Originally Posted by
SBRed48
One last time Nudge.
His cheating went far beyond one team and one match. He cheated a whole league of fans, players and clubs and his FA.
During Covid the Austrian FA instructed all clubs to do no further training of players until a specified date at the earliest to stop the spread of the infection. Should training be given the go ahead on that date clubs were instructed to train in small groups of no more than four players, again to reduce the risk of infection spreading.
All clubs in the Austrian Bundesliga were instructed to do this and complied to the letter. Step forward one Valerian Ismael, the Head Coach of LASK in Linz who thought here is a opportunity here to gain an advantage on other clubs. Well before the specified date he secretly arranged for the players to return to training at a "secret" location and times. Whilst they were there he arranged full scale 11-v-11 games. For "Big Val" the concept of cheating on other clubs did not register, he considered it a smart move.
Of course someone saw and reported what was happening. The Austrian FA and the other clubs were outraged. The resultant investigation proved this had happened and LASK were docked points Ismael was sacked as a proven cheat.
Not many clubs would touch him but up popped Conway and saw the chance to employ a coach with no compo to pay, The moral dimension did not enter Conway's mind and a proven cheat became the Barnsley Head Coach.