Are Football Managers Really This Dim?

Try as I might, I can’t let go of Foygate. It was the worst refereeing performance many of us have seen in a lifetime of watching football but the referee concerned, Chris Foy, escaped without comment let alone punishment as AVB was charged and fined and Chelsea FC were charged and fined by the FA. Not one of his fellow managers stood up for AVB and said (words to the effect of); “do you know, I think he has a point.”

Indeed the Clown in Residence at Loftus Road (Neil Warnock) stood up for Foy and chose to support the FA’s stance. So you must forgive me a snigger when last weekend Warnock himself felt the need to have a rant at the performance of a referee after QPR had a goal disallowed.  He had a point though, Sean Wright Phillips scored a valid goal but do I have sympathy? Not a jot!

It was a busy weekend for refereeing critics but I will single out Alan Pardew, Kenny Dalglish and Owen Coyle for a small amount of praise before I return to criticism.

I’ve yet to meet another Chelsea fan who doesn’t agree with Pardew that David Luiz fourth minute challenge merited a straight red card. We were lucky, Newcastle were robbed (makes a change for a decision to go our way though). Pardew’s reaction was exemplary; measured, honest and calm.

Dalglish had a little to say about a Suarez (alleged) dive and his gesture to Fulham fans but was honest enough to say that if Suarez did what he stands accused of; “I’ll have words.” Refreshing.

Owen Coyle saw possible Blues target Gary Cahill red carded for what wasn’t even a yellow card offence. No rant but a forthright, measured view afterwards and Bolton’s ensuing appeal has seen the card rescinded but that hardly returns the match (and score) to where it was (and might have been) does it?

Unlike AVB when commenting on Foy’s appalling performance, none of the above managers have yet been charged by the FA for their comments. Perhaps there really is an anti SW6 bias?

But why does all this make managers a bit dim?

Think about it. If the Loftus Road Clown had stood next to AVB over Foygate and said; “I agree, that wasn’t good enough,” or if Alan Pardew, Kenny Dalglish or Owen Coyle had said, “hang on a minute, AVB has a point,” we might have taken a step towards the FA taking the low standard of match officiating seriously.

Managers have the solution to the problem in their own hands. They must speak up for each other as well as their own clubs when the refs get it wrong (Wenger aside – he never sees anything). That goes for AVB too.

You can force change through strength in numbers and by displaying a unified voice or you continue to look a bit dim and complain only when it affects you. Take your choice!

KTBFFH

Equality In Football – Time For Some Discrimination?

Equality; it is something I believe in. Whether it be race, religion, sex, sexuality, gender identity, age, disability or any other group that has, and does, suffer the indignity and pain of discrimination; I believe that all deserve to be treated equally. 

And for those keen eyed readers who are thinking; “hang on, doesn’t he support John Terry?” my position is compatible with that support. That is because I believe that, by extension, all also deserve equal treatment before the law, meaning that there has to be a presumption of innocence until guilt is proven. Now, if JT is charged and then found guilty, it matters not how much I like him, he should have the book thrown at him – but not before; that would be a form of discrimination too.

So, what do I mean by the title of this blog? Well, I’m fed up with those who shout about discrimination but then don’t treat everyone equally themselves. I’m also (let’s be blunt here) more than a bit fed up with listening to the views of idiots – perhaps the time is right to allow me to be a little ‘idiotist’, to discriminate against idiots.

Without further ado, here is my list of people I want to actively discriminate against. I’m fed up with the way they want equality but don’t apply it and/or I’m fed up with their idiocy and the idiocy of their followers:

The Media.

What would happen if someone, let’s say someone involved in football, faced very serious allegations on a legal matter? Our media friends would, of course, treat them as innocent until proven guilty, no hounding, no pushy questions and an almost complete lack of coverage. Certainly they would never question his position as a leader at (let’s say) his London club?

That is, if your name is Harry Redknapp, who has faced allegations of fraud and has actually been charged. Or if your name is Robin van Persie who was clearly seen by millions of Sky viewers giving a nazi salute to Arsenal fans at Stamford Bridge. In the latter case the silence has been especially deafening!

However, if your name is John Terry…..

Equality anyone?

Sepp Blatter.

No, I do not for one moment believe that Sepp Blatter is racist maybe a bit sexist but not racist. Oh no, what Sepp Blatter is can be described in one word; idiot. An idiot who surrounds himself with bigger idiots who will continue to back him regardless of how many outbreaks of foot in mouth disease he starts in otherwise peaceful Switzerland.

I won’t dwell on Blatter, there is no case for the defence, he is an idiot plain and clear; we should be allowed to discriminate against him at will.

Tokyo Sexwale.

I’ll be honest, I had never heard of this chap prior to today but in less than 24 hours he has made a very strong case for inclusion on my list. Sexwale is a South African politician who also sits on FIFA’s ‘fair play’ committee.

 Today Sexwale waded into the Blatter/racism debate by criticising England for picking John Terry and allowing him to lead the national team out against Sweden.  Sexwale proves himself to be one of the bigger idiots who follow the head idiot at FIFA by his careful research which allowed him to comment on Suarez who (according to Tokyo) represents Mexico. So glad the top people at FIFA are watching the game so closely, for a moment I had mistakenly believed Suarez was Uruguayan???

Shortly after he afforded Suarez a new nationality, Sexwale, talking about racist incidents in football, described the John Terry case as the “most worrying” before slamming the decision to allow Terry to lead England, “while the indiscretion against another player of another race is still so fresh in the mind.” – That’s an indiscretion as yet unproven Mr Sexwale!

And what of Sexwale’s own ‘indescretions’?

2001: Accused of plotting to overthrow President Mbeke. Later cleared; thank God for due process and the principle of innocent until proven guilty.

