Journal Reports On Foregate St

The following is reported by Colin Osborne in the Hereford Journal:

Football fans returning from Saturday's Hereford United game against Kidderminster have hit out at the use of CS spray by Police on a crowded platform at Worcester Foregate Street railway station.

Police say they were called to deal with a disturbance "involving a number of troublemaking football supporters returning to Hereford" - but fans say there was no trouble, and that they had travelled on the train alongside regular passengers and shoppers.

"There were a few hundred people on the platform and there were some protests from people who wanted to leave the station to get buses," said John Baggott, a native of Hereford who was returning to Liverpool, "but Foregate Street itself was closed off by Police, and suddenly everyone was affected by CS spray."

"I saw people with their eyes streaming, other people were vomiting on the platform and many were screaming for water.

"The police action was unjustified. I cannot understand why it happened and I think the police lost the plot."

Another fan, Jason Hicks, told the Journal: "The spray was potent and even affected us as we were still on the train. I saw people on the platform kneeling down and gasping for air."

One fan who ended up in Hereford's County Hospital on Saturday night was barman Mike Long, who went to work in the evening until he began to feel "worse and worse": "I got really worried when I began to cough up blood. It frightened the living daylights out of me, so I went straight to the hospital A&E department, where I was told I still had fumes on my lungs. I was detained for an hour.

"I originally felt the effects of the CS spray on the platform where I saw two people unconscious on the floor" he said.

Worcester police spokesman Michael Vockins said CS spray had been used "to control some of the more disruptive fans." Fans were moved down a steep staircase leading from one platform to another on opposite sides of the station: "Fans were pushing and there was a fear that people might be pushed and injured in falling. There was a very limited use of spray on a few people - it was certainly not sprayed over a whole group." he maintained.

In the Opinion section of the Journal letters page, the correspondent questions the need for use when no arrests were made.

---

Another report from the Worcester Standard

The Worcester Standard has published a second article on last Saturday's trouble at Foregaste Street.

HEREFORD United supporters have slammed Worcester Police for using CS spray on them as they waited at Foregate Street station on Saturday.

United fans contacted The Standard in force on Monday and Tuesday in a response to a story we broke on our website about incidents which happened at the station as Hereford fans made their way home from their side's game at Kidderminster Harriers.

The police said they used CS spray to keep order and to maintain public safety. They also labelled the Hereford fans as hooligans and said their behaviour at Foregate Street while they waited for a connecting train at about 6pm was deplorable.

However, Hereford supporters have told The Standard they were well behaved but were treated like "animals" by officers.

One supporter said fans were sick on the platform as a consequence of inhaling the CS spray while another told us he was coughing up blood a few hours later.

Fans have also said they were not allowed to depart at the Droitwich, Evesham or Shrub Hill stations despite claiming they had tickets showing they had boarded at them earlier in the day.

A West Mercia Police spokesperson said the force had received three complaints in relation to events at Foregate Street on Saturday, one of which has now been resolved.

"Investigations into the other two complaints are ongoing and we will be making no further comment at this time," she said.

The Standard has requested a viewing of any footage police may have taken at the station but at the time of going to press we had received no response.

- Were you at Foregate Street station on Saturday at about 6pm? If so, please contact The Standard's newsdesk on 01905 726200

---

Turner Talks To Evening News

Graham Turner spoke to the Worcester Evening News about the Bulls' injury problems:

"There's some decent, well-organised sides in the Conference. It's not flowing for us, we're not creating a lot of opportunities or scoring many goals, so we have to hang in there until it turns."

"We've been disrupted a little bit by absentees but we've been solid at the back all season. However, our goalscoring record has been quite poor and that's the reason why we're half-way up the table instead of being in the top three or four."

"Guy (Ipoua) started the season off with three goals in three games and then got his injury. He looks like he needs more training yet, he's lacking a bit of fitness. But we have him to get fully fit and we've got Adam to come back. At the start of the season, I would have put my money on Adam getting 20 goals. He did last season, he's a goalscorer."

"There's no doubt we've missed him so there is something to look forward to when we get players fit again."

