers are suspicious. They have noticed a splurge of bets being placed on United to win by that scoreline at odds of 7-1.
A subsequent investigation, led by the Football League after an official complaint from the bookies, discovers that Liverpool’s captain Jackie Sheldon – a former United player and the man believed to be the brains behind the plan - and his team-mates Bob Pursell, Tom Miller and Thomas Fairfoul met up on a series of occasions at a Manchester pub with United players Enoch West, Arthur Whalley and Sandy Turnbull. As part of a betting coup, the players decided that United were to win the game 2-0, and would score one goal either side of half time.

The scam was successfully carried out, with a goal in each half from George Anderson handing United the desired 2-0 victory.

After a long, drawn out investigation from the authorities (some things never change), the Football League announced their verdict in December 1915, releasing the following statement: 'It is proved that a considerable sum of money changed hands by betting on the match, and that some of the players profited thereby. By their action they have sought to undermine the whole fabric of the game and discredit its honesty and fairness.'
All seven players, as well as an eighth, Stockport County’s Lawrence Cook, were found guilty and handed a life ban from football.

And this is where we come to the tragic story of Turnbull, one of the United players implicated in the rigging process, present at the meetings and subsequently banned, though he did not play in the match itself.
Cup kings: United with the three trophies they won in 1909. Sandy Turnbull is seated front right

Following the controversy, it was suggested to the eight players that they may see their life bans rescinded if they were to sign up to the armed forces during the First World War.

Six of them would eventually return to football, having their sentences overturned after the war in recognition of their services to the country. Two, however, would not.

Enoch West, a Manchester United forward, decided not to go to war and fought several court battles to clear his name from the betting ring, but his name was only cleared in 1945, when West was 59 and the turnaround only came about as part of a general amnesty.
Turnbull’s story, however, is more distressing.
By this stage, he had become a somewhat notorious figure in English football. Prior to his involvement in the 1915 betting scandal, Turnbull was one of 17 players banned after an ‘illegal payments’ controversy that emerged when he was playing for Manchester City, which resulted in he, along with another Billy Meredith, being transferred to neighbours United in 1906.

Winners: United captain Charlie Roberts holding the FA Cup on the steps of Manchester Town Hall

A year later, Turnbull became the first player to be sent off in a Manchester derby, with the Manchester Guardian reporting: 'Sandy Turnbull (Manchester United) and Manchester City striker Eadie made themselves ridiculous early in the game by repeatedly making grimaces at each other and, in the second half Turnbull lost self-control so far as to strike Dorsett to the ground. He was promptly ordered off the field by the referee.'
For all his transgressions, though, Turnbull was a revelation for Manchester United. Like so many United greats, Turnbull was a passionate, driven, working-class Scot, the son of a miner. He was an integral part of the club’s first great side, managed by Ernest Magnall, which won league titles in 1908 and 1911. Turnbull scored 101 goals in 247 United appearances, which makes him the 19th highest scoring player in the club's history, narrowly behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

Turnbull crucially scored the winning goal in the club’s first FA Cup final triumph over Bristol City in 1909 and that goal could be described as one of the most important in United’s history, as the Cup success persuaded chairman John Henry Dawes to fund the construction of a new stadium – Old Trafford.
Turnbull scored the first ever goal at Old Trafford in 1910 but his career began to regress - and ten there was the betting scandal.

Poignant: The death certificate of Sandy Turnbull (right), featuring the memorial at Arras

FINAL DIVISION ONE TABLE 1914-15

Games
Points
Everton
38
46
Oldham
38
45
Blackburn
38
43
Burnley
38
43
Manchester City
38
43
Sheff Utd
38
43
The Wednesday
38
43
Sunderland
38
41
Bradford PA
38
41
West Bromwich
38
40
Bradford City
38
40
Middlesbrough
38
38
LIVERPOOL
38
37
Aston Villa
38
37
Newcastle
38
32
Notts County
38
31
Bolton
38
30
MANCHESTER UNITED
38
30
Chelsea
38
29
(R) Tottenham
38
28

In 1916, Turnbull, born Alexander but nicknamed Sandy, joined the 17th Duke of Cambridge Batallion, known as the ‘Footballers Batallion’ of the Middlesex Regiment. Turnbull was enlisted believing that he would be on the path to recovery, safe in the conviction that he could return to football after the war.
He was soon transferred to the 8th Batallion East Surrey Regiment and in April 1917, at the Battle of Arras, Turnbull’s regiment were ambushed by a German counter-attack near the village of Cherisy.

In a battle involving around 500 men, 90 were killed, 150 were wounded, and another 90 were captured.

Turnbull was wounded and captured and a letter was sent to his wife Florence: 'I am writing to try to explain what has happened to your dear husband, Alec. He was wounded, and much to our sorrow, fell into German hands, so I hope you will hear from him.

'After Alec was wounded he "carried on" and led his men for a mile, playing the game until the last we saw of him. We all loved him, and he was a father to us all and the most popular man in the regiment. All here send our deepest sympathy.'

Florence never did hear from Sandy, and the footballer is presumed have been killed in captivity, aged just 33. Historians say his body is likely to be lying somewhere under the fields of Northern France.

His name is engraved into the Arras memorial – which commemorates 34,785 soldiers from the forces of the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand, with no known grave, who died in the Arras region between the spring of 1916 and August 1918.
It seems poignant, on the week that we remember the Busby Babes who died in the Munich air disaster in February 1958, that we also reflect on the life of Turnbull, another United great, whose story is relatively unknown.
His great-niece, Natalie Jones, told Sportsmail: 'I was always told about the great Sandy Turnbull as I was growing up, particularly by my grandmother, and I will ensure my children are told about him too. She never spoke about the match fixing, we just knew he was a good footballer.

'There were a number of other footballers in the family too, but Sandy (Alex) was the most famous. Taking a trip to Old Trafford was the most fascinating, and my grandmother and I also met his grandchildren - which was lovely.
'I know that the other footballers involved were pardoned after the war, it's a shame Sandy wasn't alive to have been too. Sandy, a miner's son, was the first man to ever score a goal at Old Trafford - the working man's hero. And I think he should be remembered for that.'
HOW THE PAPERS REPORTED THE FIXED MATCH

The Liverpool Daily Post reported: 'A more one-sided first half would be hard to witness.'

The Sporting Chronicle wrote 'The Liverpool forwards gave the weakest exhibition in this half [the second] seen on the ground during the season.'

The Manchester Daily Dispatch reported, maybe most tellingly: 'The second half was crammed with lifeless football. United were two up with 22 minutes to play and they seemed so content with their lead that they apparently never tried to increase it. Liverpool scarcely ever gave the impression that they would be likely to score.'

Thanks to Neil Smith, Head of History at Manchester Grammar School for research assistance

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz2KJHhXYdY
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook