NIALL QUINN has launched a furious attack on Sunderland supporters who watch the club’s games via an illegal broadcast in a pub rather than attending the Stadium of Light.

The Premier League have always campaigned against such broadcasts, which generally involve the public airing of an overseas sports channel.

However, an advocate of the European Court of Justice delivered a legal opinion this week that suggested they could soon be made legal.

That would pave the way for pubs to legally show live football at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, a development Quinn feels could seriously harm attendances at Sunderland’s home games.

“Contrary to the opinion of the Advocate General, the illegal showing of Saturday 3pm fixtures involving Sunderland has an extremely detrimental effect on our attendances at the Stadium of Light,” said the Black Cats chairman.

“I can point to the evidence uncovered by an agency who covertly visited pubs and clubs in our catchment area and witnessed thousands watching the illegal broadcasts.

“My belief is a significant number of these people are taking are taking the easy option of spending their money in the pub watching their team as opposed to supporting their team and helping create a better atmosphere at the stadium.

“Our attendances are down for a couple of reasons and the economic uncertainty right now is a factor. I would never criticise anyone who doesn’t come to the stadium because of financial constraints, but I despise those who spend far more than the price of a ticket watching some overseas commentator describing the action at the nearby Stadium of Light.”

IT would seem the touchline has seen the last of former Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate.

Since losing his job at the Riverside Stadium in October 2009, Southgate has been operating in media circles until the right job came along.

He has been linked with Brighton, Crystal Palace and Swansea City, but it would seem he has turned his back on management for good.

The former Middlesbrough captain’s new position as the Football Association’s head of elite development will see him act as a liaison between the FA and Premier League and Football League clubs, whose players feature in junior England sides.

It is Southgate’s first step in to such an administrator’s role, and sets him on a path that has taken the likes of Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer to senior positions within FIFA.

It is a smart move by the FA, given that Southgate is one of the English game’s more intelligent thinkers.

He might continue as a pundit with ITV during his initial 18-month period of employment, but as an effective worker, this could be a bold first move into the murky world of football politics.

If the FA are wanting to build bridges with FIFA and UEFA following the unsavoury mess that surrounded the failed 2018 World Cup bid, Southgate could be the man to raise the profile of the English game within world football’s corridors of power.

AT least, in his new position, Southgate will not have to get too involved with a group of people that always frustrated him – agents.

Andy Carroll’s £35m transfer from Newcastle United to Liverpool this week will, hopefully, be to the benefit of both clubs. They are, though, not the only ones likely to reap the rewards.

The record-breaking deal will further complicate Caroll’s former agent’s arbitration case over claims for money allegedly owed to him.

Later this month, there will be a FA tribunal hearing that will decide how much Peter Harrison should be entitled to from the five-year contract Carroll signed with Newcastle last year.

Harrison had represented the England international from the age of 16 and claims his contract runs to March, despite Carroll having effectively been represented by Mark Curtis in the last 12 months.

Harrison is expected to contest the way Curtis has allegedly taken away one of his clients in the courts, once his case with the FA has been sorted out.

It has been suggested that Carroll’s lawyers contacted Harrison’s advisers before Carroll’s Liverpool move went through with a settlement offer, which was turned down. At stake, are the substantial agent’s fees resulting from the £35m transfer.