Donald Belcham

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

@offsidetwice I was told by people at the league that the FCEdm Academy shut down was because the writing was on the wall for the league to have to run the team and they didn't want to incur that expense.

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

This place is a festering shit hole filled with racists and apologists for the worst kind of people the world has on offer.

[Stan's Account @tristandross]

entirely appropriate that every other club in the competition should be punished because maccabi's fans aren't able to go around europe chanting 'death to arabs' without getting beaten up

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

@CamH___ <pumps first> still on track for my CSA C level coaching badge. One day I'll get there ;)

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

@CamH___ Running laps is though, right? Right?

[🇵🇸 Finbar Lynch 🇱🇧 @deadflegblues]

Imagine it had been CSKA Moscow in Amsterdam, tearing down Ukrainian flags, chanting "death to Ukrainians" and disrupting a minute's silence for flood victims-

Oh wait, they're banned from European comps.

Kinda seems like there was a very easy way to avoid all of this!

[Rafael Shimunov 🍉 🕎 @rafaelshimunov]

Since Maccabi Tel Aviv is trending, come and get to know its soccer/football fans who ignited anti-Arab hate and violence in Amsterdam, leading to reprisals from Arabs who were attacked (and who are universally being smeared as antisemites engaging in pogroms).

🧵

[Joe Kassabian @JoeKassabian]

A fascist football club getting stomped into the ground so hard it causes an international emergency evacuation program might be the funniest thing that has happened in a long time.

[Karl Hansen @karl_fh]

Now that the Chief Rabbi has come out in support of the Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans, I want the Archbishop of Canterbury to back the Millwall firm and Pope Francis to defend the Boca Juniors ultras.

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

@arnonematthew23 @CPLsoccer Don't you have a corner flag to go assault?

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

And that's the kind of thing you get when you play your kids more than 3min a game

[Magic hat 🎩 @themagic_tophat]

⚖️ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝟭𝟯𝟬 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀 ⬇️

It’s something that I’ve covered multiple times, in different ways, across my threads on the topic. You can find them pinned to my profile.

Yet I still constantly get asked the question; 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙈𝙖𝙣 𝘾𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙?

So I thought it helpful to pick out specific points and aggregate them to focus solely on this question.

My certainty comes from analysing, in-depth:
1., The CAS decision from Man City v Uefa for similar charges in 2020.
2., All of the leaked email evidence available in the public domain.
3., The recent APT hearing decision.

In summary…

The CAS decision provides a very good view of how some of the evidence will likely be interpreted, as well as how Man City previously defended themselves and what it would take to crush that defence. It also provides insight into what Man City’s witnesses are committed to (they cannot contradict testimony afforded at CAS without being impeached).

The leaked email evidence provides the minimum fact-base that the PL will have at its disposal.
We know the emails are real because:
a) That was revealed at the CAS hearing; and
b) If they weren’t, Man City would have had to end this years ago at arbitration or the High Court.
That fact-base helps us understand how the PL can substantiate their charges and it helps us to hypothesise potential mitigating evidence and arguments that Man City could conceive.

The APT decision provides insight into Man City’s current defence strategy and where it has already failed, leaving them vulnerable.

In detail…

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

This kind of transparency and plan is what I hoped to see from all the teams in the CanPL.

[Drew Beckie @DrewBeckie]

As we end the 2024 season and go into the playoffs, there have been some key developments in our professional pathway that need to be clarified within what is Atletico Ottawa and everything below the club. We need front facing communication on what we are doing 🧵

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

@CamH___ Well done man

[Serious Soccer Consulting @serioussoccer]

Serious Goalkeeping alumni Kieran Baskett with his season highlights from the past year in Norway. He has one game remaining in the season and his team currently sits in third place (best season ever for the club), only a single point out of promotion.

https://t.co/29gOWkLFwX

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

HFX has to start getting football right in the first team and in the bigger development/recruitment sense. I think the big question is if Martin, who acknowledges his lack of football acumen, will finally hire an experienced person (likely from overseas) to head it all

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

HFX season over. 7 wins in 28. I suspect mgmt will try to play off recency bias and will remind fans that they "ended on a winning note" instead of addressing the full season's failure. They might try to not talk about it at all, which is what they did in 2022

[Donald Belcham @dbelcham]

The org is a mess on all levels except marketing....and that is only going to work for so long with the fans. hFX is not yet an embedded institution in the city/region and will face competition for fan $$ next year when the Tides start up.