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| Bob 70-71 | June / July 2003 NewsNews of other stars from the 1970-71 season will appear here ... July James Out The Non-League Paper, 13 July 2003 reports that Llanelli have sacked Leighton James (Burnley squad) as their manager for a second time. In a previous spell at the club (July 1998-May 2000) he had taken the club to 5th in the League of Wales, but in this spell, which began in November 2002, the club had been relegated. The sacking occured under something of a cloud and Leighton reportedly found it unacceptable that the chairman, Robert Jones, Catherine Zeta-Jones' Uncle, did it by phone and not in person. Leighton is replaced by Neil O'Brien, who will become the player-manager. The last time Bob's 70-71 pages caught up with Leighton, he had become the Director of Football to the League of Wales side, Port Talbot Town, see July 2001News See So Farewell Then, Leighton Kinnear Voted Out ! In one of football's more bizarre stories, Joe Kinnear has lost his job after failing to win a telephone vote, not unlike in the television series 'Big Brother' ! Initially Joe lost his job on 23 May 2003, 3 days after a new consortium took over Luton Town. Joe lost his job along with his coach, Mick Harford, in spite of a general opinion that Luton had a reasonable season finishing 9th in Division Two. There followed a period of will they / won't they be taken back on by the club, before it was decided that the post of manager should go up for a telephone vote ! The voting system gave different numbers of votes to different groups of people- for instance, season ticket holders were allowed 5 votes. It seems that Joe won the vote amoung the players and season tickets holders, but lost out by just 4 votes to Mike Newell, when the views of the board, shareholders and outside fans were taken into account. Joe is now arguing that Luton Town still owe him the wages for period prior to Mike Newell's appointment, as he believes that he was still under contract and the person who signed the notice of dismissal did not have the legal authority to do so. Presently Joe is considering legal action over this issue. BBC SPORT Luton Town Kinnear
leaves Luton June I took a bit of a break in June,but here are the news items that would have appeared... Mel Machin Leaves, Terry Yorath Returns On 27 June, Terry Yorath (Leeds United) returned to Huddersfield Town, as coach to the new manager, Peter Jackson once again . Terry left as coach to the club when Jackson was replaced by Steve Bruce in 1999, he went on to coach and then manage Sheffield Wednesday until he resigned in November 2002. Since then he has appeared as a radio pundit. Bruce stayed at Huddersfield for only months before departing and Lou Macari (Celtic) took over with Terry's former teammate, Joe Jordan (Morton) as coach. This management team was not held to blame for the club's relegation to Division 2 in the 2000-2001 season, but the lack of success in returning the club to Division One meant hey were replaced by Mick Wadsworth in July 2002. By now financial problems were growing and Wadsworth was fighting a losing battle in preventing the club's further decline. He left before the end of his first season and Mel Machin (Gillingham ) took over as caretaker. Mel was unable to save the side from relegation from Division Two and his weekly contract was not renewed. He left on 6 May 2003, and the club have been looking for a replacement since. Speculation than Peter Jackson was to be the replacement began as soon as Mel left. At that time the whole club's future was in doubt, but since much maligned ex-Chairman, Barry Ruberry waived his 12.5 million pound debt, Huddersfield Town's future has been secured. The last time Huddersfield Town were in the lowest division of a four division League was back in 1975-1980, when Mick Buxton (Halifax Town) took the club from the old Division Four to the old Division Two. See BBC SPORT Football My Club
Huddersfield Town Machin leaves Huddersfield Terry Dolan Sacked York City manager, Terry Dolan (Huddersfield Town squad) has been sacked along with his coach, Adie Shaw, in spite of the general feeling that he has done well at the club that was on the verge of bankrauptcy, and finished a very respectable 10th in Divsion 3 last season. It seems that Terry was sacked just to save the club money, but as LeagueManagers.com News Stories reports in Terry's official statement:
Click to LeagueManagers.com News Stories to read Terry's full statement. Also see BBC SPORT Football My Club York City York City sack Dolan Alan Buckley Returns On 1 June Alan Buckley (Nottingham Forest) returned to football management after a break of just over a year, to become the new manager of Rochdale. Last season the club were 19th in Division 3, and were just 4 points clear of relegation. The previous player-manager, Paul Simpson was sacked on 7 May 2003. Rochdale have been in the League's bottom Division since 1974. As a player Alan began his career at Nottingham Forest in April 1968, before moving on to Walsall in August 1973. At Walsall he played 241 League games scoring 125 goals, before moving on to Birmingham City in October 1978. He returned to Walsall again in July 1979 and played a further 177 League goals scoring another 49 goals. The return to Walsall cost the club 175,000 pounds, which remains the club record to this day ! His managerial career covers 20 years beginning as a player-manager at Walsall in June 1979. He helped promote Walsall to the old Division Three in 1980-81. He had a spell as joint manager with Neil Martin in 1981-82, retired as a player in1984 and remained manager till August 1986. Alan next became manager of Grimsby Town from June 1988 to October 1994, during which time the club rose from the old Division 4 to the old Division 2 in consecutive seasons. Hence, Grimsby were original members of new Division 1 after the formation of the Premier League. Alan moved to a fellow Division One side,West Bromwich Albion from October 1994 to June 1997, before returning to a newly relegated Grimsby Town from June 1997 to August 2000. He helped them back up to the Division One a second time in 1998, but after a close brush with Division One relegation in 2000 he left Grimsby. Alan next became manager of Lincoln City in Division 3 in February 2001. He held the post for a year but was replaced in April of the 2001-2002 season, when the club finished 22nd . See LeagueManagers.com Managers
Profiles Further June / July 2003 news can be found at ...
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| Bob Dunning 8 July 2003 |
Click here for further soccer headlines www.bobdunning.net |
