Champions League draw fixed?

Just looked on the BBC gossip column and saw this

Uefa has denied the Champions League draw was fixed - despite the quarter-final line-up appearing on the internet 90 minutes before the official ceremony had taken place. (Various)

Thoughts?

Nah it can't have been fixed! It was plain to see for everyone the paper coming from each ball!

I think it's a decent draw anyways!

Don't know what to think about this... Don't really see the point trying to fix the draw, because that doesn't mean the outcome of the match would be decided in advance. I suppose the point of this speculation would be that clubs would be paying for "easier" draws to advance further and that certain UEFA officials would be taking money for this.

IF it's true, then it is pathetic that some clubs would resort to this out of desperation as they don't succeed in Europe (Manure and Chavski anyone?), and would make me wonder how long it has been going on? We always seem to get a hard team so I think we're safe from all speculation, but it would make our success even more impressive to know we had UEFA drawing teams against us that we beat anyway! 

Yeah it was fixed thats why Utd got Roma after all the trouble last season,get real eh.

It's extremely dodgy.

Have a read on the original thread where the poster says he was given the draw as being LFC - Arse, Utd-Roma and Chelsea-Fener. Bookies weren't taking bets on the draw either.



Link

It dose sound very susupicious to me.

The leak was 100% correct , i mean i know it could be a coincidence but what are the odds? ....also why would the bookies stop taking bets once the informantion was leaked?

.......setting up yet another liverpool v chelsea semi me thinks

Somebody said the odds were 200-1 for that draw. UEFA have come out and denied that it was a fix. They say that the guy had a lucky guess. Wish I was that flippin' lucky. Interesting to note that  Arsenal and Liverpool have featured in the last 3 Finals. They must be getting sick of us.

Funny how we're going to end up with Chelsea again.

And Roma & Man Utd are going at it.  Oh well.  Accusations will be made, and nothing done about it.  Especially if it appeared 90 minutes before on the internet.  I suppose they can find a way to cover themselves every time.

Not sure on this one. If it is then its pathetic attempt to get through to the final by the Mancs and Chavs. No doubt in my mind if its fixed then its them two at the centre of it. They are desperate for European succes and never seem to get through so why not put in some money which we all know they have to try and better their odds.

Somebody said the odds were 200-1 for that draw. UEFA have come out and denied that it was a fix. They say that the guy had a lucky guess. Wish I was that flippin' lucky. Interesting to note that  Arsenal and Liverpool have featured in the last 3 Finals. They must be getting sick of us.

Apparently there were about 136 possible combinations.  So 136/1.

IU dont think it was fixed because for a start how would they do it without getting caught. We were just unlucky but ass-nal are stuttering at the moment so I think that given the form we are in and the 7 straight wins that we can beat them all times in that week.

SORRY but King Kenny are you being serious they've been doing it for years!,and getting away with it .
It goes on in all sports that are drawn by pulling balls out of the hat and as said previously they don't want us or arsenal in the final again,
so putting us together gets rid of one and then maybe chelsea will get rid of another english team.
To my reckoning it's the mancs behind it,but that's only my point of view.

SORRY but King Kenny are you being serious they've been doing it for years!,and getting away with it .
It goes on in all sports that are drawn by pulling balls out of the hat and as said previously they don't want us or arsenal in the final again,
so putting us together gets rid of one and then maybe chelsea will get rid of another english team.
To my reckoning it's the mancs behind it,but that's only my point of view.

Im afraid i have to disagree with you because how would they actually mark the balls or do something that was'nt visible to anyone else? the only thing i can think of is if they put something sticky on the balls but when they put them down you would be able to see the mark from the hand on the sticky bit. I know there is deffo fixing in some ports but I doubt it in the champions league because the amount of people there and the amount of people that would check the balls it would be far too risky.

Although i do agree that if there was fixing then the manc are behind it 

You can have the balls heated up or frozen before hand. I've also heard of a mark that you can use which can only be seen by someone wearing a special contact lense. Think about it though. Where is the final being held this year..?

i cant believe there is people here accusing others of being naive because they dont think the draw was fixed! JD said there was something like 136 possible combinations, i heard a similar figure so lets assume its correct because i cant be bothered doing the maths! think of all the predictions that had been made, even on this site alone there was loads, with probably thousands of people making predictions on various forums its bound to happen that at least one person makes the lucky guess and gets it right. if the draw had been different, someone else would have got it right. people are a bit too paranoid about this sort of thing!

Sounds a bit dodgey like, but doesn't really bother me. We got an ok draw.

