Clark calls for FA action

From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Friday 6th Oct 1995.

FOREST manager Frank Clark has called on soccer's ruling bodies to investigate the Lars Bohinen transfer to Blackburn Rovers.

Bohinen agreed a five-year deal with Rovers yesterday - subject to medical - before returning to Norway to prepare for Wednesday's international against England.

But Forest are still fuming at the loss of one of their star players for a meagre £700,000.

A clause in Bohinen's contract allowed him to leave Forest at a snip - the player reaping the dividends of any big money transfers.

Clark has asked the FA and world governing body FIFA to intervene.

He said today: "If everything Bohinen is saying is true then the FA and FIFA should take action if they think their regulations have been breached.

"If Lars knew a month ago (about Blackburn's interest) then he knew about it before I did and that cannot be right.

"I do not want to knock the deal on the head and I do not want Lars back - we are better off without him.

"But there are things to be sorted out."

The Forest boss made it plain that although he was upset at Bohinen's departure, he had no complaints with the way Blackburn had behaved. "Blackburn have acted totally honourably in every aspect," he stressed.

"I wouldn't expect any different. Ray Harford rang to say he'd heard about the clause on the grapevine and asked if it was true.

"I said it was and Blackburn have done everything absolutely correctly." To add to the controversy surrounding the deal, Rovers refuse to be drawn on reports linking Bohinen's FIFA-licensed Danish agent, Frank Mathiesen, to the banned Norwegian agent Rune Hauge.

Hauge is not allowed to act for players while his role in the George Graham 'bung' affair is under investigation.

Bohinen is quoted as saying: "If he (Mathiesen) has used Rune Hauge for advice or something, he is completely allowed to do that."

The FA have asked Rovers for clarification about the situation but Rovers chairman Rob Coar insists all negotiations have been conducted with the player and his official representative, Mathiesen.

And Rovers checked the situation out with the FA before entering into any negotiations.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.

Archive Home