The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 16

THE GUARDIAN Saturday August 13 1994 16 SPORTS NEWS Back to CHARITY SHIELD: Manchester United Blackburn at Wembley Don DuBtiedl's gairdleouf business as usual Cynthia Batsman on Alex Ferguson's summer snatch from their Premiership rivals Blackburn Martin Thorpe But after a promising start as a teenager, his progress was impeded by injury. Last season he and Jason Wilcox were the only two home-grown players in a side of expensive acquisitions. He joined Blackburn as a trainee, about the same time as Wilcox, and when ail the promising youngsters from his home area of Middleton, near Oldham, were nabbed by Manchester City or Manchester United. May used to be a season-ticket holder at Maine Road, making him the odd one out in his family. His father and two brothers have always been United supporters and are delighted at his move.

May makes no bones about the fact that he wants to win trophies. Having suffered disappointment and relegation struggles with Blackburn in his early days, he is no wide-eyed dreamer. The bonus for United is that May is an Englishman, increasing Alex Ferguson's options for Europe should Brace's aging legs feel the pace of a long season. Some commentators have already said May deserves a chance in the England set-up, and he now has the spotlight as well as the stage to prove his potential. Whether the competition proves a true indicator of what is to come from either team this season will depend on how many first-choice players are missing.

May, who might reasonably have hoped to know the enemy for his first competitive outing with United, may now find the Blackburn side is an unfamiliar one. Dalglish has so often in past seasons pointed to his defence as worthy of as much credit in creating moves as his strikers have deserved for finishing them that it will be interesting to see how quickly Rovers can redress that balance. Despite losing 2-0 at Ewood Park in April, which put Rovers within three points of catching United in the title run-in. United killed off Rovers' challenge in the remaining six games. Tomorrow they will want to start this season with their heel still firmly on Rovers' neck.

lish to pick up, but May's effective partnership in the centre of defence with Colin Hendry will not so easily be repeated. Tony Gale, the 35-year-old given a free transfer by West Ham in the summer, is Dalglish's short-term choice to fill the gap. May admired Moran above all other players. "Players like Kevin have seen it and done it, when you are only just beginning to see it," he said. "They'll go into depth with the answer and then you can ask another question, and another.

They have got so much time for younger players." Hendry lists being a good listener and a good learner as among May's attributes. "He also reads a game well, doesn't dive in, is good in the air for his size 6ft and has a good head underpressure." whether Rovers can produce the pressure in the Charity Shield tomorrow will depend on the recovery rate of their strikers, who have been going down like nine-pins. Shearer, Newell, Gallacher, Warhurst and Sutton have all been injured. Warhurst and Sutton may be fit for tomorrow; otherwise Ian Pearce, the 300,000 signing from Chelsea last October, may fill the breach up front after impressing in that role in pre-season friendlies. Apart from the own-goal blunder May has looked comfortable in United's pre-season matches and has fitted in well.

Both Steve Bruce and Pallister have recovered from injury but, as Paul Parker is doubtful, it looks as though May will start at right-back, a role familiar to him. May was given his chance for Blackburn there by Dalglish. "in school I started off in goal and then I played as a centre-forward, then left-back, right-back and eventually midfield. I went to Blackburn as a midfielder but then changed to defence where I've been ever since." AVID MAY'S school reports always said: "Could do better." Not much better than moving to Manchester United, one might think, although United supporters will hope that their new defender, who faces his former club Blackburn Rovers in the Charity Shield tomorrow, can improve on the performance he produced on his pre-season debut. His own goal against Rangers in the Ibrox International Tournament left United fourth and last behind Sampdoria, Newcastle and Rangers.

He should take comfort from the fact that his prospective new partner Gary Pallister began his career at United by conceding a penalty. May is known as "Syrup" by the players because his ginger blond hair looks like a wig syrup of fig and Syrup found himself in a sticky situation at the end of last season. Kenny Dalglish and Blackburn showed no urgency in renewing his expiring contract, despite May's assertion that he was happy to stay at Ewood Park. "We had eight months trying to sort something out with Blackburn and it took just two hours to get satisfaction from United," May's agent Paul Stretford said at the time. Jack Walker rushed through a package offer but was too late to change the mind of May, who was on the verge of signing a three-year deal with United which made him a superstar in his own right.

