Clarets Mad - Tw*t of the Week, Week 25

Last updated : 12 April 2002 By Tony Scholes

Tw*t of the Week Pedro Duscher finally gets a red card
The winner though came through with a lot of nominations during the last 24 hours, none
other than Deportivo La Coruna's Pedro Duscher for doing his level best to harm England's chances in the World Cup by cutting David Beckham down with a dreadful two footed lunge in the Champions League game.

Once again though the really bad challenge went without the appropriate punishment although Duscher was sent off later in the game.

England captain Beckham must now be a serious doubt to lead his country in the World Cup but Duscher will almost certainly be there playing against us for Argentina in the qualifying stages. He has a broken foot and all we can do now is remain hopeful that he will recover in time.

It is not often we would expect to show much sympathy for Manchester United or any of their players but on this occasion the injury to Beckham could cost our nation dearly.

Runner up - Jonathan Woodgate
Runner up is Leeds United's Jonathan Woodgate who has this week managed to break his jaw in an incident away from football. On this occasion his club have been quick to defend him after early reports suggested he had got himself into trouble in Middlesbrough on a night out.

It turns out, according to his employer, that it is a complete accident caused because Woodgate was indulging in a bit of horseplay with his friends. Leeds have added that Woodgate had not been involved in excessive drinking.

What can we make of the guy, only weeks after the end of a trial for violence this suddenly happens. I'm not sure what sort of horseplay with a friend ends in a broken jaw but if that really is the reason then Woodgate needs to start looking for some new friends. It might also be a good idea if he stopped playing out of an evening and got himself Sky Sports (not ITV Digital) and started spending the evenings watching some football.

He might realise soon that but for his off field behaviour he would have been a certainty to be off to the World Cup, as it is he will probably have to sit and wave some of his team mates off as they go to represent their countries.

Burnley Chief Exec Andrew Watson is third
In third place this week is Burnley Football Club's Chief Executive Andrew Watson. Watson's crime is to completely ignore a serious problem at Turf Moor until the worst referee in the world decided to report it.

We here at Clarets Mad have highlighted the serious problems in the lower tier of the Harry Potts Longside on more than one occasion and have also contacted the club about it. Only recently we asked why fans were so severely criticised by chairman, manager and captain for booing yet there had been no public condemnation of the missile throwing and the racist chanting from that area of the ground.

In the end it took last week's Tw*t of the Week Barry Knight to force the club to make public comment when he reported the problems to the Football Association. It really is a pity this had to happen before something was said. It seems that problems within the ground are constantly brushed under the carpet as long as possible.

A close runner to the top three was the Mirror Group for their reporting via the Daily Mirror and Independent regarding Paul Gascoigne walking out. I'm sure they didn't report without some foundation to the story, I don't think anyone is convinced that Gazza is happy with life at Turf Moor, but they went over the top just to make a story. I suppose at MGN they call it journalism.

There were also still a good number of nominations from Barry Knight and we can confirm that we had nominations from supporters of Bournemouth, Bolton and Preston this week who have all been done by this incompetent official. We cannot confirm though that David Moyes himself was amongst those nominating him although we neither are we denying it.

That's it for this week, a quieter week than those recently but with no Warnock or Knight hitting the headlines it is hardly surprising. Just keep your eyes open over the next week and let us have your NOMINATIONS for next week's Tw*t of the Week.

The winners so far:

Week 1 – Glenn Roeder (West Ham United manager)

Week 2 – Chris Morgan (Oldham Athletic chairman)

Week 3 – Neil Warnock (Sheffield United manager)

Week 4 – Bryan Richardson (Coventry City chairman)

Week 5 – Doug Ellis (Aston Villa chairman)

Week 6 – Christian Negouai (Manchester City)

Week 7 – Geoffrey Richmond (Bradford City chairman)

Week 8 – Mark Lawrenson (BBC Claptrapper)

Week 9 – Canvey Island FC (Greedy non league outfit)

Week 10 – John Brandwood (Referee)

Week 11 – Lucien Mettomo (Manchester City)

Week 12 – Sam Hammam (Cardiff City chairman)

Week 13 – Danny Tiatto (Manchester City)

Week 14 – Jeff Bonser (Walsall owner)

Week 15 – Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)

Week 16 – Jason Roberts (West Bromwich Albion)

Week 17 – John Brandwood (Referee)

Week 18 – Graeme Souness (Blackburn Rovers manager)

Week 19 – Jack Straw (Foreign Secretary)

Week 20 – Andy Cole (Blackburn Rovers)

Week 21 – Carlton Palmer (Unprofessionals manager)

Week 22 – Neil Warnock (Sheffield United manager)

Week 23 – Carlton and Granada (Television companies)

Week 24 – Barry Knight (Referee)

Week 25 – Pedro Duscher (Deportivo la Coruna)