---

Conference News Round-Up

York are lining up moves for two new players in their promotion push. New Zealand international midfielder Leo Bertos played and scored for York reserves after being released from non-contract terms at Chester and defender Tony Crane is also in manager Billy McEwan's sights, with the Grimsby defender being told he can leave Blundell Park. Cambridge have signed teenage defender Adam Davies to a long term contract after impressing in early season performances with the deal running til June 2008. Manager Rob Newman is using the gap between league matches to give trials to five un-named players in various positions after he twice threatened to make changes to his squad. Most of the Cambridge side are still on short term deals, and after the initial threat three players were replaced swiftly. Kidderminster have moved the Xmas Eve match with Burton to the day before (7.45pm kick off). Exeter are hoping to sign trialist Danny Woodards to a permanent contract. The 22 year old ex-Chelsea defender impressed during last week's 3-0 win over Tamworth, but manager Alex Inglethorpe is struggling to find the cash in the budget for a long term deal.

---

Live Commentary from Cambridge Game

It has been confirmed that there will be live commentary on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire on the Cambridge/Hereford FA Cup game on Friday evening.

It will also be streamed online.

Meanwhile the referee for the game will be Mr D Whitestone from Northampton.

---

Preview: Cambridge City vs Bulls

A first meeting for 12 years between these two old rivals from Southern League days sees the Bulls travel to The City Ground. The two clubs share many parallels - both were non-league giants in the 60's, and both had skirmishes with bankruptcy in the early 80's. In that last meeting, a Chris Pike effort seperated the sides in a muddy encounter.

Cambridge City's rise into the professional ranks and fall back out nearly took just 29 years. After abandoning amateur status in 1958, they won the Southern League Premier Division title in 1963 over their city rivals - one of eight times in twelve seasons they outranked their local rivals, but almost returned to amateur status in 1977 as falling gates, relegation, and rising costs threatened their existence. The club were forced to sell off large parts of the Milton Road site to developers to cover debts. They returned to the top flight of the Southern League in 1986 and remained there until the reorganisation of the leagues moved them to the Conf South last season, where they finished runners-up to a rampant Grays side. This season they lie 11th, with 18 points, drawing last Saturday 1-1 with fourth placed Havant & Waterlooville.

The Bulls travel to Cambridgeshire hoping for more luck than in August - when the trip to Cambridge United's Abbey Stadium yielded no points, and a motorway crash stopped many fans from getting to the ground. Having scraped through the last round on penalties, the Bulls will not be counting any chickens until the final whistle is blown. The Bulls will be hoping that the first free midweek in a month will have eased their injury problems. Ryan Green's niggling knee injury will have benefited from two weeks rest, and Alex Jeannin will return from suspension. Adam Stansfield, Simon Travis, and Stacy Coldicott will remain sidelined, but Guy Ipoua's steady return to fitness will give the attack an experienced edge alongside four fit strikers with less than 50 senior starts between them.

---

Scarboro Confirm Redfearn As New Boss

Scarboro have made caretaker boss Neil Redfearn the permanent manager after just one match.

Redfearn has been handed a 12 month rolling contract, with Eric Winstanley continuing as his assistant. Chairman Malcolm Reynolds believes Redfearn and the experienced Winstanley are the right pair for the job, and has confirmed that funds may be available to strengthen the squad.

---

Directions for Cambridge

Although a Friday evening kick-off has made the likely Hereford United support somewhat less than if the game had been played on the Sunday, there will still be an exodus out of the Hereford area around mid-afternoon.

For those intending to travel to the City Ground here are the directions to the ground kindly supplied by Cambridge City.

From the A14, follow signs for Cambridge A1307. This will take you down Huntingdon Road. Continue to follow this road until you reach a major traffic light controlled junction with a Texaco garage on your left.

Turn left, and follow the road through the lights and into Victoria Road (A1134). Continue along this road going past a Chinese take-away (The Yumee) on your right and Blockbuster video shop on your left. At the bottom of this road you will reach a large round-a-bout (although it does not look like one) with a large shop on it (Staples). Enter and keep left and go past the Portland Arms Pub on your left. Carry on for 100yards and the entrance to the ground is on your left, opposite Tommy Tuckers take-away.

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire will be at Milton Road on Friday afternooon to present several hours of programmes before and during City's home game against Hereford United in the 1st Round of the FA Cup. However it has not yet been confirmed whether there will be live commentary on the game. Cost may be a factor as according to Malcolm Boyden of BBC H&W it costs £1,000 to provide commentary on a FA Cup game.

