Clarets Mad Tw*t of the Week 2002/03 – Week 10

Last updated : 18 October 2002 By Tony Scholes

Tw*t of the Week - David Sheepshanks
Although Pompous and Richardson are now gone I always thought that there would be far more likely boardroom candidates for Tw*t of the Week than this week’s winner but there is no doubt that the Ipswich Town Chairman David Sheepshanks is very deserving of the award.

You can take your pick really for the reason with him having received nominations on three different counts. The first is for sacking manager George Burley having just given him a massive vote of confidence whilst admitting that the responsibility for relegation was a collective thing.

There have also been nominations because he leads a club who are completely ripping off supporters. Next Tuesday Burnley fans are having to pay £23 to watch the game and for those who pay on the day Mr. Sheepshanks charges them an extra £1 for the privilege.

But worst of all was his downright insulting behaviour towards Rotherham United Football Club and in particular their Chairman Mr. Booth. It appears there has been a mix up as to whether Sheepshanks made an official approach to Rotherham for the services of Ronnie Moore. Rotherham say yes but Sheepshanks says no.

But not just no, he turned round and in a condescending an insulting manner said he didn’t even know the name of the Rotherham Chairman. Well we can tell you that the Chairman is called Booth and we also believe that you probably did call him. Whatever the reason for the backtracking I suggest you get to know your fellow First Division Chairman a bit better and stop insulting them.

Runner up Dennis Wise now playing for Millwall
Second place goes to a player who could and should have been playing against us tomorrow, Dennis Wise. The reason he isn’t is because he completely lost it and assaulted a team mate and got the sack from Leicester. Incredibly he tried to get that decision overturned but Leicester won their appeal but even though he has got another job that hasn’t satisfied him.

No, Wise is now looking at taking to Leicester to court on two counts, loss of earnings and wrongful dismissal. If the dismissal is wrong then Leicester need to take a serious look at their procedures because I know of no company that would not instantly dismiss an employee for assaulting a colleague.

He is a lucky man that Davidson didn’t press charges against him for the assault and he is also a lucky man that another club were prepared to risk taking him on. You really would think that he would have more sense and just get on with playing football for Millwall.

There really has to be some justice here and Wise cannot be allowed to win either of the two cases. This sort of behaviour towards a work colleague cannot be allowed either within football or in any other industry.

He’s proved to be a popular choice for voters this season and Roy Keane is back again following the FA hearing this week. It’s not too often that the FA get much right but they did this week when they found Keane guilty of bringing the game into disrepute on two counts. He was found guilty of deliberately setting out to injure Alf-Inge Haaland and of publishing an account of the incident to gain financial reward.

Third place Roy Keane arrives for the FA hearing this week
Needless to say Keane had an answer and dared to suggest that he hadn’t written that particular section of the book, clearly passing the blame onto Eamonn Dunphy. Now Dunphy of course is famous for having shown too much of his anatomy on a Millwall team photograph years ago and then running a personal vendetta against Jack Charlton but it is incredible that Keane chose to blame him for this.

A close look at the book clearly shows that it is Roy Keane’s autobiography and as such he has to be responsible for anything within the book.

The FA fined him £150,000 and suspended him for five games to start on 4th November although Keane does have 14 days in which to lodge an appeal. It can only be hoped he now realises his guilt and accepts his punishment.

An amusing aside to this was the comment today from former West Ham and Liverpool full back Julian Dicks who said that he thought Keane should have received a life ban. It did make me think of pots and kettles.

Walsall’s Fitzroy Simpson also received some nominations for thinking that it is within the rules to stick his elbow into Robbie Blake’s face and the referee from last Saturday Brian Curson for allowing it. Simpson was the nearer to reaching the top three.

Burnley’s acting boss from last week, auction winner Scott Atkinson, also received a nomination. I cannot for the life of me see why anyone should want to nominate someone who is prepared to throw £561 at the club especially during these troubled financial times.

Clarets Mad says well done to you Scott and there is no way you could be considered for this award. Maybe the Manager of the Month though.

So we are onto Week 11 and as always the winner will be announced next Friday morning. You have until midnight on Thursday to send us your NOMINATIONS from the world of football.

The winners so far:

Week 1 – Roy Keane (Manchester United)

Week 2 – Jeff Winter (Referee)

Week 3 – Football League’s Football Disciplinary Commission

Week 4 – Alex Ferguson (Manchester United manager)

Week 5 – Luton Town supporters

Week 6 – Barry Knight (Referee)

Week 7 – Burnley FC Showboaters

Week 8 – Tony Livesey (Editor Sunday Sport)

Week 9 – The Directors and Owners of Franchise FC

Week 10 – David Sheepshanks (Ipswich Town Chairman)