I think it was fixed just watch the real hustle or some magicians it is easy once you no how, plus not taking bets on the champions league come on that was blatantly fixed   

At the end of the day even if it was fixed we will rub their noses in it even more when we win it again. Id rather take the hard route to the final anyway because then noone can say anything about us winning it by playing easy teams.

I cant believe there is people here accusing others of being naive because they dont think the draw was fixed! JD said there was something like 136 possible combinations, I heard a similar figure so lets assume its correct because I cant be bothered doing the maths! think of all the predictions that had been made, even on this site alone there was loads, with probably thousands of people making predictions on various forums its bound to happen that at least one person makes the lucky guess and gets it right. if the draw had been different, someone else would have got it right. people are a bit too paranoid about this sort of thing!

Well I gave it a try with the calculation and got 105 combinations (and I study math so it would be embarassing if its wrong  ).

The hot/cold-theory (4 cold, 4 warm) still leaves 24 combinations so that wouldnt give you exact results anyway, so I dont buy that theory.
And isnt it normally some legend footballer who pics the balls? They are rarely street magicians in their spare time are they?
Well, if the chances are that you get the right combination almost every 100th try, then spread a couple of roumors of the draw of any big quater-final draw (CL, UEFA-cup, FA-cup, World Cup) and within a couple of years you will quite probably have guessed the right one (chances that you get the right guess before try number 100 are quite good. The average number of times you would have to guess is around 50).
I can see that UEFA could have a motivation for fixing it (more entertaining games, better semis and final, more television viewers) but looking at how the draw is made, it seems too difficult and too big a chance to take, compared to the benefit, since quater finals are so unprdictable anyway.
So I agree with sharnerB, someone had a lucky guess.

You can also have hot/cold/heavy/light.

And I read today that the guy pulling out the balls could have had a magnet in his ring. Which is funny.   

I don't know what to think, but even if it is a fix, there is no way UEFA would admit it. So that's just the way it goes.

If anyone hasn't had a look at the link Reepicheep posted though, I suggest you have a look. It does seem a bit sussy.

An article from icLiverpool - link here

Here we Goa: Champions League draw mystery deepensMar 18 2008
by Vicki Kellaway, Liverpool Echo
 
A MYSTERIOUS informant in India was behind the tip that led to the Champions League draw prediction on the ECHO website.

All four ties were correctly identified on our Liverpool FC forum 90 minutes before the draw in Switzerland.

The man behind the prediction today revealed it came in a tip-off from Goa.

Identified on the website as “Confused”, the internet user asked to remain anonymous, but said he had been told the draw by two different contacts.

He said one of them received a “one-off” call from Goa on Tuesday.

The forum poster was so convinced he decided to place a £200 stake on the draw – but couldn’t find a bookmaker to take his money.

He said: “A friend received the call from abroad but was struggling to find someone who would take his money.

“No-one would take my money either.”

Several bookmakers said it was usual practice not to open a book on cup draws.

But William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe insisted the company would have offered 7-1 as the odds on one particular team drawing another.
He said: “Football fans are very interested in the outcome of a draw, but they are generally not interested in putting money on it. We were taking bets but there weren’t many made.

“It is hardly surprising someone had guessed a draw with limited options.

“There is nothing untoward going on. What would be the point? There would have to be so many people involved.”

The man’s post sparked a huge demand to log onto the ECHO website.

Former Russia goalkeeper Rinat Dasaev made the draw, which was televised live from Nyon, standing beside Uefa general secretary David Taylor.

Uefa spokesman William Gaillard said the draw was 150% honest and claimed the ECHO forum user “must have supernatural powers”.

READ the post that started the speculation here
 

If it was a lucky guess, I would have owned up by now. I couldn't handle all the phonecalls from journos and people wanting to know who I really was and where I got the info from. It's definitely suspect and I don't think we should be so innocent to think that any body wouldn't, or couldn't, arrange some plastic balls to be plucked from a bowl in a particular order.

anything is possible, with the amount of money involved I wouldn't be surprise if it was fixed, in term of fooling people on TV nothing easier at the age of digital you can trick any pictures anytime anywhere..

We all know that UEFA is not an English football fan, they can't stand the simple fact that the English league is the best in the world, simple as..The other point is that the final is in....Moscow..Humm..abra mowitch already booked hotel and party (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A32883339) if there is someone behind a fixing scandal, it will be chelsea not the mancs in my opinion.

If it is fixed, then what goes around comes around, at least if we win it nobody could say that we fixed it! arsenal, chelsea and man u to finish, couldn't have an harder way to go to the top again..Come on you Redmen!!