70s News

Court Told of Lovers who Left Dead Baby

Lovers Stella Miller and Robert Clifford strolled from their flat hand in hand swinging their arms.

They appeared as if they did not have a care in the world, a court was told yesterday. But behind them in a cot lay the tiny battered body of Millers 20 month old son Mark covered in 88 bruises.

The couples morning stroll was to a nearby phone box to call an ambulance said Mr Martin Collins QC, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court.

Yet when ambulance men arrived at the flat Clifford greeted them with the words “ He’s dead.”

They found Mark’s chest and stomach covered in bruises and weals. The night before he added a neighbour at the flats in Greenway Road Specs, Liverpool, had heard a baby crying and Clifford shouting.

There was then a loud scream from the baby and then no more noise said Mr Collins. It was the next morning that the couple were seen strolling from the flat and seeming not to have a care in the world.

Miller,21 , and Clifford, 26, both plead not guilty to the murder of Mark.

The case before Mr Justice Kilner Brown is expected to last nine days.

County Fears Caravan Invasion

A SLIP-UP in White hall caused consternation among officials at the prospect of thousands of people being able to park caravans in their front gardens.

It has been created by the introduction of the new Local Government Act, which comes into force next April and repeals sections of other Acts.

Based on one of these sections, is part of the Surrey county council Act which gives local authorities their power to stop people parking caravans in front gardens.

Mr Edward Green, deputv clerk of leatherhead Urban Council discovered the loophole.

He said “Up until now we would give people permission to park their caravans if they were screened by trees. If they weren’t, we always said no. The effect of one caravan in a street can be very unsightly—just imagine what effect a whole street full of caravans would have.”

Now local authorities are pressing through the County Council Association for measures to close the loophole.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said it would be willing to discuss the position.

Smith Deal Called Off

by Colin Wood

“Stoke and Liverpool try to sort out League mystery over loan”

Tommy Smith will not join Stoke after all. The proposed month’s loan deal between Stoke City and Liverpool was called off in mysterious circumstances last night.

After speaking to Liverpool manager Bill Shankly from his private hospital ward last night, Stoke chief Tony Waddington said. “Having regard to all the circumstances the agreement between the two clubs has now been cancelled.” And he added: “We have decided to do this as it would not be fair to Liverpool. It was a tremendous gesture to agree in the first place to the loan.”

All day long the deal had been clouded in an atmosphere of confusion.

The tough Anfield defender signed on Tuesday to join injury-hit Stoke on a month’s loan. Yesterday afternoon Liverpool announced that the move was off because the Football League refused to accept a ‘quick release’ clause in the agreement.

Later, League secretary Alan Hardaker said in London: “The temporary transfer of Smith from Liverpool to Stoke has been completed.” And the man in the middle of it all, 28 year old Smith said: ”I am still in the dark. Of course I am still hopeful of joining Stoke and playing against Birmingham on Saturday. I shall be very disappointed if it doesn’t go through.”

The point on which the deal fell through was the question of a quick release so that Liverpool could recall the player if they so wished.

Shankly, when announcing that the deal had fallen through said: “The League wanted a provision that it would be a month before we could take our player back. We have three players injured at the moment so we could not do that.”

From League headquarters at St Annes there was a statement: “The position was that we received the transfer forms which stated a definite period of four weeks for the term of the loan with the proviso that Smith would return to Liverpool inside that period if they wanted him. The Management Committee decided they would not allow him to be loaned for a lesser period than the actual term stated.”

At Stoke, Waddington pointed to an instruction recently issued by the League to the effect that the Management Committee were aware of the practice of players returning to clubs within the period of the loan. It added that they did not prohibit this provided there was a special clause put in the agreement with the permission of the Management Committee.

And it said that in normal circumstances that permission would be granted.

Okker Wins as Disputed Calls Rattle Angry Reid

by Laurie Pignon

Ilie Nastase and Tom Okker, the two leaders in the £150,000 Commercial Union Grand Prix, and favourites for the £3,000 Dewar Cup first prize, both had straight set wins to reach the quarter finals at Nottingham University Sports Centre yesterday.

Losers are seldom happy but yesterdays were particularly disgruntled. Raz Reid, a 23 year old from South Carolina, said after he was beaten, 6-3, 6-4, by Okker.

I had to replay points which I thought I had already won. I am not inclined to jump on linesmen, the British are normally very good, but we are out there playing for money and Grand Prix points. I normally leave my tennis on the court when I come off, but not today.

The normally quiet American, who was a finalist at Billingham last week, was upset by disputed calls which occurred in both service break games.

Nastase can, as Californian Bob Kreiss discovered be very aggravating when he knows the opposition isn’t strong enough to pressurise him. His tennis is brilliant but he can’t resist the temptation to show off. After he was beaten 6-1, -6-1 Kreiss said: “Nasty was so frustrating to play against that in the end I didn’t even want to run.”

