Guardian lies

[manc-mag 1]

"I hear you're a racist now, Father! Good for you!"

[Tooj 17]

"It's not the Greeks, it's the Chinese he's after!"

[Holden McGroin 5045]

Fuck calling NUFC, get your apology in the same form as the original article - in your newspaper!!

 

As a season-ticket holder back then I can safely say there was no evidence of 'something in the air' or 'undercurrent' arising from signing Cole. He may well be alluding to the shit Tony Cunningham had to endure but that was because he was fucking shit rather than anything of a racist element. It certainly was no worse than the abuse Rob McDonald and Frank Pingel endured.

 

And lets not forget - NUFC, the first English club to embrace a Brazilian. Course we were a 'racist' club.

 

This bloke Taylor is a fucking idiot.... and a clueless one at that!!

 

Tony Cunningham. I *just* remember him. My dad used to call him the 'black pearl'. Not sure if that was a toon-wide nickname though !

[Billy Castell 0]

Just skimmed the original post and it seems yet another load of shit from The Guardian. Blackburn came in for it a few years ago when we happened to be lacking in black first team players. Apparently it was part of some racist conspiracy led by Grand Dragon John Williams or something. And then we sacked Paul Ince a while later after about 6 months seemed to prove that we're a racist club according to Ian Wright, Damien Lewis, Oliver Holt etc. Funny how it wasn't due to the plummeting league position the lack of interest in obtaining coaching badges, the incidents of indiscipline during pre-season and the useless transfers. It was because Paul was black, obviously.

[donaldstott 0]

NUST letter

 

Michael Chopra, of Asian descent, who has only just missed out on promotion with Cardiff City, who is again a local lad and a product of our academy system and a player many would welcome back on Tyneside with open arms.

 

If welcomed back with open arms means spat at, then yes.

[Holden McGroin 5045]

NUST letter

 

Michael Chopra, of Asian descent, who has only just missed out on promotion with Cardiff City, who is again a local lad and a product of our academy system and a player many would welcome back on Tyneside with open arms.

 

If welcomed back with open arms means spat at, then yes.

 

I never really liked Chopra like other home grown players. Thats more to do with his face though rather than racism. And he has no neck.

[Guest alex]

He'd be a canny player for us in the Championship next season

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

He'd be a canny player for us in the Championship next season

Forward planning.

[Dogmatix 0]

Fuck calling NUFC, get your apology in the same form as the original article - in your newspaper!!

 

As a season-ticket holder back then I can safely say there was no evidence of 'something in the air' or 'undercurrent' arising from signing Cole. He may well be alluding to the shit Tony Cunningham had to endure but that was because he was fucking shit rather than anything of a racist element. It certainly was no worse than the abuse Rob McDonald and Frank Pingel endured.

 

And lets not forget - NUFC, the first English club to embrace a Brazilian. Course we were a 'racist' club.

 

This bloke Taylor is a fucking idiot.... and a clueless one at that!!

 

Tony Cunningham. I *just* remember him. My dad used to call him the 'black pearl'. Not sure if that was a toon-wide nickname though !

 

It was Eusebio who was called the 'BlackPearl' I believe.

[Sima 0]

Fuck calling NUFC, get your apology in the same form as the original article - in your newspaper!!

 

As a season-ticket holder back then I can safely say there was no evidence of 'something in the air' or 'undercurrent' arising from signing Cole. He may well be alluding to the shit Tony Cunningham had to endure but that was because he was fucking shit rather than anything of a racist element. It certainly was no worse than the abuse Rob McDonald and Frank Pingel endured.

 

And lets not forget - NUFC, the first English club to embrace a Brazilian. Course we were a 'racist' club.

 

This bloke Taylor is a fucking idiot.... and a clueless one at that!!

 

Tony Cunningham. I *just* remember him. My dad used to call him the 'black pearl'. Not sure if that was a toon-wide nickname though !

 

It was Eusebio who was called the 'BlackPearl' I believe.

 

A whoosh surely?

[LeazesMag 0]

Fuck calling NUFC, get your apology in the same form as the original article - in your newspaper!!

 

As a season-ticket holder back then I can safely say there was no evidence of 'something in the air' or 'undercurrent' arising from signing Cole. He may well be alluding to the shit Tony Cunningham had to endure but that was because he was fucking shit rather than anything of a racist element. It certainly was no worse than the abuse Rob McDonald and Frank Pingel endured.

 

And lets not forget - NUFC, the first English club to embrace a Brazilian. Course we were a 'racist' club.

 

This bloke Taylor is a fucking idiot.... and a clueless one at that!!

 

Tony Cunningham. I *just* remember him. My dad used to call him the 'black pearl'. Not sure if that was a toon-wide nickname though !

 

It was Eusebio who was called the 'BlackPearl' I believe.

