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Taylor slams Xavier

18/10/2005

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor has refused to give his backing to Middlesbrough defender Abel Xavier after the Portuguese player tested positive for a banned substance.

The 32-year-old Xavier has been banned by Fifa pending further investigations and could be banned for up to two years which would effectively spell the end of his career.

The former Everton and Liverpool player is due to make an announcement on his position but Taylor insists that the wealth of information available about banned substances should see every player being kept in line with regulations at all times.

"We've got an image to protect and an image for youngsters coming into the game and when you see what happens in other sports we don't want that in football," Taylor told Sky Sports.

"There's a general disapproval and that's why there's not a lot of sympathy. This is a situation which now has to be dealt with."

The hard-line chief added: "Football sometimes gets accused of being too soft. I don't think we are. We like to think the game is relatively clean. The vast majority [of cases] - hardly any at all - have been performance enhancing, but one can be one too many."

Xavier's case is being looked into by Uefa and Wada, the World Anti Doping Agency, in addition to Fifa.

The 20-cap international tested positive for an as-yet-unspecified illegal substance after his side's Uefa Cup first round second-leg clash with Greek side Xanthi.

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