FOOTBALL OBSERVER

Sunday, December 27, 2009

 

Football Observer Sunday: Football Gangs and the English Defense League (EDL)...The State of Portsmouth Finances

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Mail on Sunday/Billy Briggs - This is England: Masked like terrorists, members of Britain's newest and fastest -growing protest group intimidate a Muslim woman on a train en route to a violent demo
27th December 2009
Their aim? To drive out Islamic extremism. Their weapon? The thugs of Britain's most violent football gangs

Some of the most violent football hooligans in Britain head towards Manchester to support a march by the burgeoning English Defence League (EDL), while a woman dressed in a black hijab appears intimidated

On Platform One at Bolton station a mob of around 100 men punch the air in unison. The chant goes up: 'Muslim bombers, off our streets, Muslim bombers off our streets...'

Their voices echo loudly and more men suddenly appear; startled passengers move aside. The group march forward waving St George Cross flags and holding up placards. The throng of men around me applaud. A train heading for Glasgow draws up on the opposite platform and the men turn as one, bursting into song: 'Engelaand, Engelaand, Engelaand.'
Some of the men hide behind balaclavas, others wear black hoodies. A few speak on mobile phones, their hands pressed against their ears to block out the cacophony.

'It's already kicking off in Manchester. This could be tasty,' shouts one. These are some of the most violent football hooligans in Britain and today they have joined together in an unprecedented show of strength. Standing shoulder to shoulder are notorious gangs - or 'firms' as they are known - such as Cardiff City's Soul Crew, Bolton Wanderers' Cuckoo Boys and Luton Town's Men In Gear.

The gathering is remarkable, as on a match day these men would be fighting each other. But it is politics that has drawn them together. They are headed for Manchester to support a march by the burgeoning English Defence League.
The police are here in force, too. 'Take that mask off,' barks a sergeant to one young man. He does so immediately but protests: 'Why are they allowed to wear burkas in public but we're not allowed to cover our faces?'
'Just do what you're told,' the policeman snaps back.
An EDL demonstrator is arrested at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester in October
'It's always the same these days. One rule for them and another for us. I'm sick of this country,' a man standing next to me says in a West Country accent.

He draws on a cigarette then flicks it to the ground in disgust. He starts to complain again but when the tannoy announces the arrival of the train to Manchester Piccadilly he raises his hands above his head and starts another favourite.

'Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves... Britons never, never, never...' His companions join in. As the train comes to a halt the crowd surges forward.
The carriages are almost full so the men pack themselves into the aisles followed by policemen speaking into radios. A group of lads drinking beer at a table eye the new contingent warily.
One man wearing a baseball cap clocks their fear and reassures them.

'It's all right lads, nothing to worry about. We're protesting against radical Islam. Come and join us.'
Further up the carriage another bursts into song.

'We had joy, we had fun, we had Muslims on the run,' he starts up. Nobody joins in and a couple of his mates tell him to 'shut up' as they point to a woman dressed in a black hijab sitting at a table.
A man standing close to her is masked and holds a placard. It has a picture of a Muslim woman crying with red blood streaming down her face. 'Sharia law oppresses women!' the slogan reads.
The rise of the English Defence League has been rapid. Since its formation at the start of the summer the group has organised nearly 20 major protests in Britain's cities, including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Luton, Nottingham, Glasgow and Swansea.
Its leaders are professional and articulate and they claim that the EDL is a peaceful, non-racist organisation. But having spent time with them, there is evidence that this movement has a more disturbing side. There is talk of the need for a 'street army', and there are links with football hooligans and evidence that violent neo-Nazi groups including Combat 18, Blood and Honour and the British Freedom Fighters have been attending demos.
Violence has erupted at most of the EDL's demonstrations. In total, nearly 200 people have been arrested and an array of weapons has been seized, including knuckledusters, a hammer, a chisel and a bottle of bleach.
As the EDL gains support across the UK, Muslims have already been targeted in unprovoked attacks. In the worst incident, a mob of 30 white and black youths is said to have surrounded Asian students near City University in central London and attacked them with metal poles, bricks and sticks while shouting racist abuse. Three people - two students and a passer-by who tried to intervene - were stabbed.
Following the Manchester protest, when 48 people were arrested during street violence, the Bolton Interfaith Council Executive issued a stark warning that race relations were under threat and Communities Secretary John Denham compared the EDL to Oswald Mosley's Union of British Fascists, who ran amok in the Thirties. In response to these fears, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit, a countrywide police team set up to combat domestic extremism, has been investigating the EDL.
'The concern to me is how groups like this, either willingly or unwillingly, allow themselves to be exploited by very extreme right-wing groups like the National Front and the British Freedom Fighters,' Metropolitan Police chief Sir Paul Stephenson has said.

Welsh Defence League members burn an anti-Nazi flag in Swansea
I had met the English Defence League for the first time in Luton three weeks before the Manchester demonstration. After several calls, key members agreed to talk on the condition that I did not identify them. We met at a derelict building close to Luton town centre. Eleven men turned up. All wore balaclavas, as they often do to hide their identities, and most had black EDL hoodies with 'Luton Division' written on the back. They'd made placards bearing slogans such as 'Ban the Burka'.
The group's self-proclaimed leader, who goes by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, did most of the talking. A father of two, Robinson explained the background to the rise of the movement.
'For more than a decade now there's been tension in Luton between Muslim youths and whites. We all get on fine - black, white, Indian, Chinese... Everyone does, in fact, apart from these Muslim youths who've become extremely radicalised since the first Gulf War. This is because preachers of hate live in Luton and have been recruiting for radical Islamist groups for years. Our Government does nothing about them so we decided that we'd start protesting.'
EDL demonstrators in Birmingham in September
Robinson could barely conceal his anger as he explained that the spark for him had been the sight of radical Muslims protesting when soldiers paraded through the town on their regiment's return from Afghanistan in May.
Following the incident Robinson set up a group called United People of Luton and, after linking up with a Birmingham-based organisation called British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists and another called Casuals United (largely made up of former football hooligans), they realised there was potential for a national movement.
'We have nothing against Muslims, only those who preach hatred. They are traitors who should be hanged and we'll keep taking to the streets until the Government kicks them out.'
More than 100 divisions have been set up across Britain and a careful co-ordination means the EDL is becoming efficient and a potential catch-all for every far-right organisation in Britain.
Robinson admits that he has attended BNP meetings in the past. Another prominent member and administrator of Luton EDL's Facebook group is Davy Cooling, a BNP member. Sean Walsh, an activist for the EDL in Luton, is a member of the BNP's Bedfordshire Facebook group.
Even within the EDL there are concerns over links to extremists. A former member called Paul Ray recently claimed that the group had been hijacked by BNP activists, including a man from Weston-super-Mare, Chris Renton, who helped set up the EDL website. Ironically, Ray himself has extremist contacts, including a German former neo-Nazi who is friends with Northern Ireland Loyalist Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair.
Casuals United was the brainchild of Jeff Marsh, a convicted football hooligan from Cardiff City's Soul Crew, one of the most feared gangs in Britain. Marsh operates behind the scenes, orchestrating activities with both Casuals United and the Welsh Defence League, a sister group of the EDL.
The public face of Casuals United is another Welshman called Mickey Smith. An avowed football hooligan, he is banned from Cardiff City's football ground. Together, Marsh and Smith organise the 50 or so gangs actively recruiting members across the UK.
The EDL insists it is separate from Casuals United, but dig a little and it becomes clear they operate hand-in-hand. Joel Titus is a cocky but politically naive 18-year-old Arsenal fan of mixed race. He tells me that the EDL youth division he runs has over 300 members across the UK.

'We want to hit every town and city in Britain,' he says.

Titus became involved with the movement through Casuals United. And according to anti-fascism magazine Searchlight, his role is to recruit football hooligans.
He sticks to the 'peaceful movement' mantra but a text I later receive from him ahead of an EDL demo in London reveals his involvement with the hooligans. It reads: 'Right lads, the "unofficial" meet for the 31st (London) is going to be 12 o'clock at The Hole In The Wall pub just outside Waterloo Station. I will be there just before that. Remember lads were (sic) going as Casuals Utd and if you could obtain a poppy to wear it would make us look good even if we are kicking off. lol. Cheers lads. Joel "Arsenal" Titus.'

EDL members meet at a rendezvous pub before travelling to Manchester
Alarmingly, the EDL is becoming more sophisticated and those orchestrating its activities at the top are far more astute than its foot soldiers. I meet two of the EDL's key figures in a Covent Garden pub - a respectable looking man called Alan Lake, and a man who goes by the moniker 'Kinana'.
Lake is a 45-year-old computer expert from Highgate, north London who runs a far-right website called Four Freedoms. This summer he contacted the EDL and offered to both fund and advise the movement.

'Our leaders in this country no longer represent us,' he says.

Lake's aim is to unite the 'thinkers' and those prepared to take to the streets. He describes this marriage as 'the perfect storm coming together'. Lake says that street violence is not desirable but sometimes inevitable.

