I don't think they'll be sacked, but Sky missed a trick by not replacing them for tonight's show with a couple of their female presenters.
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2010-2011 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
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I don't think they'll be sacked, but Sky missed a trick by not replacing them for tonight's show with a couple of their female presenters.
That would have been a good idea.
In the US, they'd definitely have lost their jobs over this. Who's running Sky, John McCririck? Sepp?
Either way, I think it should be unacceptable. The key point is, they accused a female lineswoman of not knowing the offside rule - at which point she proved them wrong by getting a very tricky offside call right.
I don't think that it's an excess of political correctness to call these two oafs out for being stupid. As one of the Guardian football podcasters pointed out, if Keys and Gray had joked similarly about a black linesman, or a gay linesman, they surely would have been out of their jobs posthaste.
Perhaps the media are haveing a bit of a field day with it (piranhas), but nevertheless they said something pretty offensive and ought to pay for it.
I won't quite write them off yet, but now all eyes should be fixed on Man U, because the title is theirs to lose - unless they slump to a couple losses they will shuffle limply straight into the title regardless of what Arsenal, Chelsea or Man City do.
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Are ex-Rangers players not the standard you are hoping for?
Gray and Keys have only made themselves look foolish. If it were about race they would have lost their job but sexism, ageism and fatism (?) is a slap on the wrist. If anything I thought the Karen Brady comments far more offensive, despite how much I detest her (not sexism but her business ethics.)
As an aside, Raul Miereles payed well again on the weekend. He may just be settling in for Liverpool, though questions remain as to how well he can play with Gerrard in the side. Still, if he turns out to be a good buy, I wonder how many people will remember he was bought by Hodgson?
Nothing wrong with Rangers players...perhaps if we pick up a few they will bring with them the favorable refereeing bias they are claimed to enjoy in Scotland?
I haven't read too much from Brady, other than that the comments made her "blood boil". Which, under the circumstances, seems a reasonable reaction.
Are ex-Rangers players not the standard you are hoping for?
Gray and Keys have only made themselves look foolish. If it were about race they would have lost their job but sexism, ageism and fatism (?) is a slap on the wrist. If anything I thought the Karen Brady comments far more offensive, despite how much I detest her (not sexism but her business ethics.)
Nothing wrong with Rangers players...perhaps if we pick up a few they will bring with them the favorable refereeing bias they are claimed to enjoy in Scotland?
I haven't read too much from Brady, other than that the comments made her "blood boil". Which, under the circumstances, seems a reasonable reaction.
I take it Keys's dig at her was related to what she allegedly did to Birmingham and is now allegedly doing to West Ham?
I get the impression that a number of people in football don't like her in general.
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This incident may provide a clue as to why. I imagine Sepp Blatter would recommend that tight-fitting clothing for female line judges would have distracted Keys and Gray from the offside rule discussion and prevented the whole affair from happening.
In other footballing news, you may remember our erstwhile defender Kamil Zayatte – whichever team you support, chances are he's scored an own goal in your favour when we've met in the past.
Anyway, he left the club at the end of last week after we agreed to terminate his contract. There was a (publicly) undisclosed family problem that required him to return to France, the indication seemed to be that there was a serious illness involving a close family member, and his presence was needed by his stricken relation. As such, he was allowed to leave the club and return home.
So imagine our surprise when it turned out he's just signed for Turkish strugglers Konyaspor – he's even got a shirt and a couple of fancy flags all sorted out.
Hmm... clearly that seriously ill relative got better very quickly.
On the plus side, his considerable wage is no longer our responsibility and we also took the sensible precaution of – although his contract was terminated – holding onto his playing registration, so Konyaspor will be paying us a fee for acquiring the defender's services.
For his part, Zayatte says about moving to his new club...
'Konyaspor'da, Türkiye'nin en iyi 18 takımından biri. Bizim amacımız Konyaspor'un başarılı olmasına katkıda bulunmak. En kısa sürede forma giyerek buna bende destek vermek istiyorum. Konyaspor'u Türk futbolunda adından daha fazla söz edilen kulüplerden biri haline getirmek istiyoruz.'
Pah. There are only 18 teams in the Turkish top flight anyway Kamil.
Anyway, he left the club at the end of last week after we agreed to terminate his contract. There was a (publicly) undisclosed family problem that required him to return to France, the indication seemed to be that there was a serious illness involving a close family member, and his presence was needed by his stricken relation. As such, he was allowed to leave the club and return home.
So imagine our surprise when it turned out he's just signed for Turkish strugglers Konyaspor – he's even got a shirt and a couple of fancy flags all sorted out.
Hmm... clearly that seriously ill relative got better very quickly.
On the plus side, his considerable wage is no longer our responsibility and we also took the sensible precaution of – although his contract was terminated – holding onto his playing registration, so Konyaspor will be paying us a fee for acquiring the defender's services.
For his part, Zayatte says about moving to his new club...
'Konyaspor'da, Türkiye'nin en iyi 18 takımından biri. Bizim amacımız Konyaspor'un başarılı olmasına katkıda bulunmak. En kısa sürede forma giyerek buna bende destek vermek istiyorum. Konyaspor'u Türk futbolunda adından daha fazla söz edilen kulüplerden biri haline getirmek istiyoruz.'
