Michael Laudrup is probably going to wish that he didn’t answer all journalists questions from now on with the media coverage that this incident is likely to gain, with Laudrup stating that he has no problem with rivals paying teams to win. He was being asked about the match-fixing scandals that have rocked Italian football in recent years, most notably Juventus. Laudrup has spent time managing in Spain and his remarks could be a reflection upon some of the activities occuring in La Liga also.

He remarked that if a team, perhaps Swansea, were set to play another team who were struggling to stay in the league, perhaps Wigan, then a 3rd team fighting relegation, maybe Southampton, came and offered Swansea money to beat Wigan in order to protect their league status then he would see no real problem with that. He went on to stress that he was completely against match fixing and so-on, and that it needs to be more clearly defined, but as an outsider looking in its hard to see how this proposal could be seen as anything other than match-fixing – you’re giving a team an extra incentive to win, which is unfair for the team they’re playing.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Laudrup following his remarks, I expect that FIFA or the FA will want to get involved somehow to rectify the situation with the new Swansea boss likely to get some kind of fine or other punishment. Perhaps a better resolution would be to educate the manager on the right way to be a football manager.