'There are issues when you are dealing with football thugs but what can we do?'
He criticises fascist organisations, however, and says he will only support the EDL so long as it doesn't associate with the BNP. When I ask about extremists hijacking the movement, he says: 'There are different groups infiltrating and trying to cause rifts by one means or another, or trying to waylay the organisation to different agendas. The intention is to exclude those groups and individuals.'
These men are outwardly intelligent and their political nous combined with the brawn of the casuals makes them a quasi-political force.
Britain's neo-Nazis realise this. For Kevin Watmough, leader of the neo-Nazi British People's Party and a former member of the National Front, the rise of the EDL is reminiscent of the Seventies.
'The protests remind me of the National Front marches, but I wouldn't march with the EDL because they have blacks as supporters,' he told me.
But other neo-Nazis have joined EDL demos. These include members of Combat 18 and the British Freedom Fighters, who later posted videos of themselves on the internet.
Watmough lives in Bradford and can recall the 2001 riots, which came about as a result of tensions between whites and Muslims. Bradford, along with Oldham, another tinderbox northern city that witnessed riots in 2001, is a stated target for the EDL and Casuals United in 2010. Tension is likely here and in other towns where the EDL is also promoting spontaneous flash demos and the occupation of building sites for new mosques.
Professor Matthew Goodwin, an expert on far-right organisations who has advised the Home Office, says that the police are right to monitor the EDL and to take them seriously.
'(The EDL) is now well-organised and not just a minor irritant. It has become a rallying point for a number of different groups and to have them marching through sensitive areas is a major concern.'

Communities Minister John Denham has also condemned the rise of the EDL: 'If you look at the types of demonstrations they have organised, the language used and the targets chosen, it looks clear that it's a tactic designed to provoke, to get a response. It's designed to create violence. And we must all make sure this doesn't happen.' Daily Mail


Mail on Sunday/Daniel King - No Christmas pay for Portsmouth: Debts mean Pompey must sell their stars just to keep going
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Portsmouth's players and staff will be forgiven for being short on the Christmas spirit when they check their bank accounts on Thursday. At the end of the last three months, either those struggling on the pitch to keep the club in the Premier League or those firefighting off the field to stop them slipping into administration - or both groups - have neither been paid on time nor in full.

And even if their wages are paid by New Year's Eve, there is not much sign of 2010 being a new start. Over the past few months and years, a succession of businessmen of varying reputation and competence have passed the fit and proper person test of the richest league in the world to take ownership at Fratton Park. Yet one of the Premier League's oldest clubs continue to teeter on the brink of financial meltdown.

Yesterday, Portsmouth slumped to a 2-0 defeat against relegation rivals West Ham, a result which leaves them rooted to the foot of the table. Only once have the club who were bottom at Christmas survived, and the odds are firmly stacked against a happy ending for manager Avram Grant and his team.
Because if everyone does receive their December wages on Thursday, it will be the result of Portsmouth striking deals to sell key players such as French defender Younes Kaboul and England goalkeeper David James, who will move to new clubs as soon as the transfer window officially opens.

And even though the Premier League have given the club special dispensation to receive transfer fees before the window opens, unless they see evidence that the overall financial situation at Fratton Park has significantly improved and proof that outstanding debts to clubs have been paid, they will not lift the transfer embargo in place since October.
Grant, who as a former manager of Chelsea admits he is more used to dealing at the higher end of the table and the transfer market, was already facing a tough task to fill holes in his squad.

Without the ability to bring in players to replace the departing stars and to cover for the clutch of key men leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations, that now looks virtually impossible. Among those going to his continent's flagship event in Angola will be John Utaka, the Nigeria striker whose cross for countryman Kanu set up the only goal of the 2008 FA Cup final.

That triumph under Harry Redknapp, the club's first major trophy for 58 years, is the on-field highlight with which some of those involved seek to justify the current off-field crisis, but Utaka epitomises the reckless overspending that has brought the club to the brink.

Well-placed sources claim his contract costs Portsmouth a staggering £80,000 a week gross. Club officials deny his package is so generous, but admit a company with one of the lowest turnovers in the Premier League are paying some employees Champions League-level wages. Since signing from French club Rennes two years ago, Utaka has made 69 appearances and scored six goals, hardly the return you would expect from a striker who cost £7m and earns such high wages.

Portsmouth hope to sell him in January, possibly back to the Middle East where he spent four seasons earlier in his career. But the Utaka problem would not end even if they did find someone to take him off their hands.

Portsmouth have failed to keep to the payment schedule agreed with Rennes on the original transfer, and Rennes general manager Pierre Dreossi confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that his club are pursuing every avenue, including legal action and a complaint to FIFA, in order to recover their money.

How much do Portsmouth still owe? 'That is between us and them,' said Dreossi. Portsmouth say they have proposed a new timetable of instalments but are yet to receive a response. Rennes are just one of the football creditors Portsmouth will have to satisfy if they want the Premier League to lift the transfer embargo.

Chelsea are owed money from Glen Johnson's £18m move to Liverpool as part of a sell-on clause, Tottenham are due payments related to Kaboul and other players signed permanently or on loan, and cash-strapped Watford are expecting instalments on the transfers of Tommy Smith and Mike Williamson next month.

Football clubs, especially English ones, are unlikely to force the issue with Portsmouth unless it is absolutely necessary, thanks to the 'There but for the grace of God go I' mentality. But other parties may not be so tolerant.

As well as meeting a monthly payroll reported to total £1.8m, Portsmouth must find not only £1.5m to cover December's tax and National Insurance contributions but also about £2m as the latest instalment in clearing their £10m debts to HMRC.

If the decision to charge chief executive Peter Storrie, former manager Harry Redknapp and exowner Milan Mandaric with tax offences is any indication - all three deny any wrongdoing - the taxman is no longer in the mood to treat football with kid gloves.

The Mail On Sunday can reveal that French agent Jacques Perais met his London-based solicitor last week to discuss the £2m he is owed for his work on the £20m sale of Lassana Diarra to Real Madrid last January. Portsmouth, having already defaulted on the original contract, have missed the first two instalments of a revised payment schedule, the latest on December 20, and under a deal signed by Storrie and fellow director Tanya Robins on October 22, Perais can now claim the full sum of 2.25m euros.

Through a club spokesman, Storrie said Portsmouth were presented with a 'fantastic' deal for Diarra and it was standard practice to pay 10 per cent commission to the agent who facilitated it. The club's new owners are reviewing the Perais contract and a number of other deals as part of their efforts to get a grip on the debts, but the contract seen by The Mail On Sunday does not appear to leave much room for manoeuvre.

It is the ability of Perais, Rennes, the taxman and a number of other creditors to force Portsmouth to a new level of crisis that is focusing minds at the Premier League. They have already made it clear they will use all or part of the £7m television rights payment due to Portsmouth on January 10 to pay football creditors such as Chelsea if the club are unable to raise enough from transfers and other sources. But even if all those debts are cleared, those running the richest league in the world want to prevent a situation in which they lift the transfer embargo and Portsmouth bring in new players, only to fail to pay wages or meet debt repayments soon afterwards.

A Premier League spokesman said: 'The player registration embargo remains in place. We are in regular contact with Portsmouth and they are making us aware of any changes to their financial situation.'
The Premier League have also asked for clarification of the role of Daniel Azougy, the lawyer convicted of fraud and barred from practising in his native Israel. Portsmouth insist Azougy is acting as a short-term financial troubleshooter on behalf of owner Ali Al Faraj, not a shadow director or person of influence who would have to pass the fit and proper person test.
Ali Al Faraj's intervention in October saved the club from administration, unseating the laughable 'Dr' Sulaiman Al Fahim as owner after only weeks in charge, but since then Portsmouth have had to borrow £15m from Hong Kongbased businessman Balram Chainrai to stay afloat.

Research has revealed that Al Faraj is not listed as a director or shareholder of any company registered in Saudi Arabia. But there are suggestions that he may have connections with the Saudi Ministry of Defence. If that is the case, it might explain why he is shrouded in such mystery and companies might be held in other names. Sources have also told The Mail On Sunday that Al Faraj trades in commodities, including oil and gold, and that his property portfolio includes a building in the City of London with a value of £48m.

A number of issues remain to be resolved regarding property around Fratton Park owned by another previous owner, Alexandre Gaydamak, not to mention the multi-million pound loans he is said to have given the club. The fact that Chainrai, business partner Levi Kushnir, Azougy and others who have been linked to the club all have links to Gaydamak's father, fugitive from justice Arkadi, only adds to the confusion over Fratton Park. What is clear is that Chainrai, another financial backer or yet another new owner needs to come forward to refinance the club and secure their short and long-term future. And quickly.

On December 18, Companies House registered that Portsmouth had cleared a long-term debt, secured against Fratton Park, to finance house Singer and Friedlander. Despite the short-term cashflow problems, the Al Faraj regime remain upbeat, citing repayments to long-term creditors Standard Bank and Barclays as evidence that the club are in increasingly healthy shape.
Director Mark Jacob, a close associate of Al Faraj, said: 'We are confident that, both on and off the pitch, the start of the year will bring more positive news.'

The first test of that optimism will come on Thursday, when everyone from John Utaka to a part-time steward checks their bank balance. Daily Mail

Saturday, December 26, 2009

 

How - and When - Clubs Find Mangerial Replacements

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The Guardian/Paul Wilson
We can laugh at Manchester City but finding a new manager is no joke
The sacking of Mark Hughes was bungled, but sounding out successors is the way of the world


The Manchester City joke doing the rounds towards the end of the last century involved Francis Lee, the then chairman, spotting an old woman struggling to cross Claremont Road with two heavy bags of shopping. Lee stopped his car and wound down the window. "Can you manage, love?" he asked. "Bloody hell, don't tell me you're fed up with Alan Ball already," the old lady shouted back. "I'll come if you're desperate but I insist on a three-year contract."

All right, I didn't say it was a great joke. Just an old one that shows how little has actually changed, despite eight managers, four chairmen and untold millions from overseas bank accounts. Garry Cook may be the butt of all the jokes now, not to mention some trenchant criticism that he richly deserves for the way he supervised the ousting of Mark Hughes, but in the dozen or so years that have passed since Lee realised that any joke he happened to make about City was likely to come true, one significant thing actually has changed.

City are no longer a comedy club to the extent where they sack a manager without having a replacement lined up. Cook is having to put up with all sorts of abuse for staging preliminary talks with Roberto Mancini while he was still offering public support to Hughes, but in the real world that is what football clubs do. Everyone knows it, and Cook's biggest crime is not covering his tracks particularly well. Anyone who doesn't believe that should take a second or two to consider the alternatives. Either the club withdraw public support for their present manager, hanging him out to dry in an even more public manner than was Hughes's fate, or they stick with him right up to the point of relegation or dismissal, then start looking round for someone else.

There is no doubt that the latter is the honourable course, but the whole point of club management is to avoid relegation or a run of poor results, and that applies to the people around and above the manager, not just the poor sap in the dugout. Plus, once you are relegated, or once you have sacked another manager for only winning one of the last dozen games, you tend to find replacements of the highest calibre are not beating a path to your door. Given that most managers leave their jobs due to failing in some way – there are exceptions, and Manchester City do not have to look very far to find one – the only way a smooth transition can be organised is to have a replacement ready to step into the breach. The caretaker manager is an old- fashioned idea that no longer really works. Either the team keeps bombing, in which case you still need to find a new man in a hurry, or the team does so well you end up making the caretaker permanent, which is fine until you want to sack him six months later.

Even clubs where things are going well under long-serving managers, such as Arsenal and Manchester United, will not allow the present incumbent to ride off into the sunset before beginning their search for a replacement. A club such as Manchester City, with an ingrained reputation for both under-achievement and comedy plus a not unrelated habit of changing managers every couple of years, have to be hard-nosed and businesslike about the matter. Yet one of the very few chairmen I can think of to state publicly he would have no truck with talking to successors behind his manager's back was Francis Lee. "I want to trust my manager and he needs to trust me," Lee said in the mid-90s. "I am not about to lie to him or go behind his back."

Quite admirable, really. Certainly more principled than the way Cook has just gone about things. Yet, inevitably, Lee did eventually find himself with a managerial vacancy that was difficult to fill. He also stuck with Ball for too long, because he was a mate, and the pair of them did not see relegation coming until it was too late. In point of fact, or at least a much-loved part of City folklore, Ball famously did not see it coming until the last few minutes of the last game, because someone in the crowd with a radio had misinformed him about results elsewhere.

Despite his evident love for the club Lee did not last long as chairman. He eventually sold his shares to Thaksin Shinawatra. First and foremost Lee was a businessman, and he quickly realised that football decisions cannot always be worked out with a calculator or a profit sheet.

Just before City sacked Hughes, the Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson revealed he had sounded out Gordon Strachan before removing Gareth Southgate, even though the latter was a mate. Because you have to, was the gist of his argument. Having no manager, or being turned down by one's preferred choices, is worse for morale than keeping faith with the original. Following a rather charming form of protocol, Strachan obliquely replied that he could not consider Boro while they already had a manager, though might be interested in a club of that stature and a challenge of that sort should a vacancy ever arise. That's how things are done in the short-term world of football management and, for all Lee's misgivings, there is nothing really wrong with it.

While there is no excuse for Hughes finding out he was toast from the media rather than his employers, having been sounded out when Sven-Goran Eriksson was still in charge at City he knows as well as anybody how the system works. He will be disappointed at the way things have panned out, but compensation will arrive in several forms. He will not have been all that surprised." Guardian

 

Manager Claims: Rich Owners Don't Really Understand Football

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Sporting Life - MONEY MEN DON'T UNDERSTAND - MEGSON
By Ian Parkes, Press Association Sport


Bolton boss Gary Megson believes football's mega-rich owners do not understand the game if they expect money to win matches.

Megson joined the debate that has raged all week relating to the controversial sacking of Manchester City manager Mark Hughes.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson claims the decision to fire Hughes immediately after Saturday's 4-3 win over Sunderland and announce the appointment of Roberto Mancini, was "unacceptable behaviour" on behalf of the City board.

Megson feels the axe that fell on Hughes underlined the impatience that runs rife through modern-day football, with owners like City's Sheikh Mansour demanding impossible standards simply because of the millions of pounds they have lavished on players.

"It (Hughes' sacking) didn't surprise me because nothing ever does surprise you in football," remarked Megson.

"It was really sad because you had a manager losing his job, and yet they've only lost two games all season.

"They were doing okay, people were talking about it taking a while for everything to bed down, and then he was not given a while.

"I think it's just purely and simply the nature of football in general, and the Premier League in particular.

"These people (the owners) when they put their money in, a draw away from home at Bolton or Birmingham, isn't an acceptable thing any more.

"It's as if the opposition doesn't exist, and just because you've spent a huge amount of money, you can plough on regardless and you are going to beat everybody.

"But it doesn't work like that."

Naturally, Megson joined in the chorus of sympathy for Hughes, adding: "I feel really sorry for Mark and the rest of the staff like Mark Bowen.

"I'm really saddened by it." Sporting Life

Friday, December 25, 2009

 

Football Violence, Fan Arrests and Banning Orders

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- See: Complete Home Office Report: STATISTICS ON FOOTBALL-RELATED ARRESTS & BANNING ORDERS SEASON 2008-09


Football League - VIOLENCE DOWN AT FOOTBALL GROUNDS
23.12.2009
Arrests for violence at football grounds dropped last season, the Home Office Minister David Hanson announced today.

The number of fans arrested overall also fell last year, with no arrests at 67 per cent of all international and domestic matches.

'Statistics on Football-Related Arrests and Banning Orders' Season 2008-09', published today, revealed there were 3,752 arrests last season - down two per cent on the year before.

They also showed violent incidents were down five per cent, with just 354 fans arrested for violence out of the total attendance figure of 37 million at football matches last year.

Policing Minister David Hanson said: "Hooligans once blighted our national game, but we now set an example for the rest of the world in how we police football matches.

"I am pleased with the way clubs and police work together, but we must also praise fans for realising violence has no place in the modern game.

"We are not complacent and will carry on working to ensure this success story continues into the future."

The new figures mean just 0.01 per cent of 37m supporters attending matches in England and Wales last year were arrested. Fans were also well-behaved abroad - more than 105,000 fans travelled to 49 games in European club competitions last year, but just 30 were arrested.

The latest statistics revealed during the 2008/09 season:

• 3,752 arrests were made at domestic and international matches in England and Wales;
• there were 1.18 arrests per game;
• the number of football banning orders on 10 November was 3,180 - representing 956 new orders imposed last year;
• 92 per cent of individuals whose banning orders have expired are assessed by police as no longer posing a risk to football disorder. Football League

Thursday, December 24, 2009

 

Football and Money Over the Past Decade

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David Conn/The Guardian

The noughties: a decade when football's rulers ducked responsibility
The game boomed but so did insolvencies as the government called on football to rethink its relationship with money

When you take a longer view of English football than this week's managerial ousting or the latest results, to consider how the game developed over a whole decade, Sheffield Wednesday is a reliable place from which to get your bearings.

It was at Hillsborough, of course, that football's name as the people's game foundered in disaster on a landscape of neglect at the end of the 1980s. Ten years ago, at Christmas 1999, the Leppings Lane end in which 96 Liverpool supporters died had long become all-seated, and Wednesday's stint as a member of the breakaway, big-money Premier League was about to conclude in relegation.

Under the club's chairman, Dave Richards, a local engineer who joined the board six months after the disaster, and Trevor Francis as manager, Wednesday had, with the rest of the top clubs, enjoyed the luxury of no longer sharing their television money with the other three divisions of the Football League. Richards and his board had aimed to float on the stock exchange, like other Premier League clubs whose flotations made personal fortunes for their chairmen, but financially they were stricken by their excursion into the foreign player revolution.

Eric Cantona had spent a week at Hillsborough on trial in 1992 but the man who would define the elan of overseas stars left for championships with Leeds and Manchester United. Wednesday spent their TV windfall on outsized wages for the Holland midfielder Wim Jonk, the Belgium striker Gilles de Bilde and the Dutch striker Gerald Sibon. They were not exactly catalytic. Ten years ago this week Wednesday, bottom of the league, lost to Aston Villa, a 13th defeat in 17 matches.

Earlier that year, Richards had taken temporary charge as Premier League chairman following the exit of Sir John Quinton. Richards's appointment was supported by Ken Bates, then the Chelsea chairman, and approved by the clubs without a formal recruitment process.

In February 2000, with Wednesday looking certain to be relegated, Richards left the club to become the first paid chairman of the Premier League, a part-time position for which his salary in the first full year was £177,000. At the time his own business, Three Star Engineering, was in financial difficulties; in June 2001 it was placed in administrative receivership with debts of more than £1m.

Sheffield Wednesday went down with debts of around £20m from which they have never recovered. Richards remained Premier League chairman throughout the decade, becoming a Football Association director among several other senior administrative positions.

If the 1980s were a story of a great sport crashing into disaster because those who ran the game never kept pace with their responsibilities, the noughties can be viewed the same way. Football continued its 1990s revival, money poured in, the clubs became slicker on and off the field, yet the handling, harnessing, of the game's challenges lagged behind its development. The grounds remained safe because, after Hillsborough, that was the law. Even Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government was not prepared to leave safety to the clubs any longer.

Ministers in the new Labour government genuinely supported football, unlike Thatcher, who, according to her former minister Kenneth Clarke, had regarded fans as another "enemy within". Labour recognised that the commercial free-for-all which followed Hillsborough – the Premier League's breakaway, ticket price increases, players' wage inflation, club flotations, withering of the grassroots – had not been the best and only way the game could have rebuilt.