"The attention has been unbelievable," he said. "I see people stopping and staring at me all the time." He had been a lesser light off the field at Blackburn, overshadowed by the high profiles of some of the glitterati. Rovers may live to rue his transfer, particularly at the bargain basement fee of 1.5 million and coinciding with the retirement of the veteran centre-back Kevin Moran. No doubt there are plenty more pebbles for Walker and Dalg E) Kick it May "reads a game well, doesn't dive in, is good in the air and has a good head under says Hendry jeff holmes Fulham swim against the tide Ferguson finds solace in Cantona's absence on a short-term contract to see Martin Thorpe on the task Ian Branfoot faces in stopping the riverside club going under fin OW reassuring it is to lAlfind that the game's traditions have sur vived another close season. For instance, the tradition of sacking your manager without actually admitting it, as demonstrated by the early bathtime for Bonzo at West Ham.

"It was not a case of the club taking the managership away from Bill," said the Hammers' managing di rector Peter Storrie on the day of the departure. "He had decided to call it a day. "I had a meeting with the chairman and they wanted to resnume the pack," said Bonds later that day. "They wanted Harry to take over as manager and me to take a job as a paid director. I declined that job because I still feel that I have something to otter as a manager." Then there is the tradition of the pot calling the kettle black.

Ossie Ardiles on July 29. the day be bought Kilns mann, explained why he was buying abroad. "Inside Eng land the prices are really stampeding; they don't reflect the quality of players in general. It's becoming in credible." That very same day he was sticking out for 2.8 million for Vinny Sam-ways who eventually went for 2.2 million. Then there is the tradition of the club insisting that, de spite all the talk, the star player is going nowhere, as Brescia's president Gino cor- ioni reassured supporters about Gheorghe Hagi.

"I am being driven crazy by Barcelona's Nunez, who phones twice a day to ask about him. There's also an English club who are in love with him and keep bugging me. But Gheorghe is going nowhere. He loves Brescia and he is staying here." A week later he signed for Barcelona. AFTER Chanel No.

5 comes Route One. No sooner were the Irish team welcomed home as heroes than the marketing men brought out an Irish team aftershave, Team Spirit. It is as Irish as the team, made in Market Har borough. THE Fifa clampdown which produced red and yellow cards like sweets in the World Cup and threatens to do the same in England has already been given an airing in France. In the first round of matches there were 54 yellow cards compared with 32 last season and only 16 in 1987.

There were also five red cards compared with three last season and none in 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990. It will be interesting to see if the same happens in England today. However, though les joueurs were getting booked in droves, they were still not scoring in droves despite the introduction this season of three points for a win to encourage goals. There were 13 in the first 10 games. RONALD McConnachie, the keeper with bottom-of-tbe-table Albion Rovers, steeled himself for the penalty, awarded to the champions Stranraer with fewer than 10 minutes remaining of their Scottish Second Division game last February.

Frustrated at failing to stop the kick, he was to say later, he tried to smash the ball into the back of the net to help get the disappointment out of his system. Sadly, he missed, sending the ball into the crowd, some of which, coincidentally, had been throwing coins at him and cat-calling. The ball smacked a 15-year-old girl on the chin. She had to go to hospital to be treated for bruising. He was admonished this week for a breach of the peace.

Shirley Houlihan, his solicitor, pleaded mitigation. He was a keeper rather than a striker, and that was why be had missed the net. McConnachie, 21, is no longer with Rovers. He is training at Greenock Morton. DIEGO MARADONA might need to be taking some pretty mind-expanding drugs to accept, but the chairman of the Jewson Wes-sex League club Petersfield Town has written to Mara-dona's agent with a genuine offer for him to play at the tiny Hampshire club.

"We are making every effort to get in touch with his agent in a genuine attempt to see if he is interested in signing for us," confirms Peter De Sisto. "This is no joke. People can scoff if they like, but be is still a quality player and the way some experts are talking is as if he will never play competitively again. We are prepared to put up an attractive financial package to get him." There has so far been no reply to De Sisto's offer. ONE OF Ian Branfoot's first acts on becoming Fulham manager last month was to call a di rectors' meeting in the Craven Cottage dressing room.

