Tommy's Wrong!

United return to the 'scene of the crime' this Saturday, that excuse for a football ground that is Ballyskeagh, the home of Lisburn Distillery. The crime in question is the false accusation by former United manager Tommy Wright against United fans for abusing the injured Andy Devlin as he lay writhing on the ground after a 50/50 tackle from United's Nathan Hanly, who was wrongly sent off by referee Steven Weatherall. Big Tam, who was treated rather kindly by United fans, we seldom called for his head (well no more than half a dozen times anyway), has now joined the list of officials (not all of them managers), who have falsely accused United fans of saying sectarian, racial or generally unfair things about them or their players.

Andy Devlin, who let's face it 'made a meal' of a hard tackle, was accorded full respect from Ballymena fans, who were to say the least disgruntled at the unfair dismissal of their player and the rantings of at least one home player. This player then complained to the referee (who heard nothing as there was nothing to hear) and he went and complained to United officials and United kit-man Bertnell Thompson was dispatched to tell us off for saying, 'nothing', but being accused of harassing the injured party. This further maligning of our good name was bad enough, but we were later told that big Tam had also accused us of abusing his player, a load of hogwash or Ballyclare nonsense. Myself and the 'Sport team don't take kindly to these false accusations, but unlike Dungannon, where we have no intention of returning to, we will be at Ballyskeagh on Saturday.

But we will be making our feelings known to big Tam and maybe inquiring where his players get their ideas of making up rubbish about United fans. I wonder what it is that cause so called fellow football folk to make up lies about us? First we had Roy McCreadie who 'falsely' accused us of calling him a 'f-n--n love-child', when in fact we were calling him a 'thieving love-child'. Then David 'the fat controller' Jeffrey accused our fans of sectarian abuse, unproven once more and we were promised an apology which we never got, no surprise there, it takes a decent man to stand up and admit he was wrong and apologise unequivocally, enough said. Then of course came the Dungannon incident, where 'fat' became 'black', when pressure was put on the referee by Dungannon officials, who now try to claim innocence. It's got so bad that I'm now scared to say 'boo' in case I get accused of something completely different, like 'love-child'.

Next week I'll be publishing a 'skit' which I've writ (I know I should say written but writ rhymes better), about the Dungannon incident, hoping that once I get it off my chest, maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to look at the incident in another light, but I very much doubt it. By the way I did say 'skit' and not that other word that sounds similar, although it might be nearer the truth. Hopefully you'll see the funny side of it, but in there somewhere there's just a grain of the truth, as they say, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction!