A new player or two would certainly come in handy but, more than anything, the Charlton manager says he wants `a result’. “I am not putting another penny into the club until I have ownership, Caparros said this week. Meanwhile, Bob Phillips, a director of Cardiff City, is acting as a mediator between the two sides in the takeover saga.. “I feel I have been badly used and don’t need all this hassle.”This week Merthyr sold the former Swansea City player, Shaun Chapple, to Forest Green Rovers for a four-figure fee, which will help to pay the wages over the holiday period.
Overall, the club is about pounds 300,000 in debt.May is apparently back in charge of the team while Caparros tries to complete his takeover. The Stanleys have been tangled up in a protracted takeover battle for much of this campaign with Eugene Caparros, a Bridgend hotelier.Caparros has been investing in the club this season – but he has said he is not providing any more funds unless he gains control of the club from the Stanleys, whom he has threatened to sue to recover the pounds 200,000 he claims he has invested in Merthyr since the summer.Such has been the confusion at Penydarren Park that earlier this month the team effectively had two managers – one appointed by the Stanleys and one by Caparros.Colin Addison, the experienced former Newport County, Hereford United and Derby County manager, was in charge in the summer, but he was replaced at the start of the season by another former Newport manager, John Lewis, who was appointed by the Stanleys.Earlier this month Caparros launched his first, unsuccessful takeover bid, sacked Lewis and replaced him with Eddie May, the director of football at the League of Wales club Haverfordwest County and a former Cardiff City manager.However, the Stanley camp claimed that Caparros had no authority to hire and fire managers and re-instated Lewis – who resigned within a week after the Stanleys had failed to pay the players’ wages “I am finished with football,” Lewis said at the time. This week supporters of the aptly-nicknamed Martyrs interrupted their preparations for the festive holidays to try to raise money to pay the players’ wages.The fans have had to take such emergency action to ensure that tomorrow’s Dr Martens League Premier Division match at Gloucester City goes ahead. Last weekend the players only travelled to fulfil their fixture at Ilkeston Town after a whip-round among club officials came up with enough money to pay part of the previous week’s wages.Funds to cover the weekly wage bill of over pounds 2,000 had not been provided by the club’s owners, Charles Stanley, a Milton Keynes solicitor, and his wife Sharon.
Attendance: 18,947….and briefly1931 Manchester United suffer their joint-record defeat, 7-0 at Wolves in a Second Division game.1952 18-year-old England youth international Johnny Haynes makes his League debut for Fulham at home to Southampton.1954 Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat at Arsenal leaves them fifth in the table, but they eventually win the championship for the only time – so far.1962 Oldham beat Southport 11-0 in the Fourth Division, scoring nine times in 42 minutes, with six from centre-forward Bert Lister.1971 Chelsea defender David Webb plays the whole game in goal against Ipswich because of injuries, and keeps a clean sheet.1979 In a critical meeting of the top two at Anfield, Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-0 (Hansen, Johnson) and go on to win the title by two points.1983 Charlie Nicholas, who had not scored since August, comes good at last in an eventful north London derby as Arsenal win 4-2 at Tottenham.1987 Liverpool pass Christmas unbeaten in 20 matches after a 3-0 win at Oxford (Aldridge, Barnes, McMahon).1997 Arsenal, 13 points behind Manchester United in sixth place, beat Leicester 2-1 with Steve Walsh’s own goal to launch an unbeaten run of 18 games culminating in the title.Mayhem at Merthyr as money runs outNON-LEAGUE NOTEBOOKA DESPERATE financial predicament and a long-running struggle for ownership have combined to ensure that there has been little to celebrate this Christmas at Merthyr Tydfil Football Club.The south Wales outfit, who have in the past enjoyed the fame and fortune of European competition, are in danger of going out of business. It had seemed a highly unlikely outcome on Boxing Day.Oldham: Sharp, Milligan, Bernard Manchester Utd: Irwin 2, Kanchelskis, McClair 2, Giggs. They then contrived to lose at home to Nottingham Forest and at West Ham and away to Liverpool, while a certain Eric Cantona inspired Leeds to three wins in four games and the championship. Graham Sharp halved the deficit but, as a rousing second half wore on, Irwin scored again, and with Andrei Kanchelskis, Brian McClair (2) and Ryan Giggs (a substitute for Bryan Robson) also contributing, United led 4-1 and 5-2 before finishing comfortable winners.When United drew 1-1 at Elland Road three days later, they were two points ahead of Leeds, having played two games fewer, and were therefore strongly fancied to take the title after a 25-year wait.Winning away to Leeds in the FA Cup and the League Cup should have provided a further psychological boost and with four games to go United were still favourites. They saw United take a 2-0 lead at half-time, with their former full-back Denis Irwin (pictured) among the scorers. A free-wheeling victory up the road at Boundary Park in a midday kick-off took Alex Ferguson’s team to the top of the table.It was a huge game for Joe Royle’s Oldham, playing in the top division for the first time in their history and cramming almost 19,000 into their ground.
Attendance: 34,068.1991Oldham 3Manchester Utd 6TWENTY-ONE years on, United finally appeared to have another manager capable of winning the League championship. United came back strongly to enthral a crowd close to capacity and earned a useful point with goals by Brian Kidd, Best and Law (2).McGuinness was therefore shattered to be called into Busby’s office the following day and told: “The directors have asked me to take charge again.” The team improved considerably to finish eighth once more; McGuinness reverted briefly to his old job with the reserves, then went to Greece, where his hair fell out.Derby: Mackay, Hector, Wignall, Gemmill Manchester Utd: Kidd, Best, Law 2. So on the face of it, an away draw, after trailing 2-0 at the interval, did not look a bad result. The second one was harder, even with Charlton, Law and Best still playing regularly.They went to the Baseball Ground in danger of slipping into a relegation struggle, on the back of embarrassing home defeats by Manchester City (4-1) and Arsenal (3-1, in front of only 33,000), followed by a League Cup semi-final defeat against Aston Villa, then in the Third Division.Derby were not yet at their peak, but had the nucleus of the following year’s championship side in players like McFarland, Gemmill, Durban, O’Hare and Hector. Promoted to take on the daunting, if not impossible, task of succeeding Sir Matt Busby, the likeable McGuinness had a reasonable first season in which United finished eighth and reached the semi-final of both domestic cups. Attendance: 20,500.1970 Derby 4 Manchester Utd 4EVENTFUL ENOUGH in itself, this game was even more significant for what followed two days later – the sacking of Wilf McGuinness as United’s manager. He initially made nine changes, then eventually decided on just one, replacing Martin Peters with the more combative Eddie Bovington.
