Death Threats And Arrests: A Non-League Footballer's Tale From The Dark Knight

LEON KNIGHT has lifted the lid on his nightmare at Conference side Rushden and Diamonds, accusing them of making death threats in the on-going row over his registration.

The 28-year-old from Hackney sent out a stream of Twitters to his 3,500 followers on Monday, informing them: “I haven’t been paid since 2008. I have kept quiet for two years but now I am going to tell all.

“They gave me money, then said if I don’t give them back the 30k I’ll end up in a box.

“You say I’m throwing away my career on Twitter – but you can’t get punished for telling the truth. I’m not telling no lies here.”

Knight also accuses the club of taking back the two Mercedes they had given him – and reporting the vehicles stolen, which resulted in the arrests of his father and a friend.

The former Chelsea trainee, who has also played for Brighton, Swansea, MK Dons, Wycombe Wanderers, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday, said: “They gave me two SLK Mercs.

“When they knew we wasn’t good enough to go up, they ask for the cars back then reported them stolen. and got my old man and my mate knicked.

“They still have my 3k Cartier watch in the car and my 350 quid Marc Jacob glasses. I might call the police on them!

“For two years, I held my mouth but no more, I’m telling all.”

Knight insists he has the bank statements to back up his claims against the club, who spent three years in the Football League before returning to the Blue Square Conference, where they are currently 16^th in the table.

He said: “I can prove all I have said. I have bank statements, arrest forms, the full Monty.

“If Rushden give me my registration back, I’ll stop, if not I’ll go to the end and beyond. I have kids to feed, I had to cancel my contract at Darlington cos of the stunt they pulled - so now I'm fighting back which I think is only right.”

Controversy has dogged Knight’s career. During a brief spell at Hamilton Academicals in Scotland last season, he was sent off for his role in a tunnel brawl after a win over Hearts, despite being an unused sub.

So far, in 10 years as a professional, Knight has played nearly 300 games for 14 different clubs, including three for Thrasivoulos Filis in Greece last year whilst in dispute with Rushden.

He returned to England and was all set to sign for Darlington at the start of this season but his transfer was blocked by Rushden, who had held onto his registration after making 12 appearances for them in 2008. Rushden demanded £30,000 to release him.

Knight has produced an on-line petition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/leonknight/ demanding the right to be released by Rushden. Knight claims he was sacked by the club after signing a two-year contract. He claims the club have since extended his contract to keep his registration – but are not paying him.

Knight was transfer-listed by the club on 29 October, 2008 along with Lee Tomlin, Curtis Woodhouse, Andy Burgess, Phil Gulliver, Sagi Burton, Lee Phillips and Dean McDonald.

He recalls: “You will not be getting paid this month - we got told this in the middle of the training ground car park.

“And they said, if anyone has anything to say come see me in my office. Lee Phillips then pipes up and the chairman walks towards Phillips and shoves him so Phillips pushed him back.

“Hahahahahaha so funny, just one of the many things I’ll be exposing.”

Wenger, get back in your little pit: Steve Bull exclusive

WOLVES legend Steve Bull has told Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to “get back in your little pit and let us play football.”

Bull is furious over suggestions that his old club are guilty of being over-physical, along with Bolton, Stoke and Blackburn. We chatted about the state of the game at lunch-time today and Bully growled: “There’s got to be a scapegoat, and Wolves are exactly that at the moment.

“I’ve seen one tackle all season that was a bit late. Karl Henry on Joey Barton two weeks ago. That one deserved a booking. Apart from that, refs have been giving silly little fouls, handing out cards for shirt-pullling and all that. It’s ridiculous.”

Bully, 45, who has a stand named after him at the club, couldn’t resist responding to this morning’s comments from boss Mick McCarthy whose side face a £70,000 FA levy for their recent flurry of cards – they picked up 13 bookings and a sending-off in their last two games.

McCarthy insisted: “We are not dirty. I haven’t got a problem with the way we played in those two games.”

The first of those, a 1-1 draw with Newcastle, saw Barton suffer eight no-nonsense challenges, most of them from Henry. And during last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Fulham, Henry was involved in a tackle which saw Bobby Zamora’s leg broken and Christophe Berra was sent off.

But Bull insists: “Karl is a very, very good steady player. The Gareth Barry of our side. He gets on with the job, plays it safe. He hasn’t got a dirty tackle in him – if anything he’s just clumsy.

“How can Wenger have a go about being protected from bad challenges? You should see my ankles and my knees! He’s got to be back in his little dug-out, stop making excuses, let them play football, calm down again.

