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Box Of Tricks

by | 26th, March 2004

‘MARSEILLES’ players may be “indecent” in the mind of Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier, but they form a more decent outfit than his Reds.

Wednesday’s man is full of woe

The Independent leads with news that Liverpool are out of the Uefa Cup, having lost the game in France 2-1, the tie 3-2, and with it any chance of lifting silver this season.

And Houllier is aggrieved. “The penalty was an outrageous decision,” says he of the French side’s successfully taken spot kick when trailing 1-0.

And it was a dubious decision, as Marseilles’ Steve Martlet made sure he fell in the penalty box under pressure from Liverpool’s Igor Biscan, even earning the Croatian a red card for his foul.

But in football much that goes around comes around, and what went for Liverpool at Yeovil and Portsmouth in the FA Cup now goes against them in the Uefa.

Meanwhile in football some things just do not change. Ken Bates might have exchanged the Chelsea lion for the Sheffield Wednesday owl, but he’s still fighting anyone and everyone.

The Telegraph says that Bates has been accused of “losing his marbles” following his claim that the Wednesday board has yet to release financial date on the club, so stalling the bearded one’s £10million investment.

This has led to the Yorkshire club’s chairman, Dave Allen, questioning Bates’ motives. He says he has given the full books to Bates and that Bates “is obviously trying to destabilise the club and create a lot of problems”.

And that includes Bates turning on the club’s current coach, Chris Tuner. “I don’t know of a successful manager who has ever played as a goalkeeper,” says Bates, “and that’s one of the problems.”

The other problems, Bates will get to – and possibly exacerbate in the fullness of time…’



Posted: 26th, March 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink