Send your thoughts to [email protected]
Vitriol creates an atmosphere
I don’t want to enter the racism discussion of the mail pages. There are those desperate to tie it to Brexit or that racism has never gone away (think the later is true but on a smaller scale)
My point is on fan behaviour, where do we draw the line in a stadium? When does acceptable become unacceptable? Football is passion, it’s panto. We love the heroes hate the villains. MSM journos play along with this and have their own lists and write articles accordingly.
But football passion is dying, grounds are falling silent (not just the Emirates) and I suppose the question is how do we keep the passion and lose the abuse (no answer from me).
However if we are to set bench marks of behaviour if we used the public order act 50% of home fans would have to leave the ground for abusing their OWN players, let alone the opposition. It’s a vexed question, abuse like we saw at Stamford Bridge and for that matter grounds around the PL is unacceptable (I’m not talking racist abuse, that’s a given) but where do we draw the law and what is it’s impact on match atmosphere.
P Didi
Sterling on Sunday Supplement
Just a thought – how good would it be to see Raheem Sterling invited on to Sunday Supplement to face his white, middle-class, middle-aged accusers? Don’t let the Mail and Sun and others hide behind their keyboards/false reporter names/websites anymore. Let them look him in the eye and tell him exactly what their problem is with him, or more likely, how there is no problem and how their reporting of young, successful black athletes compared to young, successful white athletes is totally acceptable and justified.
From what I can see of how Sterling has handled this situation, I have no doubt he would come away from this exchange having showcased his class, his tolerance and his incredible mental resilience while the hacks would be exposed for the sensationalist racist hypocrites they so clearly are.
Here’s hoping…
David, MUFC, Belfast
…Always love John Nicholson’s work, and wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments, almost always.
But to suggest that “Football can be a leader in society”?
Do me a favour, John.
I don’t think you really believe that any more than I do.
I am afraid this can never be the case, because as you recently rightly pointed out yourself, “they stole it from us and turned it into a greed machine”. And I am afraid we can never take it back.
Football epitomises everything wrong with society today.
It is filled to brimming, with greed, hate, dishonesty, disrespect and deception (I could go on) at every turn, right down to every claim for every throw-in.
But worst of all, as you said, normalisation is the problem.
These traits have become the norm, and seem to have either become acceptable to the masses, or (more likely) the masses seem content to ignore them, because that serves them better.
They sell it to us, and we buy it in our droves, and ignore it’s rotten core. And that, says much about us all.
If we don’t like it then we should distance ourselves from it.
But we won’t, because we like what it is on the surface, and day to day we seem able to ignore what lies beneath.
Seamus (bit heavy for a Monday, but you started it)
A wider problem
Anybody, especially some morons in this morning’s mailbox, who tries to score cred points when it comes to racism can piss right off. If these smug wankers think they can sit in their ivory towers and delude themselves that this is a ‘Chelsea problem’ and it wouldn’t happen at their club are simply part of the problem and not the solution. The recent rise in far right attitudes affects society as a whole and by extension every football club in Britain. These twats trying to turn into a club tribalism thing with their casual dismissal of millions of decent Chelsea fans are only helping to stoke the fire. Wake up and smell the coffee, this will not go away unless good people stand up and say no.
On a similar theme, congratulations to Raheem Sterling for pointing out the latent racism in most tabloid newspapers, a drum I know Football365 has been banging for a while now. When will people learn that the vast majority of newspapers in this country are owned by rich, white middle-aged men who have an agenda to peddle, usually an extreme right wing agenda; they are not the voice of the people, they do not reflect the thoughts of the people, they only want you to buy their products and vote the way they tell you. Stop thinking what the papers have to say is important, it really isn’t.
Marky Mark, Ipswich
…I am so fed up of the acceptance of the footballing world for the vitriolic tribalism.
A Spurs fan throws a banana. He claims it wasn’t a deliberately racist act. Whether that’s true or not is a somewhat moot point. A grown man threw something at another grown man because he scored a goal against ‘his team’. Is that really behaviour we want to accept in our society, racist or otherwise? Oh, he was caught up in the emotional tribalism of it all, it’s a man’s game? Oh! Well that makes it ok then.
Flash forward to the Chelsea City game. I was watching with a mate. As Sterling trotted over to collect the ball, grown men were frothing at the mouth. I pointed this out to my friend long before we were made aware of the racist under(or over)tones. My point to my friend being that this is the reason I don’t take my kids to games. I don’t even want to take the wife. How disgusting that middle-aged men can abuse someone – anyone – over a game of football! How can anyone make a case for that being ok even if not racist?
The behaviour and language in the stands at some (probably most) football grounds is simply disgusting.
