Furious Southgate hits out at charity

[Elano]

A FURIOUS Premiership manager has withdrawn his cash pledge to a nurses' charity amid accusations that players were being "blackmailed" into giving donations.

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate withdrew his financial offer to the Mayday for Nurses Hardship Fund last night, saying players were being publicly "named and shamed" if they failed to give.

He lambasted organiser Dr Noreena Hertz for publicising benefactors who contributed to the fund, which was set up to provide cash help to nurses in financial trouble by asking players to donate a day's wages.

Southgate said by naming players who had given to the fund, those who had not were ultimately being publicly shamed.

He said players did a lot for charity all year round, without publicity, and therefore did not deserve this criticism.

As a result, he had decided to withdraw his support.

advertisement"I am disgusted with the manner in which this campaign has gone about its fundraising," said Southgate.

"I think it's outrageous that the campaign's fundraising style has bordered on blackmail, with the message being basically 'give us your money or we'll publicly shame you'.

"It's a strange way for a charity to act and one that has ensured that, although I had originally intended to make a donation, I have now withdrawn that promise."

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Union, which is administering the fund, said it could not comment on the publicity around the fund, or the fact that names of benefactors had been released on the website. It said it was not responsible for either.

A spokesman said: "Although the actual level of donations received has yet to meet expectations based on initial pledges, the Mayday campaign has successfully raised a substantial sum of money, which will allow the RCN to help hundreds of nurses in financial hardship."

Dr Hertz did not respond to an email from The Northern Echo last night, but in an earlier statement, she said she was delighted there had been sufficient funds to enable nurses to start applying for grants.

She said: "Of course, only part of the monies pledged have so far been received, but that is only to be expected with the start of the campaign having coincided with the end of the football season and players only having returned to work in the past few weeks.

"I have full faith that the RCN, who is responsible for collecting and administering the funds, will be successful in collecting the remainder owed, and am confident that all the clubs and players who have pledged to back this fund will deliver."

Dr Hertz launched the fund at the end of last season with the aim of raising £1m by asking all Premiership players to donate a day's wages.

Pledges initially came in thick and fast. However, as of last night, only £200,000 had been donated.

The backlash came to a climax yesterday when a national newspaper printed a league table, naming players from each club who had donated - information that was available on the Mayday for Nurses website.

Middlesbrough FC was at the bottom, with no players donating, although it stated that Southgate had pledged his support.

Southgate said Mayday for Nurses was a worthy cause, but acknowledged there were also many others. "The players at this club support any number of local and national charities and good causes, either via financial support, giving up their own time, or both," he said. "This is often done privately, meaning they neither receive nor ask for any public gratitude or praise."

Twelve players from Newcastle United have given a day's wages to the fund, but players at Sunderland FC were not asked to donate because they were not in the Premiership at the end of last season.

A nurse from St Nicholas' Hospital, in Gosforth, Newcastle said: "Footballers get too much money, but it's up to them what they spend it on. Never mind footballers, Gordon Brown should get his hand in his pocket and give us a decent wage rise."

The Professional Footballers' Association said it had been inundated with calls, but chief executive Gordon Taylor was unavailable for comment.

[da_notorious_mack]

Can see both sides really....if the clubs let them do this...how long before every other charity starts using these strong arm tactics...its not even like they praised the players that did contribute..they used it as a method to shame those that didnt...99% of players are involved in charities and as southgate said ask for no publicity


big question is why our taxes dont cover it?

[bez]

Why dont their taxes cover it you mean?

I am only been in hospital once or twice and I have never had anything seriously wrong (god willing). I give enough of my money to the government already. How about making it statutory for footballers to pay some of their wages into a tax for nurses and doctors, because actually, out of like 100 normal people, if their is a football squad of 25 players, I think they are more likely to use and need the nurses and doctors due to injurys and medicals and stuff.

