“All Craig has done is go over there and tell the guy to get off the pitch,” said Mark Hughes. “Craig wasn’t privy to how much time was left to enable us to get back into the game. The guy made an aggressive move towards him and Craig wanted to get him off the pitch. Craig just put a defensive hand out to push him away. You can never be quite sure what is going to happen in those situations.”
Oh Sparky, what have they done to you?
Turned you in to a total cunt? Sadly, it seems so. One week he is defending Adebayor for that savage kick on Van Persie (it’s hard to feel much sympathy for that horrible Arsenal git, it doesn’t change the fact Adebayor’s actions were fucking horrible!) and now he has the nerve to defend Bellamy for hitting a fan! It’s embarrassing.
If the fan was running wild, getting in the City players’ faces and looking aggressive, there would have been cause for Bellamy to ‘tell the guy to get off the pitch’.
However, the fan was being restrained by two stewards at the time, about to be lead off the pitch, before Bellamy ran over to him. At this point, the fan had no choice over what he was going to do, getting off the pitch or otherwise, as he had his arms wrapped around his back, so what use was Bellamy’s command? And I suppose repeatedly shouting “get off the fucking pitch you fucking knobhead!” is the command Hughes is referring to.
Bellamy had no place being there. He got himself involved in a situation that had nothing to do with him. How the fuck can a guy with his arms held tight behind his back by two people ‘make an aggressive move’?
Hughes is right when he says that ‘you’re never sure what is going to happen in these situations’. That’s why any player with half a brain cell wouldn’t have charged over to the fan. Say the fan was capable of behaving in an aggressive manner (which he wasn’t, given that he was being restrained), who’s fault is it that Bellamy is in that situation?
As if Bellamy behaving like a thug wasn’t embarrassing enough but for the manager of the club to then defend him takes it to a whole new level. Money can’t buy you class, eh Sparky lad?
The FA got the decision wrong and again let City off, so I was curious as to what City fans felt about this ridiculous behaviour so I had a chat with City blogger Jack and Danny Pugsly from Bitter and Blue about the situation.
STR: What do you think of Bellamy running over to hit the restrained fan?
J P-B: Bellamy was stupid to go up to the fan and slap him when he was being restrained, no question.
DP: It’s strange in a way because given the drama in how the game ended, there hasn’t been anywhere near the focus on the incident, especially with it being Craig Bellamy, there would have been had the game been a dour 0-0 draw. That’s not to excuse what he did however as the facts are that he has hit someone in the face and a three-game ban should have been the punishment handed out. The news that he hasn’t been charged frankly shows the FA to be incompetent given the fact they deem Adebayor’s conduct during his goal celebration are a more serious offence than striking a fan.
STR: What do you think of City’s decision not to punish him and instead excuse him for hitting a fan in the face?
DP: Hughes is clearly trying foster a ‘them against us’ siege mentality which started with some very negative press from some of the less than reputable elements of the media leading upto the season. This has continued with the Adebayor, injury time and Bellamy incidents. To be fair, it has worked to great success for sides in the past. Maybe you would want your club to make some sort of moral stance but rightly or wrongly, I don’t see our actions to not dish out any punishment any different than any other club would react when defending their own interests. If he had been charged, I think without question they would have defended him to the hilt. However, given he hasn’t been, you’d hope there would be a sense of relief that he won’t miss any games but that there is a strong conversation between Hughes/the club and Bellamy outlying a conduct of behaviour that is/isnt acceptable as we really could do without any PR faux-pa’s such as this.
J P-B: I’m sure Hughes and Bowen will give him a dressing down in private. On form he’s our second best forward and we would have missed him if he got banned. But I don’t think a fine or ban from MCFC would be correct, given that he’s likely to get that from the FA.
STR: Ok, but do you not think it could send out the wrong message for the club to publicly back a player who had punched/slapped a fan in the face, regardless of the fact the fan ran on to the pitch (but not to Bellamy)? United banned Cantona for 4 months for kicking the fan and the FA added another 5 months to it. Whilst Hughes may very well bollock Bellamy behind closed doors, does it not show publicly that the club have no problems with one of their players punching a fan who runs on to the pitch? That was essentially what Hughes’ post-match comments said anyway, as well as a further statement yesterday (when he no longer has the ‘heat of the moment’ as an excuse), which both completely justify Bellamy’s actions.
