Weird Accusation at Preston (Ex-QPR Man, Manager!)

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Preston North End manager Graham Westley accuses players of leaking information to Sheffield Wednesday

Graham Westley, the Preston North End manager, has accused four of his players of leaking sensitive team and tactical information to Sheffield Wednesday on the eve of Saturday's League One game between the sides.


By Telegraph staff

6:55PM BST 31 Mar 2012

Wednesday won the match 2-0 but the victory was tainted by Westley's claims, which could yet lead to an investigation by the Football League or the Football Association, if they believe the integrity of the competition has been damaged by the alleged leak.

Westley, who has been under increasing pressure after a poor run of results since taking charge in January, said the Wednesday coaching staff revealed to him during the game that they had been informed of the details of the Preston team at 5pm on Friday.

Westley said: "Their bench said to me during the second half: 'Four Preston players told us your team yesterday.'

"When you've got that level of commitment to the cause it's going to be difficult to win all your points. You've got to make sure you get the togetherness right. I've got to believe their dugout when it says it to me and I think from dugout to dugout I would very rarely believe that someone would lie to me on that sort of information.

"Four players of ours yesterday, at five o'clock, revealed our team to them as a football club. Does it surprise me? When you've got a number of agendas within a club - and I've said since I've been here that that's the case within the playing squad here - this sort of thing happens and it's not the first time that something's happened that's surprised me."
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The Football League indicated on Saturday night they would need more information about Westley's claims before knowing whether any action would be appropriate. They are likely to feel that in the first instance Preston would have to hold their own disciplinary investigation to establish what happened. The Sheffield Wednesday coaching staff will also come under pressure to make public exactly what they were told on Friday afternoon and by whom.

The Football Association, meanwhile, have failed to respond to enquiries about Westley's comments.

Westley added: "The dressing room is fighting against itself. There are 35-odd players and they will be very disappointed that some are working against their teammates.It's a difficult place at the moment, our club and our dressing room. But it's only by working through issues and sorting issues out that you get yourself into a winning position."

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/preston-north-end/9178411/Preston-North-End-manager-Graham-Westley-accuses-players-of-leaking-information-to-Sheffield-Wednesday.html


Sheffield Star


OWLS OPPONENTS ‘LEAKED’ TEAM ALLEGATION
Owls: Sheffield Wednesday news, reports and more with The Star.


Published on Saturday 31 March 2012 18:20

Graham Westley, the Preston North End manager, has accused some members of his squad of leaking tactical information to Sheffield Wednesday, before the Lancashire side lost 2-0 today, writes Bob Westerdale.

PNE were beaten by a Gary Madine’s brace and the side have now won just once in their last 11 matches; yet he was more enraged by the suggestion his own men had aided the Owls’ preparations.

“We are where we are because the club’s got a lot of losing ways installed in the playing squad and there’s no better example than when their bench said to me during the second half: ‘four Preston players told us your team yesterday,’” he said.

“When you’ve got that level of commitment to the cause it’s going to be difficult to win all your points. You’ve got to make sure you get the togetherness right. I’ve got to believe their dugout when it says it to me and I think from dugout to dugout I would very rarely believe that someone would lie to me on that sort of information.

“Four players of ours yesterday, at five o’clock, revealed our team to them as a football club. Does it surprise me? When you’ve got a number of agendas within a club - and I’ve said since I’ve been here that that’s the case within the playing squad here - this sort of thing happens and it’s not the first time that something’s happened that’s surprised me.

“It’s a difficult place at the moment, our club and our dressing room. But it’s only by working through issues and sorting issues out that you get yourself into a winning position.”

www.thestar.co.uk/news/owls-opponents-leaked-team-allegation-1-4407768

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And we thought we had dressing room issues?

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Guardian

Sport
Football
Preston North End
Westley accuses four of his Preston players of leaking team news
• Manager says Sheffield Wednesday were given heads-up
• 'This dressing room is fighting against itself' he adds

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David Hills
The Observer, Saturday 31 March 2012
Article history

Graham Westley, manager of Preston North End, says his squad has 'a lot of losing ways installed in it'. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
The Preston manager, Graham Westley, has accused four of his players of deliberately leaking tactical information before their 2-0 League One defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

Westley, who replaced the sacked Phil Brown in January, has been the target of growing criticism for overseeing a dire run of results, with only one win in their last 11 games leaving them 16th, only six points above the relegation zone.

Speaking after the defeat at Hillsborough, Westley said: "This squad's got a lot of losing ways installed in it, and there's no better example of that than what Wednesday's bench told me during the second half. I have to work on the basis that their bench wouldn't lie, and they said that four players of ours yesterday, at five o'clock, revealed our team to them.

