Hale throws in the Towel

23 February 2000

Tony Hale has finally stood down as a Director of the Club. Earlier reports had suggested that he was looking to have a meeting with Paul Thompson to "bury the hatchet" - but from the wording of his resignation announcement it looks more like he tried to plant it firmly in Thompson's head:

""I find myself in an untenable situation and I will not work with people who have been constantly vitriolic in their comments of myself for the past eight months and trying to blame me for everything that has happened at the club""

It's possible that he could be referring to someone other than Thompson, of course - but nobody springs to mind. The full text of the letter is available here.

Meanwhile, in the managers office, work is still rumoured to be taking place on getting a new signing in place before the weekend. Given that we already have the maximum of two players on loan, the signing will be a permanent one, and given the impending suspensions to Sneekes and Hughes it's likely to be someone to play up front. The official web site ran a story earlier that a player was all but signed and would be unveiled tomorrow, but the story has since disappeared. Media speculation has named the player as Barnsley's Clint Marcelle - the man who tore our team to shreds on his debut for the Tykes at the Hawthorns nearly two years ago. Marcelle has fallen from favour at Barnsley and is likely to be released on a free transfer - everyone seems to think that Little watched him in action for their reserve side on Monday. Further media rumours have named his colleague Georgi Hristov as the likely target, some even suggesting that we'll sign both. Hristov was signed for a Club record £1.5 million from Partizan Belgrade nearly three years ago, but has also failed to hold down a first team spot.

Finally, the Mirror has a piece where Sneekes has launched a "stinging attack" (makes a change from the usual "blast" I suppose...) on Sheffield United's Michael Brown and called him "a cry baby". It was Brown's reaction to a contact by Sneekes at Brammall Lane that cause him to be sent off, and Sneekes said of the incident:

""There was contact, but it was minimal and it came after he had elbowed me first. It was nothing like he was making it out to be. I turned round and he went down as if he had been knocked out by Lennox Lewis. He was whingeing and crying like a baby. If this is what it's all come down to win a game, to stitch each other up, it is very sad.""

Previous Stories:

  21 February 2000:  WORLD FULL-BACK CRISIS CONFIRMED

  16 February 2000:  Miller heads off to Rovers

  11 February 2000:  Miller on the way to Rovers?

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