It had not seen a lick ot paint since Johnny Haynes licked his last wing-half. The leather couch in the middle of the room had, like the team, had most of the stuffing knocked out of it and instead of being used for laying out injured players was being used for laying out the half-time cups of tea. The place was filthy, a disgrace, and Branfoot told them so. The dressing room was refur bished. A fresh wind of self-belief appeared to be blowing through the old club at last.

Then again, perhaps not. For even the dressing room incident hit one of the myriad veins of insecurity that riddle the club like Stilton, prompting dark backstage complaints about the fact that Branfoot had organised the builders himself and that is not his job. Perhaps it is because they are situated next to the Thames that Fulham have drifted. They were once a club of substance. The decline has been slow but unrelenting.

Uncertainty over the ground, a lack of cash, a their Champions League programme against Barcelona on October 19. The FA confirmed that the Edinburgh referee Eric Wad-dell deemed Cantona's two-footed lunge at Rangers' Steven Pressley at Ibrox last Saturday to be a sending-off offence. A minute earlier Cantona had been cautioned for dissent. Ferguson also experiments tomorrow as his FA Cup final full-backs, Paul Parker and Denis Irwin, and Roy Keane, another Double-winning member, miss the Wembley meeting with Blackburn. Lee Sharpe, taking Irwin's place, appears to be a reluctant guinea-pig, despite his early experience as a defender.

"I'm not sure about being left-back," he said. United's efforts to secure their top players on new contracts and the refusal to budge over Paul Dice's demands formed part of George Graham's argument as Arsenal's manager defended his BELL'S SCOTTISH LKAQUB Premier Division Aberdeen Hearts Falkirk Celtic Hibernian Oundee Utd Partick Kilmarnock Rangers Motherwell First Division Airdrie Dunfermline Ayr Hamilton. Clydebank Stranraer Oundee St Mirren Raith St Johnstone Second Division Brechin Meadowbank Greenock Morton Berwick Queen Of South Dumbarton Stenhousemuir Clyde Stirling East Fife Third Division Albion Alloa Caledonian Arbroath Cowdenbeath Ross County Montrose East Stirling Queen's Park Forfar CARLINO H-W COUNTIES LEAQUEl DMsloni Blackpool Rvrs Salford Brad-lord Pk Ava Newcastle Tn; Chadderlon Boolle: Oaraen Eastwood Hartley; Qlossop NE SI Helens Tn; Kldsgrove Ath Burs-cough; Malno Rd (Mart) Bacup Bor; Nantwlch Tn Penrith; Prescot Clittteroe; Rossendale Utd Holker Old Bays; Sket-mersdale Utd Tratford. S-E COUNTIES LEAGUE (tl.0): Hral He tatoni Chelsea Portsmouth; Fulham Watford; ailllngham Charlton; Ipawich Leyton Orient; Millwall West Ham; Southend Arsonal; Tottenham vOPR. Name: Address iantAsu lack of success in landing a high-profile player.

Speaking after collecting the Carling No. 1 Award to mark Arsenal's Cup Winners' Cup triumph, he insisted that his club would continue to refuse outlandish wages. "Arsenal get flak for it but most clubs have a wage structure," he said. "The gap in players' wages with us is not large. That's the very same way United are doing their business." Tony Adams's words, on the eve of the Arsenal captain's testimonial match against Crystal Palace, were music to Graham's ears.

Adams, 27, approaching his 12th season at Highbury, said: "I'm paid more than a good wage. Every time the club has come to me with a new contract I have been ready to sign it because going anywhere else would seem like a step down. I'm not interested in earning a fortune abroad. I'm happy where I am." DIADORA LEAQUK Premier Division Bishop Stanford Marlow Bromley Carshalton Dulwlch Yeading Enfield Aylesbury Hayes Purfleet Hltchin Kingstonian St Albans Molesey Slough Hendon Sutton Utd Grays Walton Hersham Cheaham Wokingham Harrow NORTHERN r-flEMIOR UUOUIl CtuW lengeShleldi Marine Spennymoor Utd. ULSTER cUPi Section Ai Carrlck Glen-toratv, Linllald Bangor.

Section Si No wry Coleralne; Portadown Ards. SesUon Ci Glenavon Distillery; Omarjh Tn Bally-Clare. Section Di Crusadera Cllllonvllle; Larne Ballymena. SORO OAIS NATIONAL UUOUI CUPi Section Ai Cobh Ramblers Kilkenny (7 0). Tomorrow! Waterford Cork (12.0).