But then again if you had it my way, their would already be a wage cap of around 50 thousand a week for players in the Premiership. And I would make a statutory tax for fireman, nurses, doctors, police, ambulance and other essentials to recieve from football players, competitions and clubs.

[KURUPTION-81]

players who have signed up

Premiership Players:

Arsenal – 3 players Theo Walcott, Thierry Henry, and Justin Hoyte
Aston Villa – 2 players Steven Davis, Ashley Young
Blackburn - 23 players including David Bentley and Morten Gamst Pedersen
Bolton - 22 players including Nicky Hunt and Kevin Nolan
Celtic – 1 player Neil Lennon
Charlton – 8 players Matt Holland, Luke Young, Hermann Hreidarsson, Ben Thatcher, Darren Ambrose, Darren Bent, Marcus Bent, Scott Carson
Chelsea - 0 players, donation from club to Mayday for Nurses Hardship fund
Everton - 8 players on board including Alan Stubbs
Fulham – 28 players, the entire first team squad Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Brown, Jimmy Bullard, Philippe Christanval, Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey, Papa Bouba Diop, Simon Elliott, Ahmad Elrich, Adam Federici, Heiðar Helguson, Claus Jensen, Collins John, Zat Knight, Jan Laštuvka, Brian McBride, Robert Milsom, Vincenzo Montella, Antti Niemi, Elliot Omozusi, Ian Pearce, Mark Pembridge, Franck Queudrue, Tomasz Radzinski, Liam Rosenior, Wayne Routledge, Alexey Smertin, Moritz Volz
Liverpool - 12 players Craig Bellamy, Jamie Carragher, Peter Crouch, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Mark Gonzalez, Harry Kewell, Dirk Kuyt, Jermaine Pennant, Pepe Reina, John Arne Riise, Bolo Zenden
Man City – 6 players Michael Ball, Joey Barton, Richard Dunne, Georgios Samaras, Nicky Weaver and Micah Richards
Man Utd – 2 players Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs
Middlesborough - 0 players, manager Gareth Southgate on board
Newcastle - 12 players Titus Bramble, Celestine Babayaro, Pavel Srnicek, Nicky Butt, Stephen Carr, Damien Duff, Shay Given, Stephen Harper, James Milner, Scott Parker, Peter Ramage, Nolberto Solano
Portsmouth – 1 player David James
Rangers – 2 players Gavin Rae and Barry Ferguson
Reading – 27 players, the entire first team squad Mikkel Anderson, Alan Bennett, Andre Bikey, Oliver Bozanic, Aaron Brown, Bobby Convey, Ulises de la Cruz, Kevin Doyle, Michael Duberry, Brynjar Gunnarsson, Marcus Hahnemann, Greg Halford, John Halls, James Harper, Stephen Hunt, Ívar Ingimarsson, Seol Ki-Hyeon, Dave Kitson, Leroy Lita, Glen Little, Shane Long, Péter Máté, Graeme Murty, John Oster, Nicky Shorey, Steve Sidwell, Ibrahima Sonko
Sheffield – 23 players
Tottenham – 20 players including Paul Robinson and Jermaine Defoe
Watford – 28 players, the entire first team squad including Malky Mackay
West Ham - 26 players, the entire first team squad including Nigel Reo Coker
Wigan – 1 player Arjan de Zeeuw


Additional Supporters:
(Those whose playing days are over, and other footie type people who have also commited their cash and got our thanks.)
Steve McClaren, Aidy Boothroyd, Gareth Southgate, Terry Venables, Chris Coleman, Sir Alex Ferguson, Martin O'Neill, Sam Allardyce, Glenn Roeder, Gianluca Vialli, Freddy Shephard, Graeme le Saux, Jamie Redknapp, Andy Gray, Clive Tyldesley, Adrian Chiles, Geoff Shreeves, Tim Lovejoy, Ramon Vega, Terry Byrne, Alastair Campbell, Craig Cohon, Mohammed Al Fayed, Mike Forde, and the agents and advisors Sky Andrews, Tony Finnigan and Rob Segal.