That lardy sack of crap has written a particularly poor piece in the Mail today. If it's satire, it's the lowest form of it you'll ever see. He suggest Joey Barton should step forward as football's "gay hero". I wonder if the bulky hack doth protest too much... http://thisismyengland.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/time-for-martin-samuel-to-come-out-as.html
I am obviously so out of touch and in dire need of some catch-up. Why is Martin Samuel loathsome? Is it just because he works for the equally loathsome 'Daily Fail' or something else? If the latter, perhaps somebody would kindly provide some examples as to why he is loathed. I have no axe to grind either way, but generally find his writing entertaining. Further, please explain why it is that an 'overweight tabloid muck-raker' is more likely to be gay than a 'tough-tackling midfielder'? You appear to have written a longer article to rip into Samuel than he wrote on Barton in the first place.
Funnily enough if I had to name one footballer...... Even my mother thought the same thing. Could be a root cause for all the anger.
To fair to JB he was the only footballer who had the guts to talk on that programme made by John Fashanu's daughter. Fashanu himself came across as a total **** but we knew that already.
Yes, I have. To amuse myself really. If anyone else like's it then that's a small bonus. I have to write acres of bland business-bollocks-marketing-twaddle for a living, none of which I really believe in. So the blog is just a chance to play around and let off steam. In this case, it's just a bit of gleefully going over-the-top. I'll never get a newspaper column and I wouldn't want one. It's just a bit of fun.
There are certain writers we take to and certain writers we don't. It's like all art unfortunately, more often about the 'artist' than the ideas or craftwork involved. We buy the 'product' for what it says about our connection, however remote, to the artist. In this piece, until we got down to the adolescent pushing and shoving with Dave, I wasn't even vaguely interested. No time for the Daily Mail, never heard of the oversized antagonist and have had enough Barton bollox to last a lifetime. But I do like what little I know about our boy TIME. I know he's a loyal R which is a good start. I know he gets to a good few games, takes his kid with him sometimes and gets some interesting snaps with which to decorate certain blogs. But what I've really taken to with TIME is his tendency to share with us, an unusual angle. Reminds me sometimes of Peter Cooke's anecdote about an essay he once wrote called 'The Drowning Man' presented from the point of view of the wave! Yeah, that's TIME all over that is. Most fans who write about attending matches report on the game one way or another. Not this guy from what I've seen. He tells us all about the stuff that passes most of us by: seedy alleyways, stinky pubs, home fans on away trips, signs of early dilapidation in prefabricated modern stadia and so on. When pushed he's even got the audacity to attempt things like hot days in boring holiday places! Subjects that would seem like instant death to even contemplate for most writers but somehow he manages get himself and us through to an end - with a couple of odd thoughts left reverberating as we move on. So when I've got a mo, I'm more than happy to settle down to unwrapping his latest unpretentious revelations - more in anticipation of a surprise than anything I guess. This time we get a couple of random closet 'gays' doing their own things without reference to sexual activity. Well done matie. Kept me going for the length of a *** and a cuppa. So what is it about fatties with you then? Deep down, just how huge do you really fantasise about being?!!!
I enjoyed reading that post Brix, let's face it, it's hard to make 15 games without a win entertaining for anybody with R's at heart.
I take your point regarding some journos and columnists. In particular I recall Johann Hari who used to write for the Independent who slated football fans for taunts to Ashley Cole. He'd reckoned that rival fans were waving money at Cole after he'd been subject to rumours of bottom fun using a mobile phone. Hari, who is gay himself, assumed this was homophobic because, and get this, on the back of the notes is a picture of THE Queen and the taunts were that cole was A Queen. The fact that he'd moved from Arsenal to Chelskum for the money and thus earned the nickname Cashley Cole was obviously lost on Hari who has his own pro-gay agenda axe to grind. Five minutes on Wikipedia or any fans forum would have sorted this out for Hari but why let facts get in the way of a good story?
TIME, firstly let me say that I enjoy your articles and I read them all - well, the ones you post up here anyway! You're a very good writer with a sharp mind and good turn of phrase. So keep it up old son. With regards your current piece, again its very well put together. The Irish Daily Mail is my daily gossip sheet and although it seems to be like its Conservative sister paper in the UK in name only (this one is decidedly to the left), it has the same Sports columnists so I've been reading Samuel on a regular basis for a number of years. Like he does you, he annoys me on occasion and sometimes comes across as arrogant. But what Journalist doesn't?!! I'm just wondering as to why you'd feel the need to defend Joey Barton? He's the worst possible example of pro footballer there is. He dragged our Club through the sh*tter at a time when it looked like it couldn't possibly get any worse. Samuel might be wrong about Joey but personally my "Gaydar" has been bleeping on high alert with regards Barton for a long time. The fact that he was relatively recently beaten up by a couple of homosexuals in a gay Club did nothing to clam that Gaydar down. When it comes to Barton, the more negative stuff that's written about him, the better as far as I'm concerned. There's one poster on our Board (I won't name names) who had my Gaydar shooting through the roof as a result of his postings. When I was banned, I read a thread that went wild when this normally quiescent and genial fella erupted into a frenzy of unprovoked attacks on gay people. It was very interesting reading, seeing the unyielding profanity coming out of this person with a seemingly vitriolic hatred of homosexuality. After the thread was closed, this chap has since slunk back into the calm, mild-mannered poster he was before. What was it that could bring about such a change in personality? Such an out of character flare up? It had all the hallmarks of heavily repressed feelings coming to the fore and I admit to feeling a little bit sorry for the man who obviously has not come to terms with his sexuality. I hope he does so in time. Is Joey Barton gay? If I was a gambling man I'd put all my chips on Yes. But who cares?
No issue at all. Some of my best friends are black... er... I mean fat. The point of the piece was to try here and there to be as gratuitously offensive as Samuel has managed to be in some people's eye.
It's not meant as a defence of Barton. I've written pieces in which I've had a proper go at him before. I was much less interested in Barton and much more in Samuel's strange decision to write something so ill-judged.
While we're on the subject, we all know there's masses of 'bland business-bollocks-marketing-twaddle' around and we're right to be cynical about government and commercial propaganda but are you sure you have problems believing everything you're asked to produce. I ask out of curiosity on two levels. The first being as a worker who doesn't believe in an least some aspects of the job. I know there are predators out there doing **** stuff for money: estate agents, parking and clamping mercenaries, funeral directors etc., etc.. but despite the fairly general and humble nature of various jobs I've had, there have always been those bits of them that I've been able to redeem into something laudable. Secondly, a renowned author once observed how difficult it is to write lies. It struck a chord with me that whilst easy enough to cynically disprove, in essence seems largely true. Thoughts?
The least of Hari's problems is his being Gay. He's been done for plaigiarism, is consistently racist against Asians and Islamophobic also. Disgraced scumbag of the highest order. Can't stand right wing Gays, Tory party is stacked full of them.
What if someone says that they can't stand left-wing gays, Imaz? Or Jewish gays? Or Asian gays? Or ginger gays? Or Welsh gays? Is all of that OK?
Writing blurbs and puff, happily, is only part of the my job. It's one of my least favourite bits. I'm lucky enough to get to do lots of more interesting stuff as well and to have the sense that while commerce is involved in what I do, it does involve connecting loads of people who care passionately about education. My favourite part tends to be spending time with people who work in education - both grass-roots people and (supposed?) 'thought-leaders' - and learning from them all.
Leaving aside your feelings about them for a second, you're surely not including Johann Hari among "right-wing gays"??
