I didn't have time last night, but this is how I answer you HotHead. It's a matter of scale and context. You could buy your nephew a £30 computer game, but you could also donate that £30 to charity to save the life of a child in Africa. No-one is condemning you for buying the computer game. Further along the scale, you have John Hall and Jack Walker who spent tens of millions on football clubs that could have been used to transform the local council estates. Near the end of the scale you have oil sheikhs who have spent many hundreds of millions on a football club, when the situation on their door-step is one where workers live in horrific working conditions because they are practically being used as slave labour. Each is more condemnatory than the last. In the oil sheikh's case it's particularly disgusting because they created their problem; they hired those labourers. On the other hand, Hall and Walker had no obligation to help because they didn't create a problem that money could solve. So I find the Man City example worse because of the scale and context of the oil sheikhs gifts. That's why I have my opinion. I'm not asking you to share it.
People whom they dislike? What are you implying Gooner? I asked a contentious hypothetical question. The key word there is question. You can call it a statement or a comment all you like. It will always be a question no matter how much you want to imply I'm a racist. My above post should explain my dislike of the Man City situation. It makes no reference to race (and neither should you...). Abu Dhabi is a 3rd world cess-pit because most of the inhabitants live in 3rd world conditions. Simple as.
1. What on earth are you talking about? Who's talking about race? People should be able to dislike each other without being accused of being racist. Im sure many Aussies dislike Kiwis, but they're certainly not racist...its a free world and there are perfectly rational reasons to have preferences (and irrational ones but not necessarily involving race). 2. Are you seriously saying that what you said is the same thing that someone who liked or had a positive feeling towards that city state would say? I can't recall Bob Geldoff shouting out at a live aid concert "give money for Africa everybody so we can go and help out that third world cess pit". He wouldn't because he actually likes the people and genuinely cares for their welfare. Your words were pejorative words associated with those who harbour dislike (of the place/people they're describing).
Again..... it was a hypothetical question. Are you a troll? I don't understand this. Someone mentioned Suarez and Terry in this thread, so what do you expect me to think when you say I made a "bitter statement normally associated with those who find it difficult to deal with the concentration of wealth in the hands of people whom they dislike." If that's all you meant, then yes, I clearly dislike them because of what they are doing in their country. But then, that's blatently obvious isn't it? So surely you were implying something more. I don't care if you weren't though, you've once again ignored my arguments to nit-pick one element of what I've said.
I am not sure if the oil sheiks are brilliant businessmen or tyranical slavedrivers. All very the world there are very rich businessmen that earned their cash on the backs of workers tied to the edge of poverty. From the child sweat shops, to the cess pits (not my words) of the middle east, to the immigrant workers in the US. I have a fairly cynical view that very few people have been successful in business by being honest. I don't think that the money cominginto football is healthy. I don't believe in salary caps because if a team develops 15 superstars they shouldn't have to sell them because they can't afford to pay them, but I don't have an answer to how the current situation could be regulated. I certainly don't think you can make a distiction about where the money comes from.
What utter bleeding heart cods wallop about caring about the poor in Abu Dhabi. Have you ever bought an Arsenal shirt or stepped into the EMIRATES recently? The sheikhs who own that airline are no different from the Man City sheikhs. You have proven yourself to be a silly hypocrite.
If it really is the same (they're an airline though aren't they?) then I don't like the source of this money either. You assumed I would like Emirates though. So you've assumed I'm a hypocrite. You do this a lot... Anyway, I haven't bought an Arsenal shirt with Emirates on it. Another difference is they don't have control over the entire club. If you're going to attack my character (again), I might as well summarise what I've learnt about you. You have manipulated statistics, ignored the obvious, bounced from argument to argument when the previous argument was lost, and consistently assumed the worst in me to get a reaction. I saw you doing the same thing on another thread: stretching assumption to try and make piskie look stupid. In your last post you stretched assumption to call me a hypocrite. Do you often get accused of being a troll? Because you really do act like one.
Hang on I never did any name calling (you called me names in other threads but i refused to rise to the bait). I'm just stating what would be the most obvious thing to any outsider....ie the irony/hypocrisy of a fan of a club whose stadium is named after a brand synonymous with Dubai moralising about another club winning with Abu Dhabi money. Emirates, for all intents an purposes, is Dubai the UAE city. They don't control Arsenal but the irony is valid nonetheless. Ok the "silly little" element was said in jest in much the same way you've described me as a "numpty"...no offence intended. As for the arguments: 1. Manipulating statistics? I quoted direcly from ABC money (its on many more sources as well, i even gave you a link at the start)...the average $17m net worth was used to illustrate how outrageous your description of Abu Dhabi as a third world cess pit was. 2. I've not bounced from or conceded any argument and consistently maintain the central and original point that Man City winning the league is no different from Chelsea, Real Madrid etc...they have used financial muscle. Its not how I would like it but we have also benefited by being richer than other clubs. 3. Stain on your character. Here you are doing what you accuse me of doing, "ASSuming". Ask any sensible person whether they think someone who describes a place as a third world cess pit is sympathising with the poor migrants that might live there and they would say no (hence the Bob Geldoff example)....those are words ASSOCIATED with spite and dislike. I accepted a difference in opinions...this is not the same as conceding the point.
I called you a numpty after you referred to me as a jealous deluded mug. I think I was being nice to only call you that, and I only did it because you brought up this argument in another topic in a rather back-handed nasty way. You've also called me ignorant and a hypocrite in this topic. I don't care much if you do, but I'm obviously going to defend myself against it. You abandoned the "average worth 17 million" argument after everyone told you how silly it is. I told you that Bill Gates and a penniless pauper have a net worth of 31 billion. Are they both equally rich? I told you that Abu Dhabi is a 3rd world cess pit because most of its inhabitants live in 3rd world conditions. Did you answer in either case? No. As for why Man City is different to those other examples, just read my post further up this page. You ignored that too. You also ignored my consistent reminders that I wrote a hypothetical question starting with the word "Maybe" and ending with a question mark. I sympathise with the people of Abu Dhabi, but I show it by emphasising the conditions they live in. Africa is a 3rd world cess-pit. Some areas of England are like a 3rd world cess-pit. Does that mean I hate the people that live there? Of course not! Like I said, you just assume the worst in people. You do it here and in other topics. Do you not understand how that would piss people off? Looking back at your earlier posts I maintain that you were implying I'm racist in addition to hating poor people, being ignorant, being a hypocrite, and being a jealous deluded mug. I can quote you and ask what you meant by some of those implications, but is there a point? Even in your last post you say I have a "spite and dislike" for the people of Abu Dhabi. Where are you implying this "spite and dislike" comes from? I obviously dislike the owners of Man City for reasons stated further up this page, so what is it that you're implying?
The mind boggles at how someone who denegrates an entire state as a third world cess pit can then turn around and play the victim on the basis of assumptions...poor old you...you've been really hard done by...
