Arsenal love a social media opp. They always show videos/clips of players getting on the plane, taking pictures together and subsequently updating their media feeds when they’ve safely landed too. So the fact they’re being very particular with what they post at the moment is unusual behaviour.
Arsenal uploaded pictures of everyone who was training in Germany today. It included first-team players, fringe players and youth. Partey wasn't in a single photo. If he wasn't the man in question, they would have dashed our fears away instantly by posting him with the others. Every single piece of information that is released incriminates him more and more. I feel sick.
I feel for you bro. Ultimately this issue transcends football, such is its severity. Rival fans shouldn't be mocking Arsenal for potentially being without one of their best players for the foreseeable future; we should be unanimous in our anger toward the player and his actions, and in our sympathy to the victim(s) and their wellbeing. As others have said, there has been a worrying increase in this culture within the game and generally within positions of power/publicity in recent years. It is high time we made it a conversation and put an end to it. The level of entitlement in certain strata of society is sickening.
Someone also told me that several Arsenal players and sponsors have unfollowed him on instagram. I went to check if it's true. And it is true - they have unfollowed him. At this stage, I'd be more shocked if I found out it wasn't him. Like you say though. It doesn't matter who committed these disgusting, predatory acts. The facts are, several women have been raped and they need as much support as possible. That should be the primary focus. Sporting matters are irrelevant in comparison. The thing is, I know there have been cases in the past where women have falsely accused high-profile athletes of sexual assault for financial gain. However, there are also plenty of entitled, overpaid athletes who believe they can treat women however they want with no consequences for their behaviour. Regrettably, I am sure this pattern of behaviour happens more than we realise. I've heard from people about footballers getting up to all sorts of creepy, shameless stuff in hotels. A lot of them think they're untouchable. As there's been quite a lot of reports of rape and sexual assault amongst footballers recently, I saw people asking why this seems to be happening more and more these days. I don't necessarily think it is happening more; I just think more victims feel empowered to speak out in search of justice compared to before.
I'm not so sure. It's always been an issue in certain sectors of society - TV, film, media, politics are immediate and obvious examples. I'm not sure it was ever this frequent in the footballing world though, and certainly not the Mendy and possibly Partey levels of accusation where it is apparently multiple victims across a very brief timespan. Ultimately, elite level footballers are treated like gods of ancient Greek myths, when in reality they are often complete ****ers. I wonder what the hubris does to them and their sense of entitlement.
Like I said, I am sure this pattern of behaviour is more common than we realise - maybe not to the levels Mendy and (purportedly) Partey have gone to, but there is certainly an entitlement culture where footballers think they're infallible and can do/act as they please with no-one to call them out. I also still maintain that sexual assault and rape in football has been more prevalent than has been reported in the past. I know some players in particular have gotten away with a lot of predatory behaviour.
Were they definitely following him in the first place? I only ask because we've had instances of accusations about people unfollowing others in the past but it's actually turned out to be a case of they were never following them in the first place.
In fairness Arsenal and Chelsea are very similar, they have both been very successful in recent history. Both should be laughing at Spurs
All I see at the moment is that : 1. the hacks have the name of a player against whom allegations have been made 2. said player has not yet been formally charged All the hacks are doing at the moment is sh*t stirring, and causing disruption at those clubs speculated to have the player . There is also the danger of "weaponisation" of allegations (clubs are compelled not fto ield a player in order to avoid a potential PR sh*t storm) . Due process has to be done. However : 1. a club must have the means to protect themselves from player behaviour like this when shown to be true (immediate contract termination, no lost wages paid out) 2. both player and club (in the event the claims are shown to be untrue) must have the weight of the law behind them to severely financially punish any gossiping hacks that started a saga.
If the clip goes on for 20 mins but only 1-2 sentences of content are actually conveyed, then you may be correct.
A further factor is the more everyone discusses the matter, the more the defence can plead that the person will not receive a fair trial. And yes, even people accused of this type of crime should get a fair trial. Yet what is happening now is that people are forming opinion without knowing any of the facts - just the sort of thing to create prejudice. To get a proper trial you need a jury full of people that have not made their mind up before it. That will become increasingly difficult.
If the claims are proved to be true, he will be in prison. The more difficult case is if he is acquitted or even not charged. This doesn't make the claims untrue....it means they were not proven beyond reasonable doubt. Depending on the nature of the defence it might still be appropriate for the club to terminate his contract.
Leeds are apparently on the verge of signing Luis Sinisterra from Feyenoord. His surname sounds like a female supervillain. Next up? Chelsea to sign FC ****bag's Raycisto Bloodmoney.
From the club viewpoint, you have two scenarios regarding such allegations for a player on their books. Specifically, the allegations are made for a time : S1 - before the player joined the club S2 - when the player is on the books In terms of UK worker law, I do not know where ta club would stand in terms of the right to terminate, what amounts of wages are due to the player for any period where the player was not actually playing etc. "The more difficult case is if he is acquitted or even not charged. This doesn't make the claims untrue.... t means they were not proven beyond reasonable doubt. Depending on the nature of the defence it might still be appropriate for the club to terminate his contract." As I said, untrue claims fermented by gossiping hacks should have severe financial punishment for the instigators, from the player at least, and possibly also the club.
Surely there’s a distinction there. If he’s acquitted at trial then it means that guilt can’t be proved beyond the standards required in court. If the charges are dropped it could mean anything from there simply being no case after the evidence is properly reviewed or there not being enough evidence beyond circumstance to take it to trial. Or the victim chooses not to go through with it for any number of reasons. Either way it’s incredibly murky. There are multiple reasons why a case like this may not result in a conviction and sadly they are often incredibly painful cases to be a ‘participant’ in both as a victim and the accused. What a club would do in such circumstances is difficult to say, regardless of the result of the case. I remember Ched Evans being found innocent on review but it was clear that though he was eventually not found to have committed the crime, the facts showed in the case proved him to have deeply troubling attitudes towards women. Regardless of guilt I would struggle to support my club employing such a man.