Section Br Tomorrowt Fanad Uld Sllgo Rvrs (3.30); Finn Harps Oerry (7.30). See-Bon Ci Tonwn-owi Salthlll Devon Alhlone Tn (3.30). Section Oi Tomorrow! Monaghan Uld Longford Tn (2.30). Section Er Tomorrow! Home Farm Bohemlana. Section Wi Tomorrow! Shamrock Rvra Bray Wndrs (3.30); UCO St Patricks Ath (7.0).

r-RS-SBASOM PRIBNOLIMi Arsenal Crvslal Palace; Leicester Raold Huchnrum Shelbourne Leeds Utd. Tomorrow! Boston uto leeaa uta (z.u). Rugby League Tomorrow LOCKER CUPi Wlgan Warrington mMNDLMSi Leigh Carlisle; Rochdale Hornets Oldham; SI Helens Wldnes. OUA with a life-saving ground redevelopment still some way off, with the faith of the hard-core 4,000 fans not bottomless, the club needs the uplift of a quick promotion to prevent its drift becoming irreversible. The chairman Jimmy Hill is pre-; dieting that this "could be the most important season in the history ot the So in the short time at his disposal Branfoot has gone for experience, bringing in Terry Hurlock (banned for the first two games), Kevin Moore and Micky Adams, all formerly of Southampton, to mix with the up-and-coming youngsters such as the Carlton Palmer midfield look-alike Michael Mison and the Scotland Under-21 right-back Duncan Jupp.

To counter a lightweight look up front Branfoot has signed Alan Cork Branfoot fitness fanatic keep showing them until they get the message. You find out those who are prepared to practise the philosophy and, eventually, those who are not. You keep the right ones and let the others drift off." The clamour for new signings at Celtic Park has rather deflected attention from whatever playing strengths are already at the club, and Burns has demonstrated an admirable shrewdness in concentrating initially on restoring confidence and self-belief. Aberdeen, the most persistent of Rangers' challengers in the five years since Celtic last won a trophy, have invested around 1.3 million in new players, signifying their intention to remain contenders. Celtic's managing director Fergus McCann yesterday continued his overhaul of the club by appointing two new directors following the recent resignations of the former chairman Jack McGinn and the stadium director Tom Grant.

Eric Riley, an accountant, will be financial director and Patrick Ferrell, who has worked with McCann on club projects, is marketing director. if the old boy can still do it or, if he cannot, to provide breathing space while they look for someone else. The adminstration side of the club has been striving to match the changes. One hot topic of mirth behind the scenes at the moment is the dado rails that have sprung up on the walls of nearly every room in the ground in a Man at A attempt to spruce up the club's image. By the same design, stewards have been told they must wear white shirts, dark ties, black trousers or skirt and leather shoes, even on freezing nights and even though they will also have to wear huge flourescent jackets that hide the lot.

It has not gone down well. Even Mary, the old girl who has been on the club's reception since anyone can remember, has been sacked. She will make way for women in blazers. It is a typically, quaintly Fulham attempt to create a corpo rate image. In the end, though, the measure of just how smart the club is will come on the pitch.

Branfoot has had only a month to sort things out. He may stul be suffering culture shock at what he has found at Fulham. The nearest he will make to a prediction is: "I'd like to think we could get promotion." The true test starts at home to Walsall today. Robson ready and able for the Boro fray BRYAN ROBSON has no qualms about still leading by midfield example as the 37-year-old player-manager prepares today to open a new Middlesbrough era, writes Russell Thomas. Robson names himself at the start of his 22nd season in a team featuring three of his signings, including the new captain Nigel Pearson, against promoted Burnley at AyresomePark.

Undeterred by criticisms of his attempt to combine roles, he says: "I can rely on Vlv Anderson and John Pickering to provide back-up." Glenn Roeder begins his attempt to transform Watford by playing five new men as Sheffield United reacqualnt themselves with lower-grade football, and Dave assert with his former club. The United manager insists his team are good enough to go straight back, and as champions. Luton have paid 15,000 for Peterborough's goalkeeper Fred Barber. Portsmouth have taken Chelsea's David Lee on loan after their Serbian midfielder Preki broke an arm in training. Scottish League preview Russell Thomas and Derek Potter LEX FERGUSON has managed to extract some AA consolation from the latest enforced leave for Eric Can-tona which sees the maverick striker banned for the first three games of Manchester United's championship defence.

