I swear, if national treasure Mo Farah took the England job even he would be linked to some horrible stuff. Gareth Southgate is clearly an OK bloke. Ain’t he? We’re horrible, us journalists.
Operation ‘Ruin Gareth Southgate’ has begun.
Operation ‘Ruin Southgate’ begins thanks to @MirrorFootball. I’d not take #ENG job for £3m! The dirt they’d dig!?? pic.twitter.com/R0sg9yNidQ
— Robert Summerscales (@robsummerscales) October 7, 2016
According to The Mirror, Southgate – who takes to the dugout in his first game as England manager against Malta on Saturday night – invested in two partnerships set up by notorious investment firm Ingenious, which disputes the taxman’s avoidance allegations.
The 46-year-old allegedly joined Inside Track 1 LLP and Inside Track 3 LLP back in 2004 as a player. Then, along with 400 other investors, he has been hit with a tax demand by HM Revenue and Customs.
It is claimed that hundreds of millions of pounds were invested – not all by our Gareth – with the intention of backing the British film industry. Ingenious helped fund movies such as Avatar and Life of Pi.
The Mirror’s report suggests that, following a tax tribunal ruling, investors have been facing a huge bill for unpaid tax, interest and legal fees amounting to £434million. The overall £620million tax bill allegedly owed by Ingenious covers all of its film and subsidiary schemes.
Southgate’s supposed involvement in this scandal comes barely a week on from a Telegraph exclusive that saw undercover reporters record Sam Allardyce on video making several controversial remarks, which led to him leaving his job as England manager after just 67 days in charge.
This Mirror headline seems like just another attempt to ruin the reputation of an England manager.
Does anyone have a completely clean slate in life, FFS? The journalists covering this story probably don’t. And CaughtOffside editor Rob Summerscales surely doesn’t based on his Tweet above!
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