Eurosport - Tue, 15 Sep 12:17:00 2009
There appears to be a genuine division in opinion over Emmanuel Adebayor's controversial celebration against Arsenal at the weekend.
Adebayor will be charged with violent conduct by the FA despite an impassioned defence from Manchester City boss Mark Hughes (The Times).
The stamp on Robin van Persie is what will draw a three-match ban, although the FA have not yet made a decision on his goal celebration.
He ran across the pitch to celebrate in front of the fans of his former club - who had been goading him all game - which provoked a barrage of missiles, one of which hit a steward.
Initially he was called a disgrace but that attitude appears to have softened.
The Sun got former Metropolitan Police commissioner John O'Connor to say: "From a police perspective Adebayor could have been arrested and charged with actual bodily harm for the incident with Van Persie." No he couldn't. Stop it.
But the paper's Ian Wright backed Adebayor - saying that every player given abuse by fans wants to do what he did (celebrating in front of them, not kicking RvP in the face), just the Togo man "had the bottle to go for it".
The outspoken ex-Gunner also accused fans - particularly the more "corporate" Arsenal supporters - of double standards, saying they are quick to turn on players and "love to scream abuse at players and say stuff about their wives and kids - but if they get something back, they don't like it and cannot handle it".
The Daily Mail's Martin Samuel agrees. He pointed out that the song Arsenal fans were singing at Adebayor would have been considered ample provocation for a man to thump the abuser and that sliding on his knees in smug celebration was not close to being as much incitement for people to start throwing chairs and bottles.
Samuel did, however, point out that Adebayor's reaction was unprofessional and irresponsible, of a loss of cool and an expression of selfishness, and that the stud-rake on Van Persie should be far more concerning to the authorities.
The Mirror led with Gareth Southgate's backing for Adebayor, with the Middlesbrough boss saying "abusive fans get what they deserve".
The Guardian added that the ex-Gunners striker has sent a signed shirt to the steward injured by a stray bottle who - contrary to reports - was not hospitalised and was able to carry on working.
Daily Express writer John Dillon sounded a note of caution to Hughes though. "He must stamp down on egos," he wrote. "What happens when things start going wrong? What happens if Carlos Tevez, who has staged the odd walkout in the past, does not get a regular game? What happens if anyone else says anything nasty about Adebayor?"
Several papers mocked UEFA's decision to reverse the Eduardo ban as lily-livered and lame.
The Telegraph's Henry Winter called it "a ludicrous U-turn" that made a mockery of the so-called clampdown on diving, and hinted that such a precedent plays into the hands of Adebayor and Manchester City, who will follow Arsenal's lead in challenging any decision.
The Daily Mail accused UEFA of "caving in", calling the reverse embarrassing and humiliating.
The Independent wrote that UEFA's legal case was shambolic and lacking in detail and that Arsenal's big-shot lawyers tore it to shreds.
The Times's Patrick Barclay praised the Premier League's decision to introduce a rule whereby a minimum of eight home-grown players must be registered in the 25-man squads. 'Home-grown' means "trained for three years under the age of 21 by a club within the English and Welsh professional system", apparently.
On that basis Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo would be considered home-grown while Owen Hargreaves, despite being ethnically English and Welsh, would not - because he is German.
Surely, therefore, this just heightens the need for top clubs to traffic underage players as early as possible to help them acquire the infamous 'orange tag' from Football Manager?
Comment 62 - 81 of 81
we all remember Zenaden Zedan in the world cup losing it after he was insluted about his sister..there is a unwritten rule that you never talk about some ones mother, wife, sister and girlfriend..fans think beacause they pay there momney to watch there foootball teams they can sing and shout out what ever they want and the players should just take it., but when the player you are abusing score and says in your face wa@kers, they the fans dont like it..
Sorry, it doesn't matter how much you earn, if people insult the integrity of your mother, the loyalty of your wife, and threaten your children, you react the same way. Money does not stop you being a person now does it? The fans induce these responses, but they are always innocent because they earn only 500 a week. From now on, let's have a system where if someone who earns only 500 a week, rapes someone they should be let off because they only earn 500 a week, but if someone earning 10,000 a week does it, they should be charged because they should know better as they earn so much money. What stupid arguements you put up
well rooney must have tourette's syndrome as hes allowed to bombard refs with foul language every game hes also allowed to kick other players more than the ball' torres and gerrard dive constantly but the media dodge and dont highlight these problems do they' one player dives in a arsenal shirt then the media want to hang him then messi headbuttts another player then ade assaults 3 arsenal players in one game' that is assault' this is the main problem here' 'THE MEDIA' they stay quite about certain players from certain clubs that they cherish but become very vocal when certain players from certain clubs do other things' so why didnt or why doesnt the media hammer' ronaldo' torres' gerrard' for constantly diving' rooney for calling refs c''ts and f'''ing w'''ers ?
Let's look at these points point by point
1)Alonso left us without the likening of us fans and our manager as we loved him.God forbid if he scores against us and celebrate, then it is an insult.
2)Eto'o was humiliated by his manager but the fans loved him,so if he scores tomorrow and celebrates the Ade ways,it will be an insult to Barca fans and not to Gardiola.
3)Ronaldo wanted to leave last year but couldnt.Made no statement this year but was sold with outstanding amount.If he scores and Ade-celebrates,to me it is not an insult.
4)Tevez claimed Fergie ignored him while Fergie says no.Tevez was acknowledged with a 'Welcome to Manchester' be Hughes at the entrance of the city.If he scores on Saturday and Ade-celebrates,here it is a mixture of insult and no insult.How do you see?
etc etc
The Western teaches the rest of the world of FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION,FREEDON OF SPEECH,FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION,FREEDOM OF THE PRESS ETC so I feel Adebayo was just doing the first.Maybe all these preaching limited in politics alone?
