Is that right though. I can remenber George Lawrence getting a lot of stck years ago but lots of white players have also faced a lot of abuse, Cockerill in the past Fox more recently etc. Is it just us being more sensitive about a persons race..
It's not that white players never get it, but they seem to be given more slack. It's hard to think of any non-white players who have been in the team for any length of time without getting abuse. Obviously it's a minority of fans who consider race, and I'm not saying our fans are worse than others (I don't know), but if one person shouts out for that reason, maybe others will join in without thinking about the motivation behind it.
I was more of the impression that there was a lack of comprehension about Victors role in the team when he plays, he has built a reputation of a spoiler and a stopper, not a spectacular role, but a very effective one, those that complained seemed to focus on the fact that he wasn't spraying defence splitting pases to the forwards, that isn't what he does, he wins the ball and gives to those more adept at creating moves. If he loses the ball, more often than not he goes back to win it again. Have people not noticed how players that try to muscle him off the ball, invariably fail and are often seen to bounce off of him with looks of astonishment. There is more to being a team player than being the star of the show.
I'll always remember that there were some members berating him for being a "greedy ****" for not joining us quicker than he did, despite character references from plenty of Celtic fans, as well as his backlog of interviews, made him seem very honest and quite humble. Shocking how quickly some people were looking for an excuse to jump on him.
Fair point PTF but I still think we are just more sensitive to anything that could be racial and register it more.Most players get abuse at some point. Look at the stick Jos has had recently for instance.
A thing I have noticed is that the word 'lazy' is usually only directed at a black player. Other players can be crap, not good enough, or slow, but the epithet 'lazy' seems to be reserved for black players. I think to some fans (a minority) black players have to be without fault or they are subjected to abuse. The problem is that criticism that goes overboard leads to other fans defending a player they may want to criticise themselves.
Just seen an interview with Paul Williams saying how well Josh Sims is doing. I wonnder if he might leapfrog in front of Isgrove as our next winger.
I have no idea what goes through people's minds. Away at Spurs last year I experienced up-close what racism sounds like and it wasn't pleasant. To be fair the majority of fans around me clearly felt the same but the guy was drunk and 'edgy' and no-one directly confronted him. I can only speak for myself and I can honestly say that I don't dislike Wanyama as a person, why would I? I have never heard him speak and really know nothing about him. But I just don't rate him as a player. I didn't rate Fox either and he was apparently a real nice guy. It isn't personal and I get annoyed that people might be pointing the finger at me for being racist when all I am doing is making observations about someone's footballing ability. For the record, I only criticise players on Not-606 as I really don't see the point of giving them stick during the match as a) they probably won't hear me anyway; and b) its hardly going to improve their game if someone is undermining their ability.
Couldn't really think where else to put it, so it goes in here. On the BBC, Jason Puncheon says that after that penalty miss and all the stick he got, he got plenty of support from Southampton. Players spoke to him and he also received support from both Nicola Cortese and Mauricio Pochettino, who spoke to him about it.
Don't get the impression that they see Isgrove as a big part of the squad of the future in any event...he's 21 and awaiting his league debut, and that at a time when we've been starved for attacking options at times. If Sims has the capability, we have a need.
Apart from Berbatov of course, which is probably the first name that comes to mind when the word "lazy" is used. Oh, and Matt LeTiss.
Matty was usually referred to as laid back (aka lazy)...the difference was with him is that he could just win the game in a second.
To be fair to Isgrove, he's been battling injuries most of the season, only returning in the New Year.
I had a dream last night that we won 2-0, with a Lambert brace, the second one was a penalty. I'll take that please.