If you follow my blog regularly you will have done well to miss the Amankwaah-Harris Saga that still refuses to disappear. Yesterday Kevin hit back with fresh claims that his words to Neil Harris were said in retaliation to physical and racial abuse; which this morning Neil Harris has categorically denied:
“I am both angry and upset that Kevin Amankwaah, after seemingly offering an apology for his insulting remarks towards me on Saturday which I had accepted, should now decide to try and justify himself. “I can categorically state that Amankwaah’s insult was not in response to any racial comment and his accusations of verbal and physical abuse are frankly laughable. Passions were inflamed following an incident during the game and there was a bit of pushing and shoving, nothing more.
“It is demeaning to get into a public ‘who said what to whom’ argument. I am comfortable that I have nothing to reproach myself for."
In my opinion Kevin was forced into what Neil says is "justifying himself" by the constant media barrage that the events have Saturday have had. I've been thinking about the whole situation: Amankwaah originally denied Harris' claims after Saturday's game, then the next day, following a media attack on him both Kevin and STFC issued an apology. I think this u-turn happened in order to avoid an FA probe into the situation and to put it to bed once and for all, to allow STFC and Kevin to concentrate on football. Kevin was then accused by the media of being forced by the Swindon dressing-room and board room against his will into apologising to Neil, meaning Kevin had to come out and explain why he apologised, and STFC to come out and say that Kevin was the driving force behind it all. If there was racial and physical abuse that Kevin received, he was going to get on with it so as not to draw the whole saga out, but the media have not let this one go, so Kevin, knowing he's now in this for the long haul, has brought up the abuse that he suffered on the field Saturday.
Danny Wilson had the following to say on the matter:
“We wanted to give Kevin’s side of things because there have been one or two reports in the national newspapers which are completely untrue
“He’s offered an apology but still there’s things being written which are not true, so he has to put across his side of the story. We back him to the hilt.”
As the saga rears its ugly head once more, I can only hope that this ongoing incident doesn't have an adverse effect on Amankwaah's on-field performances - being on of the best players on the pitch this season.
Elsewhere, Jonathan Douglas, who was dismissed early on in Saturday's encounter between Millwall and Swindon, has had his appeal against a 3-match ban turned down and it extended to 4. The referee described that tackle as high, double-footed and that Douglas had no control. Now, if you watch the video footage again you will see that the tackle was low, one-footed and Douglas had control. Just seeing these 3 factors makes me amazed how the FA can not only turn the appeal down but also to extend the suspension! Also, if you do watch the footage you will see that after the tackle, the referee gives a freekick to Millwall, then continues running as if he expects play to resume quickly. He makes no gesture to going towards his pocket, or even to talk to Douglas, until a conglomerate of blue-shirted players surround the incident and push away Douglas as he tried to help the victim of the tackle up. Being at the game, my first reaction was that the sending off was for Douglas' retaliation who pushed an arm in his chest away before being shown the red card.
The whole incident is outrageous and I still cannot believe any of it warranted a 4 match ban. I'm not usually one to openly criticise, but criticism where criticism is due, the handling of this by the referee and FA is a complete shambles.
Wilson said the following:
“It’s one-footed, low and he’s totally in control of the situation.
“We’ve done everything,” he said. “We watched it a million times, slowed it down, watched replays in slow motion, had an independent view on the situation that developed, and we appealed.
“We sent our review and our opinions in to the FA and wouldn’t have appealed if we hadn’t of thought we could win the it. We felt we had a great case.”
Just the reaction from both sets of fans when the red card was shown was enough to know it was the wrong decision.
Elsewhere, some good news for town ahead of Saturday's County Ground clash with Hartlepool. Tope Obadeyi is back in the fray following a hamstring injury and Flu. He's also on the verge of extending his loan from Bolton, who have said they see Tope playing at this level as key to the 19 year old's development and push for the first team.
The reserves were in action last night away at Salisbury and came away 3-0 victors with goals from Lee Peacock, who continues his recovery to full match fitness, Charlie Austin, who seems to be knocking at Wilson's door for his first full team start, and 17 year old Billy Bodin who has just returned from International duty after receiving his first under-21 cap for Wales. Whilst things seem to take a turn for the worse of the pitch and in the media, it seems the lads are doing their bit on the pitch and giving Wilson food for thought in League 1.
Now, without Douglas absent for 4 games, it gives a chance for fringe players Michael Timlin and Craig Easton to impress. Timlin has a couple of appearances to his name, whilst Easton has seen most of his football bossing the reserves at captain, both will be trying to seize upon Douglas' misfortune to hold down a first team place, even after Douglas' return.
We stretched our unbeaten run to 11 league games after the draw with Millwall, but fans will be expecting 3 points come 5 o'clock this Saturday after entertaining Hartlepool at the County Ground.
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