never a fan of ex-jailbird pakistani-bashers myself.... still, he had a nice contract with us so got paid well on his 18 month vacation... I mean.. search for a miracle-cure...
nice tan Woody... nice tan.
Kindly explain.......
??
I unfortunately went for the last option on this poll. I think hes finished which is a pity as he was top drawer. Hes been all around the world for a "cure" thats doesnt seem to be happening.
I wish him well and hope im wrong. What an asset a fully fit king and woodgate would be.
The controversy surrounding the savage gang assault on a young Asian student took a new twist last night when the victim accused the all-white jury which tried the case against two footballers of racially discriminating against him.
Sarfraz Najeib bitterly criticised the jury at Hull Crown Court, which acquitted Leeds United players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate of committing grievous bodily harm, but found Woodgate guilty of affray.
The outcome of the 10-week, multi-million-pound trial has fuelled suspicions among Asian leaders that the justice system is biased against British Asians.
The Najeib family was disappointed to find a jury 'which wasn't going to treat the assault with the seriousness it deserved', family spokesman Suresh Grover, chairman of the National Civil Rights Movement, told The Observer.
The family wants more ethnically-mixed juries, especially when black or Asian people are the accused, or victims of a crime.
Sarfraz Najeib, his brother Shazhad and father Muhammad believe the jury's decision was 'absolutely perverse', said Grover. 'Anybody who looked at the evidence could not have reached the verdicts that they did. They are totally irrational and beyond belief, so other factors must have been taken into consideration.
'In today's Britain, Asian people feel they are going to be denied justice because of all-white juries.'
Sarfraz, whose leg, nose and cheekbone were broken during an assault by five men in January last year, disputed trial judge Mr Justice Henriques's ruling that racism had nothing to do with it.
Moments before a chase involving the student, his friends and a group of white men outside the Majestyk nightclub in Leeds, one of the whites said: 'Do you want some, Paki?'. 'I took that as meaning, "Do you want a fight",' Sarfraz tells tonight's BBC Panorama programme. 'I just thought they're racist scum, so I just ignored them because there were too many of them and I'm not a trouble-causer.'
His complaint about the jury is impossible to assess, because its deliberations were held entirely in private. But legal experts point to the apparent care with which they approached the case, taking five days to reach their verdict on detailed and often contradictory testimony.
The victim and his family denounced as too lenient Woodgate's sentence to 100 hours community service for taking part in the chase before the attack.
Both players are now free to resume their interrupted Leeds careers, although neither was due to play in their club's home game today against Leicester City.
Bowyer, who had been banned from playing for England since the incident, is now likely to make his international debut soon, but the Football Association is taking legal advice before deciding whether manager Sven-Göran Eriksson can pick Woodgate.
Former England captain Tony Adams said the judge should have made alcohol education a compulsory element of Woodgate's punishment. Ars*nal defender Adams, a recovering alcoholic who was jailed for drink-driving 10 years ago, told The Observer : 'They would not even have been involved in an incident if they hadn't been drunk. There should have been some element of education for these players as soon as they were charged.
'I'm not saying they are alcoholics but the use of alcohol to excess does change people's behaviour. I know all about that. A friend rang me after the verdicts [on Friday] and said he thought it was strange that I should have got three months in prison for drink-driving when someone gets community service for affray, but I told him that I went to jail because of where drinking took me.
'I firmly believe that in this country we should do what they do in America. Where there is a drink-related crime, some element of education or rehabilitation should come into the sentence.'
Adams has offered to help the Leeds duo by inviting them to the Sporting Chance Clinic, which he has set up to help sports people addicted to drink or drugs.
Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, said players and clubs needed to do more to stop the tide of players involved in unsavoury, drink-related incidents. 'Players should exercise more common sense in their socialising, and football as a whole should do more because there are still problems, despite the education given to players about the dangers of alcohol and drugs.
'Players are akin to pop stars and film stars now. They are subject to temptation and to abuse. They can't move without people being there, and sometimes they become a target. Players need to be mindful that if they are in public and have been drinking too much and things get out of control, they are going to be highlighted.'
Taylor suggested more clubs could follow the example of Leeds last week. It sent guards with its players on a Christmas night out. However, the minders' presence did not stop an £11 million striker being arrested over an incident.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/dec/16/football.race
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