Dom Littleford
…The past two days have provided football fanatics like us with situations where the love and hatred for the game will grow in equal measure. Love, for actual in-game results, where we get to see infallible giants get slain by another giant from a bygone era (apparently, although its only a mere 2 years), while yet another gets to revel in the joy of sitting at the top of the perch, however short that reign may be. And Hatred, on the other hand, for feelings akin to living in a degenerate society where we (and we all do it from time to time) fling vitriol and abuse at someone better than us for being better at it. And it is at this point that I don’t know why we keep doing this, and my hatred clouds my love for the game.
As a Liverpool fan, I have been angry with Raheem Sterling in years gone by, and have taken great pleasure in his failure to affect matches against us (e.g. when Jordan Henderson tackled him ala Ben Mee on Joe Gomez). However, it was never for the colour of his skin or how much he earns or spends. It was for the only reason that he was an extremely good player for us, and we miss seeing him a red shirt. But to see him being targeted for something other than his footballing skills makes me incredibly disappointed with us being humane.
The objective of such a long mail is just a plea to all fans – Lets enjoy the game for what it is. After all, these are the people who bring so much passion and joy to our hectic lives for the majority of the year.
With best regards
Hugo (Warsaw, LFC, I am scared of Mourinho’s shithouseries this weekend)
Oh, Dave
A couple of years ago, I think I wrote here about how Kitson was destined for punditry stardom; offering some quality, insightful thoughts into lower league football. He was fantastic.
So it’s a shame how far the ginger star has fallen. His Sterling comments make the very stupid stuff he wrote about Arsenal’s ‘hippy crack’ escapades look like Confucian philosophy in comparison.
Clearly when they give you a Mail column, they request you flush your brains out your ear first.
Tom, Walthamstow
A bargain at around £140million
Reading Daniel Storey’s ever excellent W&L this AM it occurred to me that the frankly bat-shit mental amounts we paid for van Dijk and Alisson is only surpassed by that bat-shit fact that the last time we conceded more than once in a league game was Apr21 (with two late goals away to the Baggies in a 2-2 draw which was a couple of days before we played Roma at home IIRC).
Anyway, if you can measure the success of a big money signing then the astonishing fees don’t seem to be mentioned as often as certain obvious others of late…
Cue both to have a ‘mare against Napoli; as is the Liverpool fan way of bigging up their players before a big game only for them to have stinkers!
But, still, Apr21…
Gregory Whitehead,LFC
Copa load of that!
Not sure if this will get mentioned due to the heavy dominance of premier league chat on these pages, but did anyone watch re-scheduled Copa Libertadores final between Boca Juniors and River Plate?
This match had everything! Goals, goaded celebrations, shoddy defending, red cards, a goal keeper playing as a playmaker, and a sumptuous Thunderb*stard winner off the cross bar in extra time. Watch the highlights for unadulterated footballing entertainment.
I personally was shocked by the standard of play, genuinely thinking the likes of Stoke and Crystal palace would easily win a game against these so called ‘Titans’ of South American football. I lost count of the amount of shanked clearances or poorly executed shots/crosses on show. Also, incredible that the villain in my opinion was ex Real Madrid fraudster, Fernando Gago. An experienced substitute in the second half who offered the opposite of a calming effect, culminating with an injury in extra time causing him to limp off the field and leave his team down to 9 men and chasing a game. Surely he could have battled through and hacked a few legs in the centre of the park for the last 15 mins?
Curious to hear what other mailboxers think.
Henry (Am I now a certified football hipster?) Innes
New contract curse
Crystal Palace have had a ridiculous turnover of managers since winning promotion to the Premier League all the way back in 2013. In all, Roy Hodgson is the sixth manager to take permanent charge of the Eagles, and only Alan Pardew was in situ for longer. However, if some gaffers specialise in the new manager bounce, by the same token there are some that overstay their welcome. While the rot had set in under Pardew in the Premier League in 2016, he earned a new contract on the back of taking the club to the FA Cup Final. Unfortunately, there was no “stupid dance” break clause, so the club were stuck with him.
Pardew’s tenure was marked by streaks of wins followed by long winless runs. F365, among many others, pointed out that few teams play with quite such verve and swagger as a Pardew side on top form; by the same token, few clubs look more dreadful than a Pardew side out of form, and few managers seem as clueless about how to turn their fortunes around than Chunky. He took charge in January 2015, between then and the end of the 2015-16 season the Eagles took 43% of all available points, equivalent to 49 points in a 38-game season – overall, a perfectly midtable amount.
