Ian Ladyman in The Mail indicating that there was probably no racist chanting and the (over)reaction to the allegation was harmful, not only to Tottenham (although the allegation and the hysterical reporting has done terrible harm). I wonder how widely this sensible opinion will be voiced...? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7835429/IAN-LADYMAN-Antonio-Rudiger-wrong-Knee-jerk-reactions-help-nobody.html
It's sensible to a point, but I think he goes too far, probably because that's a requirement of working for that rag. Neville's criticism was correct, in my opinion. One incident doesn't make much of a difference to what he said. Sky's overly defensive reaction was quite telling, too. Rudiger may have been mistaken. I hope that he was and that we won't see any racism at Spurs games. There's a rise in incidents at football matches, though. Racists feel emboldened by something at the moment. Why is that, exactly? It's debatable, but I'm inclined to agree with Neville.
I wonder what that could be? Potentially throwing our economy into turmoil is a small price to pay for having licence to vent your spleen at those bloody foreigners.
Putting aside the Mail's well earned reputation, I think that the article's first concern is to avoid the angry lynch mob mentality, which is right in this instance. I heard suggestions of a ground closure from some loonies in the media...for one nutter allegedly making racist chants. That's just ****ing nuts. The press and tv just want to sell product. I'm always wary of involving politicians too greatly in any issue but particularly sport and law and order. The bending of the intent of the Taylor Report is a good example of where these things end up when politicians get involved. They get mangled and you end up with responses based upon the need for good press and nothing else. A bit of common sense is required and not freaking out at an unsubstantiated allegation. Better to wait to see what has actually happened and that the clubs deal with it by banning orders - preferably lifetime ones. If there's the sort of mass incidents that have regularly happend at certain clubs and they don't stop...then there might be grounds for looking at the existing sanctions.
Total bollocks. The players are now reporting it more with the knowledge that it is more likely to be investigated and acted on.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day...no matter that The Mail's clock stopped when Thatcher was still in office.
As is often the case football polarises the problems in society. Heightened race based tensions caused by both brexit and terrorism within society generally mean that some of these people invariably turn up at football matches. How can football clubs stop this from happening, simple answer is that they cannot, but what it can do is take all allegations seriously as I believe Spurs have in this instance, investigate thoroughly and ban anyone who is guilty from the stadium for life whilst also passing on all information for criminal prosecutions.
I can't for the life of me understand "fans" going to matches to make race chants. Dipsticks!!! Reminds me of my stepdad. When I was playing,I used to say "oh crap!" when I saw him there. He'd spend all the game shouting at the ref!!!!
Statement from the THST https://www.thstofficial.com/thst-n...gations-made-at-our-home-game-against-chelsea
I get their point but in truth most people in office/admin jobs book rime off over xmas and offices are run on skeleton staff (due to staff being off with their kids etc) so any investigation and follow up stuff including collating info, writing and printing reports etc was never going to happen until next week at the earliest.
The problem is that the delay has led to all manner of accusations that Rudiger made it up, with Harry ****espout running that into the ground because his followers are a better fit for West Ham's crowds
"If none occurred, the reputation of Tottenham Hotspur fans must be cleared." Completely missing the point that really needs to driven home to fans of all clubs. We do have racist fans, all clubs do. There's no reputation to be cleared, it's a fact there are racist Spurs fans and the fact we've had to ban fans for it in the past shows that. It's not an issue of reputation, it's an issue of ensuring that Spurs games are safe and welcoming for fans and players of all racial backgrounds. Making it an issue of pride and reputation, trying to rush the club and police to some conclusive judgement is completely unhelpful to fighting racism, which is far bigger than any single incident, whether provable or not. If it takes time to complete a proper investigation, so what? Unless you're feeling guilty over your behaviour at the game and are waiting to see if you've been caught, it really shouldn't matter. This just comes across as THST trying to pull on what they think is a loose thread. If the club had proof, bans would have been handed out already and the police would be taking action. The longer it goes on, the less likely it is that they'll find anything conclusive. But again, unless the matter is one of pride for you, any inconclusive verdict should only be disappointing. It wouldn't invalidate Rudiger's claim, or those of other Spurs fans who said they thought they'd heard the same thing. This is completely idiotic. THST need to do a lot better.
This ^^ As someone who supports a club that has had more than one involvement in racist bullshit, I fully agree. The "reputation" of any set of fans must be secondary to the security and well being of our players of colour. Anyone using this **** as a tarring brush in football debates is a scum bag. This isn't about point scoring, its about making sure ALL minority players, regardless of what club they play for, have the right to do their jobs safely, without experiencing racial abuse and, god forbid, physical attacks.