“And referees have to let them get on with, let the game flow. I wouldn’t say football’s got too soft. But if you ask any player from the 80s and 90s what it’s all about, it’s a good, hard game but fair. Physical. Like the game against Newcastle.”

Bull played 474 games for the Molineux club, scoring 250 goals and made 13 appearances for England in his time there. He was awarded the MBE for services to football in 1999. And with typical humour he grinned: “It’s a game of chess isn’t it? The big clubs says “watch out for this or that dirty player” and the referees fall for it.

“I don’t think the Premier League is split between rich and poor, teams that can play and teams that have to clump the opposition. Last year we didn’t do that. This year we are playing well again, with a bit of physical presence at well.”

Wolves are at Tottenham tomorrow, and Bull was more than happy to hear even Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has sympathy for the boys from the Black Country.

Redknapp said: "Wolves are competitive, they’ll get amongst us – that’s not unfair. Mick McCarthy's team always are always hard and aggressive, but I haven't got a problem with the way Wolves play.

"They did the 'double' over us last season, they beat us fair and square. They work hard, but that's what they are paid to do, and we will need to pass the ball quickly, with plenty of movement, to open them up.

"They are entitled to play the way they do. Having said that, after tomorrow, I might feel a bit differently about them!"

And boss McCarthy won’t be telling his players any different. Today he added a defence of Henry to yesterday’s tirade. Henry, 27, is under fire for the challenge which broke Zamora’s leg last week but McCarthy said: "It was a fantastic tackle and there should be no blame or any fingers pointed at Karl.

" Bobby knows it wasn't intentional, which is the main thing.

"So it's a case of 'carry on Karl.' He's trained this week and been his usual self. He's fantastic.

"Those that have supported him - great, thanks. And those that tried to whip up a storm should be ashamed of themselves, because Karl really is a very honest player and he didn't deserve that."

Sportingbet, official sponsor of Wolverhampton Wanderers, has brought back its free Wolves Accumulator betting game. Play now at www.sportingbet.com/wolvesaccumulator and pit your wits against Steve Bull. Players must be 18 years or over.

Cesc Fabregas: Arsenal's magnificent maestro... but for how long?

CESC FABREGAS you are magnificent. The way the 23-year-old tore Braga apart at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night was little short of Messi... or Maradona.

He scored two and made two in a near-record 6-0 win, thrilling the 59,000 crowd and millions around the world as the Champions League whirred back in to action this week.

But how gullible do you think Arsenal fans are, Francesc Fàbregas i Sole? After the game, sweat dripping from that talented brow, he said: “I have always felt I belong here. I am happy at Arsenal.”

Tell that to the shirt sellers in Barcelona, where the letters F-A-B are already in great demand at the Nou Camp souvenir shop.

Every Gooner knows what happens at the end of the season. The star goes home. Cesc, born in Villasar-de-Mar, watched his first game at the Nou Camp aged six months. He was barely out of nappies when the Barcelona Academy snapped him up.

Incredibly, like Nicolas Anelka and Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Frimpong and so many others, he was lured away on a cheap flight to London as a 16-year-old by the ever-persuasive Arsene Wenger in 2004. And Cesc appeared to love it.

For six years he has thrilled Gooners and made Catalunians envious. His talents have lifted north London and though Arsenal have gone trophy-less since he broke through to the first team, he is already a modern master, right up there with Charlie George, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry.

Wenger himself admitted after his stunning display against Braga: “You don’t get many players like him. He is one of the biggest in the game.”

But he knows as well as any of us that Fabregas, pictured “accidentally” in the stripey strip of Barca after Spain’s World Cup win on July 11, will be off to pastures Nou next summer.

Joan Laport and his not-so-well-off board might have snatched him last summer if they’d had the money. But they know his blood runs the blue-and-red of Barca rather than the red-and-white of Arsenal.

On May 5, when the transfer row was at its peak, he said: “When you see that things are going so well, I think I would like to go to Barcelona. Then if they want me or not is another thing. It’s what I want and what I would like.”

And then there was this from Barcelona’s sporting director, Txiki Begiristain on May 18: “It’s great news that he wants to come here and I think that one day Cesc will have to come to Barca.”

And on July 30, after new president Sandro Rossell had failed with a £30m bid, Barcelona’s World Cup winning centre-back Carles Puyol announced: “Cesc is having to stay at a club where he no longer wants to be for another year. I wonder how intelligent it is keeping a player who doesn’t want to be there.”

Says it all really. Having spent six weeks with Fabregas in South Africa, Puyol would know a little bit about how he thinks.