 

A whoosh surely?

 

 

what ?

 

FWIW, people who slate Tony Cunningham make me smile, because when he was here, many without standards thought he was quite good - at the time. Much like those who now try to make out a case for Ameobi, those who realise he is relatively shite is because of the quality that has came before him and played alongside him in the last decade.

 

He will never make even a decent premiership striker while he has a hole in his arse. Incredible he will qualify for a testimonial if he sees out his current contract.....

[LeazesMag 0]

So. Which of you leftie lot are going to boycott this rag then ?

[NJS 3993]

FWIW, people who slate Tony Cunningham make me smile, because when he was here, many without standards thought he was quite good - at the time. Much like those who now try to make out a case for Ameobi, those who realise he is relatively shite is because of the quality that has came before him and played alongside him in the last decade.

 

He will never make even a decent premiership striker while he has a hole in his arse. Incredible he will qualify for a testimonial if he sees out his current contract.....

 

I had a soft spot for Cunningham - not because he was good - he certainly wasn't - but he just had a happy give it his all kind of commitment that I've seen far too many players lack completely.

 

I don't really know what you're trying to say there btw - nobody I know thought he was good and that was in the contest of a time when people recognised Beardsley as something special so we did have an idea what good meant.

 

As I've said before I think Ameobi is fucking shit and it saddens me to the very depths of my being that he's made a living out of football.

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3271]

So. Which of you leftie lot are going to boycott this rag then ?

 

I boycotted it ages ago when Taylor wrote the shit about our chanting at Mido. I get the Indy now.

[Holden McGroin 5045]

As I've said before I think Ameobi is fucking shit and it saddens me to the very depths of my being that he's made a living out of football.

 

Thats well harsh. He is clearly a very good 2nd tier footballer. I wish I was.

[sniffer 0]

Hardly very good. He is an average championship level striker at best.

 

I never understood why we got rid of Chopra without giving him much of a chance and yet have kept a donkey like ameobi all this time.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Hardly very good. He is an average championship level striker at best.

 

I never understood why we got rid of Chopra without giving him much of a chance and yet have kept a donkey like ameobi all this time.

They're both decent Championship strikers. Shola just got the breaks.

[Guest alex]

So. Which of you leftie lot are going to boycott this rag then ?

The only paper I regularly buy is the Sunday Times and Rod Liddle frequently writes worse things about us. Do you only buy papers where you agree with every single thing that's written in them like? I'm yet to find one of those for me. I don't really like The Guardian by the way.

Edited May 29, 2010 by alex

[Holden McGroin 5045]

On a slight tangent, I listen to the Guardian footy podcasts.

 

James Richardson should have got the MOTD2 gig rather than that gimp Colin.

[Monkeys Fist 39148]

Fuck calling NUFC, get your apology in the same form as the original article - in your newspaper!!

 

As a season-ticket holder back then I can safely say there was no evidence of 'something in the air' or 'undercurrent' arising from signing Cole. He may well be alluding to the shit Tony Cunningham had to endure but that was because he was fucking shit rather than anything of a racist element. It certainly was no worse than the abuse Rob McDonald and Frank Pingel endured.

 

And lets not forget - NUFC, the first English club to embrace a Brazilian. Course we were a 'racist' club.

 

This bloke Taylor is a fucking idiot.... and a clueless one at that!!

I might be wrong, but weren't we the first League club to field foriegn players i.e. The Robledo brothers (Chilean) in the '50s?

Edited May 29, 2010 by Monkeys Fist

[mrkikiet 0]

and from the journalist himself:

 

Dear Lesley,

 

Sorry to land you with so many protests from Newcastle United fans during my absence in Crete. This is a new experience for me. In 18 years writing for the Guardian, I think I’ve appeared in the corrections column twice before.

I’ve just been back over my voice recorder and the comments made by Simon Taylor, Chelsea FC’s head of corporate responsibility. We’d been talking about the club’s attempts to unearth young Asian talent through its Search for An Asian Star initiative. I was struck by Taylor’s commitment to what I initially assumed was a PR stunt. It emerged that he’s married to an Indian woman and feels quite strongly that football has a role to play in breaking down racial barriers. (All this was in the original 900 word piece that evidently had to be cut back to fit into the only space available on the day.) It struck me that Chelsea and football generally had moved on considerably from the ‘70s and ‘80s when the National Front was active on the terraces at Stamford Bridge and elsewhere, stirring up abuse against black players. When I mentioned this to Taylor, he said: “I remember being at Newcastle when Andy Cole played his first game and there were protests outside the stadium.”

I asked him whether or not he was at the game and he said no. He was a student at the time but it was evidently a talking point locally. I then went on to point out that he [Cole] became a hero among Newcastle fans. And Taylor replied: “Overnight. He scored a hat-trick in his first game.”

