Clarets Mad Tw*t of the Week 2002/03 – Week 12

Last updated : 01 November 2002 By Tony Scholes

Tw*t of the Week - George Boeteng
Sadly we are still on the same subject this week following the Premiership game between Middlesbrough and Leeds. There has been some sort of skirmish between Middlesbrough’s George Boeteng and Nick Barmby of Leeds and Barmby has finished with scratches on his face.

Sadly that was not all and Boeteng, no stranger to controversy, accused Barmby of making racist remarks. The Leeds player and his manager, Barrow Boy Venables, were staggered and upset at the accusations.

Now given it was true then this goes far beyond this award and Barmby should be in very serious trouble indeed and preparing to serve a long suspension but somehow nobody seemed to believe former Villa player Boeteng.

It is not clear just what he is now trying to say but he is certainly now admitting that he did not receive any racial abuse from Barmby at all. He is suggesting that he never made the accusations in the first place. If he didn’t then this could have been cleared up so much quicker than it was, all he had to do was make a comment. But no he has waited and it now looks very much as though he is actually retracting his initial comments.

These were very serious allegations and if not true should not have been made. Boeteng chose football’s Anti-racism week to come up with this one.

Runner Up - Franchise player Trond Andersen
Second place and we need look no further than the Franchise Pariahs again. They really have been struggling to explain this week’s attendance of 849 but Chairman Charles Koppel tried to tell Sky viewers that they have always had low gates. Maybe they have but certainly not as low as 849. Soon there will be more goals at a Burnley game than paying customers watching Franchise.

The Sky presenters tied the nasty piece of work in knots, he really had no answer and certainly had no idea when or if they would be Milton Keynes or how many spectators they would need to break even.

Worse still he once again forced one of his players into promoting the Milton Keynes move and had him denounce the London based supporters for turning their backs. Stand up this week Trond Andersen, you deserve second place for allowing yourself to be used. Does it really state in your contract that you have to speak up and defend what is wrong in our game?

It might be worth you realising that it is the fans that pay your wages and currently you have precious few of them. That hopefully won’t change either, but you probably haven’t realised yet that you are playing for a club with no future.

Third place - Arsene Wenger
If you want to make a complete tw*t of yourself then just go ahead and make predictions, it always works. "We won’t score if we play until midnight" usually brings about a goal within a couple of minutes and there are many other examples.

It is best not to say anything even if you have the best side in the world. So it is a deserving third place this week to Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger who has been telling us since long before the first ball was kicked this season that his Arsenal team wouldn’t lose a game.

Some of us were even starting to believe him so well were they playing but a season without defeat would be an incredible achievement.

Then less than two weeks ago they were beaten 2-1 at Everton courtesy of a late goal from a 16 year-old and his predictions were through the window. Nobody said too much, he himself deflected any discussion on it by singing the praises of the 16 year-old, Wayne Rooney.

But it hasn’t ended there and when they came off beaten this week in the Champions League it was their fourth consecutive defeat. Incredibly this is their worst run for 19 years. Suddenly there are no wild claims of unbeaten runs, in fact no wild claims of any kind. He has just disappeared into his bunker to try and work out what has gone wrong.

We had a late rush of votes for Adam Crozier last night but also for the FA for not backing him and the Premiership Chairman for just being too damn greedy. This was probably Crozier’s last chance to claim it although he will still be around for the next two months.

I have no real sympathy for the man and I’ll always remember him for the fact that he pushed forward the plan to spend an obscene amount of money on Wembley at a time when the game is going through a financial crisis.

There were also a good number of votes received yesterday for George Burley after he did a runner on Stoke City after having agreed to become the manager at the Britannia Stadium.

That’s it for Week 12 so don’t forget to send in your NOMINATIONS by midnight next Thursday for the next winner of this prestigious award.

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)

Week 11 – David Davies (Football Association)

Week 12 – George Boeteng (Middlesbrough)