The Lead
Okay, so here in fact is the story so far. Oliver Kay publishes a Times of London “exclusive” on a Qatari proposal to establish something called the “Dream Football League.” Soon after it emerges that French magazine Les Cahiers du Football published a clearly satirical story on a league proposal with the same name on March 10th, with very similar details, and the same promotional photo attached. Both Kay and the Times however stand by the story.
Yesterday a man on Twitter named Rob Beal claims he is one of Kay’s sources on the story (and also stands by it). I did some investigating and it seems Beal has a history of alleged fraud, including establishing a fake security agency in Paris, a place he did not reside in at the time. Beal claims to work for a company named ESM in Paris, but it’s clear Beal is still based in Sheffield, UK.
What We Know
After I published my findings yesterday, a number of UK journalists with leading newspapers reached out anonymously to report Beal had been in contact with them in the past with story information that in many cases could not be independently verified and so was rejected. So we know he has a history of doing this sort of thing. Several others recounted to me allegations that Beal had personally threatened them on occasion. He may have also been involved in several possibly fraudulent schemes to purchase various football clubs. I’m awaiting further information on this front.
We also know that Oliver Kay and many other major football journalists followed Beal on Twitter, including several figures within Ligue 1 and PSG. This, it should be noted, doesn’t necessarily mean anything at all.
We also know that Cahiers du Football is adamant the story came completely from their own imagination. Editor Jerome Latta wrote a blog post today explaining the saga, and he’s of the belief Kay was somehow duped by a duplicitous source.
We also know the Times late last night wrote a follow-up piece which claimed several clubs had “admitted privately yesterday to having been sounded out by intermediaries working on behalf of such a project.” Which, if the piece is a complete fabrication, is obviously odd.
I’m also aware of another source in France adamant that a plan similar to the DFL existed, and that the league would be proposed in June of this year. They would not reveal their source to me but said they’ve provided reliable info in the past. He would not confirm to me whether the plan was in fact called the Dream Football League. They know Rob Beal but not in connection to this particular story.
What we don’t know
Timing is very important in this. I’ve heard that Kay began work on this story on Sunday, but the CdF piece was published late Monday. I don’t know for certain that Beal is an actual source on this, or is just having fun (he’s apparently been shopping around odd info to various reporters). I don’t know if other papers were approached with similar claims and rejected them.
Finally, I don’t know any other sources on this.
Possibilities
I’ll start with the weak possibilities and move to the strong.
1) Les Cahiers du Football is lying and weirdly based their satirical story on some sort of truth, which was later accurately reported by Oliver Kay.
2) Kay’s story is completely based on the CdF story, fed to him by Rob Beal and other sources working in tandem.
3) Kay worked more than once source, and one of them, possibly Beal, fed him the details and photo directly from CdF. The others may have confirmed to Kay that Qatar had concocted a plan similar to the DFL, which may have come to light at the latest European Club Association meeting in Doha in early February. Just an odd form of happenstance.
Any further info would always be appreciated.
Canada
Canada faces tough opposition in CONCACAF Gold Cup.
England
Wenger says PL failure in Champions League a wake-up call for all English sides.
England at risk of dropping in Uefa coefficient rankings.
Chelsea and United FA Cup replay on April 1, Easter Monday.
Italy
Roma considering Argentina’s Pezzella.
Former Inter player Sinisa Mihajlovic would like to manage the club in the future.
La Liga
Casillas recovery faster than expected, will return at the end of March.
Vilanova back to manage Barca March 25th.
Germany
Van Buyten interested in extending stay at Bayern.
Thomas Mueller answers questions over Bayern’s poor performance.
Bit and Bobs
The journey of Norwich’s Kei Kamara: From refugee to footballer.
The ball that refused to go in, hits woodwork four times.
Thanks to Alima Hotakie for compiling today’s links.
3.a – Beal lifted the story out of CdH. There are multiple sources, but they all lead back to this Beal character, unbeknownst to Kay.
The claims of other clubs that they had been approached by “intermediaries” could also have been Beal. Do we know what level of intermediaries in what form? Was this one guy on the phone claiming to be someone important, or where they actual club representatives meeting in person? This Beal fellow seems to have the balls to try and sell SWFC without an actual buyer, so phoning up some random footballs clubs doesn’t seem beyond him.
Fun reading, regardless.
Interesting news today from a journalist friend of mine who has spoken to Beal today, Beal is now saying he has ‘resigned’ from his company in Paris (he lives in Sheffield). He also said he had emailed the league logo to the Times (which appeared first on the spoof CdH story) but that it was “the wrong one” by mistake. Apparentally man U, Arsenal and Liverpool all telling press they have never been contacted about the Qatar league.
Just a comment on your first hypothesis that I assume you will agree with:
“1) Les Cahiers du Football is lying and weirdly based their satirical story on some sort of truth, which was later accurately reported by Oliver Kay.”
It is pretty obvious that Les Cahiers du Football based their satirical story on “some sort of truth”:
- Qatar has money
- Qatar has shown a growing interest in european professional football
- Qatar has/will have stadiums
To be precise, the weird thing would be that they pick an existing artwork and existing name and then claim to have invented them.
If we consider those two facts as true:
1. Beal knows the story is legit and acts as a source for Kay
2. Beal knows the Cahiers du Football article is a joke
Why would he provide an image from the “hoax” when trying to provide material to back up a true story? Doesn’t add up at all. If we had a case of preternatural coincidence and the story was indeed legit, surely the guy would have other proof than that image.
Guys, just a heads up to be very careful about what you say in the comments section here. We’re not liable for it.
if kay had indeed been working on it on the sunday, could cdh not have found out about the story(possibly from beal) and created this whole mess by publishing their story as soon as possible?
@tinman1330.
Yeah. Right.
And don’t get me started on Lee Harvey Oswald.
I didn’t mean they did it on purpose, and I don’t believe my scenario, but it is a scenario.
Just further to Matthews comment, please no one underestimate the levels Beal will go to to make himself look legit/important/connected. He has the front to contact people at very high level and pose as a serious business man, he can have conned countless people (and posed as many others) leavings “sources” and “leads” all over the place.
He has claimed to be imtemidiaries for people like Club 9 in the past (who also actually thought he was ligit it should be noted).
He has no shame whatsoever and seemingly no thoughts to the consequenses of his actions. What was that?? Did someone say sociopath?? No…? ok. I certainly didn’t……..