NEWS:POLICE INVESTIGATING parcel bombs sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two high-profile supporters of the club said on Tuesday another suspect package had been intercepted in Northern Ireland.
Officers are still looking for whoever was responsible for sending parcel bombs to Lennon and the two high-profile supporters. The packages were designed to cause serious harm to the recipient, police said.
The latest package – believed to be a parcel bomb – was found at the National Return Letter Centre in Belfast, where mail which has not been delivered and has no return to sender address is retained by Royal Mail. It is the fifth package to be intercepted.
Strathclyde Police believe the package originally entered the postal system at around the same time as the devices that are already under investigation. Officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland recovered the package and alerted the Scotland force.
A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said the latest find would be made safe and handed over to officers in Scotland for further investigation.
Meanwhile, William Gaillard, one of Uefa’s most prominent executives, has branded the English Football Association the “weakest” in Europe and stated it should adopt the Dutch model of governance while appointing a technical director.
Gaillard, who is the chief adviser to Uefa’s president Michel Platini, was speaking before the UK parliamentary culture, media and sport committee, which is inquiring into football governance. He said: “There is no doubt that turf wars have damaged English football and the FA is probably in a weaker spot than any other FA in Europe – probably (as) the result of the overwhelming power of professional football, as expressed by the Premier League and Football League. In most other countries the professional game has a minority position.
“English professional football has been enormously successful in producing revenues and building up the game and we have to be grateful to the Premier League and Football League for that. At the same time this has not resulted in a better situation for English football in general and performances of the national team have not been outstanding.”
Gaillard believes Holland’s emphasis on developing players’ technical skills from an early age and allowing them a freedom to make mistakes could form the ideal template for English football to follow. “(It’s) an excellent grassroots model,” he said. “The FA should have a full-time technical director – that’s what exists in most other good educational models in Europe.”
Benoit Assou-Ekotto believes he will return in time for Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League visit to Manchester City on May 10th, despite a hamstring injury. The Cameroon left-back, who was forced off against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday with what Harry Redknapp described as a “tear” to the muscle, has undergone physiotherapy and has been told to steel himself for a three-week lay-off, which would virtually end his season. Tottenham would have only one match to play by then, at home to Birmingham City on the final day.
Guardian Service
