SORRY NOT THE HARDEST WORD (ON THIS OCCASION)

Last updated : 21 December 2006 By Ed

But will it be enough to get out of an FA charge?

"In my country we would call him an 'intelligent' player. Here, you are more critical. I have been in this country for three years now, I am influenced by your culture. It is a culture I admire. So, when a player chases a penalty, he is not the intelligent player I would have called him a few years ago. If I want to be polite, I would call him a dangerous kind of opponent. You cannot trust him and I was not happy. I think he felt a bit embarrassed because after that he behaved very well."

"I said Andy Johnson is a great player and I never used aggressive words like some managers did against my players in previous seasons, or like some others said recently about him and Ronaldo. I never used the word 'cheat'.

"After seeing it again on the video, Mr Halsey did wonderful work and both decisions for penalties [Everton were later awarded one] were correct. Did Andy Johnson try to avoid a collision with my goalkeeper? It seems now the answer to that is yes so Everton, his manager and he deserve my apologies."

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