The government established the Football Task Force within weeks of winning its 1997 landslide, and its final report, on the bitterly debated financial issues, was delivered 10 years ago yesterday. The chairman, David Mellor, had striven for unity in other areas – in a remarkable accord, the Premier League agreed to contribute 5% of its next TV deal, matched by the FA and government, to improving the wastelands on which England's amateurs mostly play the game. Yet on the questions of financial control, the task force was divided, and two separate reports were issued.

The first, approved by a majority, including fan groups and academics, recognised that football was basking in success, but argued it needed reform to manage its good fortune in the interests of all. The report recommended a "fit and proper persons test" for club owners, democratic representation for supporters, a "Football Audit Commission" to oversee the game's governance, and reduced ticket prices "to embrace those who have felt excluded from football". Research had shown that although crowds were flocking back, many fans who had stayed loyal throughout the grimy years had been priced out, and the average age of a Premier League football fan climbed over the decade to 44.

The other report was produced by the FA and the Premier and Football Leagues themselves. It said they were "impressed" by supporters' trust initiatives, agreed that clubs should implement codes of conduct, even suggested an "independent scrutiny panel" to report on how well the game was governed. But repeatedly, the football authorities' argued against introducing any rules.

Clubs must have "freedom to act", the report said, and in a phrase of heroic confection, the men running football argued their "primary response" should be: "To adopt the contemporary principles of customer care and a more inclusionary approach to key stakeholders." With that clarity and keenness of vision, the game's rulers took football into the 2000s.

The Premier League was on the threshold of its next TV deal, from 2001-04; the live rights went exclusively to Sky again, and the total for the 20 clubs came in at £1.6bn.

Roy Keane, Manchester United's captain, made his memorable remarks about home supporters, having "probably the prawn sandwiches" and being unable "even to spell football, let alone understand it", in December 2000. At the time, Keane himself was reported to have set the new benchmark for players' wages, holding out for £52,000 a week.

Yet even such galactic earnings were eclipsed by the takings of chairmen selling out their shares. Alan Sugar, who had described the leaking of money to players as "like drinking prune juice while eating figs", made £22m when he sold part of his Tottenham stake to the investment group Enic in December 2000.

Martin Edwards, whose father, Louis, accumulated his majority Manchester United stake in the 50s and 60s, would make £93m from selling shares, in chunks, on the stock market, before the Glazer family bought United and ladled their borrowed multimillions on to the club. David Moores, the Littlewoods heir who had invested around £12m for his stake in Liverpool, would be paid £89m from selling his shares to Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who also borrowed to buy the club and made it responsible to pay the debt.

As Sky's profits soared from expensive subscriptions to homes and pubs, Carlton and Granada's joint venture, ITV Digital, paid £315m for three years of Football League rights. In April 2002, after one year, the company collapsed. Carlton and Granada refused to stand behind their company's agreement, Championship clubs each lost £4m they had fairly budgeted to receive, and the league plunged into crisis.

No Premier League club has collapsed into insolvency since the 1992 breakaway, but their overspending has been exported through relegation. Leeds, top of the Premier League 10 years ago with David O'Leary's sprightly side, "lived the dream" after that on borrowed money but did not fall into their £35m administration until 2007, under Ken Bates's chairmanship, and the unidentified offshore owners backing him. In 2002, of the three clubs relegated from the Premier League, Derby County were placed into receivership, and Leicester and Ipswich collapsed into administration.

Football, in its boom time, saw 40 professional clubs fall insolvent, leaving millions of pounds unpaid in tax, to police, fire and ambulance services, to hundreds of small businesses and, in all cases, to St John Ambulance. Yet the leagues' rules require that "football creditors" – other clubs and the players' rocketing wages – must be paid in full. Leeds owed HM Revenue and Customs £7m, West Yorkshire ambulance service £8,997, St John Ambulance £165, and Bates's backers' first offer, accepted by the administrator, KPMG, was to pay those creditors 1p in the pound. The former players still owed money from Peter Ridsdale's dream time all had to be paid in full, including, for example, Danny Mills, owed £217,000 on a contract which had ended three years earlier.

The grimmest spectacle in a gallery of mismanagement came at Chesterfield, the fourth-oldest professional club in England, formed in 1866. In May 2000 the club had been "bought" by Darren Brown, 29, who had, it turned out, borrowed the money to do so, then emptied the club of cash to pay his lenders and himself.

Brown was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office and ultimately sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to two charges of fraudulent trading. The club nearly went to the wall; it was saved by local businessmen in partnership with the Chesterfield Football Supporters Society, a supporters' trust newly formed as at clubs elsewhere to salvage the heritage from the wreckage.

An irony of football's jolt into finally recognising it did need some rules to protect its integrity in the cash cascade is that it was led by Lord Mawhinney, a former Thatcher minister. Mawhinney saw that the sport is not a free market, and that the Football League needed reforms to help it emerge from chaos. He was tough enough to insist solid changes were necessary, not waffle about "a more inclusionary approach to key stakeholders". The Football League introduced the game's first "fit and proper person test" in 2004, persuaded significantly by Darren Brown's pillage. Nobody convicted of a fraud offence could any longer be a director or 30% owner of a club, nor could anybody who had been involved with two club insolvencies. Observers noted that this would not have prevented Brown's takeover, because he had no convictions before he was handed the keys to Saltergate.

The Premier League followed, introducing the same test, five years after insisting in its task force report to the government that no new rules were needed. The league was flourishing, glittering, but facing a host of new challenges. Chelsea, in 2003, and now Manchester City, were bought by men from the world's rich list, willing to pump huge money in to increase players' wages and so skew competition. Other clubs were overspending to keep up, relying on burgeoning loans, from new owners or increasingly jittery banks. The Glazers' and Hicks and Gillett's "leveraged" buyouts were to saddle Manchester United and Liverpool with those enormous debts, which look to be biting at the decade's end. Contemplating their openness to all this, the Premier League introduced the rule designed to deter a small-time chancer in Chesterfield. And they wanted a pat on the back.

Mostly, the government acquiesced. The then sports minister, Richard Caborn, another Sheffield man, grew close to Richards, who was knighted for services to sport, largely for his work as chairman of the Football Foundation, which distributes the professional game's money to the grassroots.

Caborn, in tandem with Richards, seized on the 2004 sex saga involving Sven-Goran Eriksson, the England coach, the FA's chief executive, Mark Palios, and the secretary Faria Alam to demand a "structural review" of the governing body. That, carried out by the former Treasury mandarin Lord Burns, suggested modest changes, principally an independent chairman and two non-executive directors, which the Premier League itself does not have.

Lord Triesman, the former Labour Party general secretary and junior Foreign Office minister, was appointed as the new FA chairman, another interesting departure from the previous orthodoxy that businessmen must run everything. Triesman demonstrated that he wanted to lead reform, breaking with his predecessor Geoff Thompson's habitual public silence, and expressing reservations about the "Game 39" plan for global expansion of the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore. Last October Triesman also warned of the danger, in an economic crisis, of professional football carrying debts which he actually underestimated at £3bn. Triesman found common ground with Michel Platini, the president of Uefa, who was feeling his way towards tackling excessive debt and "sugar daddy" owners, and Triesman also suggested to the government there should be a review of the game's financial affairs.

The response to this for the FA chairman has, mostly, been relentless attack. Andy Burnham, who as a young task force administrator had helped secure government backing for the Football Foundation and the establishment of Supporters Direct to encourage supporters' trusts, returned as minister for culture, media and sport nine years later and called for football to "reassess its relationship with money". Burnham asked seven specific questions, calling for a unified response from the two leagues and FA, but they replied separately. The Premier League, which had furiously rejected Triesman's warnings, nevertheless agreed to take debts more seriously and to investigate the solidity of the money when a club is taken over. The Football League cited "competitive balance" – the financial gap between it and the Premier League – as football's "greatest challenge", but still there are no moves towards seriously addressing it.

Triesman proposed strengthening the FA's role in financial governance, but he was shot down by the Premier League representatives who sit on the FA's own board. These internal politics, long the greatest barrier to genuine reform of football, spilled over into the FA's bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Last month Sir Dave Richards resigned from the bid's board – prompting another deluge of negative, anti-Triesman coverage – in protest, reportedly, about the precise role Richards would be given and how far he was consulted on key appointments.

Over the decade, the former Sheffield Wednesday chairman has rubbed shoulders and made alliances with football leaders all over the world. He was paid £350,000 last year as the Premier League chairman. His former club ended the decade with £26m net debt, mired in a Championship relegation battle.

For the families of those who died at Hillsborough, the 20th anniversary in April saw a wholesale change in the way the disaster was viewed and reported. In place of false accusations made against the fans which had lingered for 20 years, there was universal sympathy for the families and a recognition that their treatment by the police and legal system had been a travesty. Prompted by Burnham and the junior justice minister Maria Eagle, the government promised that all documents held by the police and public agencies will be released.

For the families, the purpose is to pore over the whole, horrible truth about what happened and maybe, after that, be able to grieve properly, their fight completed.

