The boot on the other foot.
Manchester United beat Chelsea 2-1 at Old Trafford today, putting the reds firmly back in the title race with just two games to go. If the semi-finals go in their favour, these two clubs could also be meeting in the Champions League final in Moscow, which is now less than a month away.
Initial reports suggest there had been some bust up after the match. Several Chelsea players, including John Terry, Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack, were at the scene, when usually mild-mannered Florent Malouda tore in to one of the United groundstaff.
The problem arose after the groundstaff oddly came on to the pitch to mow the lawn after the game had finished, with one groundstaff member in particular, Ben Sethell, make comments to Malouda.
Assistant manager, Steve Clarke, club captain, John Terry, as well as Michael Ballack and youngster Franco Di Santo, all claim that a racist slur has been used.
Manchester United confessed Sethell did verbally abuse Malouda, but strongly deny any accusations of racism. The club claim Sethell called Malouda a “fucking idiot”, whilst Clarke, Terry, Ballack and Di Santo all insist they heard “fucking immigrant”.
Are these well respected Chelsea members all falsely making an accusation of racism? What purpose would this serve? Malouda will be charged by the FA for the fracas whether a racist slur was used or not, so surely a group of Chelsea representative, assistant manager and club captain included, would not lie, especially about something so serious?
The alternative is that these four men all misheard what Sethell said, which again, is entirely unlikely, particularly when you consider that the words ‘idiot’ and ‘immigrant’ do not sound alike.
The FA have a difficult job on their hands now, as without audio recordings of this incident, they are going to have to take people’s word, on sworn oath, as the truth. Do they believe one member of the United groundstaff, who has every reason to lie and claim he wasn’t racist, or do they believe the four members of Chelsea FC, who have no reason to lie? The answer seems fairly obvious.
Whatever the result, let’s hope the FA handle this enquiry appropriately, so the ‘Kick Racism Out of Football’ message is heard loud and clear.
Whatever the club and whoever the player involved, if the assistant manager (e.g. Mike Phelan), captain (e.g. Gary Neville), as well as other members of the team (e.g. Carlos Tevez and Gerard Pique) all claim that a member of groundstaff said something racist, that claim should stand. Four men can’t all mishear the same word in the exact same way, so essentially, the FA are saying those four men are liars. Those four men fabricated a story to claim someone was racist when they weren’t.
I for one cannot get my head around the idea that Chelsea fans are calling Evra all the names under the sun, also calling him a liar. What is Bethell to them? I’d totally understand their fans supporting the case if it was Lampard who had allegedly made the racist remarks, but why on earth would they take the word of some Millwall-supporting thug over the likes of Phelan and Tevez?
If John Terry, amongst his team mates, claimed a racist attack occurred, would the FA call him a liar? If Steven Gerrard, amongst his team mates, claimed the same, would the FA call him a liar?
There is no audio recording of this incident, meaning the FA have taken Sam Bethell’s word over Phelan, Neville, Tevez and Pique. The FA are saying Phelan, Neville, Tevez and Pique all decided to get together and construct a story to accuse someone of being racist.
FUCK THE FA!
Read this Chelsea fan’s take on the Evra incident.
once again it’s united versus the corrupt FA, this is just one of many incidents over the years where the FA have shown
extreme punishment towards Manchester United, how come when
Sir Alex Ferguson told the referee face to face what he thought of his performance he got a touch line ban and a fine of several thousand pounds
but when Phil Scholari told the world on live tv that the referee had robbed them of a win against Arsenal he got sweet FA, i’ve no grudge against big Phil it’s just them bent b’stds at the FA.
Basically Evra played the race card and got found out. Scumbag end of……Fully derserves the 4 match ban.
If you can send me a link to the source (initial reports as you state) that shows all those people say there was a racist slur then I will be first on here to apologise.
I await the link…..
Terry – Racism is allowed to exist because of people like you. You side with the racist and assume the black guy is making it all up. That’s the Chelsea way though I suppose, with your Nazi salutes at matches and the like.
“Manchester United’s assistant manager, Mike Phelan, has emerged as the source of the complaint that Patrice Evra was racially abused by the Chelsea groundsman Sam Bethell in the fracas that erupted after United’s Premier League game at Stamford Bridge last April.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/02/premierleague.manchesterunited
“Patrice received a grave insult from a member of Chelsea’s staff. He demanded an explanation and, from that moment, these men just wanted to attack Patrice.” (unless you thinking calling someone is an ‘idiot’, like your club claim, is a ‘grave insult’)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2298736/Chelsea-staff-aimed-%27grave-insult%27-at-Evra.html
In a long season,even a long lifetime,there will be many occasions where we as a club will feel wronged,mis treated or victimised.
That is what makes us the greatest football club in the world ,despite the efforts of the FA we continue year after year to dominate english fotball in a way never seen before,and probably never again.
