Not merely just a bit thick, Wayne Rooney is actually a really nasty piece of work, and his personal milieu is one of gangsters in the literal, criminal sense of the word. It is five years since my friend John Sweeney told me this,and he this year published the well researched Rooney’s Gold. Even after vetting by libel lawyers it is a horribly seedy tale.
Much kudos to Iain Dale for publishing it, after libel lawyers scared off big publishers. I don’t think any Manchester United fans will have bought it – they should now, and be happy the ugly shit is going.
I was very proud at the passion and guts Scotland showed in their 2-3 defeat by Spain – a feeling of pride in the team’s spirit English fans have not known for years. Read Rooney’s Gold and you will see why top flight English foorball will never be linked to noble endeavour again.
I forget, did Scotland ever get to the World Cup Finals?
Yes, Scotland did get to the World Cup Finals – in (relatively) recent times, 1974 and 1978 and 1982. In the 1960s and 1970s, a considerable number of the best players in the top levels of the English League were Scottish. Changed days all round, of course. Sadly.
Always knew that sport was a dirty business but this…. !!
CIA paid Liverpool buyout tycoon millions…to use his jet for ‘torture’ flights
By Sharon Churcher and Chris Hastings
A jet owned by a senior executive in the US firm which has bought Liverpool Football Club was chartered by the CIA and used in flights allegedly linked to the rendition of terror suspects.
The plane is owned by Phillip Morse, 69, the vice-chairman of New England Sports Ventures, which bought the club on Friday for £300million.
An investigation has established that between 2002 and 2005 the CIA chartered the plane from Mr Morse for millions of pounds and made extensive use of it.
Paid by the CIA: Philip Morse, above right, with ex-U.S. president George Bush Snr
Inquiries by the European Parliament and human rights groups have linked the plane to alleged extraordinary rendition operations which took place during the same period.
A European Parliament report linked the jet directly to the abduction of Abu Omar, an Islamic preacher, who was snatched from a Milan street by the CIA in 2003 before being taken to Cairo.
Extraordinary rendition entails the abduction and transfer of a terrorist suspect from one country to another. People have been taken to states such as Egypt, Syria, Morocco and Uzbekistan which are suspected of practising torture in violation of a United Nations Convention.
The disclosure that such a senior figure in New England Sports Ventures (NESV) has been paid millions by the CIA is likely to alarm football fans already concerned that one of the country’s most prestigious clubs is still in American hands.
Snatched: Abu Omar was apprehended by the CIA while in Italy
Mr Omar was snatched by the CIA in 2003 despite having been granted political asylum by the Italian government. He was moved to an American air force base at Aviano near Venice before being transported to a NATO base in Ramstein in Germany. He was then flown from Germany to Cairo.
The European Parliament report reproduced flight documents for Mr Morse’s jet, which carries the logo of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, also owned by NESV, on its tail fin. The 19-seater Gulfstream IV, with the registration N85VM, flew from Washington to Ramstein on February 4, 2003.
On February 17, the day of Mr Omar’s abduction and rendition, the plane left Ramstein at 6.52pm and arrived in Cairo at 10.30pm. The following day the plane made the return journey to Washington via Shannon in Ireland.
MEPs and European rights campaigners believe the plane may have been used in other rendition operations. They point out that its travel destinations, which are detailed in flight logs, are totally at odds with those expected of a normal private charter jet.
During the same period it was on loan to the CIA the jet flew to Kabul in Afghanistan, Rabat in Morocco, Tripoli in Libya and Baku in Azerbaijan. The jet, which changed its registrations details in December 2004 to N227SV, also made at least 51 trips to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Amnesty International, which produced a report on rendition flights in 2006, believes the aircraft may have notched up 114 separate take offs and landings at the facility.
In a report released exclusively to The Mail on Sunday last week, human rights group Reprieve raises concerns that the plane was used in at least two more rendition flights.
It links a flight from Guantanamo Bay to Morocco on March 27 2004 and a journey from Guantanamo to Romania and Morocco on April 12 2004 to the abduction of al Qaeda operatives Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.
Abduction link: Mr Morse’s jet with the Red Sox logo on its tail fin
All four men were reportedly transferred from Guantanamo to foreign prisons in March and April 2004. The CIA subsequently admitted that it has video footage of al-Shibh under interrogation in a Morocco black prison.
The plane’s flight records show it also made a series of visits to RAF Leuchars in Scotland and also landed at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Luton airports.