After the disaster football moved on without much of a backward glance. Reform, the game's history tells us, takes years to catch up. Guardian

 

Watford Players Training on Christmas Day

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Watford Observer/Frank Smith
- Watford’s players will be in training throughout the Christmas period as they attempt to improve the poor form which has seen them lose four of their last five matches.
- The Hornets players will be coming in to their London Colney base every day from now until they face Bristol City on December 28.
- “The players have a game Boxing Day [against Nottingham Forest] so they will be in training Christmas morning,” manager Malky Mackay said.
- “Then we are in all the way through as we have a game Boxing Day and then another game again two days later.
- “We are travelling down there to Bristol so we have to make sure we are in all the time now.
- “Christmas is a busy time for footballers and it is not a time of the year for taking time off. Martyn Pert [head of conditioning] gauges the rest they need and the recovery they need but, in the main, they just work all the way through.”
- Watford beat Queens Park Rangers live on Sky TV but that is their only victory in five, although they were unlucky not to come away from St James’ Park with at least a point in the 2-0 defeat to league-leaders Newcastle United.
- Mackay said: “We have got to make sure we get back to winning ways. I would be concerned if we weren’t actually playing well in games and creating chances.
- “We are doing that and looking still as if we are in games and will win more than we lose. I think for the players to be where they are at the moment with so much going on is great credit to the boys.
- “But we need to get back to winning ways and making sure we do not get beat, especially away from home.
- “We have got to make sure we turn the defeats away from home into something better than that.” - Watford Observer

Monday, December 21, 2009

 

Arrested for Illegally Broadcasting Premier Games

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Burnley Official Site - Two Burnley Licensees Arrested
Posted on: Mon 21 Dec 2009
- Burnley Football Club has been asked to release the following information, following the arrest of two Burnley publicans for illegally broadcasting Premier League football.

TWO LICENSEES ARRESTED DURING RAIDS ON BURNLEY PUBS.

On Sunday 20th September, 2009, officers of Lancashire Constabulary licensing department carried out raids on licensed premises in the Burnley area.

As a result two licensees were arrested and questioned in relation to suspected offences under the Fraud Act and the Copyright Designs & Patents Act.

Amongst property seized by police was equipment used to receive Premier League matches via the internet and also equipment used to receive the matches via foreign decoder cards. Both licensees have been released on police bail.

Raymond Hoskin, Managing Director of Media Protection Services Ltd, who act on behalf of the Premier League, said: "We were called in by Lancashire Police to give technical assistance on equipment found on premises in Burnley.

"Use of illegal means, both by internet devices and unauthorised foreign decoder cards, have become a growing problem in the area following Burnley FC's promotion to the Premier League.

"The income of the majority of Burnley licensees who obey the law and pay the correct fees has been adversely affected by these activities and it is hoped that this prompt action by police will meet some of their concerns.

"We have paid covert visits to many licensed premises in the area and information on further possible offences is being examined.

"Those using foreign decoder cards or internet devices to illegally receive Premier League transmissions can expect to be dealt with.

"They should appreciate that in addition to convictions carrying appreciable fines and costs they are also placing their liquor licences in jeopardy. It is just not worth it." Burnley Official Site

 

FIFA's role in monitoring international football

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EUFootballBiz

FIFA's role in monitoring international football


FIFA president Sepp Blatter spoke at the Arabian Sponsorship Forum at Emirates Palace hotel about the current financial strength of football and the role FIFA has to play in fighting "social devils."

The Abu Dhabi National states that Blatter acknowledged the role of former FIFA chairman Joao Havelange in using increased sponsorship revenue to make football more universal. “Football touches the world socially and culturally, and economically it has reached a dimension that means it also touches politics. But in our football society, we have all the devils of the wider world: violence, cheating, racism, doping, illegal betting, all that is in our game. That’s why FIFA must not only organise competitions, we must look after the social and cultural aspects of our game. There are 260 million active participants in football around the world, including players, coaches and referees. With all the family connections, the number involved – directly or indirectly – rises to over one billion. Almost one sixth of the world’s population.”

In speaking about sponsorships, Blatter also spoke about the changing dynamics of the relationships. “It was 35 years ago that I started to work with FIFA, then FIFA had no money.... We found Coca-Cola and Adidas and now we do not talk about sponsors, we talk about partners – they are married to FIFA.” Blatter said that FIFA is largely untouched by the global recession because of the strong ties built with blue chip partners over 30 years.

Frank Saoz, managing director of IFM Sport Marketing Surveys, indicates that football is the biggest contributor of the international sport sponsorship industry which is valued at USD 4.5 billion annually.

EUFootballBiz

Sunday, December 20, 2009

 

Homophobia in Football Continues

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Independent/ Nick Harris and Hugh Godwin

Two top gay footballers stay in closet


Max Clifford says football 'steeped in homophobia' as FA reveals Premier League stars are reluctant to speak up for gay rights

Clifford says he cannot foresee a prominent footballer coming out in the near future

PR advisor, Max Clifford, told The Independent on Sunday last night that he has represented two high-profile gay Premier League footballers in the past five years and has advised them to stay in the closet because football "remains in the dark ages, steeped in homophobia".

In the wake of the Wales and Lions rugby international Gareth Thomas coming out yesterday, Clifford says he cannot foresee a prominent footballer doing the same in the near future. "If he did, it would effectively be his career over, in my view," Clifford said.

"Do I think that's right? Of course not," he added. "It's a very sad state of affairs. But it's a fact that homophobia in football is as strong now as it was 10 years ago. If you'd asked me in 2000 whether I thought we'd have a famous, openly gay footballer by 2010 I would have said yes.

Related articles
Gay rugby star praised for bravery in coming out
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people....ut-1845913.html

"You look across society and see openly gay people in music, movies, television, politics, the clergy, and it's not a problem, nor in many sports. It's not that footballers are homophobic but the fans can be vicious."

The IoS can also reveal that a Football Association anti-homophobia campaign has been stalled partly because its organisers have failed to secure big-name Premier League players to speak out against homophobia in a film that would be screened at grounds around the country.

"Unfortunately there seems to be a reluctance by some players and some clubs to speak up for gay rights," says Peter Clayton, who chairs the FA's "Homophobia in Football" working group. Clayton, 58, represents the Middlesex FA in the corridors of power and is the only openly gay FA councillor ever. He told the IoS yesterday: "It would take a very courageous Premier League footballer to come out because fans are so vociferous in football in a way they aren't in any other sport. There are also barriers to a player coming out from some clubs, firstly because the players are commercial assets and the clubs don't want those assets damaged, and secondly because a player coming out would cause disruption.

"There are gay players in the top division in English football, and some of them are out to their clubs and team-mates and nobody gives a jot. But there is a reluctance by some players and clubs to make public appeals against homophobia, perhaps through fear they would be thought of as gay themselves.

"The FA takes this issue very seriously and it's very high on the agenda. There are lots of gay footballers in Britain at grass-roots level and it's no problem. We do need to stamp out homophobia at the professional level, though, and just like anti-racism work, it will take time and education."

Thomas, 35, who plays for Cardiff Blues and is Wales' most capped player, came out in an interview with the Daily Mail. "It's tough for me being the only international rugby player prepared to break the taboo," he said. "I can't be the only one but I'm not aware of any other gay player still in the game."

Tellingly, both Thomas and Nigel Owens, the Welsh international rugby referee who came out when he was 32 in 2003, and publicly four years later, contemplated suicide before sharing their stories.

Owens, speaking to the IoS before refereeing a Heineken Cup match yesterday, said: "Why don't more players come out? It's a worry for us as individuals, whether you're involved in rugby or any sport. It's never easy being gay or accepting you're gay. Coming out isn't easy. Telling your mother isn't easy."

There has only been one openly gay man in English professional football, Justin Fashanu, who was taunted, bullied, and killed himself in 1998.

Clifford added: "I've had two high-profile Premier League football clients in the past five years who've been gay or bisexual and my advice has been not to make that public. For a top player to come out, I would envisage they'd be a hard man, with an established reputation, and perhaps a year or two at most left in the game, so if coming out brought too much hardship, it wouldn't matter so much professionally."
Independent

 

Foreign Owners Of English Clubs Urged to Think Long - Term

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Reuters - Foreign Owners Of English Clubs Urged to Think Long-Term
LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign owners cannot expect to buy instant success in English soccer, the head of the League Managers Association said on Sunday after Manchester City dismissed Mark Hughes.

Chief executive Richard Bevan accused the Abu Dhabi-owned club of changing the goalposts for Hughes, who was replaced by Italian Roberto Mancini within minutes of Saturday's 4-3 home win over Sunderland, and warned of further sackings elsewhere.

Big-spending City, the world's richest club, are sixth in the Premier League and have lost just twice this season while also winning only two of their last 11 league games.

"I spoke to Mark last night and he found out immediately after the game when he was called into a meeting and informed that his contract was being terminated," Bevan told BBC radio. "But I think the decision had probably been taken some time ago.

"He knew that there were key goals he had to hit and his target was the top six. He was very disappointed because they were on target for that ... to me it looks like the goalposts were moved.

"I think owners must realise, particularly overseas owners, that they can't just buy trophies in one season," he continued.

"If they feel that, then we will continue with the sackings and we will continue with affinity lost to our clubs in England. I'm pretty sure the Manchester City fans will be very sad to see Mark go.

"If you come in as an overseas owner, you need to embrace the city, the supporters and not just the trophy cabinet," said Bevan.

Sunday newspapers reported that a group of players led by Irish goalkeeper Shay Given had tried to confront City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak over the decision after the match.

MORE TIME

Hughes was the Premier League's second managerial casualty of the season after Portsmouth's Paul Hart was sacked by that struggling club's Middle Eastern owners.

Hart has since joined Championship (second division) Queens Park Rangers, whose owners include Italian former Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore. They have now had 11 full-time or temporary managers since 2006.

Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp felt Hughes had not been given enough time.

"I couldn't believe it really, I'm disappointed," he told the BBC.

"Two defeats is certainly not a disaster and they've got a game in hand and were sitting just off the European places. I'm surprised that they have taken that decision at this stage in the season.

"Mark's a good manager and given time there's no doubt that they would have been very successful."

Half of England's 20 Premier League clubs have foreign owners and Redknapp said the landscape had changed.

"It is different now," he said. "You have got multi, multi-millionaire owners who all want to be number one.

"In their lives they have made so much money and they do what they want with their lives, they are so rich, and they all expect to win.

"The more that come in, the more you are going to see managers come and go. The merry-go-round will be even worse because they will all be disappointed they are not top of the league. They won't understand it."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Sonia Oxley) - NYT/Reuters

Saturday, December 19, 2009

 

Freak Footballing Injuries

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Telegraph

Alex MacDonald's loan spell at Burnley ends early after he injures groin while sneezing

Falkirk confirmed on Friday they had ended Alex MacDonald's loan spell from Burnley two weeks early because he had suffered a groin strain while sneezing.

MacDonald, 19, was due to stay with the Scottish side until the end of the year but a groin problem made him unavailable for the remainder of his spell.

The forward made 13 appearances for Falkirk, scoring once.

Other freak footballing injuries:
ROY CARROLL: The West Ham goalkeeper was collecting balls from a goal during training when his foot got caught in the net and injured his knee.


RICHARD WRIGHT: Wright was ruled out of Everton's FA Cup fourth-round replay at Chelsea after suffering a freak injury during the warm-up. Wright ignored a notice warning him not to practise in the goalmouth and promptly fell over the sign, suffering a twisted ankle. The same player also damaged his shoulder falling through a loft as he was trying to pack away his suitcases.


RIO FERDINAND: During his spell at Leeds, the England defender managed to pick up a tendon strain in his knee watching television. Ferdinand had his foot up on a coffee table for a number of hours and ended up injuring a tendon behind his knee.


SEAN FLYNN: The then-Kidderminster captain suffered a broken nose, busted lip and bruised toes after tripping over his son's toy cars.


DAVE BEASANT: The veteran goalkeeper managed to rule himself out for eight weeks in 1993 when he dropped a bottle of salad cream on his foot, severing the tendon in his big toe.


DAVID JAMES: The England goalkeeper once pulled a muscle in his back when reaching for the television remote control and the keen angler also tweaked his shoulder when trying to land a monster carp.


ALEX STEPNEY: In 1975 the Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney dislocated his jaw while shouting at his defenders during a match against Birmingham.


CHIC BRODIE: The Brentford goalkeeper's career came to an abrupt end in October 1970 when he collided with a sheepdog which had run on to the pitch. Brodie shattered his kneecap while the dog got the ball. "The dog might have been a small one, but it just happened to be a solid one," he reflected.


SANTIAGO CANIZARES: The Spain goalkeeper missed the 2002 World Cup after accidentally shattering a bottle of aftershave in his hotel sink. A piece of glass fell on his foot, severing a tendon in his big toe.


KASEY KELLER: The American international knocked out his front teeth while pulling his golf clubs out of the boot of his car.


ALAN WRIGHT: The diminutive former Aston Villa full-back strained his knee by stretching to reach the accelerator in his new Ferrari. He subsequently swapped the sports car for a Rover 416.


STEVE MORROW: The former Northern Ireland defender broke his collarbone after falling off the shoulders of Tony Adams while celebrating the 1993 League Cup final win against Sheffield Wednesday.


SVEIN GRONDALEN: The Norway defender had to withdraw from an international during the 1970s after colliding with a moose while out jogging.


ALAN MULLERY: The England star missed the 1964 tour of South America after injuring his back while brushing his teeth.


DAVID BATTY: The former Leeds and Blackburn midfielder managed to re-injure his Achilles tendon when he was run over by his toddler on a tricycle.


DARREN BARNARD: The former Barnsley midfielder was sidelined for five months with a torn knee ligament after he slipped in a puddle of his puppy's urine on the kitchen floor.


LEE HODGES: The then Barnet player slipped on a bar of soap in the shower and wrenched his groin.


CHARLIE GEORGE: Arsenal's 1971 FA Cup hero managed to cut off his toe with a lawnmower.


KIERON DYER: The Newcastle midfielder damaged his left eye when he collided with a pole in training - ruling him out for two weeks.


LEROY LITA: The England Under-21 international damaged a muscle while stretching after he woke up.


MICHAEL STENSGAARD: The Danish goalkeeper was forced to retire after suffering an injury to his shoulder while he attempted to fold down an ironing board.


DEREK LYLE: The Dundee striker fell through a glass table in his home which required 16 stitches and he missed his side's Scottish Cup quarter-final against Queen of the South.


DARIUS VASSELL: The then Aston Villa striker missed several games after he drilled through his toe nail with a home power drill thinking it would relieve the pressure on a swollen toe. The attempt at DIY surgery succeeded only in giving the toe an infection which required medical attention.


KEVIN KYLE: The Kilmarnock striker spent a night in hospital in 2006 when his eight-month old son kicked a jug of boiling water over his crotch.


LIAM LAWRENCE: The Stoke midfielder fell down the stairs and injured his ankle after tripping over his dog.


KIRK BROADFOOT: The Rangers defender suffered burns after an egg he had poached exploded in his face while he was inspecting it Telegraph

 

Cardiff Latest Club to Offer Season Tickets With Refunds if Get Promoted

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Cardiff become the latest club to do this. Sounds a great deal for fans...

Cardiff Official Site
Fri 18 Dec 2009
Cardiff City are offering their fans an amazing opportunity to watch Premier League football for FREE next season - and help Dave Jones strengthen his squad in January.

Anyone who buys a 2010-11 season ticket before December 31 will have their money REFUNDED if the Bluebirds win promotion this season.

And the cash that comes in will go towards bringing in players during the New Year transfer window.

Yes, you could be watching Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool at Cardiff City Stadium absolutely free of charge. If you have already bought your season ticket for 2009-2010 the offer applies to you.

Manager Dave, who came up with the idea, said: "It's a no-brainer. If we get to the Premier League, you will watch your football for nothing. If it doesn't happen, then you're still buying to support the club.

"I've asked the chairman that if anybody buys a season ticket before December 31 and the club get promoted, then we should reimburse all the supporters who have bought a ticket and the money will enable us to go and get players in. It's a fantastic offer and a fantastic gesture by the board.

"The fans have been brilliant in the time I've been at Cardiff City and this is their chance to give us that extra push."

Buying a season ticket before the end of the year will also freeze the price for the next FIVE years. Here's how the inflation-busting offer works:

*Fans who buy a 2010-11 season ticket before December 31, 2009 will become Platinum Ambassadors and will be guaranteed NO price increases for five years.

*If the Bluebirds are promoted, fans who bought before December 31 will be reimbursed in full. This also applies to supporters who have already bought their 2010-11 season tickets.

*The offer applies to fans old and new - you don't have to be an existing season ticket holder to benefit.

*Prices start from as little as £14 per game for an adult and just over £2 per game for under 16s. Yes! £2 a game.

*We will still be offering our highly successful under-9s go free policy in the Braces Bread Family Stand.

*The offer is open until December 31, 2009.

*You still buy tickets season by season and you do NOT have to guarantee to buy for all five years

*You can still buy tickets after 31/12/09, but you don't get the five-year deal or the chance of free Premier League football.

*If we change owner, the offer still stands.

*Juniors who reach adult status during the five-year term will become liable for the full adult price in the season AFTER they reach the age of 16. Adults who reach the age of 60 during the five-year term will pay the concession price for the season AFTER their 60th birthday.

HOW TO BUY

To become a Platinum Ambassador, you can purchase outright online at www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk

By phone on 0845 345 1400

Or in person at the Cardiff City Stadium ticket office.

Alternatively, in response to feedback from our fans, we are now offering a five-month INTEREST FREE instalment option via Zebra Finance for all our supporters. Sign up now and you don't have to make your first payment until January 2010. To take advantage of this option, all you need to do is complete the finance form available by phone or in person from the club ticket office and we will do the rest.

So enjoy a big freeze this Christmas - become a Platinum Ambassador today Cardiff

Friday, December 18, 2009

 

Two Clubs Jointly Pay Tribute to Murdered Fans

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Very good by both clubs

BBC -Clubs' tribute to murdered fans

Charlton Athletic and Millwall are to dedicate Saturday's south London derby at The Valley to the memories of Rob Knox and Jimmy Mizen.

The boys were supporters of the respective clubs and were murdered in street violence incidents in 2008.

The two clubs aim to use the game to spread a hard-hitting message aimed at combating knife crime.

Sponsors' names on team shirts will be replaced with the Street Violence Ruins Lives campaign logo for the match.

Millwall manager Kenny Jacket said he was delighted to be involved with the campaign.

"It is an initiative that we back wholeheartedly," he said.

"Football is a massive part of people's lives. In south London, Millwall and Charlton go back many generations and to integrate the two is a really good idea."

Charlton chief executive Steve Waggott said: "Street violence is a huge problem in our society. This game will really help raise the issue in the minds of football fans and the wider community."

Millwall striker Neil Harris told BBC London 94.9 how important the campaign was for him.

"I think this game is a fantastic opportunity for south London to send out a message between two rival clubs," he said.

"Young kids look up to us as players and it is important that we send out the right message both on and off the pitch."

Mizen's parents, Barry and Margaret, said it was paramount that the clubs, the families and the fans came together on this special day.

"What a time to bring people together, near Christmas," said Margaret. "This time of the year is always difficult, but to know that we're all together is a really good thing."