United's manager at first refused to comment on Cantona's latest punishment, announced yesterday, but later found a kind of European blessing in the suspension. "At least Eric's ban gives me time to get the attack sorted out for the European Cup, when he misses the first four matches," he said. Cantona plays tomorrow in the Charity Shield but then misses the Premiership opener with QPR, the televised visit to Nottingham Forest and the trip to Tottenham. Ferguson has a threefold opportunity to ex periment before United open Weekend fixtures (3.0 unless slated) (a-t all-ticket) Soccar Tomorrow FA CHARITY 8MIILD Man Utd Blackburn Rvrs (4.0) Today NOSLKIOH LKAQUB First Division Barnslay Derby Bristol City Sunderland Grimsby Town Bolton Luton Town West Brom Middlesbrough Burnley Millwall Southend United Oldham Charlton Portsmouth Notts County Sheffield United Watford Stoke City Tranmere Rovers Wolverhampton Reading Tomorrow Swindon Port Vale Second Division Blackpool Huddersfleld Town Chester City Bradford City Leyton Orient Birmingham City Oxford United Hull City Peterborough Bristol Rovers Plymouth Argyle Brentford Rotherham Shrewsbury Stockport Cardiff Swansea Brighton Wrexham Bournemouth Wycombe Cambridge York City Crewe Alexandra Third Division Barnet Scunthorpe Utd Bury Rochdale Carlisle United Wigan Ath Chesterfield Scarborough Colchester Torquay Darlington Preston NE Fulham Walsall Glllingham Hartlepool Utd Hereford Doncaster Lincoln City Exeter City couple of ineffective managerial appointments had, by last season, pushed the morale, and the team, to an all-time low. For the first time Fulham found themselves dropping into the lowest division and for the long-suffering and ardent fans, whose people's uprising helped save their beloved ground in 1987, the need for gallows hu-i mour was never greater.

When Branfoot's appointment was followed by Len Walker as his No. 2 the cry went up: typical Fulham; they sign a manager vilified by Southampton fans last season and virtually hounded out of his job, and as his assistant take on the bloke who was in charge of Aldershot almost until they went out of business. Deep down, though, the fans realise, as the board presumably did on appointing him, that Branfoot's self-confident brand of rousing man-management, his fetish for fitness, his enthusiasm and his track record with Reading at this end of the league were exactly what was needed to sand-blast the cobwebs of self-doubt from the minds and talents of this defeat-ridden bunch of players. With the board unable to absorb financial losses for ever. last week suggest they still have a long way to go.

The European Cup defeat by AEK has already diluted the joy which would normally accompany today's unfurling of the league championship flag before the match with Motherwell. Tommy Burns, the new Celtic manager, insisted yesterday that supporters hoping to greet a new golden age as well as an infant season will certainly see players exhibiting less selfishness, which he believes has been at the root of Scottish entertainment problems in recent years. "There appears to have been too much looking after number one and not enough concentration on helping each other as a team," said Burns. "That attitude has to be removed. Players have to be aware of their responsibilities to each other, not just themselves.

It's what we encouraged at Kilmarnock with limited resources and it was that esprit de corps which helped them to promotion and kept them in the Premier. "You take players on to the training field and show them. Then you show them again and Fresh hopes of fireworks Patrick fltonn THE promises of each new season tend to be less reliable than sweating dyna mite but there is reason to be lieve that those administrators who planned Scotland '94-'95 will avoid the embarrassment of blackened faces. The success of the three- points-per-win system in England is self-evident and its adoption north of the border in tandem with a league reconstruction that reduces the old 44-match campaign to one of 36 will surely help eliminate much of the drudgery which made last season the most prosaic in the memory of anyone under the age of 100. At least managers will be de nied the excuse that the dearth of quality which suffused the Premier Division from top to bottom is due solely to overwork.

The arrival at Rangers of Brian Laudrup and Basile Boli indicates a move on the champions' part towards Continental flair, even if their comprehen sive defeats against Sampdoria and AEK Athens during the.