Gordon Sharrock's World of Football (From The Bolton News)

Gordon Sharrock's World of Football

8:00am Wednesday 25th November 2009

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UEFA miss the big picture again

THIERRY Henry will bear the scar of shame for the rest of his career, the French will be ridiculed when they compete at next summer’s World Cup finals and the Irish will forever claim they were cheated — with some justification.

Such are the repercussions following the controversial events in the Stade de France last week when Henry clearly and deliberately handled the ball before supplying the cross for William Gallas to score the injury-time goal that not only won a play-off but also came close to sparking a diplomatic incident.

I have no wish to add my two-penn’rth on the rights and wrongs of the matter, other than to acknowledge that cheating is so endemic in the game that only the most draconian of disciplinary initiatives will turn the tide. And there is no desire among the game’s rule makers to go down the suggested path of lengthy suspensions for cheats, whether they be divers, ball-handlers or cowardly sneaks who elbow opponents behind referees’ backs.

Sadly and shamefully, there is no desire either to take this heaven sent opportunity to embrace the one initiative that in a matter of seconds, could have informed referee Martin Hansson that he should have disallowed the Gallas goal and seen the Irish safely and deservedly through to South Africa.

Technology is the answer but Michel Platini — the former France international who is now the big cheese at UEFA — is so dead against it that it will not happen on his watch.

I’ve heard all the arguments for and against but all that matters is that referees are given all the help they need to make the correct decisions.

It’s so simple. Other major sports have joined the technological revolution, so why is it that football continues to isolate itself to the point of embarrassment?

Latics make a worthy gesture

FULL marks to the Wigan players for offering to refund supporters who travelled to London on Sunday to see their heroes thrashed 9-1 at White Hart Lane.

The Latics crashed to the second worst defeat in Premier League history, conceding eight second-half goals to a scintillating Spurs attack.

Many is the fan who has demanded his money back after feeling short-changed by overpaid players, but this time the players have bitten the bullet and volunteered to pay up. It’s no big financial deal since the estimated £15,000 is small change to a team of highly-paid professionals. But it is a gesture and, accompanied by a contrite apology from skipper Mario Melchiot, pictured, should be applauded.

“As a group of players we badly let down our supporters, and this is a gesture we have to make and pay them back for their tremendous loyalty,” Melchiot said.

“As a group of professionals we were embarrassed by the way we performed, we feel it was below our standards and this is something we feel we owe to the fans.

“We are professionals, we will take it on the chin and move on but it’s important that we do not take our supporters for granted.”

Jason Taylor of the Wigan Supporters Club said the spirit of the players’ offer outweighed the financial implications.

“As far as supporters go it’s a really good gesture,” he said. “It’s brought the club closer to the fans again, which is what it’s trying to do at the moment. It shows that the players get the community spirit of the club and have the fans at heart.”

‘Busy’ players do need helping hand

GARY Neville has followed up Sir Alex Ferguson’s attack on players who rely too much on their agents with a broadside of his own.

“A player doesn’t need to pay between five and 15 per cent of his wages to a guy to set up a bank account or buy him a new fridge,” Neville said, echoing the sentiments of his Manchester United manager.

The trouble is that some of Neville’s fellow professional do need people to look after every aspect of their affairs.

I’m no fan of agents, who are becoming dangerously more influential with every passing season.

In fact I regard even the more reputable of the breed nothing more than a necessary evil while many are simply a cancer in the game, yet continue to prosper with the help of players and clubs alike.

Nevertheless, it appears there are some Premiership players who need their affairs managing, judging by astonishing allegations in a court case involving former Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins. Despite earning £75,000 a week in his time at St James’ Park — famously renamed the sporstdirect.com @StJames’ParkStadium — he was “constantly overdrawn”.

The Nigerian international, who was sold to German club Wolfsburg for £9million after Newcastle were relegated last season, was said to have lived a life of luxury with penthouse homes, fancy cars and a passion for fine dining. Very nice.

Yet the company he recruited to manage every aspect of his life and who are now suing him for fees he allegedly hasn’t paid, reckon he was frequently broke, claiming he regularly withdrew £40,000 at weekend and a further £25,000 the following Monday.

That’s a lot of new fridges.

Martins’ excuse for his financial affairs being in such a mess that he didn’t ask Newcastle for the £450,000 they owed him in image rights was that he was “too busy playing football”.

It’s a hard life.

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