Search: 'Lee Bowyer'

One step forward and two steps back? Darron Kirkby wonders where West Ham are going next

West Ham’s promotion killed off supporters’ hopes that somebody would buy chairman Terence Brown’s 38 per cent share in the club. Despite his low profile, Brown has become one of the least popular chairmen in football during his 12 years in charge. The atmosphere at the Boleyn Ground has been poisonous since relegation two years ago with the crowd all too eager to barrack either Brown or manager Alan Pardew when things go wrong. The latter’s insistence on playing people out of position and his questionable tactics have even led to the crowd singing “We are the West Ham claret and blue army”, omitting his name.

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Wednesday 1 Chelsea, Ashley Cole and Jose Mourinho are found guilty of meeting in a hotel for immoral purposes and face fines totalling £600,000, with Chelsea also receiving a suspended three-point deduction; all will appeal. “The public don’t expect players to move just at the drop of a wallet,” warns David Dein. Darren Bent joins Charlton for £3 million.

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Saturday 2 Madness at St James’ Park, where Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer are sent off for fighting each other. Newcastle also have Steve Taylor dismissed for handball during a 3‑0 defeat by Villa. Chelsea need three more wins for the title after a 3‑1 stroll at Southampton (yet José is supposedly ready to quit over the club not having contested the UEFA charge against him). Arsenal return to second place with Thierry Henry now only four goals short of Ian Wright’s club record after a hat-trick in a 4‑1 win over Norwich; Man Utd are held to a goalless draw by Blackburn. A late Igor Biscan goal beats Bolton and takes Liverpool to within a point of That All Important™ fourth place. Sunderland’s 3‑1 win at QPR takes them five points clear as Championship leaders. Ipswich go joint second by beating Derby 3‑2 while Wigan lose 2‑1 at home to West Ham. Victory over Brighton takes Coventry out of the bottom three at the expense of Gillingham. Stockport are the first team to be relegated this season after a 2‑1 League One defeat by Brentford. Southend, unbeaten in 14 games, lead League Two after Yeovil continue to falter with a defeat at Rushden. Martin O’Neill blames Celtic’s shock 2‑0 home defeat by Hearts on players being fagged out from international call-ups.

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Life has, as ever, been stranger than fiction on Tyneside this season, to the dismay of the fans, but Harry Pearson wonders if their loyalty is part of the problem

“Patrick Kluivert was in the other night,” an employee at one of Newcastle’s most salubrious bars told me a few months ago. “By the time he’d walked from the door to the table he had the Jesmond wives stuck all over him like Elastoplast.”

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The scuffle at St James' Park was anything but savoury, but let's not get carried away

If you look outside for a moment, it’s likely that the streets will be awash with children scrapping with each other in imitation of the fight broadcast from St James’ Park on April 2. Some will be pretending to be Lee Bowyer or Kieron Dyer, others will have been assigned the roles of peacekeeper Gareth Barry and bystander Lee Hendrie. Who knows where it may lead? When will footballers realise that they are role models whose every action, however stupid, will likely be mirrored by impressionable youngsters?

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