Meanwhile Cambridge City have been handed a boost ahead of their clash against the Bulls with confirmation that goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt will stay for the rest of the season.

The former AFC Wimbledon stopper joined initially for one month on a non-contract basis, but he has agreed a permanent deal with the Lilywhites and is due to sign a contract tomorrow.

---

Worcester News report of events at station

This report is from the Worcester News.

ANGRY football fans have hit out at West Mercia Police for using CS spray on crowds penned in at a city train station this weekend.

Spray was used by at least one officer when about 200 Hereford United supporters were taken off a train to change at Foregate Street after a local derby played against Kidderminster Harriers.

Platform gates had been locked to prevent crowds spilling on to Worcester's streets during their hour-wait for the connecting train. But police have defended their actions and branded some of those involved as hooligans.

A spokesman said the spray was used to prevent further disturbance and possible injury to bystanders, other commuters or the fans themselves.

"The behaviour of a small number of trouble-making fans was deplorable, and our prime concern was to ensure the safety of other rail travellers and members of the public, and to ensure that the problems created by these hooligans did not spread to other area," he added.

But supporters said the move was an overreaction. Fan John Baggott, aged 46, told the Worcester News he was surprised by the actions of the police.

"A few people were verbally abusing police but most people were just stuck there. All of our eyes were streaming and people were vomiting when the spray covered us.

"The worst thing was that it was mainly families of supporters and people who had nothing to do with the football and had just been shopping."

Hereford United's official forum site was full of messages from shocked and angry supporters.

One entry, entitled Foregate Street Fiasco, read: "CS spray was used with no proper warning and without any real need. They were using it like a water pistol."

About 20 officers were waiting at the station from West Mercia and the British Transport Police when the incident began. A spokeswoman for West Mercia Police said three complaints had been made.

"One of those complaints has now been resolved locally to the satisfaction of the complainant and no further action will be taken," she said.

"An investigation on the other two complaints is ongoing and it wouldn't be appropriate to comment further at this time."

No arrests were made at the station.

---

TNS To Rename After Takeover

Sky Soccer Saturday's host Jeff Stelling famously said "They'll be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight!"

Nearly ten years of TNS ownership of the Llansantffraid side will come to a close in the summer after BT bought TNS in a undisclosed multi-million pound deal. TNS owner Mike Harris will remain in charge of both the Telecoms side and the demerged Football Club, with BT becoming owners of the telecoms business.

The original 1997 merger saw Harris's TNS buy Llansantffraid FC and Oswestry Town and merge the two together at Llansantffraid's Treflan ground. The side will be renamed Llansantffraid and Oswestry Town FC and will move to a new 3,000 seat ground in Oswestry in the summer, with the Treflan site being used for the reserves and youth sides.

TNS are currently top of the Welsh Premier, unbeaten and eight points clear of their nearest rivals.

---

Dunbavin Guilty Of Drink Driving

Halifax goalkeeper Ian Dunbavin was convicted yesterday of Drink Driving for the second time.

Dunbavin, 25, had only recently returned from a 20 month driving ban for the same offence in early 2004 before he joined Halifax, and has now been given a 3 year ban from driving plus a £700 fine after being caught with an alcohol level of twice the legal limit.

Halifax officials are meeting today to discuss the keeper's future with the club. Chris Clarke was convicted of the same offence whilst playing for Halifax last season but the club kept the punishment inhouse, though the player departed the Shay in the summer when his contract expired.

---

Standard promises further article

The Worcester Standard has withdrawn the article which appeared on its website yesterday. The article has been criticised for not giving the supporters side of events.

The Editor of the paper, James Iles, has given Bulls News the following statement:

As it now appears that there is more to this story than was first portrayed to us we have withdrawn what was a "breaking news" story from the internet so that we can work on a more complete view of events to be run in the printed version of our paper this Thursday.

A more in-depth report is being compiled for the edition which we are now gathering together from various sources including several of your fellow Hereford supporters who have been contacting us complaining about their handling by the police.
We are also, obviously, putting these complaints to the police and have asked for a response. I expect a complete version of the story will go on our website by Thursday in line with our publication day.