J P-B: I see your point but I’m not convinced by it. I appreciate that there are cases when player violence is so bad that it warrants a pre-emptive club punishment. Cantona is the best example but we have previous too: Ben Thatcher’s ten match ban for his shameful assault on Pedro Mendes was issued by MCFC and not be the FA. So there are certainly cases when an incident has brought such shame on the club that the club has to take the first move. But I’m just not convinced that this is one of those cases. Bellamy slapping the fan was nasty and uneccessary, and revealed an unpleasant side to Bellamy’s character that we knew was there. But it was of a different nature to Thatcher on Mendes or Cantona on the Palace fan. So it’s not worth a club punishment.
STR: But I suppose that was under a different regime, where you didn’t have Mark Hughes bending to his ‘superstars’ and big egos. City didn’t care if Thatcher got pissed off with the club for not supporting him, but given Bellamy and Adebayor are your best strikers, Hughes will certainly want to keep them onside, even if that does include defending the indefensible. It seems totally bizarre to me that any manager would excuse that kind of behaviour in public, whatever is said behind closed doors. But moving on, do you think this comparable to what Eric Cantona did at Selhurst Park?
DP: Not at all. I think they are two very seperate incidents. From what we know about the two, Cantona is likely to have received a far greater and more personal level of abuse, but equally, his reaction was far in excess and more severe than Bellamy’s, which looked to be somewhere halfway between a push and a punch. I’m not sure Bellamy is likely to be Canonised anytime soon as a result either!
J P-B: Well it’s comparable on only the most obvious level of being examples of player on fan violence. But no further. First there’s the issue of invasion. When Eric Cantona kicked Matthew Simmons he was invading the fans’ area, where he had no right to be. Bellamy’s slap was not an invasion but a reaction against the invasion of Jake Joseph Clarke. And then there’s the content of the violence. I don’t want to see a slap in the face or a flying kung-fu kick to the chest at a football match. Slapping a restrained man is very unedifying. But to suggest that the two are equivalent risks trivialising the serious nature of the kick.
STR: Whilst I completely agree the violence in Cantona’s attack was worse, there is a big difference in that he was actually provoked. The fan was calling him a motherfucking French bastard, a French son of a whore etc. (according to the witnesses around the fan and to Cantona himself), served prison time for the offence, was banned from football and fined for his behaviour directed at Cantona. Cantona then reacted to that behaviour – that doesn’t make it OK, but it explains why it happened. What reason was for there for Bellamy to run over to a fan that was already restrained and hit him in the face? Whilst the fan will be punished for running on the pitch, there will be no punishment for anything he directed at Bellamy, because he didn’t do anything to Bellamy. Is that element of it not far worse than Cantona’s, as it was a totally unprovoked attack and the fan posed no threat, verbally or physically, to Bellamy himself?
J P-B: Again I accept your point that Bellamy did not obviously receive abuse equivalent to that of Cantona. But Cantona chose of his own free will to kick the fan, as Bellamy chose freely himself. Footballers have a stronger power of agency than that which we attribute to them. Take coin throwing. In recent years Didier Drogba and Jamie Carragher have had coins thrown at them and have chosen to throw them back. Javier Garrido was hit by a coin thrown from the Stretford End on Sunday, and could have thrown it back. But he chose not to. Footballers – even footballers being abused – still have free will. So I don’t accept that the provocation issue makes the Bellamy slap and Cantona kick morally equivalent.
STR: The difference with coin throwing is that, like Drogba, the coin is thrown at anyone. If someone is verbally abusing you and you choose to kick them, you’ve made the wrong choice because two wrongs don’t make a right, but nobody innocent has got involved (BNP and National Front man Simmons, who’d have killed a Sri Lankan petrol station worker had it not been for a slip which saw the spanner he was attacking the guy with smack in to his shoulder, rather than the intended target, his head, was never going to be an innocent party). Whilst I’d agree players can’t go around kicking fans, or hitting them, there has been a lot of talk of ‘if you can’t take it, don’t give it out’, particularly since the Adebayor celebration. The lad who Bellamy punched didn’t give anything out though, he just ran on to the pitch! Bellamy behaved like a thug, whilst Cantona literally was kicking racism out of football…No?
