Is Bowyer fit for the shirt?

http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/64535-Cheryl-Cole...

 

Bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

When you need a hand down from your highhorse just shout Hamps.

 

The Newcastle midfielder Lee Bowyer has broken his silence on the incident which led to his departure from Leeds United a year ago by asserting that he is not a racist.

The 26-year-old was cleared of attacking the Asian student Sarfraz Najeib outside a Leeds nightclub in January 2000, but the effects of the case - which included being disciplined by his club.


"I am no racist," Bowyer said. "I have never been and I never will be.

"If people were inferring that I was a racist, well that's their opinion, but it was ludicrous really. I was brought up in a mixed community in London and all my friends and schoolboy pals were from different nationalities.

"I have always supported the Keep Racism out of Football campaign when I was at Charlton with my pal Carl Leaburn and at Leeds with Lucas Radebe. It is something I have always supported but people seem to forget that these days."

 

Plum. Seriously, Canning Town is an overwhelmingly black area. The attacks were against Asian people. There are not many Asian people in Canning Town, they are a bit further west in Tower Hamlets. I lived there, now I live near Leeds. There is an awful lot of racism directed at the people of Bradford which is nicknamed by some as 'Bradistan'. I don't think I have ever heard anything racist toward black people in Yorkshire - it's all directed at the Asians.

It's a common thing for people to say 'I can't be racist, some of my best friends are black/white/asian (delete as appropriate)'.

It is clearly a far too complex debate for this board.

 

I understand that racism can be directed at different races, My point is that i don't think its fair to just presume that because Lee has been linked to two incidents(along time ago when he was young and naive) albeit both involving Asians that he is A RACIST.

I think its a stigma that has followed him since his Leeds days and as far as i can remember there has been no further incidents neither Nazi salutes or pointy white hoods.

I think you should apologise for the comment that he is obviously a Racist

 

He quite blatantly was. There is CCTV footage of racist behaviour which was why he was convicted of a racist attack in the first incident. It's a stone cold fact.

Anyway you clearly sympathise with his situation and don't intend to learn anything so I'm wasting my breath.

 

He was convicted of affray in 1996 which is 15 years ago, and no i don't condone what he has done i just believe in the benefit of the doubt and don't believe you can say what Lee bowyer believes.

And hope that your last comment that you believe i sympathise is not a veiled accusation of racism on my part that would seem a cheap way to try and win a debate and i would not appreciate it, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you seem unable of showing.

 

The judgement of whether Bowyer is right for this club is taken by the club, end of. I respect their judgement. Nothing now is going to change, if your personal views are that he is the scum of the earth then you now only have two choices; either don't go to the games or boo him as long and as loudly as you can we he plays. There are no other options available that will make a jot of difference.

So, as I cannot see me undertaking either of the previous two options I will commit to giving him the same amount of support that i would any other Town player - 100%.

And when Norris gets here, I look forward to the first 50/50 challenge with Bowyer.

 

Read the following: Lee Bowyer found out that his first girlfriend had Asian ancestry and told his girlfriend he couldn't have a baby with her as a result - then there is an account of the attack in McDonalds and finally Bowyer is seen on CCTV chasing the man who nearly ended up dead with Woodgate and others (do let me know if you want links to the articles) - I don't think there can be any doubt that Bowyer was a racist toward Asians - whether he has grown up or changed his views in the intervening years who knows:

"Attempting to gauge the influences on a young man is always difficult, but there are some significant pointers. Bowyer's first serious girlfriend was a local girl, Emma Keeney, whom he met in Millwall Park, in 1995. At the time he was just breaking into the Charlton team, and she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl. For the first few months their relationship seemed set to last. He took Emma to stay in a caravan on Canvey Island, where they made love for the first time, drove her around in his zippy Escort Cabriolet, and bought her jewellery inscribed with the pet-name he gave to her: 'Babe'. As time went by she more or less moved into the Bowyers' home, and got along famously with his parents, with whom she would sometimes watch Charlton matches.

Just occasionally, however, little things would happen to make her worry about Bowyer's temperament. He was so obsessively jealous, she says, that he bought her a mobile phone so he could know her whereabouts every hour of the day.

According to Emma there was a pattern of self-destructive behaviour, and she forgave him many times until, one night, he said something she can never pardon. Though Emma has an olive complexion, her mother is, half-Asian. Whether or not Bowyer was aware of this, the matter was not mentioned until they had been dating for 10 months, by which time he wanted them to get engaged. One night, however, when they rowed because she turned up late for a dinner date, she says he raised the question of her ethnicity. 'I was in his bedroom getting ready and he started ranting then stormed off downstairs,' she recalls. 'When he came back a few minutes later he looked at me sort of strangely and said, 'Oh, my mum's just told me something about you. He didn't use the word Paki, or Indian. He said - and I'll never forget - "My mum says you've got something 'in' you." I said, "Yes, I'm Indian", and Lee replied, "Yeah, that's what my mum said", and he started pacing up and down the floor. He went downstairs again, and when he returned he said we couldn't have a baby because it might be a "throwback". I asked what he meant, and he said, "You know, we could have a brown baby. It could be the colour of your mum."'

