Archived News from November 2008
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O`CONNOR - STAGS SHOULD NOT LOSE POINTS
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Stags should not lose points over O'Connor row - chairman Perry
CHAD.co.uk, 27 November 2008, By Staff Reporter MANSFIELD Town chairman Andy Perry has said he does not believe the Stags will lose points in the investigation into the signing of striker Aaron O'Connor. Full story at CHAD.co.uk here BSP rivals Grays Athletic claim they had taken up a one-year option on the striker's contract when he signed and played for Mansfield Town this season. But Stags, the player and his agent all believed he was a free agent - and were stunned when late in September the FA revealed that it was investigating his signing The FA said that the Stags have been 'charged with an an alleged breach of FA Rule C.1(i(i)) which states that a player under written contract may only play for the club for which he is registered. Earlier this week the FA told Chad: "It looks like there will probably be a hearing down here between now and Christmas." On Thursday Stags chairman Perry told the club's official website mansfieldtown.net: "I spoke to the FA yesterday (Wednesday) and I had a good half hour with the gentleman dealing with it. "What has held things up is that a few weeks ago we received a P45 from Grays for Aaron O'Connor, showing they terminated his employment on 31st May this year. That has added a bit more spice to the proceedings. "He says it is not in their rules to deduct points from the football club. They are looking into it. There is no intimation that there would be any hearing in the next few weeks or next few months . . . if it does go to a hearing we have obviously pleaded not guilty to the charge of signing the player knowing that he was signed (registered) with the FA for Grays Athletic. "The other side of the coin is that Aaron was signed solely for Mansfield Town under the Blue Square rules, we have his signing on form. It is only in the gift of the league you are playing in to deduct points, under their banner (BSP) he is signed solely for Mansfield Town not Grays. "But his registration was still retained with the FA because they (Grays) said he had signed an option. But it does seem strange that they say he had signed an option when they released him with his P45 on 31st May. His two agents have put in statements saying they were not aware he was still with Grays Athletic." --------------- 27 Nov 2008 Audio interview with Andy Perry from mansfieldtown.net here ------------------ 25 Nov 2008 CHAD reports that MANSFIELD Town look set to be summoned to an FA hearing in London before Christmas over the long-standing Aaron O'Connor saga. An FA spokesman told Chad on Tuesday: "We have had further correspondence from Mansfield Town and we have been in touch with Grays. This does seem to have been dragging on a while, but it looks like there will probably be a hearing down here between now and Christmas." Full story at CHAD.co.uk here Stags' O'Connor hearing to be held before Christmas? chad.CO.UK, 25 November 2008 By John Lomas MANSFIELD Town look set to be summoned to an FA hearing in London before Christmas over the long-standing Aaron O'Connor saga. BSP rivals Grays claim they had taken up their one-year option on the striker's contract but Stags, the player and his agent all believed he was a free agent when he signed and played for Mansfield Town this season. O'Connor joined the Stags just before the start of the season, but then late in September the FA revealed that it was investigating his signing. To confuse matters further, the striker had not played for the Stags against Grays a few weeks earlier. The FA has previously said that the Stags have been 'charged with an an alleged breach of FA Rule C.1(i(i)) which states that a player under written contract may only play for the club for which he is registered. An FA spokesman told Chad on Tuesday: "We have had further correspondence from Mansfield Town and we have been in touch with Grays. "This does seem to have been dragging on a while, but it looks like there will probably be a hearing down here between now and Christmas." When news of the row first broke, Grays chairman Woodward told The Non-League Paper: "We took up our option on Aaron, but he started playing around. We said 'You can talk to whoever you like, but let them know they've got to talk to us to release you because although I don't want a fee, we want a sell-on clause'. "He turned up at Mansfield and signed, which he wasn't entitled to do. "I rang up their chairman. He said Aaron had told them he was a free agent. It's the player's fault, not the club's. I don't want to see them lose points, but he was still our player. "He didn't play against us because this all came to light the week before." Mansfield Town has not commented officially on the investigation recently, but new owners Andy Perry, Andy Saunders and Steve Middleton are known to be vigorously defending any claioms of wrongdoing. The investigation is the second problem for the Stags regarding player signings/registrations. Earlier in the season the club was docked four points by the Conference over a separate matter. BSP bosses did not receive a fax from Field Mill containing the registrations details of four new players on the Friday afternoon before the season kicked off. The four points equated to the points gained in the first two matches covered by the Conference charge - the 2-2 draw at Ebbsfleet and home win over Histon. The 'missing' registrations were then received by post, it is believed. The Conference deducted the Stags four points for the irregularities and also imposed a relatively small fine of £1,000 - way below the maximum available - after the club admitted six charges. --------------- |
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