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Too complicated to explain to a mainstream audience. I was hired loads of times to explain them to the IFAs selling them at the time and I came away wondering how many really grasped them. But there were genuine films as well as a few frauds. Don't believe half the rubbish written in the Times and Sunday Times. BTW I was a witness on behalf of HMRC in one Film Tax Fraud trial, saw it from all angles at the technical end. But Gordon Brown liked them at first because it helped perk up the British Film Industry. He was a poor chancellor in many ways and was duped into a personal feud between Dave Hartnet and Patrick McKenna.
In answer to the BBC bias question, this was not too bad actually, slightly inaccurate in places but it is hard to explain some of the tax techncalities here. Despite 'tutting' at some of the ignorant comments, I don't have an issue with it overall and I was a Film Scheme expert back then (I didn't promote them before you ask!)
But here are some truths that were glossed over by the documentary:
1) Film Tax Schemes didn't dodge tax, they deferred tax. If allowed to go through their planned lives the tax would have got paid, just later than otherwise 2) I do not have the facts on every scheme, but the amounts owed by the footballers to HMRC are probably interest on tax, and not actual tax which was not made clear. 3) Gordon Brown did a huge U-Turn aroud in (I think) 2005/6; after previously celebrating the growth in UK Films he decided to start attacking them. A disgusting turn of events, but I think he was driven by some disgusting people at HMRC. 4) The Government did not intentionally promote these schemes, they were the result of the 1997 Film Tax write offs legislation (known as s48 in the profession) and the invention of LLPs in 2000. Gordon Brown loved it for a while. 5) HMRC should get a bad press for the way they persecuted these schemes and there have been suicides (I understand) involving middle class people whose lives were ruined by what HMRC did. It wasn't just footballers. 6) Dave Hartnet of HMRC was found to be illegally feeding The Times and Sunday Times confidential information about Ingenious and its owner Patrick McKenna. He had to resign, but this is rarely mentioned in these stories (which I find sickening and is my main gripe with this documentary). 7) Basically, a lot of people, even beyond football, suffered because of HMRC's disgusting vendetta against Patrick McKenna and the Times and Sunday Times should hang their heads in shame for promoting HMRC's propoganda. Time after time they ran stories about footballers investing in tax schemes which were less than honest in the way the stories were constructed at the time. 8) I suspect that most of the footballers' money was actually lost on the property deals etc. rather than the film tax schemes. 9) I had a Premiership star as a client at the time, told him not to invest and he kept questionning me asking: 'why are all the other players in the dressing room investing?'. I think he later appreciated my warnings.
I'm no fan of the BBC, but for all the things this documentary got wrong, most of it was reasonable and it is worth a watch.
Safety nets for clubs in Administration? Hmmm, HMRC in the past it seems ..... I bet Leicester City never repaid the tax Gordon Brown (upon request from Keith Vaz) let them off in 2007 when they won the Premiership a few years later!
She was from Southall, a couple of years older than my parents, who used to tell me that they remember her singing locally, in chiuches etc when they were young.
I can tell you Brian Murphy was a genuinely nice guy in real life too .... although we knew he was ill, I don't think it was expected right now, so a little bit of a shock.
Youth breakthroughs plus Saito , plus Dembele, oh and hang on Nardi too ... sack the recruitment department imeediately :) ...then there's Alfie Lloyd being deveoped too ... shocking! Oh, hang on, what's that guy with a surname starting with V who's starting to look half decent? Oh yeah, Varane Sack Noury now! God, the citicals must be having a horrid Christmas with all this success
This was so good I can't believe people then tried to better it, especially those who tried to embelish it .... a clear piece of genius and shoulfd win hands down. I write a lot of these (non football - for other reasons) and that was just excellent.
Senny Dieng and Anfernee Dijksteel from Boro, have both scored more goals for QPR than Zan Celar .... A record they could both retain for a long time to come based on the evidence of last night's latest non-contribution from Celar!
And please don't tell me he's our only fit striker ... he's clearly not a striker is he? Trades Description Act case perhaps?
LOL I think it is still plagiarism if you don't get caught, but love the nuance, made me chuckle :)
My style could never imitate Clive's great writing of course, but I did nick his basic idea, which is plagiarism ... and by owning up I guess I've been caught, ...
Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery ... and as a big fan of Clive's reporting, this opportunity to develop his theme from the Burnley game was just too good to miss! This is the report on the Swedish winner's tactics in this week's West London Cycling Online Cycle Race .... and it all starts with Gareth Ainsworth .... never thought I'd work him into one of my cycling reports!
.... seeing a teenage me on the footage celebrating that David Webb goal brings back some memories. In those days Match of the Day was far more important than these Premiershite, Celebrity Soccer, Big Brand days of Gary Waneker and Alan Shiterer.
I think for about a week after that game people were coming up to me and saying they saw me on Match of the Day. Of course, being on TV means very little these days, but back then, with only three channels and less disposable income, it was far more influential and watched.
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