"he had therefore paid tax on it"
Yup, par for the course for a FIFA club. The benefits go to the club managers and FIFA - everyone and everything else is just a deductible.
Datacenter MacGyver saved the biggest football match of the year
ON CALL The 2026 FIFA World Cup continues and at the time of writing, The Register's home nation – England – remains in with a chance to bring home the trophy! We therefore devote this week's edition of On Call, our weekly reader-contributed tale of tech support, to the beautiful game. We're able to do so thanks to a reader we' …
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Friday 10th July 2026 18:51 GMT doublelayer
Re: "he had therefore paid tax on it"
If the bonus had been the same amount in cash, there probably wouldn't be any complaint about the tax since it would be a positive, though incredibly tiny amount. Since it was not enough to be used for anything but was taxed at the same rate, it ended up being a negative, albeit still probably a very small one, to the extent that a recipient would probably turn it down if they knew it would happen in advance.
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Sunday 26th July 2026 04:53 GMT bemusedHorseman
Re: "he had therefore paid tax on it"
"Still, could be worse..." If it had been American football, he wouldn't have just been taxed a normal, bracket-y amount on it. In most states, Supplemental Income (defined as any income that isn't "wages paid for hours worked, salary or otherwise") is taxed at a state-defined flat rate... of 30% or higher. In fact, work bonuses are taxed as the exact same bucket as game show and lottery winnings...
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Friday 10th July 2026 14:57 GMT The Oncoming Scorn
Re: "...one of Europe's most famous football clubs"
Pie ... PIE PIE....
If there's one thing both Exeter & Plymouth fans have in common its a Ivor (or now defunct Ron) Dewdney Pasty.
Damn I could murder a jumbo one of those right now (From the old Sidwell Street location - Not so keen on the ones from Burnthouse Lane).
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Friday 10th July 2026 09:22 GMT Lazlo Woodbine
Back in the late 2000's, one of my customers won the job to supply and install the CCTV and access control for a newly built football stadium.
The club weren't in the Premier League, so the standards weren't quite as severe, but the police still had to be able to take immediate control of the CCTV in case of an incident.
As the distributor of the cameras, myself and a colleague traveled down and monitored the install, and were present when the system was tested and commisioned in the presence of the police.
Come the first home game a couple of weeks later, a 3pm Saturday kick-off as League One games rarely trouble Sky TV, I get an urgent call at 9am, the CCTV was completely down.
I talked the club security guy through a few things whilst I got dressed, then I called my colleague and we set off for the 3 hour drive to the stadium.
We got there at a little after 1pm and the security cabin was in complete darkness, as was that whole corner of the stadium.
"How long have the lights been out?" I asked
"I don't know, it was light enough in here so I didn't turn them on."
"It's not the CCTV that's broken, it's the power supply," I pointed out, "you could have saved 3 hours and a huge bill to my employer by trying the lights."
Luckily the police knew a sparky who came out immediately and we soon had power.
We billed the club the full £750 each consultancy fee, plus mileage, and we stayed to watch the team get hammered in their first home game in the new stadium...
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Friday 10th July 2026 11:02 GMT Prst. V.Jeltz
The guys a hero
He McGuyvered the fuck out it and saved the day!
That is impressive! This was the most gripping on call story yet! and I dont even like football!
So he gets a gift voucher worth less than a shirt in the gift shop , way to show your appreciation football club!
I'd suggest minimum 10% of whatever the fine would be for not staging the match might be more appropriate.
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Friday 10th July 2026 12:08 GMT My other car WAS an IAV Stryker
Re: The guys a hero
My daughter asked from the other room what was so funny and I shortened the story for a retelling.
I then told her that if I had an employee that saved the day to that degree, not only would there be a sizeable bonus in their pay packet (actual cash preferred), but I'd increase said bonus to cover the taxes so their net bonus was still a nic, big, round number.
This was before I saw the kicker of "George" having to pay tax (injury) on the insultingly small voucher, which made me hoot again and read it to her; she agreed that was truly an example of poor management and justified what I had said earlier.
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Friday 10th July 2026 22:51 GMT G.Y.
nuclear Re: The guys a hero
I know of a place where the 10%+-+- rule apples:
A reactor company had awards for avoiding problems. A worker notices that the fuel rods, in transport, were in big plastic sacks, tied up at the top. Had water got in, it might have gone critical. They got them turned upside down, and he got an award proportional to the cost of an unplanned nuclear chain reaction.
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Friday 10th July 2026 19:40 GMT I could be a dog really
Re: Close call
Thinking about it from a safety PoV, it should have been a case of power failure causing the gates to unlock - that's the only safe failure state. There's not enough detail to know if that was the case, if it wasn't, and they needed power to unlock, then I'd have put in a RIDDOR.
It's not like there's no precedence for locked gates to cause (or excacerbate) a problem. Take a look at this list of disasters for some oldies :
23 June 1968, River Plate v Boca Juniors
Seventy four people are killed and more than 150 are injured when spectators mistakenly headed towards a closed exit after a first division match in Buenos Aires.
The fans at the front of the melee are crushed to death against the doors by other fans unaware of the closed passageway at the back.
12 March 1988, Kathmandu, Nepal
At least 93 people were killed and 100 more were injured when fans attempted to flee from a hailstorm inside the stadium.
But they could not escape because the stadium doors are locked, causing a fatal crush at the front.
in less than four minutes, with the windy conditions, the fire had engulfed the whole stand. In the panic that ensued, fleeing crowds escaped on to the pitch but others at the back of the stand tried to break down locked exit doors to escape. Many were burnt to death at the turnstile gates, which had been locked after the match had begun
It's events like those that lead to rules about emergency exits not being locked, or locked with easy to open options like push bars. So yes, IMO if the gates needed power to be unlocked, then they were inherently unsafe - and that would make it illegal to stage events there.
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Friday 10th July 2026 20:18 GMT Korev
Re: Close call
in less than four minutes, with the windy conditions, the fire had engulfed the whole stand. In the panic that ensued, fleeing crowds escaped on to the pitch but others at the back of the stand tried to break down locked exit doors to escape. Many were burnt to death at the turnstile gates, which had been locked after the match had begun
I once did a mandatory fire training course where the presenter showed the Bradford fire in real time to show us how we should get the hell out if there's a fire. He was a bit too enthusiastic about it though to the point that more than one person wondered if he was enjoying himself.
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Monday 13th July 2026 10:48 GMT Wonderdog
Re: Close call
Probably just a central visibility thing - I worked as a steward back in the day and these are all locally unlockable for safety reasons (we all go training in the event of a power cut or other emergency evacuation), but I expect its is a pain in the ass to manage as you have to rely on stewards to do it manually at every single stadium door instead of just pushing one big red button.
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