It will be the first time in 13 years that the Lions, who trail Charlton by 13 points in the League One table, travel to The Valley. BBC


South London Press/Tobt Porter

Margaret Mizen: Jimmy would have been proud of Millwall and Charlton

Thursday, 17 December 2009

THE parents of murdered teenagers Rob Knox and Jimmy Mizen will walk onto the pitch at The Valley before Charlton host Millwall on Saturday to kick off a campaign against street violence.

The players will wear specially-designed shirts to launch the campaign, which the Mizens this morning said they hoped will spread to other clubs, because of the power football can exert.

Margaret Mizen, whose son Jimmy was murdered in a Lee bakery last year, said: "I know for a fact that my son would be so proud of Millwall for doing this - and Rob Knox of Charlton.

"It will be a great day and a sign of the co-operation which can happen between clubs to try to stop the violence on our streets."

Husband Barry added: "I would like to think this will be the beginning of something more. Changes need to happen because of the levels of agression people seem prepared to show each other.

"Real changes can only come if we all do something. It is great the players are making their stance clear because football is influential. I would like to see it spread out to other supporters at other clubs because everyone has a part to play."

Lions manager Kenny Jackett said: "Me and the players back this campaign 100 per cent. It is a very good initative. Football has played a very important part in the two families’ lives so we wanted to support them." South London Press

 

Watford Win Last Gasp Reprieve

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Guardian
Lord Ashcroft offers to repay Russos to keep Watford out of administration• Former chairman answers Graham Taylor criticisms
• Club hopes rights issue will raise £7.5m
Matt Scott guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 December 2009

Lord Ashcroft, Watford's majority shareholder, has offered to repay the Russos' £4.88m loans into the Championship club in an effort to avert administration.

The Vicarage Road board is awaiting legal confirmation after receiving acceptance in principle from the club's former chairman Jimmy Russo.

Once the transaction is complete Watford will proceed with a rights issue that is aimed at providing £7.5m in working capital for the club. That sum, raised from shareholders in an exercise that will be underwritten by Ashcroft, would cover the £5.5m that is required before June 2010 to keep the club afloat, while also providing a useful financial cushion.

Russo confirmed that he would accept Ashcroft's deal. "Definitely, not a problem," he told Radio 5 Live. "The sad thing is this could have all been resolved without all the pain that's gone on over the last week or so.

"We've been asking him [Lord Ashcroft] to come to the table virtually every week. But now that he's prepared to pay my debt, that's great. It's good for the club. I'm absolutely delighted. But ... why leave things to the last second?"

Russo confirmed that his threat to take the club into administration was more than mere posturing, although he would have done so reluctantly.

"When you make an announcement that you are going to put the club into administration, you've got to go through with it," he said. "Was it something I wanted to do? No, never. It's something they should have taken into account when they decided my presence was not wanted on the board, despite all the good things that we'd done for the club."

He added: "I'm relieved that this has been sorted out and disappointed that it's taken so long."

Russo also mounted a robust defence of his position after the interim Watford chairman, Graham Taylor, branded him a "bad man" earlier today for allowing the club to come to the brink.

"I thought that was a disgraceful comment," Russo said. "He should have been more selective with his words. How can somebody who has rescued the club four times, have a contribution of £9m in the club, never been paid a penny ... become a bad man? I think Graham should apologise for that comment. I think that was totally out of order and I don't think I deserved that. He should really look at that again and pick up the phone, if he's big enough."

Watford confirmed the £7.5m rights issue is going ahead. "The feeling inside the club tonight is one of huge relief," a Watford spokesman said. "The right decisions have been made by both parties for the future of the football club." Guardian


Watford Observer
Jimmy Russo and Lord Michael Ashcroft reach Hornets agreement

Friday 18th December 2009

By Anthony Matthews »

Watford fans can breathe a huge sigh of relief tonight after their club was saved from administration.

Former chairman Jimmy Russo has accepted an offer from major shareholder Lord Michael Ashcroft to repay the £4.88m lent to the Hornets.

Russo who, along with his brother Vince and close business associate Robin Williams resigned at Tuesday's annual meeting, had threatened to put Watford into administration after rejecting the terms of a £7.5m right issue proposed by Lord Ashcroft's Fordwat company yesterday.

But a deal has now been done and Russo told BBC Radio 5 Live tonight: "I'm relieved to have all this sorted out but it's disappointing it has taken so long.

"It has rescued the club and it is good for the club and I'm delighted. I didn't want to put them into administration.

"I wish the football club all the best and they have got a good future."

Despite this positive development Russo hit back at interim chairman Graham Taylor for labelling him a "bad man" following this week's events.

"I thought that was a disgraceful comment," his predecessor reportedly said. "He should have been more selective with his words.

"How can somebody who has rescued the club four times, have a contribution of £9m in the club, never been paid a penny ... become a bad man?

"I think Graham should apologise for that comment. I think that was totally out of order, and I don't think I deserved that.

"He should really look at that again and pick up the phone - if he's big enough."

Watford Observer


EARLIER TODAY

Watford Observer

Watford Supporters' Trust chairman gives his views on Watford FC crisis
11:19am Friday 18th December 2009

By Frank Smith »

Following Tuesday's dramatic AGM, Watford Supporters' Trust chairman Graham Sterry released this statement on Thursday morning with his own views on the current situation:

'I attended the AGM of Watford Leisure etc in my capacity as Chairman of Watford Supporters Trust. Since the AGM, the Supporters Trust has not been able to meet to formulate its views and there will undoubtedly be differing views and interpretations of events – some informed by having been there and through experience. Some not.

My own interpretation of events is that the 3 directors representing the interests of Valley Grown Salads (Vince and Jimmy Russo and their nominee director Robin Williams) resigned because it was clear to them that they would inevitably be voted off the Board. A major shareholder had ensured that voting be on the basis of shareholdings of those voting. That is normal practice in a formal poll. Since the Russos between them own less than 30% of shares and the counter parties own in excess of 50% of shares, there could be only one result. The VGS directors resigned rather than be voted off the Board.

However, at the same time, they demanded the immediate repayment of loans made to the Club by VGS. That immediately would force the Club into administration since it would be unable to meet its commitments. Were that to happen, the Club would immediately be docked 10 points by the Football League.

Most of the clubs in the Championship have levels of indebtedness markedly greater than ours at Watford. In saying that, I am not making light of the loans that the Russo’s have had to make to Watford; nor of the efforts that they have made to make the Club successful. But I am astounded and disappointed that anyone with the best interests of the Club at heart would take such action. It is that single act of demanding immediate repayment of the loans that forces us into administration.

Jimmy Russo was understandably emotional when he resigned. He stated, quite rightly, that he had tried to keep the Club afloat since he had taken over as Chairman. During that time, the other major shareholders (Lord Ashcroft and Graham Simpson) had not invested any new money into the club. VGS had been forced to make loans to keep the Club going. The last £1million would have run out before Christmas. In previous statements Jimmy had stated that following that he would be forced to place the Club into administration unless the other major shareholders made money available. He told the meeting that despite his phone calls, Fordwat representatives had not spoken to him. He further stated that they, VGS, had the funds and would invest, but only if VGS could acquire the Club from Lord Ashcroft and Simpson, on their terms. VGS had made a proposal to acquire their interest, but had had no response at all.

During the course of the continued AGM, and after the VGS directors had all left the meeting, it was made clear that proposals had been received by VGS and also proposals presented by Lord Ashcroft and Simpson. The Board had resolved that both of these proposals would be evaluated urgently by a sub-group of the Board comprising the independent directors, including Stuart Timperley and Graham Taylor. That evaluation was incomplete. It was obvious that the independent directors were frustrated that VGS directors had resigned and pulled the administration trigger before the independent directors had been allowed to complete evaluation.

That makes it very clear that this is all about the outright ownership of the Club. We have two groups of people who have invested in the past – one for many years - both claiming to have the funds and, crucially, the desire to continue funding the Club. We should be comfortable but for their inability to work together. Instead we are being pitch forked into administration as a device to wrest control of the Club. The Supporters Trust can only regret and abhor such destructive behaviour. We should not be facing administration.

Just to finish off, with Graham Taylor as Acting-Chairman for the meeting, the AGM continued with voting on the Resolutions before the meeting. In particular these included the election or otherwise of the Board of Watford Leisure. Graham Taylor, Stuart Timperley, David Jansen and Julian Winter were re-elected. We shall continue to support them fully in their efforts for our Club. They are going to need it, and we need them to be successful.'

Watford Observer

Sunday, December 13, 2009

 

Prize Winning Football Websites

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- When Saturday Comes Ian Plenderleith
And the winner is... 11 December 2009 ~


It’s five years since WSC last handed out any awards to worthy websites. And even then, we didn’t actually hand anything out. These are virtual awards that reflect the cyber-realistic nature of the internet and so will be better appreciated by the keyboard-bound phalanx of dedicated writers who would never desert their terminals just to attend some fancy web awards dinner at the Savoy. Besides, they were fully booked until next Christmas.

Those five years have seen a significant decline in webzines while blogs, forums and Twitter feeds have emerged as the instant conduit for football’s weary, frustrated and furious fans. Ambitious commercial ventures, aside from betting sites, have largely become part of internet history and the big-name media outlets have established themselves as the main source for news and mainstream features. The consequent chase for reader responses to impress advertising executives has meant that considered, quality writing has often been sacrificed.

But are we discouraged? Not at all. Considering the payback, we are amazed that in the non-commercial substrata, there are still independent websites ready to invest energy in producing work full of conviction, originality, wit and well-hewn prose. It’s true that, in terms of numbers, there are simply not that many good football sites any more and many of those we’ve praised before are now extinct or obsolete. But those with more staying power sustain the notion that bewildering devotion and unquenchable hope continue to pump the barely visible heart that keeps football alive and just about bearable.