Man Utd News 24/7
Nice one Scott – When it comes to Bellamy it is hard to defend the indefesible.
The FA (again) got it wrong.
I would like to hear what the FAs logic was when making their decision.
They have set a precedent now and what will happen when the next paying customer is slapped by one of the performers.
He(Jake) did not even abuse bellamy..he just 4-3 mate
i guess the stewards shouldve caught hold of belland instead of jake..bellamy posed a greater threat than him..and i cant believe hughes is standing up for all this shit!! agreed they lost but even if it had turned out to be a draw it doesnt change the fact that bellamy slapped a guy across the face who was already being detaineed by three burly stewards..dont think bellamy wouldve slapped him if Jake was not being held by the stewards..would’ve run to hughes complaining like a little girl!! and what Cantona did at selhurst park cannot be compared to this situation at all..he was individually picked out and provoked..bellamy is no great footballer to be individually picked out..he is just an attention craving whore!!
Bellamy is a renown thug! Remember what he did to his team mate(Riise) in Spain whilst playing for the dippers. The FA is a completely mess and inconsistent in meting out punishment. Why should the rules be different for other teams? Am sick and tired of these people!!
(it’s hard to feel much sympathy for that horrible Arsenal git, it doesn’t change the fact Adebayor’s actions were fucking horrible!) -
Are you seriously mental not to feel sympathy for a footballer whose eyes were nearly gouged out by a stupid fuckwit ? I wish you were more responsible with your blogging
And what if Bellamy had done that to a United player? That would have been a three match ban straigth away. Is hitting a player worse than hitting a fan?
That Bellamy got of with a minor slap on the wrist is a disgrace!
Should have been banned for a minimum of three games, probably more because he had no reason to get involved in the first place, and he wasn’t provoked.
Off topic. Will Hargreaves join training tomorrow?
This is ridicules. FA is actually saying: to provoke the fans to hit them self or the stewards, is not good, and you might be given a ban for that (the Adebayor celebration). But if you hit the fan yourself while the stewards is holding him, then its okay.
the world has gone mad. Liverpool players can smack people in nightclubs, City players can get away with stomping on a fellow professional with clear malicious intention and only get three games, and they can also go about whacking fans with no fear whatsoever of reprisal.
the FA needs to take a long hard look at the operation they are running, because I am swiftly losing any semblance of respect I had for them.
Fucking hell Sparky, you fucking daft sod.
How can he deffend Bellend and Adywhore????
Then there is Arse Wenger and his blind faith with Eduado (spelling). And he talks about anti football.
And Evra gets a fucking ban for being called a fucking imigrant with no witness to say he did anything.
Manchester United > fucking FA.
Imagine if Rooney ran half the pitch to slap someone. Fucking ABU press would be over him like a rash.
Slaps a flag last year and it was all about him being a thug. St Steve of fucking Me slaps someone around a night club and it’s all poor stevie and his ordeal.
Jake gets a ban from entering ot, bellend gets of wiv a warning crazy. of topic sol campbel has left notts county after only 1 match lol
Hughes is a cunt. He’s been a whiny little bitch at Blackburn.
Now he’s getting even louder.
Oh, the smile on my face when I hear he’s been sacked….!
Signs that Hughes is learning fast. I mean, when did you ever see Ferguson criticising one of his players in public?
Bellamy’s actions were just plain crazy, he does seem a bit unhinged and we couldn’t have complained if he’d got a ban. But you do have to look at this in the whole context of the game, the rivalry etc. Lots of people were doing the winding up – Fergie and G.Neville included. Others were getting wound up. No wonder things go a bit crazy.
Here we have an otherwise intelligent website calling our manager ‘a cunt’. Is that not provocative?
When you watch the clip again http://www.epltalk.com/craig-bellamy-punches-a-man-united-fan-video/11293 you can clearly see that Jake is NOT running at Bellamy directly. In his own words he said he didn’t actually know what he was doing but found himself on the pitch in the ‘crush’ of the goal celebrations as he was leaving the stadium. He was just aimlessly running to celebrate with any red shirted hero he could.
