A SOCCER club manager left a player off the team sheet when he gave it to the police inquiring into an assault during a friendly football game.
And now Paul Farrell has been told not to be so stupid in the future.
Officers were investigating an incident on September 1 last year when a melee broke out between players from Scholes and Newsome FC and the captain of Scholes, Christopher Churm, was punched in the face.
Michael Jowett, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday that later that month Farrell, the manager of Newsome, was spoken to and said he did not know who was responsible, but thought it might be someone called Patrick.
He provided a list of registered players and police contacted them but to no avail in their inquiries.
They were then provided with a list from the registration secretary for the league which included another player Dean Allert, not on Farrell’s list.
He was spoken to again and denied changing the list, leaving Allert off. He maintained he thought the person responsible was someone called Patrick who was playing for the club for the first time.
The court heard that Dean Allert was later charged with unlawfully wounding Mr Churm but was acquitted by a jury last week after he denied he was the player responsible for punching him.
Ian Brook, representing Farrell, said he had acted totally out of character and “in haste out of sheer stupidity.”
“He thought he was assisting a man he ultimately thought would prove to be innocent, and trying to protect the good name and reputation of Newsome Football Club.”
Farrell, 42, of Close Hill Lane, Newsome, admitted doing an act attempting to pervert the course of justice and was given a conditional discharge for 12 months.
Judge James Spencer QC told him: “You were silly, don’t do it again.”
