England's Brave John Terry Is No Longer....
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Does this now mean opposition fans will sing 'you know what you are' to him? I seriously doubt it. There's been a witch hunt for Suarez to hound him out of English football since he burst onto the scene, Terry is fleet streets loveable rogue who bangs team mates wives without conscience and can do no wrong. I despise the media in this country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/sep/27/john-terry-racism-fa-ban
John Terry will find the stigma of racism sticks like a tick to a dog
The standing of the player once known as Teflon Terry has been considerably damaged by this judgment
- Daniel Taylor
- The Guardian, Thursday 27 September 2012 21.24 BST
The stigma of racism will stick to Chelsea's John Terry like a tick on a dog. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
The first thing that hits you between the eyes is that you don't get much for the odd bit of racial abuse, do you?
Four games, to be precise. Just one more than the usual ban for a bad tackle and red card. Or, to put it another way, half the punishment Luis Suárez received when another of the Football Association's independent commissions decided he had repeatedly called Patrice Evra "negro" during an argument when Manchester United played at Anfield last season.
Fewer, too, than the case of Ruesha Littlejohn, a Liverpool Ladies player who made some comments on her Twitter account that the FA deemed in May as "including a reference to sexual orientation". The chances are you have never heard of this case. Littlejohn, now of Glasgow City, got six games.
In Suárez's case it is because the FA ruled he had said the offending word not just once but seven times. Yet it still seems strange that the FA can decide John Terry directed a stream of vile abuse – we all know the words by now – in the direction of an opponent and that it is barely more serious than the average red-card offence, with a fine of not much more than a week's wages thrown in.
Terry, naturally, will cling to his warped belief that he is the victim, not Anton Ferdinand, and we have already witnessed from the Suárez case how inside the football bubble there will be a stampede of people reassuring him that they believe every word and it is all a witch hunt – for no other reason, very often, than because they happen to follow his football team.
Yet the truth, unmistakably, is that Terry has been fortunate. The FA's commission had the chance to impose the kind of sanction that does justice to the idea that racism is, to use Terry's own words earlier this summer, as deplorable as it gets and that football won't tolerate it. It went for leniency instead.
That is not the way Terry will see it, of course, when the FA's investigators have not been deterred by the verdict from Westminster magistrates court in July and, true, the damage will be considerable in other ways, in terms of his standing, the way he is judged and what it means for him over the rest of his career.
Men of supreme arrogance have a tendency never to admit wrongdoing but, from here, it does not matter how many people his lawyers produce to talk about what a nice guy he really is and how, again, it is all one big misunderstanding.
His reputation has suffered potentially irreparable damage with this judgment. Chelsea's captain used to be nicknamed "Teflon Terry" because of the way nothing ever stuck and every accusation of potentially dodgy behaviour – allegedly charging £10,000 for a training-ground tour, the apparent touting of his executive box at Wembley, and all the rest – was explained away as crossed wires or some innocent mistake. No more. The stigma of racism is attached to Terry like a tick on the side of a dog.
The people who want to believe he is somehow the victim may like to ponder what the mood must be like in football when an organisation as eminently sensible as Kick It Out has aligned itself to Ferdinand, its representatives even sitting with his parents in court, on the basis that it considered Terry's account flimsy in the extreme.
Terry's camp has not been short of character references, involving some of the great and good of Chelsea. José Mourinho signed. So did the bloke who supplies cars for Chelsea's players. Avram Grant, who has experienced racism and should know better, argued this week that the case should never have been brought. "Nobody thinks John Terry is a racist," he said. "The FA needs to leave it."
What Terry's sympathisers have never explained is why, inside football, it was known well before the trial began that Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Mikel John Obi and Chelsea's Kick It Out ambassador, Florent Malouda, were not among those from Stamford Bridge who had signed statements supporting their colleague.
Contrary to what Grant says, there has actually been a great sense of anger and revulsion within the game about what Terry said to Ferdinand when Chelsea played at QPR last season. Some of Terry's England colleagues have had to blank it out. At least one is understood to have confronted him.
Fitz Hall is another example – a player Terry talked about during the trial as if they were old mates, going back years. Hall was a QPR player when Terry and Ferdinand started their row. The message Hall put on Twitter on 13 July, the day of Terry's acquittal, was short and to the point: "Fucking joke."
He was far from alone. "Thanks football – you set entire country back a decade," John Amaechi, the former NBA basketball player, said. "Madness" was the word used by Anthony Gerrard, a Cardiff City player at the time.
Except it actually was not madness. If Terry said he heard Ferdinand shouting the offending words first, and that he was merely repeating them back out of surprise, who could say definitively he was wrong? It may seem unusual, far-fetched even, but a court needs proof beyond a reasonable doubt whereas the FA's disciplinary arm rules on the basis of probability.