Late Blow Foils Scots

Brian Scott: Scotland 1, West Germany 1

Scotland last night gave the World Cup favourites as tough a trial as they were likely to experience before next summer’s finals

And in doing so they are added to the confidence they themselves will need in the event.

The game at Hampden was only a friendly to mark the country centenary yet the atmosphere was reminiscent of that during the historic match with Czechoslovakia and how the players responded.

Admirably led by the aggressive Bremner they played with passion and skill in good measure, never ceasing to enjoy the occasion.

The Scots got a magnificent start scoring after only six minutes.

It came from a corner by Morgan. Law got his head to the ball but his effort was blocked by Dalglish on the line, but it bounced to Holton who headed it beyond Kleff.

Wimmer sent over a low cross which caught Bremner unawares, but Hoeness was unable to control it.

But nothing could dampen the Scots mood. Their attacks continued to produce chances and excitement.

Twice, Hutchinson tested Kleff with shots, then Dalglish tried a volley which was well timed if not so well aimed.

In 35 mins Law nearly put Scotland further ahead. He rose to a Jardine cross and his header flicked the top of the bar and sailed over.

Smith quietly played his way through a nervy period. As he settled he showed some of the talented patches for which he is known.

He opened the Germans with long passes and bemused them with the short ones.

Law was in similar form, and once he flashed over a cross which Dalglish headed narrowly past. The Manchester city maestro lost a boot, but played on regardless.

In the 78th minute Bremner missed a penalty, and Germany equalised through Hoeness in the 84th.

Clough Gets the All-Clear

by Brian Scovell

“This is a triumph for commonsense…and the game will need commonsense in the few dark, dirty months ahead”

Brian Clough won his case before an FA court yesterday. He was cleared of bringing the game into disrepute for criticising the FA’s suspended fine of £3.000 on Leeds United.

As he gave a Press conference only six feet from where League president Len Shipman, secretary Alan Hardaker, and former FA secretary Denis Follows were holding a meeting. Clough said “This is a triumph for common sense… and the game will need commonsense in the few dark, dirty months ahead.”

The charge arose from an article Clough wrote in a Sunday newspaper in which he said the men who ran football had befuddled minds and were guilty of ‘woolly thinking .‘

An FA councillor took exception to his views and the Disciplinary Committee asked him to appear to answer a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

“’I didn’t bring the game into disrepute at all. We had a great exchange of views with the five honest men who were in there” Clough said after the hearing.

“It was a superb discussion. I listened to them and they listened to me. If we had had that kind of talk in the last six months at Derby Peter Taylor and I would still be there.”

“’It was a triumph for free speech in the game. I was not surprised at the result of the case. It was an important principle with me and I wouldn’t back down. There have been things that have brought the name into disrepute but what I said on that occasion was not one of them.’ I shall carry on as I have always done saying what I think. Managers, chairmen and other people in the game should be allowed to have their say.”

Clough said that during the 70-minute hearing, he was congratulated for having such a fine disciplinary record in his nine years of management. Undoubtedly that weighs more with the commission than any reservations they may have had about his big mouth.

Yesterday’s verdict is one of the most progressive decisions ever taken by the FA. It means they are at last willing to accept that people in the game should be able to express honestly held opinions and not be punished for them.

For too long: English football has stifled outspoken opinions and anyone who steps outside the narrow confines is looked on the way Russians view dissidents.

Referees, for example, are supposed to be seen but not heard and their views are rarely expressed. Clough’s acquittal yesterday should lead to more honesty and straight talking. As he said recently, “Of course I am a man who holds opinions and uses his platforms to express them. I may not be right every time but I have stimulated the thinking of people in this country. If I take stick constantly, then let me shovel a bit out too. I want to blow this ‘disrepute’ business sky high.”

He did just that at Lancaster Gate yesterday after noon.

House Scheme Falls Down

by Daily Mail Reporter

Cost explosion sends ‘cheap homes’ up 60%

Soaring costs are wrecking a scheme for council tenants to buy new homes at rock bottom prices with 100% mortgages.

Earlier this year tenants as Bodmin, Cornwall, were told that semi=-detached houses were to be built by a Torquay firm, could be theirs for £3,350.

But now the shock – prices will be at least £5,250 for the first 20 homes , and probably a great deal more for the other 42 planned.

When the idea was first proposed the council agreed to sell the plots to the builder at only £70 each. Twenty applicants quickly signed contracts. But these contained escalation clauses.

Now Mr Wilfrid Broomfield, 67, who controls the building company – Statham – with his wife, has announced a massive price increase with only the foundations for the first three houses laid.

He said “The way costs have gone in the last few months, if we were to sell now at even £3,750 we would be losing at least £1000 on each of these 20 houses. Unless the people who want to buy can go ahead at my new price, then I can’t build at all. And there is no doubt that the remaining 42 would have to be a great deal more.

Mr Ivor Whitling, Bodmin Town Clerk, said ” The whole scheme was designed to allow people to buy houses who could otherwise not afford it.”