Emma walked out, and never went back.

Her account would be sufficiently disturbing if it stood alone, but in September, 1996, a few months after they parted, he returned from his new home in Leeds for a night out with his boyhood pals, John Nwikpo and Ben Bonnici. After drinking to excess, the three teenagers bowled into McDonald's on the Isle of Dogs, where Bowyer demanded a cheeseburger. When the young counter assistant, Shamsul Mia, informed him that only the breakfast menu was available, he flew into a rage. A court heard later how he and his friends were caught on video, hurling chairs and creating mayhem. Bowyer, who admitted affray, was fined £4,500: then half a week's wages. The prosecution did not suggest race was a factor. However, Mr Mia claims that a snarling, red-faced Bowyer refused to be served by 'a ****ing Paki', and he told the Daily Mail: 'If Lee Bowyer is not a racist thug then I don't know who is.'"


A jury today watched closed-circuit TV film of the moments just before and after what the prosecution claim was a vicious assault on a young Asian student by three Leeds United footballers.

The film shot, by security cameras in Leeds city centre was alleged to show 20-year-old Sarfraz Najeib and his friends being chased by the group of men including players Jonathan Woodgate, Lee Bowyer and Tony Hackworth.
The moment when Mr Najeib was allegedly kicked and punched as he lay unconscious on the ground was not captured on film.

But Nicholas Campbell, QC, told Hull Crown Court that 24-year-old England Under-21 midfielder Bowyer was seen on the film in what was claimed to be a "victory" embrace with another of the accused, Neale (correct) Caveney after the assault.

 

whether he has grown up or changed his views in the intervening years who knows:

I agree he has done things that he should be ashamed of, if these accounts are true then it does show he DID have racist views by the sound of it probably coming from his parents who are a big influence to a young man
Also are these accounts from the tabloids who brought the stories.

And do you think if he has grown up and changed his views that the witch hunt should take a day off.

 

You two give it a rest . He might have done some stupid things in the past but who hasn't .

He without sin cast the first stone.

 

My point exactly JJ but you have put it so much more eloquently.

 

They are from the Guardian and the Mail - the account from the gf is from the Guardian, presumably he would've sued if it wasnt true.

And JJ (this is gonna get confusing when Jonah joins in), what a load of nonsense that phrase is. Who hasn't? Brushing it aside as 'ah well no-one's perfect' is frankly offensive. I for one have never acted like a thug!

 

Well weighy how i see it is that he was a stupid 18/19 year old lad , who was possibly hammered and showing off. I'm glad i'm not judged on things i done when i was a teenager.

 

I agree with weighty . Unless you were actually there at the time of these incidents witnessing with your own eyes and listening to any verbal exchanges goin on , no one has a right to start accusing anyone of being a racist . And if they are doing its pretty much amounts to slander unless you can back up your accusation 100% .

Anyway does anyone know who the other 2 players are that pj is waiting to hear about .

Coyb

 

it's not slanderous to call someone a racist, especially in this case where there is a mountain of evidence to back it up. But in any case it's a subjective term. To me, anyone who tells or laughs at a racist joke is a racist. Other people would consider that perfectly normal behaviour.

 

I'm sure the courts had ALL the facts, if there WAS any sign of racism I'm sure they would have come down on him like a ton of bricks. I personally don't judge people on tabloid hearsay, it's all too easy to cast unfounded comment about people nowadays and there's always people who try to push there views onto other people. What happened to honest until proven guilty, or does that not suit? End of the day he now plays for itfc, come on you blue boys!

 

We are not a club that gets involved in that racist **** at all , which i'm sure we are all proud of . I personally dont think bowyer is that way inclined either . A hot head maybe and with drink involved had a few scraps in his younger day .
I suggest unless its racism that is involving our club or one of our playing staff ( that has been proven ) that we all drop the subject and get on with our speculations about whose signing and who's not .

Once the new season kicks off we will have plenty to discuss . And if all goes to plan it will be all good .

Coyb

 

How can you say you don't think he's that we inclined? He was calling a McDonalds member a ****ing Paki and throwing chairs around. He told his girlfriend he didn't want to risk having a brown baby. And he was part of the party that put an Asian lad within an inch of his life in Leeds City Centre. He settled out of court to the tune of 170k.

**** me, the IQ level on these boards has obviously deteriorated pretty significantly since we moved over from the Beeb.