A long meeting with Wenger followed when Barca’s interest switched to David Villa and there was Cesc on Wednesday night insisting: “I am happy at Arsenal.”

The unbeaten Gunners travel to Sunderland on Saturday. Steve Bruce will have watched his performance on Wednesday and will have worked out a few tactics to cope with the Catalunian’s prodigious talents.

Let’s see, when the boots are flying, how the Arsenal captain copes at the Stadium of Light. And then let’s hear what he has to say.

Oh, How England Needs a Big Night In The Champions League Tonight

IF ever there was a time English clubs could do with a Champions League boost, it’s right here, right now. How grim was all that last night?

Arsenal and Chelsea go in to their opening games this evening knowing there has rarely been a worse first night for the English Premier League, usually so dominant in Europe.

There were signs last season that the EPL’s grip was loosening and with United held 0-0 by Scottish champions Rangers at Old Trafford and Spurs relinquishing a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at Werder Bremen’s Weserstadion, it was not a night to remember.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, perhaps mindful of his roots in Glasgow, pronounced himself merely “disappointed” with a truly dreadful deadlock while Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was “frustrated” after what he called “a perfect opening 43 minutes”.

Though FC Twente, the Dutch champions managed by Englishman Steve McClaren last season, held holders Inter Milan 2-2, the Spanish big guns fired with some gusto – Lionel Messi scored a cracker in Barcelona’s 5-1 win over Greeks Panathinaikos while Valencia crushed Turkey’s Bursasport 4-0.

Further Anglo gloom was added by the awful ankle injury suffered by Antonio Valencia. Oh, and the much-hyped return to action of Wayne Rooney was hardly worth staying up for either. He appeared to hurt his own left ankle and did little on the field – other than pull his shirt over his head when he saw the extent of Valencia’s injury.

The £16m Ecuadorian has a fractured and dislocated ankle – much like those suffered by Arsenal’s Eduardo and Wasps rugby player Danny Cipriani in recent years – which left his boot at right angles to his shin. He’ll be out for the rest of the season. At least.

In the light of Valencia’s injury, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who welcomes Portugal’s unfancied Braga to the Emirates Stadium tonight, chose an apt time to talk about Abou Diaby’s injury. He suffered a heavy challenge from Bolton’s Paul Robinson on Saturday.

Robinson wasn’t booked – in fact Arsenal didn’t even get a free kick. Diaby must wait for the swelling to subside before a diagnosis can be made but Wenger raged: "It's the ankle on which he had surgery. We don't know how long he will be out. The tackle was very bad. I cannot protect the players; only the FA can do that.

"I love the English game but people are more interested in controversy than protecting the players. Why should I create another story? You asked me how the tackle was and it was bad.

“But I don't know if my views are taken seriously. Diaby has been injured from an unfair tackle. I've watched it 10 times and it is an unfair tackle.”

Yes, we get it Arsene. It can get nasty out there. Now get on with winning a trophy. It’s overdue.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti took a more typical approach to his side’s trip to Slovakian Double winners MSK Zilina. He made the now traditional Blues prediction: "This club deserves to win the Champions League. But to win, you have to deserve it not for the past, but we have to do it for the present.”

With Didier Drogba suspended as he always is at the start of a new European dawn, 21-year-old Daniel Sturridge, 21, will start up front.

Ancelotti named his side early, saying: "I've never seen a player as quick as Sturridge. He has improved a lot in the past year. He has improved his character, his professional behaviour. He has matured.

"We want to involve more young players compared to last season. Gael Kakuta played on Saturday, and on Wednesday we will play Daniel Sturridge from the beginning."

The English champions certainly have the talent and depth to do better than their three English rivals. But whether they can match Barcelona, Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid – who face Ajax tonight – or Bayern Munich – who host Roma – is another matter completely.

Tonight’s schedule in full:

AC Milan v Auxerre, GpG, 19:45

Arsenal v Braga, GpH, 19:45

Bayern Munich v Roma, GpE, 19:45

CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca v Basle, GpE, 19:45

Marseille v Spartak Moscow, GpF, 19:45

MSK Zilina v Chelsea, GpF, 19:45

Real Madrid v Ajax, GpG, 19:45

Shakhtar Donetsk v Partizan Belgrade, GpH, 19:45

Battle Of Britain: Rangers Eager To Damage Rooney and Manchester United

LAST time Rangers fans travelled from Glasgow to Manchester in significant numbers was for the 2008 UEFA Cup final. They tore the city apart.

Then, there were 120,000 of them to see their side lose to Russia’s Zenit St Petersburg. They caused, according to one judge “the worst damage to this city since the blitz”.