“Where this now puts council tenants who would have had to have had 100% mortgages on the original price, I just don’t know. Obviously most of them just can’t afford to go on and those council houses which we had hoped to be able to let as a result to people on our long list will just remain occupied.”

Agony for England

by Jeff Powell: England 0, Italy 1

After that Polish nightmare, Ramsay’s men are destroyed by the cunning skill of Italy

Sir Alf Ramsey’s England woke from their Polish nightmare last night only to find themselves being suffocated by the blanket of Italy’s infamous defence

Not even the injection of Peter Osgood’s Wembley crowd boosting skills could overcome England’s now traditional inability to break down the claustrophobia marking systems they encounter almost everywhere in the world

After a few frantic early moments in the Italian penalty area Ramsay was once again reaping the bitter harvest of this failure to encourage the development of winners in English football

As the game wore on it became increasingly clear that even had England qualified for the finals next summer they would have found recapturing the World Cup and a near impossibility without men to create width to their attack playing an international match which was anything but a friendly was a perfect world class test for what probably was the best team Ramsay could have selected on the night.

The young contenders for places had proved in an under 23 international the night before only that they would have been easy meat for a team as cynical and cunning as Italy

The crowd of 88,000 were for the first half at least left clutching the hopes at the half chances England let slip.

Often the Italians explored their full repertoire of minor infringements to protect the recently unbeatable Dino Zoff in their goal.

But mostly Osgood, Channon and Clark could not shake off the cloying attentions of their personal shadows.

Channon was pulled back by the shirt by Fachetti as his shot registered England’s first minute first attack.

And for all their breathless activity England were to be a long time to create a chance as good as the one Rivera presented Chinaglia on the quarter hour. Then Shilton was required to save the Lazio’s centre forward’s shot at the foot of the post.

Zoff surpassed Shilton’s feet with a leap to touch round Curries unhampered drive moments later.

But the frustration England were enduring as they tried to play their way out of what seemed like a crowded telephone kiosk on the edge of the Italian penalty area, was demonstrated by Osgood’s lunch at Bellugi.

England finished the first half with Bell and then Currie hitting cross shots which somehow skidded past the far post. And they resumed their thankless offensive with Channon lunging in to turn Curries low cross just wide.

England were then in fearful danger of conceding the lead to a breakaway, just as they had against Poland. Riva stretched Shilton to the limit with a clubbing left foot drive which England’s goalkeeper just edged out for a corner.

The Italian fans, who had reciprocated in the unseemly booing of national anthems at the start, then had more reason to jeer as McFarland wrestled Riva to the ground in the manner of Jackie Pallo to prevent another menacing breakaway.

England were again being afforded magnificent encouragement by the Wembley crowd and Ramsey gave them more to shout about when he shook off his inflexibility in the use of substitutes and sent on Hector in place of Clark for the last 20 minutes.

Hector’s substitution was made while Currie was waiting to take a corner conceded by Zoff’s fingertips from a shot by Hughes.

When the flag kick came Hughes was again on hand for a shot this time literally inches wide.

Noisy MP’s Main Threat to Oil

From Andrew McEwan in Strasburg

The main threat to Europe’s oil comes neither from the Arab producers nor opinionated members of the Dutch cabinet but from the loud- voiced MP’s of all Common Market countries.

The became clear yesterday following the European Parliaments 1.30 a.m resolution calling for ‘economic counter-measures’ against Arabs who are boycotting Holland.

The strong anti-Arab statement contrasted sharply with the conciliatory statement the Council of Ministers made last Tuesday in a bid to appease the Arabs.

If things were as they appear to be the prospect of economic sanctions would have delighted the Israelis – and horrified British Conservatives, since Britain has most to lose.

But both sides reacted cautiously. British, French and Israeli interests are much less far apart than generally realised.

The Council’s pro-Arab statement was a cover for a very different policy, details of which are being kept quiet for fear of upsetting the whole delicate artifice.

The plan is to ensure Holland’s oil supplies discreetly so as to not arouse the Arabs anger.

But the MP’s at Strasburg, either ignorant of the strategy or willing to upset it, made more and more inflammatory statements.

New moves on power

New peace moves will made today to end the miners’ and power engineers’ pay rows as Britain enters Day Two of a State of Emergency. Coal Board chiefs will put a three-point offer to union leaders of 270,000 miners this morning .

1. Output bonuses of up to 3 1/3% on work now pay later basis.

2. A threshold agree ment linked to the retail prices index.

3. A reshuffle of the current £44 million offer to give a bigger benefit to the lower paid.

Leaders of 18,000 power engineers who are banning out-of-hours repairs to back their demand for higher payments, are talking with the Electricity Council to explore ways of securing a vetoed agreement giving higher overtime pay inside the rules of Stage Three. The outcome of the talks will be considered at a formal meeting between the two sides next Tuesday.

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