But that is why all these other tossers from rival clubs come on to this website to try and convince themselves that one day the word will stop turning and they may well become the greatst club in the world.
It isnt going to happen my friend.
Theres only one Man United.
“Whatever the club and whoever the player involved, if the assistant manager (e.g. Mike Phelan), captain (e.g. Gary Neville), as well as other members of the team (e.g. Carlos Tevez and Gerard Pique) all claim that a member of groundstaff said something racist, that claim should stand. Four men can’t all mishear the same word in the exact same way, so essentially, the FA are saying those four men are liars. Those four men fabricated a story to claim someone was racist when they weren’t.”
So your four men was actually one then eh?
Manchester United confessed Sethell did verbally abuse Malouda, but strongly deny any accusations of racism. The club claim Sethell called Malouda a “fucking idiot”, whilst Clarke, Terry, Ballack and Di Santo all insist they heard “fucking immigrant”.
Send me the report link that shows that Clarke, Terry Ballack etc all heard the insult?
Not a racist son just dont believe everything I read in the press and especially when you start to make up your own lies. Is it not contradictory when you accuse the FA of being liars when your own site peddles such lies?
Do yourself a favour and stick to the FACTS as established under oath and not inital newpaper reports that were subsequently rubbished by a Mancunian (Kenyon)
Wise words Vinnie, wise words.
Let me just echo the sentiment of Scott…Fuck the FA, and all the dusty old cunts that run it. Hard as they try, they will never bring us down. Biased, unethical, toothless old cunts, the lot of them.
The only conclusion out of this is that not only they are anti Man Utd and are trying to hand the title to scumbags in a plate, but ‘people’ at the FA have revealed themselves as RACISTas well.
Terry – EFC. Why don’t you fuck off you racist cunt.
terry you thick fuck, he’s writing a roles-reversed report. Hypothetical what would the fa do if the boot is on the other foot. All four were mentioned in press reports, but don’t believe it. It’s turned into a our word against their’s and bethel’s groundsmen pals have all stuck up for him. Defend him all you like kid but its funny he calls evra an immigrant when the bloke when the bloke who pays his wages is as well
What we need to understand is that the FA have had enough of us winning the league and this is designed to help the dipper cunts win the league again. And if it means handicapping us by banning the worlds best left-back then that is what they will do. Sam Bethall is a fat S.O.B cunt, and all Chelsea fans are Nazi rent boy cunts. Fuck the FA.
I was racially abused and beleive me i wont blame evra coz he attacked this cunt and i’m sure that he was racialy abused i dont think evra will attack every one calls him idiot
.evra will be back 4 the chelski game i hope he scores a winner just to screw thim
FUCK THE FA FUCK RACISTS AND FUCK CHELSKI
These damned rent boys just dont get it do they……. All of them sluts of that fucking russian immigrant……
Evra did do wrong but I feel the punishment is far too harsh in relationship to the piddly fine Chelsea have to pay In fact it is Man Utd the club that is being punished A very strange ruling by the F A
Didn’t Drogba only get three games for throwing that coin into the crowd? So let me get this straight, the Chelsea player who on live tv throws a coin into the stands gets less than a United player who reacted to (even if it wasn’t rascist-which I doubt) abusive language?! That is completely ridiculous. Drogba threw the coin at innocent fans whereas Evra was giving a racist prick what he had coming to him
Jesus its a real love in here isn’t it.
Do you really think that your club is victimised and persecuted by the FA?
It’s that kind of mentality that actually encourages, stimulates and ultimately justifies prejudiced or racist behaviour in the eyes of the perpertrator.
My comments will be dismissed by some of you because I am Arsenal fan and therefore my opinion carries no weight with you. But that’s the point, that’s the same mentality of a racist only in a different context………
Any United fans in this blog?
Gooner77: so whats your excuse this team, unless you’re a glory hunting Arsenal fan who now supports Chelsea??? Scurry along to your Arse blog, Arsenal wasn’t mentioned anywhere in this, so I wonder how it popped up on your newsnow page
There we go OTRed, your a case in point.
Fuck off gooner77, so if someone insited any of your first 11 by calling them a fucking immigrant which your captain, assistant manager and 2 other first team players heard and made a statement for, only for them to be made out as liars. Would you be writing on an aresenal blog saying we shouldn’t be playing the race card chaps. quit trying to point score you lame fuck
And there you go as well Sam.
It’s ok for you to talk to me like that, but include a couple of a racist swearwords and surely we would be having an inquest here. Do you ever wonder what breeds racism, hatred etc?
You obviously failed to grasp any of what I wrote in my previous post. My points were about people/clubs with persecution complexes and the irony of fans from different clubs abusing one another whilst discussing the very issue of racist abuse and that abuse in any form (just like that dished out today at Eboue at my club) is pretty unsavoury.
As for the Evra incident, I agree it is odd the way it has turned out, but I would not say that the FA have vendetta against your club. More likely that they got this one wrong or in the worst case scenario, are incompetent!!