At the time, the decision to reward a manager who has taken just 10 points from his previous 19 games with a new contract raised a few eyebrows. However, he was backed in the transfer market and made big promises ahead of the new season. What followed was 4 wins from 17 games, and Pardew receiving a P45 along with his Christmas card.
All this brings us back to Hodgson. His arrival at the club came amid incredibly dire circumstances, but before too long, Palace were playing their way to safety – at the end of the 2017-18 season, they had taken 43% of the points from34 games. As a reward for the impressive rescue mission, on the eve of this season he was rewarded with a new contract, in the hope the club would kick on. However, it’s fair to say things have not exactly gone to plan. The Eagles are currently on pace to finish on just 29 points, which is relegation form.
There are more similarities between the two managers’ sides pre- and post-contract acceptance: team selections are causing consternation among fans, as is the approach to substitutions – albeit that where Pardew would bring off defensive players to gamble on winning games (which rarely paid off), Hodgson is incredibly slow to react to the evolving game and is seen to leave it too late to make changes; an over-reliance on underperforming players matched with a lack of faith in the overall squad; the optimism that accompanied the early stages of their time in charge has gradually given way to an air of resignation; the general lack of resilience, either in defending leads or coming back from deficits; off-field distractions, which for Pardew was the club being taken over and for Hodgson has been a multitude of PR own goals by the club.
Crystal Palace have conceded the first goal in 10 of their 16 games so far this season; out of a possible 30 points, they have ultimately just recovered one point, from their draw with the Arsenal. You could argue the Gunners should be every bit as ashamed of themselves as the Eagles about this. However, Saturday’s defeat to West Ham was the first time they had lost after opening the scoring (in four games): not only are they failing to recover from setbacks, they have now squandered a dominant position.
Palace fans are used to adversity and defying everyone’s expectations (including our own); we’re used to punching above our weight with the big boys and losing to teams we should be beating; we’re used to all manner of winless runs or goalless streaks being broken against us; we’re used to managerial turnover, which is why the club has offered patience (too much patience in some cases) to managers in the hope that the stability will help the club pull through (it doesn’t). In more ruthless clubs Hodgson’s position would have been under threat before now, but the Eagles have so far put their faith in him a while longer – it’s just remarkable that for both the club’s longest-serving managers in recent times the reward of an improved contract has not been matched by improved form on the pitch. Maybe the lesson here is to let managers see out their contracts before deciding to give them a new one.
Ed Quoththeraven
Rafa’s ruin
So…. Liverpool are top of the league, maybe with their best chance to win the league in yonks!!
I decided to look at everyone’s run of fixtures in their last few games, Liverpool play Newcastle in the penultimate set of fixtures…
How glorious would it be (for me) if Rafa’s Newcastle beat Liverpool to stop them from winning the league?
Of course I’m hoping things will still be tight at the top and Chelsea will be up towards the top end of the table and in with a shout.
And that Rafa hasn’t been sacked…
Also, disgusting behavior from some of my fellow Chelsea supporters on the weekend, great from Sterling to speak up about it and to bring this to light… More players need to do this and not stay quiet because the media has a lot of power to change things in this country yet are run by racist billionaires chugging out their own agendas and vendettas.
T, CFC, London
You are the ref
Spent this morning googling trying to find the answer – alas I couldn’t – and thus I’ve turned to the bastion of footballing intellect that is the Mailbox.
I know there are a few referees who have contributed here previously, so perhaps they can confirm if the decision that befell my team on Saturday was indeed correct. Yes I’m looking for an answer, but also sharing as I’ve been playing football for 20+ years and not seen this before.
Context.
We don’t play too a high standard, I believe it’s level 12 or 13 on the EFL pyramid – for comparison – but we do take it seriously :).
We’re 3-1 up with 15 minutes to go.
One of the opposition players goes down injured and is taken to the side lines for minor treatment.
The game re-starts and within a minute we have re-gained possession and our striker lashes home a fourth.
We’re back in position for the game to re-start when the referee motions to let us know of a decision.
He informs that whilst we were in the midst of scoring the goal their injured player had returned to the field. At the same time – following some confusion – their substitute had also taken to the field. Leading to them having 12 men on the field as we scored.
Their sub told the ref that he’s taken to the field because our subs told him too and the referee decides that the correct decision is to rule the goal out, give us a free kick on the half way line – where the sub took to the field – and book the sub.
Obliviously, we were the team ‘potentially at a’ disadvantage but also as we were the scoring team were the team who were punished.
As I said, I’m sharing 1) out of interest as it’s new to me and 2) to understand if this is indeed the correct application of the rules?
We held out to win 3-1 and so were happy enough, but imagine if this had been a game changing goal?!
Thanks
Chiddingfold FC (still happy to have actually won a game)