It’s a while since I wrote this piece but I do remember putting “Andy Cole’s debut for Newcastle United” into Google to check. A lot came up about Cole and Newcastle but nothing about his debut. I decided to keep in the quote, however, because it fitted in well with the original 900-word piece and made the point that black players like Cole had won over crowds through the brilliance of their performances, and there’s no reason why Asian players shouldn’t one day do the same if they’re given a chance.

It turns out that Cole scored on his home debut, but not a hat trick. That’s factually wrong and I’m sorry. As for the protest, Taylor had made the point that it happened OUTSIDE the ground. Many of those Guardian readers who have written in to complain were at the game, but nobody can be aware of what’s happening in all the streets around a ground. It may have been a few racist diehards. Newcastle certainly had its share in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and I don’t suppose they evaporated completely in the early ‘90s. A good pal of mine, who supports the club (and reads the Guardian) told me that he was embarrassed by the abuse aimed at opposition black players, home and away. Magpies fans weren’t the only ones by any means, but – as ever – they were louder than most. Newcastle is a great club with passionate supporters and they’ve since heaped their adulation on to black folk heroes such as Faustino Asprilla and Les Ferdinand.. Andy Cole emerged at a time when attitudes were beginning to change and the Kick It Out campaign emerged in earnest. That’s why I kept in Taylor’s quote.

 

Yours apologetically,

 

Chris

[Wavey Davey 0]

and from the journalist himself:

 

Dear Lesley,

 

Sorry to land you with so many protests from Newcastle United fans during my absence in Crete. This is a new experience for me. In 18 years writing for the Guardian, I think I’ve appeared in the corrections column twice before.

I’ve just been back over my voice recorder and the comments made by Simon Taylor, Chelsea FC’s head of corporate responsibility. We’d been talking about the club’s attempts to unearth young Asian talent through its Search for An Asian Star initiative. I was struck by Taylor’s commitment to what I initially assumed was a PR stunt. It emerged that he’s married to an Indian woman and feels quite strongly that football has a role to play in breaking down racial barriers. (All this was in the original 900 word piece that evidently had to be cut back to fit into the only space available on the day.) It struck me that Chelsea and football generally had moved on considerably from the ‘70s and ‘80s when the National Front was active on the terraces at Stamford Bridge and elsewhere, stirring up abuse against black players. When I mentioned this to Taylor, he said: “I remember being at Newcastle when Andy Cole played his first game and there were protests outside the stadium.”

I asked him whether or not he was at the game and he said no. He was a student at the time but it was evidently a talking point locally. I then went on to point out that he [Cole] became a hero among Newcastle fans. And Taylor replied: “Overnight. He scored a hat-trick in his first game.”

It’s a while since I wrote this piece but I do remember putting “Andy Cole’s debut for Newcastle United” into Google to check. A lot came up about Cole and Newcastle but nothing about his debut. I decided to keep in the quote, however, because it fitted in well with the original 900-word piece and made the point that black players like Cole had won over crowds through the brilliance of their performances, and there’s no reason why Asian players shouldn’t one day do the same if they’re given a chance.

It turns out that Cole scored on his home debut, but not a hat trick. That’s factually wrong and I’m sorry. As for the protest, Taylor had made the point that it happened OUTSIDE the ground. Many of those Guardian readers who have written in to complain were at the game, but nobody can be aware of what’s happening in all the streets around a ground. It may have been a few racist diehards. Newcastle certainly had its share in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and I don’t suppose they evaporated completely in the early ‘90s. A good pal of mine, who supports the club (and reads the Guardian) told me that he was embarrassed by the abuse aimed at opposition black players, home and away. Magpies fans weren’t the only ones by any means, but – as ever – they were louder than most. Newcastle is a great club with passionate supporters and they’ve since heaped their adulation on to black folk heroes such as Faustino Asprilla and Les Ferdinand.. Andy Cole emerged at a time when attitudes were beginning to change and the Kick It Out campaign emerged in earnest. That’s why I kept in Taylor’s quote.

 

Yours apologetically,

 

Chris

 

 

Strangely, it doesn't feel much like an apology.

 

"Well it must have happened. MUST have." Nice one, mate. Cheers.

 

And what's this 'louder than most', shite? Backhanded complement at best. "We may be racist but we can shout 'WOG' better than any other fan!"

[ewerk 26773]

Well if no one can disprove it then it must be true.

 

If that's the level of evidence required for journalists today...

[Guest alex]

Given the response above I fail to see how they can even argue the protests were relevent. Unless of course it was just a lie to make a point. Shocking really, as the article clearly implies Cole won over fans who were hostile to him because he was black by scoring goals. But par for the course with journos I suppose.

Edited June 2, 2010 by alex

[manc-mag 1]

Taylor wasn't even at the game now apparently.