If nothing else, that disparity gives Chelsea the get-out clause they will almost certainly take to avoid investigating Terry themselves. At a normal company, he would have been suspended as soon as the allegation surfaced. The young reserve who let off a smoke bomb at the club's training ground was. So were the security staff who accidentally damaged the Champions League trophy.
Chelsea have a strong and successful anti-racism campaign and, if they turn a blind eye now, when the football authorities are telling them Terry is guilty, it would send out completely the wrong message. As it is, a ban of only four matches has done that itself.
I was desperately hoping most media outlets would lead with the racist tag. Not because I desperately wanted him tarred with that brush, but cos I knew if they didn't it'd lead to the usual LFC moans about some media agenda.
I have no idea why anyone gives the remotest fuck.
I have no idea why anyone gives the remotest fuck.
I think you probably do. It's inconvenient when people won't shut up, sure, but when some perceive there is inequality in the way these matters are dealt with; they're likely to express it on forums.
The fact Anelka, Drogba and Malouda etc didn't sign support statements speaks volumes for Terry's claim of not being a racist. He is all that is wrong with football (along with the FA). An arrogant, rich brat that thinks he's above the law and human decency. I could tolerate Evra easier than I can this prick (pardon my profanity).
What makes you think that chrispy?
Are you sure you are a Liverpool supporter?
Why do this? I think you know where its going to go.
I'm all for challenging an opinion but suggesting that he doesn't support Liverpool because his viewpoint differs is somewhat childish imo.
They were anyway (check out how the FA described him over that "incident" with the Chelsea groundsman) but chose to ignore that because they had bigger fish to fry. I admire your detachment from the LFC-related issues involved, but I can't share it. Incidentally I very much doubt Ferguson was a mere bystander in Evra's lying - quite the contrary, would be my bet.
Constant criticism of the city, legendary player/manager and dismissing a quite clear media agenda.
Who is the childish one?
I think it's just down do a lack of perceived consistency or parity from decisions made by the FA or officials on the field. For the latter, it does irk most people more when you seem to be falling on the wrong side of such decisions. I think you also have to factor in that any fan is also naturally biased to the team they support. I don't think it's any kind of conspiracy but it is very inconsistent.
I can see where the conspiracy theories come from though. As an example, Suarez is a bit of a drama queen - we all accept that but he is getting no protection from the referee since Demento brought it up. Man U also seem to get the much better of the decisions last week - again timed just after Ferguson bemoaned a lack of decisions at Anfields from referees. Conspiracy ? Probably not but some people are good at influencing people subconsciously with certain comments - they're very good at it in fact. If I was a proper conspiracy theorist I would mention that Halsey was sat two seats away from Ferguson at a charity dinner run by the cunt a week before our game with them.
The lack of Suarez/Terry parity in both the FA decision and the media does stink a bit but, as you say, it's pointless to even give a fuck as some things won't ever change
Yeah, but this is Ryan you're talking about.
Just a feeling I get after watching some of Fergusons interviews when the subject was brought up. He always quickly wanted to move on and not discuss it, when has Ferguson ever not taken the opportunity to slate our club or one of our players? This time he's been (for him at least) quite reserved. With regards the FA again it's a feeling. He's done this quite a few times now and during the witch hunt that was Suarez's case they couldn't have failed to have come to the same conclusions that everyone else did. Personally, I think if Kenny etc had kept their mouths shut it wouldn't have been so bad but the FA decided to punish us even more. Kenny was off to a losing start before the season started when he straight away started slating the referee's.
I'm not saying that you're childish, just that your response was childish.
That's Ryan's posting style (which doesn't make it right btw) its just that when people square off with him it just usually descends into a farce with no winners.
As someone said, if he does annoy you that much, the ignore function can be of help
Gesundheit.
I agree.
It's abundantly clear to everyone on here that Ryan sits in Australia with no real understanding of the city, club, fans or the game in general a lot of the time. He has picked a team that he purports to be a fan of, but all the evidence is that he's chosen a brand that he probably wishes he could change. Oh that he would. I find his bizarre musings utterly without merit.I'm not saying that you're childish, just that your response was childish.
That's Ryan's posting style (which doesn't make it right btw) its just that when people square off with him it just usually descends into a farce with no winners.
As someone said, if he does annoy you that much, the ignore function can be of help
hahaha worst response i have ever seen
you
He's red mate. Always has been, always will be.
He's often a dick, but always a red.
And when he bothers to post meaningful stuff, it's invariably quality and worth reading. You just have to deal with the shit in between.
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