EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Keegan, Mark Lawrenson and John Hartson lead calls for PFA chief Maheta Molango to reverse his decision NOT to publish review into their conduct under former supremo Gordon Taylor as pressure grows on body
- A group of former footballers have called on the PFA to reverse their decision
- The union has refused to release an independent review into its conduct
- John Hartson, Kevin Keegan and Mark Lawrenson want that decision reversed
- New chief Maheta Molango has said that the union does not want to look back
A group of former footballers are demanding the Professional Footballers’ Association reverse their controversial decision not to publish the independent review into their conduct.
Several star names including Kevin Keegan, Mark Lawrenson, John Hartson, John Aldridge, Graeme Sharp, Dominic Matteo, Dean Saunders and Dean Windass want to see the damning report.
Sportsmail columnist Chris Sutton is also furious at the PFA’s lack of transparency, as is John Stiles, the son of 1966 World Cup hero Nobby.
A group of former footballers have called on Maheta Molango to reverse a controversial call
Mark Lawrenson (left) and John Hartson (right) are part of a group calling for a PFA U-turn
These professional players feel it is their right to read the review, given it is their union, and Sportsmail understands a letter will be sent to the PFA next week calling on chief executive Maheta Molango to perform a U-turn.
Molango had claimed that the new players’ board had voted against publication, telling him that he must not focus ‘on the past’. Yet the decision sparked accusations of a cover-up and a desire to protect certain members, some of whom were allies of former £2million-a-year supremo Gordon Taylor, who was ousted in June.
Sutton, who has campaigned tirelessly on dementia in football, was among those who criticised the call. The former Premier League title winner-turned-pundit said it ‘stinks’ and asked: ‘What are they hiding?’
The QC-led review followed a power struggle between Taylor and former chairman Ben Purkiss, and sources have said the report contains ‘incredibly damning’ detail on the old regime.
‘I have the feeling that people were just fed up with hearing the PFA talk about itself,’ Molango said after announcing they would not be publishing the report.
Molango has refused to release a review looking into conduct of the PFA under Gordon Taylor