2002: Denied a visa to travel to the USA who had him on their global terrorist watch list. Fortunately, thanks to due process, he could appeal and be cleared.

Sexwale’s name also appears in a United Nations report on illegal transactions under the Oil for Food Programme. He hasn’t appealed the report as being incorrect.

So, this is the man who has passed judgement on John Terry and, in an indirect way on England. This is a man who wishes to be treated equally but does not afford the same respect to others; a man who expects to be treated fairly under the law but sits as judge and jury on events thousands of miles away from his South African home.

In less than one day, Tokyo Sexwale has done more than enough to merit being on my list of people to discriminate against, qualifying by treating others unequally and for being an idiot.

Neil Warnock.

Oh dear, Neil Warnock, where do I start? Do you even need convincing he merits a place on my list?  Didn’t think so! But, just in case you haven’t heard about it, he further bolstered his CV today with more nonsensical, badly thought through drivel.

Dear old Neil believes that all black players should boycott the next round of international matches as a protest against Sepp Blatter’s statement on racism and as a way of demanding Blatter’s resignation.

What he fails to explain is why it should be left to the black players to make a stand against racism, why the white players shouldn’t also take part? Somewhere inside Warnock’s tiny mind black and white are clearly segregated and racism is an issue only black people should speak up about! Isn’t that a tad racist in itself?

It’s way past time to allow some legal discrimination against the idiotic manager of Hammersmith and Fulham’s third team.

Finally; the FA.

Let’s ignore the difference in treatment between John Terry’s alleged racist abuse and Robin van Persie’s nazi salute (recap, Terry denies racism but is being investigated while van Persie claimed it wasn’t racist to perform a nazi salute and was believed and not investigated; witnesses to Terry’s alleged offence, a handful; witnesses to van Persie’s salute, millons).

Let’s, instead, focus on the way the FA allows referees to make appalling errors without comment, to blatantly bias one team over the other without a word while immediately jumping on any manager (or other club representative) who dares comment on such poor refereeing.

Take Foygate for example, the single worst refereeing performance most who witnessed it have ever seen. From Foy; silence. From the FA (on Foy’s performance); silence. But when Andre Villas Boas questions that same poor performance he is charged. Surely if anyone brought the game into disrepute that day at Loftus Road it was Foy and the FA?

Equal treatment for all? Not on your life; the FA comfortably makes my list.

There are other idiots deserving of discrimination, there are those who treat others unequally while expecting equal treatment for themselves. Let’s make a point of saving our discrimination for this deserving group of people. Feel free to add to my list!

KTBFFH

Resolving The Chris Foy Issue

It’s been a very big week for everyone who shares our Blue persuasion, and it’s not even Friday yet!

First we had Sunday. Plenty has already been written about the events during and after the game at Loftus Road and I’m adding my little bit below. But first, don’t we need a catchy phrase ending in ‘gate’ to describe the day? Isn’t that the way these days? How about ‘Hoopgate’ or ‘Racial abuse gate’?

No, I don’t like them either. Okay, let’s try ‘Antongate’ or ‘QPRfullofshitgate’? Still not doing it?

Well, I’m going to settle on ‘Foygate’ but I’ll come back to that in a mo because Sunday’s events turned out only to be Act One. The second act came at Goodison Park last night. I couldn’t make it up to the former City of Culture (?) and couldn’t find a live feed either so had to settle for Iain Dowie on Sky Sports News. Another red card, extra time and another failure to keep a clean sheet but at least we’re through.

Act Three came this afternoon with the CPO vote and the club failing to achieve (by 14%) the margin they required to win the vote. I say win, but this has been a process with no winner. Let’s hope the club will now listen to genuine concerns instead of ignoring fans and spinning irrelevancies.

But back to Foygate.

Was it me or did the media really just let it go, ignoring the worst refereeing performance I have seen in over forty years of watching football at all levels?

As the news rolled in that AVB was to be charged for his comments, the club was to be charged for failing to control our players, John Terry is being charged for abusing someone who took two days to figure out whether it was abuse or not……and so on. The theme has been clear and consistent; whatever happened it was all Chelsea’s fault.

Christ, I’ve been waiting for a knock on the door because I once wore a Chelsea shirt visiting a mate at MacKay House on White City, I mean, inciting a riot or what!

Seriously, what I’ve really been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for is the news that the FA is to investigate Chris Foy’s performance. But no; nothing.

The FA can fine the club and fine AVB (and no one doubts they will, there is no innocent until proven guilty here), but who is policing the FA’s performance? Who fines the FA when they fail to deal with refereeing of such a poor standard most park teams would have walked off the pitch in disgust?

Wait a minute though. There is a group of people who have a louder voice than they realise and who can ‘fine’ the FA. This group of people have the ability to hit the FA in the pocket until they start to take their responsibilities seriously. I’m one of them and, if you’re reading this, you probably are too.

I’m talking about the fans, that huge army of down trodden folk without whom the game could not even exist.

What can we do? Well, here is what I suggest. We boycott ALL officially licenced FA products. That simply means not buying England shirts and other merchandise until they agree to investigate Foygate, i.e. to act as if they actually are responsible for the game in England.

It might not cost them millions but it will make the point.

If they then don’t investigate we can make the point further by producing our own range of T-shirts, branded something like; ‘Supporting England - Not The FA!’

Foygate was not just a bad day at the office for the ref it was (and I make no apology for repeating this) the single worst performance by a referee I have witnessed in over forty years of watching football at all levels.

Given the way the FA and (by their silence) the media have abdicated their responsibility, if we don’t act; who will?

I’m starting today with a stand of one, will you join me?

I SUPPORT ENGLAND – NOT THE FA!

KTBFFH