Leeds United have been named as the club with the highest number of known hooligans in English football in a report by a British MP. The Yorkshire side, who have a long history of violent behaviour involving their fans, account for almost a third of the 155 fans of Premier League clubs who are currently the subject of banning and restriction orders.
The tables - published by Labour MP Jim Murphy - a Celtic fan - make interesting reading. Of the 402 supporters from the 92 English league clubs, 59 are associated with the Leeds club and 43 from second division Stoke.
Murphy claims he has merely released the figures, rather than attempting to spin them on the eve of a House of Commons debate into the new legislation proposed by British Home Secretary Jack Straw following the disturbances which accompanied England's Euro 2000 clash with Germany in Charleroi last month.
Premiership - Total 155. Leeds 59, Chelsea 22, Sunderland 18. First Division - Total 85. Man City 23, Barnsley 8, Birmingham 8. Second Division - Total 127. Stoke 43, Bristol City 21, Millwall 20. Third Division - Total 35. Swansea 8, Brighton 7, Peterborough 5.
Former England defender Tony Dorigo has signed a one-year contract at Second Division Stoke after moving on a free transfer from Derby.
Fiorentina claim they have turned down a £50 million bid for Italian Euro 2000 goalkeeper Francesco Toldo. Club chairman Vittorio Cecchi Gori would not name the interested club, but said: "The offer came at the end of last season, but I told them he was not for sale. I'm holding on to him, he's unique. You can't put a price on that sort of talent."
The 28-year-old, who started the Euro tournament as Italy's third-choice keeper, distinguished himself in the semi-final against Holland with brilliant penalty saves both during the match and in the penalty shoot-out to put the Italians into the final.
Discarded Arsenal striker Jay Bothroyd aimed a stinging parting-shot on his former club yesterday claiming they are "not interested in youth". The 18-year-old England Youth star - dismissed from Highbury last season after a bust-up with youth coach Don Howe - launched the attack after signing a £1 million deal with Coventry.
Although Arsenal lifted the FA Youth Cup last season, Bothroyd believes the trainees have little chance of upstaging the foreign stars. His attack comes as FA technical director Howard Wilkinson slammed clubs who invested in youth academies only to undermine the process by buying too many foreign players.
