Post by QPR Report on Aug 10, 2009 6:44:59 GMT
The Times - Disappointed Mick Harford and Luton have to settle for a point
AFC Wimbledon 1 Luton 1
Mick Harford gave Luton Town the lead in the 1988 FA Cup semi-final, but Wimbledon came back to win and progress to the final. And if that was a shock to the system, then so was watching the fixture replayed on Saturday in the Blue Square Premier.
Harford, now the Luton manager, later played for Wimbledon, so he understands the circumstances that led here – Luton effectively expelled from the Football League by a 30-point deduction and the Londoners’ fans forced to begin again at the bottom of the football pyramid when Wimbledon were allowed to move to Milton Keynes.
“I have been part of both clubs, and I’m absolutely and fully behind what AFC Wimbledon are trying to achieve,” he said. “Everyone here was hard done-by, especially the fans, so I respect what they are doing and they have done a fantastic job.
“But we were hard done-by as well, and I am here to get this club back in the Football League as soon as possible. It’s a new start for Luton, the club is stable and we are in a sound financial position. We want to go forward, and the fans are behind us, as you saw today – the only thing wrong is that we are in the wrong league. But we don’t have the burden that we started last season with, and we have already got one point, although it should have been three.”
Tom Craddock gave Luton an early lead from a penalty, and their fans’ taunts of “1-0 in your Cup Final” reminded a nervous Wimbledon that – for the first time in their seven-year existence – they are no longer the team to beat in their division. You wondered whether they were in need of some of the old Crazy Gang spirit, which seemed to be coming from the visitors when a Luton fan decapitated the Womble mascot in an act of ill-judged playfulness.
But they grew in confidence as a result of Luton’s failure to add a second goal, and, in the absence of a John Fashanu or a Vinnie Jones, they persevered with a passing style that owed little to the previous club’s traditions. It was rewarded when Jon Main, a substitute, ran onto Luke Moore’s measured through ball and was brought down by Blackett, picking himself up to equalise from the penalty spot.
“I’m so pleased for the supporters that we didn’t lose today,” Terry Brown, the Wimbledon manager who has masterminded two successive promotions, said. “We would have taken a point at half-time. Luton were a yard stronger and faster than the teams we played last season and we are under no illusions, but I don’t think Luton are under any illusions either that this will be bloody hard league to get out of.
“It might have been the right time to play them. First games are notoriously unpredictable, and don’t really tell you too much, but today shows that we have had a good pre-season, and that we can battle but also that we can give silly penalties away.”
AFC Wimbledon (4-1-4-1): J Pullen 6 – L Garrard 7, P Lorraine 6, B Johnson 6, C Hussey 6 – S Gregory 6 – L Taylor5, S Hatton 5 (sub: J Main 66min, 7), E Godfrey 5 (sub: R Wellard 74), D Duncan 4 (sub: L Moore 70, 7) – D Kedwell 4. Substitutes not used: B Judge, S Brown. Booked: Lorraine, Johnson, Garrard.
Luton Town (4-4-2): M Tyler 7 – C Reynolds 7, G Pilkington 7, S Blackett 6, L Emanuel 6 (sub: J Howells 79min) – A Newton 7 (sub: R Jarvis 87), K Keane 7, A Hall 7, A Burgess 7 – K Gallen 5, T Craddock 8 (sub: S Basham, 83). Substitutes not used: S Gore, C Gnapka. Booked: Gallen, Reynolds, Hall; sent off: Blackett.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6789592.ece
Telegraph
Ian Watmore, the Football Association chief executive, hit out at Uefa’s planned restrictions on signing players, arguing that the Premier League is improved by clubs like Manchester City spending heavily to strengthen their squads.
By Richard Bright
Published: 7:30AM BST 10 Aug 2009
European football’s governing body is trying to implement rules that would force teams to make transfer fees and players’ salaries proportionate to their income as a condition for entry to the Champions League.
However, Watmore has dismissed those plans as unfeasible and unenforceable.
Related Articles
They're in the money
Toure vows to make City winners
Sport on television
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis urges Premier League to look at salary cap
Football League's initiative would be a force for good for pampered players
Incoming FA chief executive: Five key issues for Ian Watmore to address“Anything that makes the competition stronger and more deep, I think has got to be welcomed,” Watmore said. “We don’t want to see the Premier League becoming a top- four procession every year.
“If in the process of the new money coming into Manchester City — and some interesting, I think different, strategies that people like Aston Villa are adopting — we can get to seven or eight clubs that realistically have a chance of breaking into the top four, it can only strengthen the Premier League, which is to our mutual advantage.”
Espanyol were in a state of shock on Sunday following the sudden death of their 26-year-old team captain Dani Jarque.
Defender Jarque, who was about to become a father, collapsed in his hotel room on Saturday during a club tour of Italy and died of heart failure after attempts to revive him failed.
“I find it very hard to believe these things happen,” Espanyol president Daniel Sanchez Llibre said. “Jarque was a great person and a great professional.
He was very happy because he was about to become a father.”
Marouane Chamakh, who inspired Bordeaux to a 4-1 victory over Lens, admitted he is losing sleep over a dream move to Arsenal.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/mancity/6001729/FA-chief-executive-Ian-Watmore-welcomes-Manchester-Citys-new-money.html