Disturbing piece in today's Ronnie saying the Home Office are now investigating Nobby's Greek passport. The Greeks are saying one of his parents has to be Greek, they don't consider lineage to grandparents eligible. And Nobby's agent is saying he really didn't know what was going on when Nobby applied. Just what we need.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

Answers

Yep, just posted this on the expired(!) Greek Nobby thread. Here's the piece, the bit in bold is particularly worrying...
Newcastle's star player Nobby Solano is under investigation by the Home Office over his Greek passport. It was revealed yesterday that Solano holds a Greek passport which he insisted he was entitled to because of a grandparent of that nationality. But now it is claimed that Solano has no right to hold Greek papers because only a parent, and not a grandparent, qualifies anyone for that country's passport. The repercussions, should it be proved that Solano doesn't qualify to play for United under EU laws, would be catastrophic to the club. Shocked Newcastle officials were launching their own investigation today and seeking urgent talks with Solano's agent Horacio Lorda and the player himself. Ironically Lorda is already in talks with United - over a new improved contract for Solano! United insist that Solano holds a current, up-to-date Peruvian passport as well as a Greek one. But the work permit Newcastle got from the Department of Employment when Nobby first joined them in June of 1998 has since run out - and if there is a need for him to apply for another he would certainly miss games. Solano would have to leave the country while an application was being processed. He could just fly over to Dublin instead of going home to Peru and a work permit could be rushed through in seven days, but that would still mean him being unavailable for a short while. It's yet another blow to manager Bobby Robson, who has been beset by an array of top players not being available to him. Greek consulate officials in London have confirmed that if Solano had applied for a Greek passport in this country he would not have been granted one. "Grandparents do not play a role - you have to have a direct parent who is Greek to qualify," said a consular official. Lorda, the European representative for Solano's agents, first set the passport application in progress in Peru more than four years ago while Nobby was still a Sporting Cristal player. "Some people approached Nolberto and said they would examine his papers and take care of it," said Lorda. "When he arrived in England he lost contact with those people because he'd played in Argentina for Boca Juniors for almost a year. But then one day they called him and said he could get a passport. Myself, I don't know who they were." When Solano first joined United for £3 million he came in only on his Peruvian passport and played with a work permit. But that was allowed to run out when he acquired Greek papers as well and qualified through the EU. To get a new work permit, should one be eventually required, Solano would have to have played in 75 per cent of Peru's internationals - a target United believe he'd still make despite his recent decision to stop playing for his country because of the travelling involved. How long any Home Office investigation could take is unknown, of course, and in the meantime United can continue to play Solano but the worry remains, which is why United, who were keeping silent on the subject today, are launching their own investigation to try to head off any impending trouble. Football is beset by similar problems and PFA boss Gordon Taylor has demanded a thorough investigation and even a penalty of points deducted for the offence to encourage clubs to be more diligent in checks. It is not being suggested that any specific individual is deliberately trying to get round EU problems through agents discovering European roots but nevertheless it's concerning virtually every club in the country. For example Christian Bassedas, Daniel Cordone and Pablo Bonvin all have Italian passports at Newcastle and Diego Gavilan carries Spanish documentation. Only Chilean Clarence Acuna came to England on a work permit. At Sunderland, South Americans Emerson Thome and Julio Arca are the same and virtually every Premiership club has players of dual nationality.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

If it tranpires his Greek passport is a load of tosh then he'll have to get a work permit so he'll miss a couple of games while the application goes through. However, he will have to keep playing for his country to satisfy the terms of the work permit, won't he?

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

Thats if they dont refuse it because of fraud.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

What the feck have the Daily Mail got against the toon?

Is it they are frightened of our potential to be the number 1 club?

Did they do this so Nobby would have to play international Football to keep up his credits?

Would they do this if he played for Arsenal, Chelsea or Newton Heath?

Perhaps we should form a coalition with the Liverpool fans, they stop reading the Daily Mail, NOTW with us, we stop reading the Sun with them.

Then perhaps both clubs would be advertised in the media as more glamourous and bigger football clubs than Arsenal and Chewsea etc.

They screws would be forced to be more fair and accurate in their reporting.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

That will never happen. :-(

It has crossed my cynical mind that this story was published on purpose to stir up trouble with the Geordie upstarts who are currently threatening(?)the league position of the 'glamour' clubs. Not that I'm paranoid or anything ;-)

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

SCAREMONGERING.

IF it's a dodgy passport and i suspect that it isn't, Nol's done NOTHING wrong. The Greek's have by issuing the bloody thing in the first place. Besides, legally you can't give someone a passport and then take it off them saying the rules have changed. It's a press thing to disrupt us before the Chelsea match. If anyone ever needed proof. Here it is.....

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

I'd like to agree with you Minster. But if his application paperwork was incorrect, then he could have it withdrawn. However, I think it's all bollox, just to deflect the sh!t from Mandy Peterson set up by Boney Blurr.

-- Anonymous, January 27, 2001

Nobby is a Geordie. Who do the English and/or Europeans think they are?

I suggest we form a 50000-strong cordon of fans around Nobby and invite the Home (whose bliddy home?) Office to come and get him.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2001

I think we should press for an independent Geordie nation within the EU and give passports out to any decent footballer around the world that we come across.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2001