http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/england-boss-hodgson-caught-up-2460799 please log in to view this image Seems that the red tops will now go to town on Hodgson. Basically, at HT at Wembley on Tuesday he gave a speech including an analogy based on a NASA space mission where they sent a man and an ape into space. The story goes that the man was having a fairly low-profile role, and asked what his job actually was. Ground command replied that it was his job purely to feed the monkey. Hodgson's point was that he needed his midfielders and defenders to look to keep feeding the ball to Andros Townsend to complete their mission. He needed people willing to take on the low-profile but essential work, in order to allow Townsend to do his thing and be at his most dangerous. Now, I don't think Hodgson is a racist at all. If this is a racist comment, it certainly doesn't appear to have been the purpose. All I can feel from this is that Hodgson is becoming a victim of red-top character assassination for what can be described as, at worst, a poorly judged analogy. He has always appeared to me as a very cultured, intelligible and respectable man. DTLW
What a surprise. England Qualify. Hodgson and Townsend are on their pedestals..........cue the red tops
If the players were upset with Hodgson they certainly didn't show it after the game. This is why England struggle, too much coverage given to none stories. The racism card is played far too much.
Don't worry the media can mock Hodgson's demeanor and speech but that is ok. Saying the word monkey on the other hand must be racist.
Oh for goodness sake......since when has using the word monkey in a joke been considered a racist remark? Surely it is the gesture of a monkey that is the most likely to cause offence and then only if it is directed at a certain person......How sad is the bloody Mirror.........Trying to stir up non existing problems......the journalist should be sacked!!
Before I even comprehend the possible race issue, I can't even imagine the premise that Roy would tell the team they need to just get the ball to Townsend.
It's so blatant it's pathetic. This supposed story is even wildly inaccurate. No astronauts were asked to feed the monkey, actually a chimpanzee called Ham. The chimp went unfed because his mission lasted little more than 15 minutes, from take-off to splash down. His Mercury capsule could only accommodate one occupant, and he was weightless for less than 5 minutes. And you know what [?], I suspect Roy Hodgson knew that. It is after all, common knowledge. Not to the Daily Mirror perhaps. Or perhaps they just wanted to do a little inventing of their own. After all, the Daily Mail has been hogging the limelight for long enough.
Even if true, it shows that Hodgson is not racist. He gave no thought to Townsend's colour, so could see no problem with talking about a monkey...just as he wouldn't if the player was white. I made the same gaffe once...likening someone to a gorilla because they were big...the fact the man was black never even occurred to me.
Probably not the best joke for the occasion, but I cannot possibly imagine that there was any ill intent.
It is indicitive today of how the media operate (this country would be a so much better place if everyone ignored the tabloids) Although... Hodgson clearly took time to work that NASA anecdote into his pre-match talk... and he knew that if was going to be directed at Townsend... he should know better than to allow himself to get taken out of context.... plus he also now knows that "what is said in the dressing room..." clearly does not stay there, so someone in the squad is untrustworthy.
A number of years ago I asked for a black coffee and was told you should ask for coffee without milk as saying black coffee was racist. FFS there is disgraceful racism that must be stamped out which we all agree and then there is stupid nonsense like this which puts the fight against racism back years. Racism is obnoxious and must be eradicated but Roy's comments have nothing to do with racism.
Wayne Rooney on Twitter: "Seen the story on Roy this morning. He done nothing wrong. This is ridiculous."
