Leicester's wrangle has O'Neill fuming

THE LEICESTER City manager, Martin O'Neill, last night defied his bosses by launching another stinging attack on the club's boardroom battle.

THE LEICESTER City manager, Martin O'Neill, last night defied his bosses by launching another stinging attack on the club's boardroom battle.

The situation apparently worsened in his war of words with a boardroom faction at the club when the new plc chairman, Philip Smith, said: "If Martin O'Neill was to leave, I would have to take it as it comes." Smith last week who warned O'Neill to keep out of the club's internal politics.

For the last month, O'Neill has not written his programme notes fearing that they would be censored. But last night O'Neill was back in the programme for the Worthington Cup third round tie with Grimsby, and immediately defied Smith's directive.

O'Neill remarks included the observation of "political events driving an unyielding wedge through the club" and went on to say: "What has taken place over the last five weeks since the infamous board meeting on 10 September, has been debilitating, and despite attempts to defuse the situation, an agreeable solution seems further down the line than ever."

The row blew up in the wake of that board meeting with the former plc chief Sir Rodney Walker and the football club chairman, John Elsom, denying that they had verbally resigned from the board at the meeting.

Elsom also had his notes back in the programme, which said he will call an EGM so that shareholders can decide the final outcome of the wrangle.