Wigan chairman Dave Whelan says Callum McManaman's challenge on Newcastle defender Massadio Haidara was not reckless.
www.bbc.co.uk
When I broke my leg in the cup final it was exactly the same type of tackle," he said."We both went for the ball. It brought back memories. It ruined my career.
I am not going to criticise Norman Deeley. "These things happen in football. He came over the ball but he didn't do it with the aim of breaking my leg."
Hmm, "exactly the same kind of tackle".. Studs up on the knee? it's nothing like that in the footage, i can hardly see deeley's foot off the ground.
Auto-biography
admits he was intent on intimidating Deeley from the off, and “After about twenty minutes I got him a tackle and I really hurt him. He was getting away from me, so I just clogged him, perhaps a little unfairly but not by the standards of the day. ‘He’s finished for the rest of the game, he won’t bother me now,’ I thought.
“In the 42nd minute a 50:50 ball came in between me and Norman Deeley. I thought he would still be trying to get there ahead of me, even after the crunch I’d just given him. He was that type of player. So I set off, determined to win the ball.
“And I did. I got there seconds before Deeley. But that was when
I realised he had no intention at all of racing me for that ball. He was going for me. As I was running I heard a loud crack and felt my knee suddenly burn with pain. ……I was in agony and I knew I was out of the game.
Norman Deeley had got me good and proper."
on top of lying about the tackle and inconsistently deciding it was nothing vs a deliberate act, he also admits to setting out to hurt deeley himself. what a victim.
