Boston Gate

A 'cheat's charter'?

In RP39 Lincolnshire-based Alun Thomas explored the dodgy soccer saga known as 'Bostongate'. Here he updates us:

Bostongate rumbles on, resembling a soap opera more by the day, but with one major difference - soap fans believe what's happening in the storyline, whereas events at York Street continue to beggar belief.

The latest plot concerns regulars Steve Evans (manager, suspended) and Neil Thompson (caretaker manager), with a player for once getting a leading role. Things came to a head the day after the win over a pre-Flynn Swansea lifted the Pilgrims to their all-time highest league placing - 91st. Bearing in mind their four-point penalty before a ball was even kicked, this represented considerable progress. However, the following day Thompson resigned, claiming his decision had nothing to do with the playing side, but that his position had become 'untenable'. This was presumably a reference to Evans, waiting in the wings until his court case for breaches of FA rules is heard in November.

Thompson, who walked away from his previous job at Scarborough when the going got tough, must have been as surprised as anybody when, the following day, Boston chairman Des Wood agreed a six-figure settlement on Evans' contract, with the latter severing all connections with the club. Thompson reconsidered and was promptly reinstated in time for defeat in the next game at Carlisle.

'It's an amicable parting', Evans told The Non-League Paper. Six figures - sounds fairly amicable to me! He now plans to take 'a long holiday' in the Bahamas (as you do when you're out of work with an awkward court case looming). You can't deny the bloke's got style. Evans also has 'no doubt' that another managerial opportunity will present itself 'in the near future'. Indeed, the Scot has already been offered the job at St.Mirren, but the smart money is on him taking over at nearby Posh some time soon. 

Barry Fry's tenure is only secure as long as present Posh owner Peter Boizot is in situ, and he is currently locked in takeover talks so complex they make the Guterman-Griffiths deal look like one done via a nod and a wink over a Sunday pint. The Peterborough situation is a saga on its own, but briefly: Boizot, who founded, built up, and sold the Pizza Express chain, is a member of the old school who refuses to sanction shirt sponsorship (thus denying the club thousands of pounds) and is, on his own admittance, more passionate about hockey than football! Boizot is on record as saying that Fry's job is safe as long as he (Boizot) is there, so Posh fans are praying that won't be for much longer. However, of the five consortia in the frame to buy the club, the most likely has already missed a mere nine deadlines to complete. As Richard Littlejohn (with whom I went to school, incidentally) would say, you couldn't make it up. 

Back to Boston. Last season's top scorer and Conference Player of the Year, Daryl Clare, has been absent for weeks following a bust-up with Thompson. The latter alleges Clare was 'disrespectful' to the other players by refusing to be a substitute against Oxford after returning from injury. Clare, an Irish under-21 international, denies this and cites 'a clash of strong personalities' as his reason for walking out.

Boston sources have told The Non-League Paper that last season's dressing room camaraderie has been replaced by an air of gloom following a series of player bust-ups, while general manager John Blackwell added: 'It's very uncomfortable to work here at the moment'. The York Street faithful are divided into three factions: those who want Evans back; those who think Thompson is the answer; and those who want a new man altogether, possibly Mr Fry if he is not shunted upstairs after the takeover (insert your own 'Fry-Up' joke here). 

The euphoria the Boston fans experienced after the match at Hayes last May, when promotion to the Nationwide was clinched, must seem like a distant memory now as their club lurches deeper into farce. They'll never know just what the club could have achieved with Evans at the helm, money in the bank, a settled squad and a united dressing room. Of the many aspects of this sorry affair, that's the saddest.