Bellamy can be quite clearly seen on the half way line with BALL IN HAND but as the camera pans to jake you can clearly see the ball come flying past the incident. So who threw that in discust firstly? Secondly when Jake is brought to his feet he has 4 yes 4 stewards holding him. Bellamy has now walked approx 20 yards to make his slap.
Had he simply ‘raised’ his hands in the game to any player the stance would be “yeah, a soft slap but the boy knows he can’t raise his hands and it’s a justified red!”
What’s the difference??
PS. Would love to know what Jake threw the second he was rugby tackled though!!
Why do shitty have 3 stars on their crest?
@READ CAREFULLY WHAT I Said
- i think it would be equally interesting to know the reasoning why barry chuckle’s actions have been glossed over with little more than a verbal slap on the wrists.
Found himself on the pitch in the crush of leaving the stadium? LMFAO!!!!
Cheers pal, that has got to be the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long while, even from one of the comedians on your side of things.
P.S. If raising your hands on the pitch is such a huge offense then perhaps you’d like to join me in demanding ferdinand get a three match ban for trying to strangle Bellamy in the same incident? Hat’s off to Rooney for defusing the situation and standing up for a fellow professional no matter what colour shirt he was wearing. Pity the stewards at yours didn’t feel the need to defend Tevez from the coing throwing thugs eh?
If you think this is bad: Read this.
http://onemanunited.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/hughes-turning-out-to-be-the-new/
This person suggested it!
@fithcolumnblue (or Pal!)
I said it as ‘HIS’ words, not MINE. It was HIS defence. He said he was ‘pushed over the barrier’ in the celebrations.
As far as I am concerned he shouldn’t have been there but I suppose he is entitled to his version if Bellamy is entitled to say it was self defense!
I’m just glad I was not sat near the pitch because I finished 4 rows (& about 10 seats to left) of my seat as I down right milked it!!! Now Piss off back to the stone you crawled from!
Bellamy was a JackAss for running to the fan and a dumbass for pushing/slapping/striking him in the face. But here is a lesson for fans, if you are not a player, official or training staff, stay off the fucking pitch you wanker! Bellamy is a hot head. Not sure he is a thug, though Riise might dissagree. I have loved his goals so far and he is working his arse off on the pitch, doing whatever Hughes asks him to do so as a fan I excuse some of his idiosyncrasies (sp). Do I think he deserves a banning for it? Nope. Is it comparable to Cantona’s Bruce Lee imatation? Not even close. The FA asked the Official of the match if he would have sent Bellamy off, the official said no. That was good enough for the FA. Let’s get over it. I don’t blame the Official for adding extra time. The game was a cracker! The reason City lost is that they made mistakes on defense, (so did United) only difference, City made the last mistake at the worst time…. I hope my boys in blue learn form this and push on to play better. See you all in April (or in the C Cup final….). also, one of you stated that they couldn’t recall of SAF (aka alcohol nose) ever cutting up his own players in the press. He defends them like they are his own kids. Hughes has learned from the best in the business right now and is doing the same.
Oops forgot to comment on the coin throwing thugs!
Plural, as in more than one, many, multiple, the entire streford end, the entire stadium?
Well the ONE nob head who did throw it derserves to be caught and castrated (asuming male!) but how I ask does a steward protect that from happening in the first place?
Maybe one steward per fan?!?
What a bunch of pansies. The fact is, it was nothing like a punch, barely a slap, a gentle admonishment at worst, for impeding play, this being the reason the FA have, wisely for once, chosen to let the incident pass. And if the public support Sparky gives to his players makes him a “cunt”, then it only sets him aside every other premiership manager, who would have done exactly the same. Keith Richards has done exactly the same, and explains it thus – step on my turf, you’re going down. here here.
The Bellamy incident is a non story, and serves only to satisfy the snowballing tabloid attention, the sports editors of which seem to be momentarily in accord that the rest of the league is so dull that the blues are the only news worthy team this week.
