Latest news with #Coventry-born
Daily Mirror
12-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
'I was in trouble on just £90 a week after Glazers released me at Man Utd'
ON THIS DAY: The Glazer family launched a formal bid to take control of the majority of Manchester United's assets, beginning a controversial 20-year ownership of the Red Devils Former Manchester United starlet Daniel Nardiello was one of the first casualties of the Glazer family's takeover, being released by the club before earning just £90-a-week at Blackpool. This Monday marks 20 years since Malcolm Glazer launched his formal bid to take over the Red Devils. He acquired John Magnier and J.P. McManus' 28.7 per cent stake, boosting his own share to around 57 per cent. By the end of that month, he had a whopping 76 per cent ownership of the club. And by June, the American tycoon had secured 98 per cent of shares and control of United, causing outrage among fans for having funded his purchase with loans secured against the club's assets. Since then, the Glazers have been at the helm and faced repeated backlash for the decaying of the club's infrastructure as well as the team's decline on the pitch. In February 2024, Sir Jim Ratcliffe was given complete control of football operations by the family after buying a minority stake in the club. One of the first moves made by the Glazers in June 2005 was to let go of a group of players. The released players included Coventry-born forward Nardiello, Northern Irish goalkeeper Roy Carroll, Spanish shot-stopper Ricardo, Republic of Ireland defender Paul Tierney and Gambian striker Arthur Gomez. Nardiello, who came through the academy ranks at Wolves, joined United in 1999 and quickly rose through the Under-17 and Under-19 teams to make his debut in 2000/2001 in the League Cup against Arsenal. The following season saw him mainly playing in the reserves, where he netted 12 goals before being loaned out to Swansea City for a month in October 2003. The Welsh international spent the latter half of the 2003/04 season on loan at Barnsley, scoring seven goals in 16 matches. He returned to Oakwell for the 2004/05 season on loan, adding another seven goals to his tally in 30 games. Deemed surplus to requirements by Sir Alex Ferguson and the new club hierarchy, he was released on June 30, 2005, ahead of the 2005/06 season, without playing a minute of Premier League football and having made just four appearances in all competitions. After his release, Nardiello signed a two-year contract with Barnsley in July 2005, scoring two crucial goals in their League One play-off matches that season. After two years, he rejected a new contract offer to sign for Championship rivals Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer, before rejoining Barnsley on loan in January 2008. He returned to QPR at the end of the 2007/08 season, after which he inked a two-year deal with another Championship side, Blackpool. His full debut for the Seasiders only came in January 2009 following an injury-plagued stint at the club. And it was there that he agreed to a contract clause, which meant he, along with the other Blackpool players, was only paid £90-a-week during the summer break. When asked about his bizarre wages on the Undr The Cosh podcast, Nardiello explained: "I went to Blackpool, I was on decent wages but every summer for six weeks I was being paid £90 a week. "It was just really weird. There were lads there playing in the Championship on £600-a-week and they had to save their pennies for the summer. It was like what the hell is going on. It was such a poorly run club." When quizzed on what the benefit of that was for the club, the 42-year-old replied: "They just saved on everything that club. It wasn't a Championship-run club. "You had to take your kit home every day and wash your kits, there was no heating in the training ground and the food they served was like slop, when players were turning up in Porsches and lovely cars on Championship wages." He continued: "It was such a strange club to be a part of," before being asked if he knew about the bizarre rule before signing. Nardiello replied: "I knew about the £90 quid before I signed because they told me. "I think everyone did [struggle with it]. Because you go from whatever you're used to getting on a monthly basis and then one month you're getting next to nothing and you've still got your mortgage to pay and your bills to pay." During his two-year spell at Blackpool, he was loaned out to Hartlepool United, Bury and Oldham before making a permanent move to Exeter City in 2010. Nardiello only played nine games for Blackpool, scoring one goal. He later had stints at Rotherham United, Bury, Plymouth Argyle and Bangor City before retiring in October 2017, after being let go by the Welsh Premier League team.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crossbow killer judge secured shorter sentence for youngest female terrorist
