English Panel held on 14 December 1999
in London
SUMMARY OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE
REVIEW PANEL
PANEL MEMBERS
Allan Mullery—Independent expert;
Denis Smith—Independent expert;
Mike Walker—Independent expert;
John Young—Football Association;
John Bramall—Professional Footballers Association;
Andy Williamson—Football League.
Application by Chester City Football Club
for a work permit for Angus Eve
Recommendation
The Panel considered further written evidence
submitted by the Club and also took oral evidence from a Club
Director, David Evans. The Panel also watched a five minute video
of the player competing in Club and International games.
The Panel acknowledged that the player would
have qualified automatically had he not suffered a knee injury
requiring surgery which forced him to miss Trinidad's only two
competitive fixtures in the previous two years. Because of Chester's
current league position, 92nd out of 92 professional Clubs, there
were misgivings as to whether he was of the highest calibre and
capable of making a significant contribution to the English game.
In particular, the Panel wondered why another bigger Club had
not signed him earlier and would he simply be displacing a young
developing player. They were interested in how the Club had found
him, what they thought his ability level was and what impact,
if any, signing the player would have upon their well established
youth development programme.
David Evans presented a short video of the player
demonstrating the level he had competed at and the calibre of
fellow players. He cited Dwight Yorke, Shaka Hislop (both Premiership
level) and Stern John (Dvision 1) as players who were in the same
International side as captained by Eve. Mr Evans made a short
statement putting the Club's current position into context. The
Club had previously been in receivership until the summer and
the Directors had only taken over the Club and received the keys
some two weeks before the season started. This had left them with
very little time to assess and sign additional, quality players
to improve the squad. He accepted that they had not made an effective
presentation of their application to the previous Panel but cited
three reasons as to why they felt Angus Eve merited a work permit.
First, he was a quality attacking midfield player
having played 81 internationals, scoring 39 goals and had been
voted Trinidadian player of the year. Second, the Club had a well
established youth policy and signing Angus Eve was seen as helping
those developing players to become even better when playing alongside
someone of his quality. Third, the signing would help the Club
in its efforts to become a genuine community based Club and encourage
players from a diverse background into the game. This was vital
when competing against other local Clubs from Manchester and Liverpool.
The Panel asked Mr Evans whether they viewed
Eve as comparable to Yorke, Hislop and other Trinidadian players.
He said that in time he hoped he would be but at present that
was difficult to judge as he had not played in the English game,
but they were of the opinion that he was a quality player. The
Panel also asked why Eve had not been signed by a bigger Club.
Mr Evans replied that he felt that Chester had got in before other
Clubs had seen his talent but he was aware that the player had
interested other League Clubs. He also confirmed that the player
had been drawn to their attention by an Agent and that no transfer
fee was involved. There was a brief discussion regarding the standard
of football in Trinidad, the competitive nature of the International
games played and what equivalent level the USA indoor league,
where Eve had played, was in comparison to Division 3 that Chester
play in.
Mr Evans confirmed that Eve had been a full
International since 1993 and that the contract offered was until
June 2001. He emphasised that Eve had played in every International
game since 1993 except for the period that he had been injured,
he was captaining the national side and they had confirmed their
view of the player during a two week trial session earlier this
year.
Following Mr Evan's evidence, the Panel then
discussed at length the issues raised and whether the player was
genuinely of a sufficient calibre to make it in the English game.
In summary, there were doubts about whether he would make a long
term career in England but balanced against that was the fact
that the Club were bottom of the Football League and he would
make a genuine contribution to the game because he was better
than the current first team players at Chester. The view was expressed
that if he was good enough some other Club would have snapped
him up by now but viewed against the criteria set for the Panel
the evidence presented merited recommending that a work permit
be issued for him.
The PFA and the FA were firmly against the application
saying that in their opinion he would not make a significant contribution
to the game and there were doubts over the level of his ability.
The Football League and all three of the independent experts supported
the application citing that the player was an established international,
he would have qualified automatically had he not been injured
last year and that he would make a significant contribution to
the game, albeit only at Chester.
By a split decision of four votes to two, the
Panel recommended that the appeal be allowed and a work permit
issued to Chester City in respect of Angus Eve.
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