Pah. There are only 18 teams in the Turkish top flight anyway Kamil.
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Well, at any rate he seems to have achieved his goal of "wearing [Konyaspor's] shirt as soon as possible".
Too much time on my hands statto arithmetic:
Extrapolate up to 25 games between the current top 3 - if Chelsea 41(23) beat Man Utd 48(22) both times, it'll equate to 48-47 with Man Utd having a game in hand. Arsenal 46(23) beat Man Utd 48(24) will result in Arsenal 49, Man Utd 48, Chelsea 47 - with Arsenal still having a game in hand to go to 52.
Man Utd's two matches against Chelsea are crucial to them winning the title so they have to either win both, or one and also the match against Arsenal. For this reason as an Arsenal supporter, I am mercenary enough to be cheering on Chelsea's resurgence at the best possible time - after Arsenal's already done playing them.
Extrapolate up to 38 games between the current top 4 - assume all other matches are wins, and Man Utd and Chelsea both beat Man City - the final table will be Arsenal 91, Man Utd 87, Chelsea 86, Man City 81. Obviously it won't be this perfect - Spurs may pip Man City to 4th spot again - and any loss or draw to a lower-table team can really throw a spanner into any of these four teams' title challenge, so every game is crucial so to speak with this season being so close. Only Arsenal can afford to lose a game from here on in and still guarantee the title with 88 points - but NOT if that loss is to Man Utd who would then leapfrog them with 90 points. That's the one match both Arsenal and Man Utd *must* both win so in my mind their clash in the third last round at Ashburton Grove will be the title decider, so it should be a real cracker (will Arsenal go to pieces under the pressure again and lose 0-3? Will it be Park who'll be motm again by playing a blinder as usual against the Gunners?).
And further down the table, Liverpool's best possible result if they win *every* game from now on is 74. A CL spot is beyond reach, so Dalglish's only realistic target is to overhaul Sunderland's 8 point lead on them, which is obtainable as they have a game in hand over the Black Cats.
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Obviously if we had to pick one game as THE game, it's going to be that Arsenal-Man U match. I expected Chelsea to eventually pull themselves out of their slump, but the question is, how much will they improve? I'll be rooting for both teams against Man U of course.
I've already written of the Liverpool season, so my only hopes are to 1) avoid relegation and 2) get the team playing well again by the end of the season. Europa League football only matters in the context that it might aid in recruiting players over the summer, other than that I couldn't care less about it. That, and if we were to win it this year it would be a morale booster for the players and fans.
For his part, Zayatte says about moving to his new club...
'Konyaspor'da, Türkiye'nin en iyi 18 takımından biri. Bizim amacımız Konyaspor'un başarılı olmasına katkıda bulunmak. En kısa sürede forma giyerek buna bende destek vermek istiyorum. Konyaspor'u Türk futbolunda adından daha fazla söz edilen kulüplerden biri haline getirmek istiyoruz.'
Pah. There are only 18 teams in the Turkish top flight anyway Kamil.
Here's the translation:
Is that a reference to the Green Bay Packers recent victory? If so, you've got the wrong thread dear boy. Here's where you want to be for that sort of oddball talk.Go Cheese!
Oh, and they're no Accrington Stanley.
<shakes fist angrily>
+1
My first reaction was, "That's a woman!".
It's stuff and nonsense; how far do you have to walk before you find a group of women gassing about how useless men are at this, that, and the other? Hell, a network here has turned it into a lunchtime show. How much fuss would there be if it had been two females? For starters, it probably wouldn't be of interest to The Guardian. Learn from it, an apology to Sian Massey, and back to presenting. Ron Atkinson got a raw deal - looked like someone couldn't wait to get rid of him - and there may be something similar here; who released the off-air audio and video?
On matters closer to home, by Lord Blackadder - '...He seems a decent player, but Blackpool is not the team I would have expected Liverpool to be raiding for players, despite their good form.'
I move that Lord Blackadder be suspended following this blatant clubism.
Cheers,
OW
It will be nice when we get to the day that we can joke about these things but until there is proper equality folk better learn to hold their tongues. I don't imagine there would anybody questioning (or joking about) a male's professional ability if he decided to referee a game of netball. Or knitting. Or whatever those women get up to when they aren't washing the dishes.
By raw deal I take it you mean somebody conspired against him and deliberately left his mike on rather than the punishment the racist received.
I move that Lord Blackadder be suspended following this blatant clubism.
+1
Re the mike, I think someone made the most of it. Concerning being pushed, an apology should have sufficed - one word versus his work at West Bromwich Albion.
Cheers,
OW
As much as I hated them, Atkinson's late 70's Baggies were brilliant to watch.
This match was a real classic.
Note the booing of the black players and Atkinson's remark at the end about the 'two coloured front people'. A lot has changed over the last 30 years.
Well, it seems O'Neil has gone to West Ham
And in other news, despite Kenny 'apparently' saying yesterday Babel is going no where, it seems he IS on his way to Hoffenheim:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9371671.stm
And in other news, despite Kenny 'apparently' saying yesterday Babel is going no where, it seems he IS on his way to Hoffenheim:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9371671.stm
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