---

Westley Fires Back At Elding

Stevenage manager Graham Westley, clearly irate at more problems with star striker Anthony Elding told the official Stevenage website: "I've talked too much about Anthony this season. It is boring me now"

"Anthony has made it quite clear to me since the summer that he wants to move elsewhere. And he has consistently behaved accordingly. We have moved from one silly spat to the next. Simply because he has been offered moves elsewhere and he wants to go and, in his words, better himself. I have made it clear from day one that he will not be leaving and that he is required to play to his best and contribute to our promotion. Kid?s play will simply continue to damage his reputation."

"It was only months ago that Anthony was thanking myself, the club and the fans for helping him to resurrect his career after his problems at Boston.A lot of people have helped him here and life is a two way street."

"There are two things; firstly, he is a contracted player to Stevenage Borough F.C. And secondly, he is required to honour that contract. Honour is an important word."

"Fortunately, we are not called Mickey Mouse and we do not need to give in to a misbehaving player."

"Whoever is pulling Anthony's strings should wake up and smell the coffee. It is not helping Anthony that he is carrying on as he is. It is one bit of petulance after the next.
I have no desire to see him leave but in any event, he will not be leaving until his contract expires. Full stop. That said, he will not be playing for us unless he toes the line and proves to me that he can be trusted to play with his heart for our club, his team, his fans and me, his manager. All of which I know he is capable of. But none of which he is doing right now."

"I am sure that this latest situation has blown up just because Jon Nurse has been preferred to him in attack in the last two games and he cannot see himself winning back his shirt.I think he is looking for an excuse for not being in the team. I am sure in the future he will look back on talk of asking for a loan as embarrassing. Knuckle down, work hard and earn a shirt, I say. Kids sulk; adults should know better; professionals act professionally. We are talking Elding not Drogba and even Drogba only gets a shirt when he earns it."

"Anthony is young. But he is talented and he is capable of learning. It is no good hanging onto the past. He has to show commitment and professionalism. And he needs to stop listening to the 'voices'; because they are destroying him not helping him. He thinks that he is okay because League Two clubs want him. If he listened and concentrated he could be moving into the Championship. But no big club will want to introduce a bad attitude."
Westley was backed up fully by skipper Jason Goodliffe who said, "The lads like Anthony. He is a funny bloke. He is popular in the dressing room. But he has let himself down with his conduct this season. The manager has treated him with respect and done his absolute best, more than you can imagine, to guide him forwards. Anthony has just behaved selfishly and has forgotten the help he has had here. He wasn't in demand when he arrived. But he has been developed. All of us have helped him in all sorts of ways. And he seems to be forgetting to say thank you."
"He needs to knuckle down and get on with the season before it passes him by. Otherwise any club that is thinking about him as a serious prospect will soon start to consider him to be a liability."

---

Westley Named Manager Of The Month

Stevenage boss Graham Westley has been named Conference Manager Of The Month for October. Stevenage recorded four wins in five games during the month.

Former Bull Phil Robinson won the Conference North award for Stafford, while Adrian Pennock won the award in Conference South with Welling for the second month running.

---

Taylor Given Leave By Tamworth

Tamworth have allowed striker Bob Taylor two weeks leave following his conviction last week for drink driving. The statement on the official Tamworth site reads:

Tamworth Football Club has given striker Bob Taylor two weeks off to deal with personal issues after the player was convicted of drink driving last Friday.Taylor was fined and banned by magistrates last week, and was left out of the squad for last Saturday's Nationwide Conference game at Exeter City because he was not mentally ready for the game.

Chairman Bob Andrews, Team Manager Mark Cooper and General Manager Russell Moore held a meeting with Taylor on Monday morning and it was agreed that Taylor should be given time away from the club to deal with his problems.The club has offered support to Taylor but it has been made clear to the player that Tamworth FC does not condone drink driving and will not accept serious breaches of the club's code of conduct.Taylor knows he has let his family, the club and the supporters down, and has apologised. He has also assured the club there will be no repeat.

Tamworth FC hope that in two weeks time Taylor will be fit, mentally and physically, to return to action and play an important part in the club's Conference campaign.

However, a later report for the icBirmingham (Birmingham Mail) website suggests Taylor was sent home on Saturday morning after turning up the worse for wear, and was later spotted drinking with Tamworth supporters before the game.

---