New junior league chief: 'I'm sure some fans still have an axe to grind'

FORMER FOOTBALL CLUB OWNER DEFENDS TAKING ON NEW ROLE IN YOUTH FOOTBALL

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

A CONTROVERSIAL former football club owner has defended taking on a new role in an East Midlands junior football league, saying some fans still have an “axe to grind.”

Notts County went through a turbulent period under Mr Hardy’s ownership, culminating in relegation from the English Football League for the first time in its history, and he put the club up for sale hours after accidentally tweeting a picture of a penis.

Mr Hardy left Meadow Lane behind in 2019 and said at the time that he would be focusing his attention back on the corporate world.

Yet the former owner has now taken on a new role at the Young Elizabethan League (YEL), one of the biggest youth football leagues in the country.

The league helps provide youth football for over 1,500 teams across the East Midlands, including for many clubs in Derby and Derbyshire, and Mr Hardy will now be serving as the chairman of the YEL.

Suggestions have been made online that a petition will be set up against Mr Hardy taking on the YEL job, with concerns being raised in particular about the tweeting incident.