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Post by rugbytoffee on Feb 23, 2024 10:25:56 GMT
 Former Everton star Li Tie has been sentenced to life in prison for corruption in his home country of China, according to reports. Li made 40 appearances across all competitions for Everton having spent four years at the Premier League club from 2002 to 2006 after initially arriving on loan. The 46-year-old, who managed the China national team between 2019 and 2021, also had a spell at Sheffield United as player but only featured once for the team. Li is now set to spend the rest of his life behind bars, according to reports, amid a Chinese crackdown on corruption in football. Just a year after leaving his role as manager of his nation, Li was ‘suspected of accepting and offering bribes’ by the Chinese public prosecutor. In a televised confession on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Li said he had paid around £330,000 to manage the national football team. The former defensive midfielder also revealed he had played a role in a match-fixing scandal to secure promotions with club teams he featured for in China. ‘I’m very sorry,’ Li said in a televised statement. ‘I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path. There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football. ‘By gaining ‘success’ through such improper means, it actually made me more and more impatient and eager for quick results. ‘In order to achieve good performance, I resorted to influencing referees, bribing opposing players and coaches, sometimes through clubs dealing with other clubs.’ |
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Post by evertontillidie on Feb 23, 2024 10:55:58 GMT
Life imprisonment seems a bit harsh.
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Post by Avinalaff on Feb 23, 2024 16:20:02 GMT
Life imprisonment seems a bit harsh. What do you get for murder over there? Holy Moly! |
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Post by jimmy on Feb 24, 2024 0:39:11 GMT
He played one season for us before getting injured so why when he gets sent to jail is he suddenly linked with us?
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Post by rugbytoffee on Feb 27, 2024 15:34:48 GMT
He played one season for us before getting injured so why when he gets sent to jail is he suddenly linked with us? One of the highest regarded Chinese players of his generation, Li secured a loan transfer in a deal brokered between sponsor Kejian and Premier League side Everton in August 2002. Despite initial skepticism at Merseyside, his first season as an Everton player was a surprising success. Then manager David Moyes played him in twenty-nine league games and started him in most of his appearances where his displays as a defensive midfielder helped the club achieve a seventh-place finish during the 2002-03 season. Following Li's successful loan spell, Everton battled with his former club Liaoning FC to sign him on a permanent basis after the 2002-03 season and the deal was finally negotiated on 12 August 2003 when Li signed a three-year contract. Everton paid £1,200,000 for his transfer with two-thirds of the deal paid by sponsorships. The club's ownership let him move to the Premier League despite higher offers from Chinese clubs. At the beginning of the 2003-04 season, Li's start was marred by a sending off against Arsenal on 16 August 2003 after only been substituted on for David Unsworth. A series of injuries followed which meant that Li only played five league matches that season. The last injury, a broken leg picked up during international duty in February 2004, ruled him out for another twelve months. In January 2005, when Li made his return to the pitch by playing for Everton's reserve side against Bolton Wanderers, he lasted just forty-one minutes and required his leg to be reassessed. In the summer of 2005, eighteen months since his last game for the Everton first team, Li played the full match against FC Gamlitz in a pre-season friendly. He made a number of other preseason appearances and looked as if he was finally coming back to full fitness. However, he never managed to break back into the first team despite playing regularly for the reserves and even earning another international call-up for the Chinese national team. In March 2006, Li underwent another operation to remove pieces of bone that had grown on his ankle during his time on the sidelines. |
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