The judge who presided over crossbow killer Kyle Clifford's trial secured a shorter sentence for the UK's youngest female terrorist. The Hon Mr Justice Joel Bennathan handed former soldier Clifford, 26, a whole life order at his sentencing for the murders of his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt, her sister Hannah and her mother Carol. However, he decided not to force Clifford to face his sentencing hearing via video link after he was left paralysed from the chest down when he shot himself with a crossbow in the aftermath of the killings on July 9 last year. Despite that, it was suggested that he could have been restrained and forced to face the Cambridge Crown Court hearing through a video link. Addressing the court, Mr Justice Bennathan said: 'As to whether I would order restraints so he [Kyle Clifford] should be brought to the video room… I have declined on the basis that the idea of a man in a wheelchair being put in restraints and potentially disrupting these proceedings... is simply not appropriate or suitable. 'If the defendant lacks the courage to face today, so be it – but I'm conscious part of this morning will be people paying tribute to the three women who died, and I'm not having that disrupted by anything.' Since being called to the bar in 1985, Mr Justice Bennathan spent more than three decades largely at the criminal bar – mainly defending in trials and mounting appeals to the Court of Appeal, House of Lords then Supreme Court, Privy Council and the European Court of Human Rights. In 2019, Mr Bennathan, then a QC, successfully slashed the sentencing of the UK's youngest female terrorist after comparing her to a child grooming gang victim. Safaa Boular spurred on her sister and mother to launch a suicide bomb attack after she was arrested while trying to travel to Syria to join a terror group. Boular was just 15 when she was wooed by Naweek Hussain, 32, a Coventry-born Islamic State fighter who urged the teenager to use grenades and guns in an attack on the British Museum. Representing Boular, Mr Bennathan successfully cut the minimum term for the teenager's life sentence from 13 years to 11, telling the Court of Appeal that the teenager's age was 'central' to the case and comparing it to the Rochdale grooming trials. Barristers in the UK are obliged to take on the next cases they are available to, regardless of their personal views on any potential clients. Legal documents available online show Justice Bennatahn KC also represented Russell Bishop, the Babes in the Woods killer, as he unsuccessfully tried to block a retrial. Bishop was acquitted of the murders of nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in Brighton in 1986, following a trial the following year. Yet the killer, who died in prison aged 55 in 2022, was convicted of their murders following a retrial in December 2018. The Crown Prosecution Service applied to quash the 1987 acquittals based on new and forensic evidence which linked Bishop to the murders. Reformed double jeopardy laws enabled the retrial to take place, but in 2017, as part of his argument, Mr Bennathan tried to suggest that the 'length of time' since the first trial had occurred would justify the Court of Appeal refusing a retrial. However, Bishop went on to face trial the following year and received a life sentence with a minimum term of 36 years. In another case, Mr Bennathan failed in his attempt to downgrade a murder conviction to manslaughter for a man who strangled his 74-year-old neighbour. Patrick Curran, then 27, killed Joan Roddam at her home in Delabole, Cornwall, in 2003, when a court heard she was 'almost certainly' resisting his sexual advances. In 2021, six years on from the 2015 verdict, Mr Bennathan argued that the conviction should be substituted for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. This was on the basis that a pre-trial psychiatric report had been based on inadequate information, partly due to Curran's difficulty in engaging with psychiatrists at the time. However, Court of Appeal judges found the conviction was safe and there was no new evidence to the contrary. On Tuesday, when asked if Sir Keir Starmer condemned the judge's decision to not force Clifford to be brought into court, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: 'It will be up to the judge in the case to make a decision on when this power should and shouldn't be used in future. 'And I think our view is very much that it is the judge to decide.' The spokesman added: 'We're going to bring clarity to the law and ensure those who refuse to attend would commit a contempt of court and face additional time of up to two years in prison.' Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'Kyle Clifford is a coward for not appearing in person for his sentence.' Commenting on Clifford's refusal to appear in court, Dame Harriet Baldwin, the Conservative MP for West Worcestershire said: 'I am very disappointed that the law does not force him to do this.' Baroness Foster, a Tory peer, told GB News on Tuesday: 'Kyle Clifford's refusal to attend sentencing denies victims their moment of justice.' Richard Tice, Reform UK's deputy leader, said: 'This is cowardice by a judge who is putting the killer's interests ahead of the victims' family; shameful.' A spokesman for the Judicial Office said it did not comment on individual cases. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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