Located by The Mail on Sunday at his home in Florida on Friday night, Mr Morse confirmed the arrangement with the CIA. He said: ‘Yeah, that’s true.’
But he insisted he had stopped renting the plane to the agency after he became aware of the rendition of Mr Omar.
He said: ‘The plane is still chartered. It’s just not chartered to the CIA.’
He said he became aware of the investigation into Mr Omar’s abduction in early 2005 and at that point he stopped hiring the jet to the CIA.
He said: ‘I didn’t know anything at the time. I don’t know that it’s ever been verified.’
Mr Morse, a partner in NESV, made his fortune from a company he founded which makes tubes used in heart surgery.
In 2002 he bought a ten per cent stake in NESV, which experts believe was valued at £26million at the time.
Mr Morse bought the white Gulfstream IV in 1995.
Clara Gutteridge of Reprieve said: ‘Questions have now been raised about the involvement of Mr Morse’s plane N85VM in three illegal rendition operations, and Reprieve is actively investigating its involvement in a number of further “transfers to torture”.
‘In light of these revelations, I hope very much that Mr Morse’s moral fibre is of the same high calibre as his bank balance.
‘I therefore look forward to Mr Morse’s full co-operation with our investigations into the clandestine activities of this executive jet. If Mr Morse fails to assist in investigations, this would raise serious questions as to his fitness to own Liverpool Football Club.’
Overseas tycoons now own nine of the 20 Premier League clubs. A NESV UK spokesman said: ‘Phillip is a passive investor in NESV and is not involved in our work here in the UK. Phillip addressed these questions publicly back in 2005, and any further inquiries about the use of his private plane are really a matter for Phillip.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1321244/CIA-paid-Liverpool-buyout-tycoons-millions–use-jet-torture-flights.html#ixzz12oNTcGXO
Rooney’s off back to Everton. They’ve offered him 50 grans per week.
“Ugly shit”?
There there is a well thought out coherent argument.
Ever thought of a job in the Diplomatic Service?
Excellent piece Craig. Rooney’s problems seem to have started with his marriage problems, could be he’s the next Tiger Woods. But you know he might be thick enough not to have to suffer the mental anguish that ol Tiger has.
England are Liechtenstein in disguise, or is it the other way round.
Wow, somebody, that’s a very interesting piece. Bloodied hands.
Well that’s what you get when highly skilled workers pursue their own interests.
What if all the city workers did the same?
As an adopted Red Sox fan, I feel obliged to chime in on the Daily Mail’s rather silly article.
That the so-called Red Sox jet was chartered by the CIA and used in renditions is not news. That Morse did not know it had been used in renditions is hardly surprising either. That he stopped allowing the jet to be chartered by the CIA as soon as he learned it had been used for renditions is the headline here.
Presumably if the Daily Mail is actually concerned about human rights etc and the connections of undesirables with football clubs, they’d have written something about Arsenal’s major shareholder.
The former first lady (Hilary) comment about English football violence and Liverpool’s connections with CIA & terrorist connections will bang the hopes of hosting the next 2018 World Cup in England.
When “mad” people get access to capital, they cause harm.
Ed, would like to know more about ‘Arsenal’s major shareholder’ – what is the story? Presume you mean Kroenke.
I rattle youse guys backdoors
I always wondered what those private jets did when not in use. Thanks!
I personally find it Hilarious, that I am PARTIALLY banned from posting on The Independent’s website
For example – if I try and post on Climate Change or David Kelly – I get this..
“The site has blocked you from posting new comments.”
I think I must have upset someone…
But I can freely post about Rooney – so I did…
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tony_opmoc [Moderator] 6 hours ago
He can obviously play 3 card brag too.
The Telegraph wrote earlier this morning…
“Wayne Rooney and agent have ‘overplayed their position’ with Manchester United”
Tony
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AJS1959 [Moderator] 6 hours ago in reply to tony_opmoc
I’d never play cards with him .. he bluffs too well for that !
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tony_opmoc [Moderator] 6 hours ago in reply to AJS1959
My brother used to have one of them AJS 350 Single. He bought it in 1963.
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Is Rooney worth GBP 180K a week?
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tony_opmoc [Moderator] 6 hours ago in reply to YNWAMY
This money which is being extracted from a totally corrupt financial system will be spent directly in Manchester, Liverpool and Cheshire and will help boost the local economy and enhance the standards with regards to the provision of social and other essential services.
What exactly does your dog contribute towards humanity?
Tony
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dave_shepton [Moderator] 1 hour ago in reply to YNWAMY
hahahahahahahahahahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaa. Nope.
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