Tonight there will be 3,500 “Blue Noses” at Old Trafford to witness an altogether less frightening “Battle of Britain”.

Every coach filled with Scottish supporters will be held at nearby Wigan before being escorted into the gritty suburb of Trafford by police. Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, of Greater Manchester Police tells us: "It's a measured plan worked out with both clubs. It is about reassuring people that we mean business and we've got confidence that this plan will work."

In 2008, two policemen were attacked after a big screen showing the game broke down. Nine Rangers fans ended up in jail as Manchester awoke to scenes of devastation. Remember, the Scottish divide between giants Rangers and Celtic is not just about football. It's religious. It's tribal. Much like Real Madrid v Barcelona. Losing face is unacceptable.

Though Rangers will lose face at Old Trafford, expect no such problems tonight, where 250 extra police have been drafted in and pubs have been told to close early. That savage May night will not be repeated – but one particular Englishman will be savaged (verbally) by the travelling Scots.

His name, lest we forget, is Wayne Rooney.

He’s 24, brought up in nearby Liverpool (where, incidentally, Mancunians are tribally reviled) and is considered England’s greatest current footballer. He is also currently our greatest villain.

Revealed just nine days ago as having paid a prostitute for sex five times (once with her pal in a grubby threesome) while his highly attractive wife Colleen was pregnant with their first child Kai, Rooney is struggling to lead a normal life. Colleen, now a successful business woman, is struggling to cope with marital infidelity, a 12-year-old sister in hospital and a young tot.

This morning we are told the pair will try to make their marriage work (Rooney has "one last chance" according to the Mirror), but Rangers fans will do all they can to ensure all are reminded of his misdeeds tonight.

Though he played (and scored) for England against Switzerland last Tuesday (yes, that really was only a week ago, but a week is a long, long time in football), Rooney found himself dropped when Manchester United were held 3-3 by his old club Everton on Saturday.

His Scottish manager Sir Alex Ferguson – who, ironically, used to play for Rangers and hails from the Strathclyde area of Glasgow – chose to leave him out of the side to protect him from the barracking of his former fans.

But we all know Rangers followers will be doing their level best to be even more abusive than bitter Evertonians tonight. The entire footballing world stopped what they were doing over the weekend to debate whether Fergie was being compassionate or judgemental in dropping Rooney.

Now we know. He was being nice. Rooney was back training happily with the squad yesterday. Fergie was asked if he had any regrets. He replied gruffly: “No – none at all. I said I would not subject him to that nonsense at Everton and it was a benefit to our team.

“No regrets. I did the right thing. I am expecting a good performance from him against Rangers. He is a terrific player and his performance as we saw against Switzerland [for England].

“He will be looking forward to this game, like all of our players. European games are fantastic occasions and we have had some wonderful nights at this club.”

A decade ago, Rangers v Leeds in the Champions League was considered a fairly even clash. Football has moved on since then, with the Premier League continuing to import international stars in an orgy of over-spending while the Scottish game has been hamstrung by grinding poverty north of Hadrians Wall. Celtic and Rangers are often linked with an English Premier League merger, but nothing ever comes of it. They continue to be large fish in a tiny pond.

Walter Smith, the near-legendary Ibrox boss, worked as Fergie’s assistant at United back in 2004. He even managed Rooney’s old club Everton for a while. Like all uncivil wars between British clubs, there are connections all over the place, connections made to be broken.

Smith says: “It’s nice to be back, no team in the world will come here filled with attacking intent” and will offer captain Davie Weir, Rooney’s former Everton team-mate, the chance to shackle United’s talisman, aged 40. Weir accepts: “You couldn’t ask for a harder match than this in Europe... or the world.”

With Turks Bursapor and Spain’s Valencia also in Group C, Rangers aren’t expected to qualify. But tonight, goaded by Rooney and all things English, Scotland’s champions will be doing everything in their power to prove they can do some damage on the field, just as their fans did off it a couple of years ago.

Forget the Blitz. This is the Battle of Britain. No prisoners. What’s that song they’re singing? “No woman, no Kai.”

Who the hell is Neal Collins? See www.nealcollins.co.uk.

Rooney Debate: You Call That Punishment? He Was Given a Day Off!

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Sporting scandals and whitewash: how the Superstars are killing our games

The sporting scandals are coming fast and furious. No game is immune. And the whitewash is flowing. At 10.30am on Sky News this Saturday, the list of shame below will be my major point of discussion.