Worthy Websites: Gold Awards

Pitch Invasion http://pitchinvasion.net/
& Two Hundred Per Cent http://www.twohundredpercent.net/

There’s not that much difference between a website and a blog any more, thanks to advances in layout innovation that simplify the once arduous tasks of constructing and maintaining a site. These two general sites have exploited the new possibilities and moved ahead of the competition with consistently excellent coverage. Their strength is to use quality writing as a vehicle for intelligent, commentary-led journalism looking at football from a photographic, historical, cultural, political and economic perspective. Fresh daily content proves that these sites are committed and they deserve your support to endure in the frequently bland, barren landscape of online football writing.

Play The Game http://playthegame.org & Transparency In Sport http://transparencyinsport.org/
The only sites devoted to uncovering bribery, corruption and all other kinds of shenanigans in the world of professional sport and in particular football. Play the Game is the site of the Danish-based watchdog that values integrity in both sport and the journalists that cover it, while Transparency In Sport is the site of FIFA vice-president Jack Warner’s nemesis, investigative reporter Andrew Jennings. Both are essential reading in the run-up to this coming summer’s sponsor-driven, fake FIFA love-fest.

Worthy Websites: Silver Awards

Football Filter http://www.footballfilter.com/
Superbly laid out single-page overview of headlines from the main media outlets, selected blogs, football magazines, messageboards, most recent podcasts and more besides. A simple but immaculately executed aid to swift surfing.

The Political Economy of Football http://footballeconomy.com/
Wyn Grant’s sobering site is the only useful guide to the messed up financial state of the British game. It now includes yearly profit and loss figures for most teams going back to the mid-1990s and an easily accessible archive of stories, club by club. Newcastle’s articles alone could justify an extra site.

Football And Music http://www.footballandmusic.co.uk/
We all know football and music don’t mix, but at least they don’t mix in a grimly fascinating way. Here’s where this superb site comes in, an ongoing documentation – with YouTube and MP3 links – that explores the almost impossible disunity of two art forms we love to watch collide.

Run Of Play http://www.runofplay.com/
This blog sums itself up well: “Our aim is to bring you the latest football news from around the world with style, scepticism, and wit.” The blog is nicely subtitled “Attacking Football”. Sharp, feisty and funny.

Worthy Websites: Bronze Awards

The 100 Football Grounds Club http://100groundsclub.blogspot.com/
Many of us like the idea of being a groundhopper but only in theory. Our vicarious visits to places like Norton and Stockton Ancients and Darlington Railway Athletic come courtesy of the hardy souls who not only make the trips but write about them too, at length, and in a nerdish but weirdly compelling fashion.

European Football Weekends http://europeanfootballweekends.co.uk/
OK, room for one more groundhopping blog, because these lads don’t take themselves too seriously on organised weekends, wearing EFW T-shirts, in a bus, drinking beer on the autobahn on the way to a German fourth division game. The jocose banter makes you feel like you’re on the bus too. A boozy, enjoyable trip.

The Global Game http://theglobalgame.com/
Not updated as often as it used to be, but this stellar North American site is still the flag bearer for the kind of in-depth football writing that has declined just as weak satire, mindless ranting and banal tweeting have risen to the fore. Its archives are a treasure.

Viva Rovers http://vivarovers.wordpress.com/
Read how Lindsay Lohan and Tom the Cabin Boy from Captain Pugwash became Doncaster Rovers fans. Dry wit combined with well-informed football analysis.

Cod Almighty http://codalmighty.com/
“Town: static, shocking, shaming.” That’s a one-paragraph summary of Grimsby’s first-half performance against Bath City in the FA Cup. Brilliantly scathing on a daily basis.

Hans van der Meer http://hansvandermeer.nl/
Exquisite photography from the game’s lowest reaches. Stills that move. You will stare at your screen for hours. Why are there not more sites like this. Ian Plenderleith - When Saturday Comes

 

Notts County Takeover Complete

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Notts County Takeover Complete
Soccernet Notts County takeover complete as Sven stays on


Notts County executive chairman Peter Trembling has completed his takeover of the League Two club from Munto Finance.


Trembling has paid a nominal fee to the Middle Eastern consortium only five months after they took control at Meadow Lane, and he has revealed that Sven-Goran Eriksson will stay on as director of football.

Trembling said: "I would like to thank Munto Finance for the way they have conducted the sale of the football club. They have been responsible for changing the outlook of a club which has previously finished in the bottom six of the Football League for four times in the past five years.

"Now we cherish ambitions to secure promotion this year and deliver sustainable progress into the Championship and beyond."

Trembling has already passed a Football League fit and proper person test and revealed he will be seeking new investment.

He added: "This is clearly an important day for the club and one which will hopefully draw a line under several weeks of speculation. I must stress, however, that a great deal more still needs to be done if we are to fulfil our ultimate objective of Premier League football.

"We have restructured the ownership of the football club in order to secure new and prolonged investment and we anticipate this will be an ongoing process.''

Magpies chief executive Gary Townsend will be asked to join the board of directors and Sir John Walker will stay on as a director. Soccernet

 

Kettering's Involved Chairman

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Observer/Paul Wilson
Dressing-room sackings are more Dog and Duck than FA Cup


Interfering chairman made Kettering look amateurish

The Kettering player-manager Lee Harper saw his assistant dismissed this week following the 5-1 FA Cup defeat at Leeds. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images.

One of the great things about football is its almost endless capacity to surprise. Another is that despite all the money around these days the game at the top level continues to be recognisable as the game we have all played on park pitches or school fields.

These thoughts were initially prompted by the Hackney Marshes aspect of Steve Sidwell's part in the goal Aston Villa's James Milner scored against Hull City last week, when the non-playing substitute turned ball-boy to allow a throw-in quick enough to catch the opposing goalkeeper out of his ground. They were reinforced by what happened at Elland Road on Tuesday night when Kettering were knocked out of the FA Cup, a sequence of events straight from the Dog and Duck end of the football spectrum.

In case you haven't heard the tale, here is a brief precis of what happened. The score after 90 minutes of the second-round replay was 1-1. Leeds United were not having everything their own way and home players were beginning to argue among themselves, so with the prize of a trip to Manchester United on offer, the Poppies were entitled to feel they might get lucky on penalties if they could survive the next half hour. Trouble was, they couldn't. With some of his outfield players exhausted and begging to come off, assistant manager John Deehan sent on substitutes, Kettering conceded four goals in extra-time and at the final whistle Deehan was sacked by an irate and bitterly disappointed chairman, Imraan Ladak. Lee Harper, the Kettering goalkeeper and player-manager, told reporters he was "gutted by the result but shell-shocked and flabbergasted by what had happened in the dressing room afterwards", and said he was considering his own position after such unjust treatment of his assistant. He has since made his peace with Ladak and pledged to carry on, though the latter acknowledges there was a substantial difference of opinion.

Football has seen countless trigger-happy chairmen, though dismissing a manager during a game – Ladak admits he was angry with the substitutions and the possibility exists he would have acted even sooner had it been feasible – is something new. Especially as, by Kettering standards, this was the biggest game of the season. The highlight, their Cup final. Old Trafford would have been better, for sure, yet by all accounts the Conference side did their fans proud at Elland Road and were only exposed by their fitness levels late in the game.

Ladak is no stranger to dismissing managers. He was the chairman who brought in Paul Gascoigne a few years ago then shipped him out a matter of weeks later on discovering he was not quite what was needed, and Harper and Deehan had only been in charge since last month. Deehan, who has a decent managerial CV after spells at Norwich, Wigan and Aston Villa, was the experienced head Harper brought in to help him take his first steps as player-manager. "He's a football man, he knows what he's doing," Harper said. "The lads gave it everything on the night and when you bring football people in they need to be left to run the team."

If that sounds like a thinly veiled accusation of interference, it is only what Kettering fans have been saying all week. When Ladak is not being charged with sticking his nose into team selection he is usually being branded an attention-seeker or egotist. Yet the chairman gave a detailed interview with the club's website the following day that lasted over an hour, and while stopping short of apologising, offered an explanation and an expression of regret that his actions had overshadowed an otherwise memorable evening. "I have taken some of the positive spotlight away from the club and that is not normally something I would choose to do," he said.

It turns out that Ladak was irked to see one particular player take the field. A player who will remain nameless here, but whose identity Ladak is not at all concerned to protect. A player, according to Ladak, who cannot be bothered travelling to all the club's training sessions, who was not involved in the preparations for the Leeds game, who has been actively seeking to leave and whom the chairman never wanted to see play for Kettering again. A player, in short, who Ladak said "was only on the bench at Elland Road to make up the numbers".

Not the best plan, perhaps, but needs must, and it might have worked without Kettering's original 11 dropping like flies in extra-time. Deehan sent on the only fresh legs he had and paid the penalty. It is hard to know who is right and wrong in this sorry tale, though it is just possible that rather than being a pompous publicity seeker, Ladak is a man with principles who cares too much about his club. Perhaps he needs to be even firmer in future, and insist that bad influences and bad attitudes are kept well away from the team. Put them on the subs' bench, even as decoration, and sod's law will come into play. Ladak probably ought to try counting to 10 occasionally too, and leaving big decisions until the following day. "Lots of things go on within football clubs, and it is not right to put every single reason why you might be unhappy into the public domain," he said. There is an obvious lesson to be learned here. Sacking a member of the coaching staff in the dressing room at the final whistle puts all your problems into the public domain. As well as making you look a bit Dog and Duck.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/....up-leeds-united
Observer

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