(ps alright Puggs? long time no see, enjoying your sporadic Observer contributions )
RobZero – right name for a City fan – wrong blog though for your pontificating nonsense post. The zero in your name is exactly what your overhyped players got in the end! Anyone who believes the Bellamy incident is a non story is kidding himself. Little trembler Bellamy shat himself when Rio and Sheasy intervened. He could onlly cuff a United fan who was already restrained. If the lad had been free, and had belted Bellamy knocking him into kingdom come, then it would have been Bellamy’s just rewards for sticking his feckin nose in where it don’t belong. However you look at it, Bellamy cuffed a restrained fan, and when was that deemed ok? Only by out of control City personnel and fans!
Blue Yank – stay off this fucking blog YOU WANKER! Kapisch?
fifthcolumnblue- hahahahaha – Rooney had to step in, because Bellamy was shitting himself with fear. No stewards were restraining Rio you see. Poor little trembler Bellamy, only attacks other players with golf clubs and women in night clubs. City fans should be so proud of him eh?
Mick Travis – it was Mark Hughes who was getting wound up mate, every time United scored a goal – he was thunderous. When City scored he was on the touchline going bonkers. Fergie sat down most of the game, and only came to the touchline just before City scored their 3rd goal – he was passing instructions to the coaches about subs. When the 4th goal went in – well the TRIUMPH had to be celebrated, and would have been the same if it had been the other way around, as you well know! Mark Hughes and your players cannot cope with the top 4 stress, and it is showing in wanton behaviour, and the season only just begun.
I will say this for you though Mick Travis – your the only rational City fan with intelligence to visit this blog today!
Im home
And i just got a Jake Clarke chant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-aLXCOpKtw&
I saw a post on another topic that said it was time we stopped referring to Hughes as “Sparky”.
“Sparky” was a player that give his all for United. Hughes is just a bluenose twat who’s trying to build a name for himself by “standing up to SAF” When he’s won even a tenth of what Fergie’s won he might have earned the right to make a comment.
He will never have the right to redicule him.
Join me …. SPARKY is dead to this site.
Just to play the devil’s advocate here…
Cantona’s incident strikes me as far more severe simply because of the location. If it happens in the stands, where players aren’t supposed to go, then I think the punishment has to be harsh. In other words, if I’m in my paid for seat yelling at the players , and a player comes into the stands to kick me. I will feel far more wronged then if I go on to the pitch (where I’m not supposed to go) and have a physical altercation.
That being said, a three match ban at the minimum should be handed to Bellamy. I’m aghast that the FA has chosen to ignore this incident. The FA simply has to be consistent to be taken seriously. In this particular instance, I really think that they made a mistake given Bellamy’s well documented behavioral problems. This isn’t the first time he’s lost control of himself, and if he continues to go unpunished it won’t be the last.
O!What have they given to you,Mark Hughes,our “brother”.This where the same fans that supported you while you were winning the trophies you will win as far as the red and blue manchester is concerned.Maybe,thats why judas betrayed Jesus
The first question Hughes was asked when he became city manager was
” how do you think united fans will fell about this”
his answer changed the way id look at hughes for ever
“they’re not the only team ive ever played for”
thanks for the loyalty and if you have a free second mark give Andy Cole a ring and ask him how many teams he’s played for apart from manchester city and ask him where he watched sundays game
4-3 mate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-aLXCOpKtw
Hows the windypipe GHTT ?
Little Em seems to be quick on the chants now don’t she….lol
Creed to you Scott. I really like your recent interviews with supporters from other teams. It gives an already phenomenal blog an extra dimension.
keep up the good work!
im thinkin the fa, with everyone screaming foul about “united’s advantages”, is apprehensive that a ban on bellamy, however justified it is, would portray them as sympathetic to us (however flawed that logic may be on their part I think there’s an element of truth to it). On the note of Hughes “defending the indefensible”, surely he knows what an egregious and daft move bellamy has made but he has chosen team unity and the “us vs. them attitude” over publicly rebuking his forward (coupled with that fact he is extremely bitter about the fashion in which they went down at old trafford and the fact that bellamy is their second best striker). I, for one, would privately condemn my player’s actions and warn him, but would vehemently defend him in public.
Bellamy is forever twat. No question about that.