"Does it surprise me? When you've got a number of agendas within a club – and I've said since I've been here that that's the case – this sort of thing happens. And it's not the first time that something's happened here that's surprised me.

"This dressing room is fighting against itself. There are 35-odd players in the squad and they will be very disappointed that some are working against their team-mates.

"It's a difficult place at the moment … But at times it pays to let people know the type of stuff that goes on in a losing environment. It's my job to put a stop to it."

Westley's claim has the potential to prompt a Football League investigation should officials believe the apparent leak harmed the competition's integrity.

Westley, 44, had previously hinted at the problems behind the scenes after being abused by Preston's fans during last Tuesday's 3-1 home defeat by Brentford – suggesting he was planning to sell those players who were reacting badly to his methods.

"When you have a new regime coming in people do react … I have listened to lads saying they are getting fitter and stronger and I don't understand why anybody would react against that, but there are players that do. When you have got that sort of split you are working towards the summer where you can change it. People who don't want to be here can move on."

www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/apr/01/westley-preston-sheffield-wednesday

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Preston Official Site

Westley: Shows What We Are Up Against
Posted on: Sat 31 Mar 2012

Preston North End boss Graham Westley revealed after today's defeat against Sheffield Wednesday what an uphill task he is having to work against, after four unnamed players released PNE team news to Sheffield Wednesday prior to the game.

Speaking to the local press after the game, the boss said: "It is about getting away from losing and start winning and becoming more difficult to beat but to stand in the dugout today and be told by their dugout that four of our players had given our side across to them says where our side is at.

"You don't need four players from your own squad releasing that kind of information and I have to work on the basis that they wouldn't tell me a lie.

"So to hear that at 5pm yesterday Sheffield Wednesday got that news shows you what we are up against but it doesn't surprise me.

"At times it works to tell people the type of things that go on in a losing environment and when you have got that sort of stuff going on, obviously it is my job to solve it, but when a team is losing it is losing for reasons.

"When you have got people in your own camp working against you it is tough, it is not an excuse and I am not complaining, it is the job and I will get on with it and I will overcome it and they are the type of barriers you have to jump over.

"You have to grit your teeth, be strong and get on with it, the more people you get together and you can build a winning squad, and a winning squad is together and can trust each other.

Talking about the game itself, which Preston lost 2-0 courtesy of a brace from Owls striker Gary Madine, Westley was impressed with his side's first half performance and believes if Paul Parry had scored just before the half time whistle, it could have been a completely different outcome in Yorkshire.

He continued: "It was one of our most convincing displays certainly up until half time, having Craig Morgan back in was a delight, he has a lot of experience and he is always going to give us an added extra.

"We looked much more assured right across the backline, Bailey [Wright] had a difficult time in the first half but he readjusted what he was doing at half time and I gave him a few clues how to defend against pace.

"We got better support to him and in the second half he acclimatised and did very well.

"It was a shame we conceded the goal when we did and it was a shame the type of goal we conceded because it deflated everybody.

"Thorsten Stuckmann is such a reliable man and to see him beat at the near post was a tough one to take and had he been fully fit, I don't think it would have happened.
"He was very doubtful yesterday but he gritted his teeth and he got himself on pain killers and got himself out there.

"But you could see Thorsten [Stuckmann] was a bit impinged in his movement and it has cost us at the near post and the wind came out of our sails.

"The enforced change of Aaron Brown coming off, especially at a set piece, their long throw getting into our box caused a small amount of confusion because we had to make the change.

"The confusion inside our penalty box led to Gary Madine been left unmarked in our penalty box and the ball ended up in the back of our net.

"At 2-0 there was a sense that the game had gone but we took the game forward, we had a set piece but we didn't quite manage to get the goal that would have got us back into the game and it ended peacefully for Sheffield Wednesday.

"However for long periods of today's game there was a lot of positives you can take.

"We could have easily gone ahead before half time when we opened up their defence with Paul Parry and he could have done better.

"We had our moments and we could have easily taken the lead and I have been told Graham Cummins had a penalty shout.

"If we had gone into half time in the lead then it would have been a terrific job away from home, Sheffield Wednesday are a tough side and are going well and they have got a reserve side which could go out and play for the first team.

"We picked up two points in nine games without Neil Mellor before I got here and then we picked up five from seven and then seven from seven and that is all about the start of progression."

www.pnefc.net/page/NewsDetail/0,,10362~2707988,00.html