Oh and by the way, just because I don’t support your team, doesn’t mean I don’t find the abuse dished out to Evra equally disgusting as I would if it were a player from any team.
i understand what your saying but you can have hatred between clubs without getting racist. i’ve stood in the stands and listened to people shouting filth to the oppostitions black players while we have black players fighting for the cause but racism is that of shit for brains. This day in age racism is not accepted and when you have an fa which kicks up a fuss when england players are abused you expect them to deal with accordingly. Now if you read the article and then think about this case you can understand how a siege mentality is created, which as an arsenal fan i’m sure your not foreign to.
shit, go to the other article, under FA and lucky luck chelsea, then you’ll understand why we are
Gooner77 – it’s funny that you would called people on here morons, whilst being moronic enough to think United fans would say the FA are anti-United because of this one incident.
As it is obvious your obsession with this place has yet to subside, I’ll point you in the direction of further articles to back up our points.
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/lets-just-look-at-what-a-joke-the-fa-lucky-lucky-chelsea/
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/fa-vs-united-why-arsenal-players-escaped-punishment/
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/united-disrespected-the-fa-cup/
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/are-the-fa-having-a-laugh-rio-vs-barton/
Referees make heat of the moment decisions which will fall in United’s favour (and Arsenal’s, Chelsea’s, Liverpool’s…). The point is on too many occasions the FA, after having time to deliberate over a decision, punish United more harshly than anyone else. That is fact, not opinion or paranoia.
piss of gooner moron. Dont come here and lecture us about the differences between bigotry and racism (That is what you are trying to say is it not you half wit). By suggesting that we are not validated in our affront to the clearly bigoted and racist F.a. ruling u are making light of the racial denegration of evra. Making you a racist, the worst kind who hides behind a hood you coward. Didnt know there was so much Klan influence at the emirates. At Manchester we stand up for our brothers in red no matter the colour.
Logically the f.a. clearly support racism as long as you have the rubels to pay for it. At the f.a. rich racists are ok apparently??
Gooner 77: Even got on your own players back Eboue and booed him off after only coming on as a sub. Souless racist cunts.
Please don’t twist what I wrote MarkedMan, I’m don’t want to get into a debate on the minute differences between bigotry and racism. My point was that I have abuse hurled at me if I post here, yet I haven’t insulted anyone or called them morons(Scott take note please). Yet I get called all manner of names. How is that acceptable?
My other point was not to question whether Evra was racially abused or not, it was to say that there is a portion of fans at every club who think that their club is persecuted. I mean for gods sake Arsenal fans still bleat on about the validity of Rooneys penalty against us when we lost our unbeaten run and I find that pathetic too. What goes around comes around.
@King Eric, yes did you not see me reference Eboue’s booing? I find it appalling too and am ashamed that those idiots support the same club as me. But again this is the point, I don’t show blind faith towards players and fans from my club simply because they are Arsenal. Blind faith in certain people and institutions is one of the catalyst for racism and bigotry. All clubs have a section of fans who are idiots. Oh and for the record Eboue being booed was not racist, it was mob mentality abuse of a player who most fans don’t like and it was disgusting, but not racist.
Funny thing about this role reversal thing is that when Drogba and Lampard were constantly verbally abused by the NF support of Burnley fans recently there wasn’t a single word about it from any of the Chelsea players.
So as funny as you seem to think this role reversal thing is, the fact is that no Chelsea player would demean themselves to whinge like girls the way you’re doing here.
Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves that you use the race card and then get caught out for lying? Phelan comes into that category (and Neville, Evra, Tevez etc too).
Shameful behaviour.
Squiddy – I think it’s funny that you would side with a Millwall supporting racist.
Oh, and before you throw that inane ‘funny that you would side with a Millwall supporting racist’ slur at me please note that it has now been proven that he isn’t a racist, that the United staff and players were either mistaken or deliberately lied, that many of them didn’t even back up the ‘racism’ allegation in the first place (including Evra himself) and that you have generally seen to act dishonestly, dishonourably and disgracefully.
So stop defending a proven liar like Mike Phelan and admit you got this one wrong.
(Incidentally, if there was a role reversal here are you saying you would absolutely and honestly take the word of Terry, Lampard and Steve Clarke over the United personalities involved, or would you accuse them of lying and then gloat when the FA proved you to be correct? Just wondering…)
Peter – if JT, Lampard and Steve Clarke all said they’d heard one of our groundstaff who supported Liverpool calling one of your black players “a fucking immigrant” I’d want the club to distance themselves from that member of groundstaff as quickly as possible. But then the roots of our club aren’t intertwined with racism like Chelsea’s are.
Just because the United players couldn’t PROVE that Bethell called Evra a “fucking immigrant” that doesn’t make them proven liars, you idiot.
spot on scott wth your final coment..spot on