FA ready for United war
New FA supremo Mark Palios is gearing up for a legal battle with Manchester United. It follows the Premiership champions´ criticism of the FA´s handling of Rio Ferdinand´s drug test. Rio, 24, has his initial FA hearing tomorrow ( Monday).
Sports staff, The People
Fool guy Ferdinand not the only dope
I wonder what would have happened this week if Rio Ferdinand was a Turk. Would the Turkish FA have banned a player yet to have a hearing? Would they have even made the matter public before the biggest game for the country since the World Cup Finals? Somehow I doubt it. Is Rio a fool or a liar? Well, as he apparently pleaded with the FA to let him take the test later the same day, and substances usually take up to 48 hours to leave the body... I´d say he´s no liar. And if we´re talking about fools, what the hell were officials at the biggest club in the world doing while all this was going on? How did the folk at Manchester United let him leave the ground? And as soon as they found out that he´d driven away, why did they not track him down?
Steve Claridge, The People
Fergie: I will fight to clear Rio
Sir Alex Ferguson has finally broken his silence over the Rio Ferdinand drugs scandal and declared: " Rio is innocent." And in a double show of unity the Old Trafford boss has also backed Gary Neville for leading Sven Goran Eriksson´s England squad into a war against the FA over the way they identified Ferdinand for failing to take a drug test. Speaking for the first time about why his £70,000-a-week star missed giving a sample to a flying drug test unit, Fergie admitted Ferdinand was in the wrong. But he said: " Look, Rio made a mistake in not having his test when he should have done but it was an innocent error - he just forgot." I understand an inquest has already been carried about by Ferguson as to how and why the defender failed to comply with the procedure. But whatever internal club discipline the player may be subjected to, Ferguson has already told Britain´s most expensive defender he´ll support him to the hilt. The United chief has also launched a fierce rearguard action to protect Neville. The 28-year-old full-back has been widely attacked for his role in leading England players towards alleged strike action. But Fergie insisted: " You really do have to admire my players for the way they have stuck together over all of this."
Sports staff, The People
Empire strikes back
Furious Mark Palios is ready to come out fighting in the battle against Manchester United and the PFA over the Rio Ferdinand drugs test scandal. And I understand the FA chief executive is even considering legal action against the two bodies after a week of unprecedented turmoil in English football. Palios has made just one brief statement during the crisis but has come under repeated fire from people in the game.The England players said they felt badly let down by the FA and there are reports that they are threatening to table a vote of no confidence today. But a source close to Palios told the SP that he had no intention of folding under player pressure. And not only is he sticking by his controversial decision to prevent Ferdinand from playing in Turkey yesterday . ..he is gunning for those who have accused him of not acting properly. Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, accused the FA of hanging Ferdinand out to dry. And United claimed that the FA had ´´seriously compromised the player´s confidentiality´´. But now that the game in Istanbul is out of the way, the FA will instruct lawyers to pore over the comments and decide if there is a legal case to answer.
Sports staff, The People
A vogt of thanks
Berti Vogts praised his players for battling back from a nightmare start to their qualifying campaign as they clinched a play-off berth. Just 13 months ago the Scots drew 2-2 in their opener against the tiny Faroe Islands. But at Hampden they overcame an embarrassingly negative opposition to nab a place in tomorrow´s draw. Boss Vogts said: " James McFadden was outstanding today and Darren Fletcher scored the winner — that is great for the Scottish future. We have a good strong side." Teenager Fletcher came off the bench to fire Scotland into the play-offs. The 19-year-old Manchester United midfielder was the toast of the nation when his cool finish on 70 minutes — just four minutes after coming on — capped an otherwise dire Scottish performance. Fletcher said: " You always dream of things like scoring the winner at Hampden."
Kenny MacDonald, News of the World
Daz cleans up for Scots
Darren Fletcher lived up to his billing as ´the new David Beckham´ by coming off the substitutes´ bench to clinch Scotland´s place in the Euro 2004 play-offs. Just five minutes into his competitive debut, the Manchester United youngster sent the Tartan Army wild with the goal that finally killed off Lithuania´s stubborn resistance. With Germany hammering Iceland in Hamburg, the Scots needed to beat Lithuania to keep their hopes of a place in Portugal next summer alive. But until dazzling Dazza´s timely intervention it looked as though the afternoon was destined to end in heartbreak for Berti Vogts´ young side.
Sports staff, Sunday Mirror
Keep out
Leeds are at the centre of a fiasco that has allowed hundreds of tickets for this week´s visit of Manchester United to be sold on the black market. The Elland Road club blundered by putting tickets for the game - one of the most explosive of the season - on open sale. Fans were allowed to buy up to eight tickets with no questions asked. And that was after Leeds had cut United´s official allocation to just 1,600 because of fears of crowd trouble. Leeds gave official club members the option to buy tickets for the game but limited the number sold to one per person. They then put the rest on open sale and hundreds were immediately snapped up by touts and United fans who missed out on the Old Trafford ballot for tickets for the visitors´ enclosure. When Leeds realised their mistake, they stopped selling the tickets on open sale. But there are now real fears that violence will erupt when two of the biggest rivals in the Premiership meet on Saturday.
Simon Mullock, Sunday Mirror
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