Three-time world snooker champion John Higgins was caught by the News of the World admitting he paid off his mortgage by fixing matches. The video of Higgins and his agent in Kiev is damning and conclusive. On Wednesday, he was banned for six months and fined £75,000. He’ll be back on November 2 and ready to add to the £5m the 35-year-old Scotsman has earned so far in his career.

Another former World Champion, Formula One’s Fernando Alonso, won the German Grand Prix in July after his team-mate Felipe Massa received clear team orders from Ferrari to let him pass. The FIA World Motor Sport Council saw fit to fine him £65,000 with no points deduction.

Dr Wendy Chapman, who cut the cheek of Harlequins winker Tom Williams during rugby’s Bloodgate scandal last year, was let off with a “formal warning” by the British Medical Council a fortnight ago. She will be allowed to practice again.

Since the World Cup, two England football stars, Peter Crouch and Wayne Rooney, have been exposed – despite a plethora of super-injunctions – as having paid prostitutes for sex. Both are in long term relationships and earn over £100,000 a week. Neither received any punishment, playing on with no sanction from club or FA.

And the current Pakistan touring cricket stand accused of “spot fixing” by the News of the World 10 days ago. They bowled no-balls at prescribed times and, according to one player, have been fixing matches “for years”. Three players have been dropped, a fourth is being questioned, but the rest are continuing their half-hearted tour of shame.

Tiger Woods, golf’s greatest star, stands accused of a dozen affairs and though his wife has left him, US Ryder Cup captain saw fit to call him up for the Ryder Cup as a more-than-wild card.

No sport is safe, it appears. And none of the governing bodies appear brave enough to eradicate the cancer eating away at our superstars.

Time and again, the over-paid sporting heroes are laid low by scandal. Each time, they are either hit by a minor fine, a meaningless suspension – or nothing at all.

Match-fixing has afflicted cricket for a decade, there are question marks over the deaths of Hansie Cronje and Bob Woolmer. But nobody acts.

Team orders have spoiled Formula One for years, but Ferrari can blatantly tell a driver to let his team-mate pass, without fear of a points deduction.

Millionaire footballers are not censured for their off-field behaviour, Tiger has never been sanctioned by any golfing authority for his marriage-shattering behaviour.

And so it goes on. We can talk athletics or cycling, where the drug culture refuses to disappear. Rumours of “tanking” dominate the tennis locker rooms. And we won’t even begin to discuss the problems of horse racing.

The point is this: true sport is in danger.

At the grass roots level, game playing is a simple occupation. You play your heart out and hope to win. Nobody can predict the score, referees are honest if incompetent, it’s all above board.

But at the top level, where people are expected to pay huge sums to spectate, sponsor or broadcast, sport is shooting itself in the foot time and again.

You can’t watch cricket now without wondering if that catch was put down on purpose. You can’t watch football without wondering what they were all up to in the Rio Ferdinand’s restaurant last Friday night. You can’t bet on snooker, cricket, Formula One, horse racing or tennis without wondering if you’ve got the inside track. In short: You can’t be sure exactly what’s going on, on or off the field.

And if things go on this way, with the governing bodies handing out little more than the odd slap on the wrist in the face of indisputable evidence, surely the fans, sponsors and television companies will begin to lose interest, in that order?

And fans are the lifeblood of every sport. Without their passionate and lucrative following, no game can survive at the top level.

They see their heroes regularly breaking the rules (of both their sport and society) yet they are rarely prevented long-term from earning millions for kicking, hitting or catching a ball.

Like politicians and bankers, sportsmen are in danger of being seen as money makers rather than entertainers. They are beginning to look like immoral, greedy, seedy villains rather than the courageous, shining examples of yesteryear.

Money – particularly in the case of the Pakistan cricketers – appears to be all that matters to the modern sportsmen with their agents and advisors. The trappings of success appear to mean more than the honour of wearing the national shirt to footballers.

And if the whitewash-laden governing bodies won’t pull the super stars into line, the fans will have to do it for them. By voting with their feet. By realising this isn’t what they signed up for when they shelled out their hard-earned cash for a ticket, a replica shirt, a pair of Rooney-signed boots.

The last few weeks have thrown up too many examples of corrupt sportsmen going relatively unpunished. The fans aren’t stupid. They’ve seen what we’ve all seen.

Superstars can behave as they want, without fear of being thrown out. Higgins will be back in few weeks, bloodied Williams is already playing again, Rooney and Crouch never stopped, Alonso will be on the grid, Pakistan’s endless tour goes on.

And the fans, surely, must wonder what the hell is going on. Would you pay to watch any of the above? I know I wouldn’t.

Who the hell is Neal Collins: see www.nealcollins.co.uk and Sky News this Saturday at 10.30am.