Thumb-up for me please.LOL
The comment re what aplayer earns in post 75 should have read £120.000..not as it appeared £1120.000'
I myself would have walked to the moon for £1120.000.
Whether we like it or not, there is no room for ungentlemanly play on the field. I must confess that Adebayor has been performing well this term. As a professional, he should have silenced the Arsenal supporters with his display on the field. Remember Ronaldo of Man Utd did that after the last World Cup. Even last saturday, Berbatov was jeered thru out at White Hart Lane but he later silenced the crowd with wonderful display until he was substituted. Celebrating in front of opposing teams to taunt them has been frowned at on many occasions by the FA. Remember that G. Neville was punished when he did that against Everton some seasons ago. We may not delve much on this but the stamping on the face of Van Persie should incur the wrath of the FA. I am neither a fan of the 2 clubs but I watched the match on TV. I have watched the review of the stamping from various angles on TV and I have come to the conclusion that it was intentional. If the experts at FA also believe that it was intentional then Adebayor should be punished. I do not believe that the game of football was created to maim or inflict injuries on your opponents. I also believe that Arsenal lost not becos of fatigue but for the fact that they played a grudge match against Adebayor thereby losing concentration. There is no gainsaying that there were also vicious tackles against Adebayor from the Arsenal defenders (especially Gallas). - John
Comment 65..Smanyumwa.. All I can say about your comment is Hogwash, nothing about colour, Arsenal have had and still have several coloured play who 99.9 per cent of the Arsenal fans Idolise, every club do unfortunately have a few Racists, and I mean unfortunately[..even Man Utd).I can only ask you to listen to the comment next weekend when Man City turn out onto the old trafford pitch, especially if TEVEZ turns out...
Emmanuel Adebayo should be allowed to enjoy himself in the field of play. If he scores and celebrates in front of his earlier club fans what is the rule saying. That does not mean that a thug in the Arsenal fan should now throw something at him that eventually landed on one of the stewards. Adebayor just ran and slipped on the ground to express that the boy you brought up is doing well here in M.C. Afterall, the coach said on the television that his wish is to see his players do well in their future clubs. This noise about ban him for 4 weeks, 8 weeks is just to kill him which to me is uncalled for and an attempt to disallow M.C from using his services during the period in question. Part of the press are just blowing the matter out of proportion. The lad has his life to live, 'make hey the sunshine'. The highest bidder came for him. The Arsenal fans should stop crying about last season. The officials should address the issue of huliganism afterall a player can score and still go ahead climbing the fence to celebrate. Adebayor please go ahead and Teach them soccer on how to score good goals! If he scored 30 goals last season and now comes to M.C. what is the jealousy all about. He is not tied to Arsenal afterall. Henry was in Arsenal for all his years and no real trophy until he got to Barca. Hang Adebayor! Hang Adebayor is the slogan, that should stop, please.
What a bunch of people hypocrites some people are. Adebayor was well out of order doing that in front of the Arsenal fans, the fans who paid his wages up until 8 weeks ago, and a huge payrise when his engineered move away failed last season. So to pay us back he spent most of last season struting around and sulking then he does that ! So all you non Arsenal fans, how would you have felt if it was your team ? Did we see Arsene Wenger react that badly when he was abused by Man Utd (so called) fans ? So who the hell does Adebayor think he is then ? He seems to have the same sort of ego a certain Mr Wright has !
Here is one in which nobody has covered with Glory; Wenger for well lets say being Wenger (Managing to look Hurt, Miserable, Annoyed and Hard done and achieving it all at once, probably because he couldnt kick anything), Hughes for protecting the indefensible, Adebayor for being generally stupid, VP for being just as stupid and looking at his manager for Protection, the Ref for suffering temporary blindness and the arsenal fans for behaving with far less decorum than a guest at the zoological gardens.
Take this point by point, there is no rule that indicates that a player cannot celebrate on any corner of the field and for good measure and self preservation he stayed well clear of the arsenal fans, the fact that this lot behaved like ill adjusted members of a simian society that just barely managed to stand on two legs and showed a behavioural pattern to match has got nothing to do with Adebayor. Secondly, those chants can be described as racist so now what, are they also going to blame him for that. As for VP it can be read both ways, if Adebayor was going to stamp him but the other one VP speeded up the process by going right through him and got it on his face then yes, ill adviced and downright stupid from Adebayor, but so was the referee not to charge VP who was just as stupid, and in the process managed to show intent, went with both feet (another Arsenal nearderthal that couldn't remain standing(must be the manchester air)) studs showing and might (would have liked to by the looks of things) have caused Adebayor a serious injury. Now for VP (who itself seemed to not handle too well been overshadowed once again by Adebayor) to cry fowl, is like the pot calling the kettle black, suspend the two if you have to, ban those swinging simians from the terraces and over and done with it.
Funny when Wenger was being taunted at Old Trafford nothing was said.
Every football club particularly the Premier league clubs have several thousand supporters and I do mean several thousand,, and every single club do have a few mindless idiots amoungst these supporters, but these mindless lot amount to a hundred or so supporters,, so why do people put all supporters in the Mindless bracket, when it comes to Adebayer, he was idolised by all the Arsenal fans, until he , for his own actions, Turned the fans against him, how come, well he proved he was'nt loyal to his club, by putting himself up to the highest bidder, Milan Real etc, this was a couple of seasons ago, which intice the Arsenal to offer him more money, which satisfied him for a while, but did'nt show up in his play.. of course then came a bigger offer, and I think he would still have been an Arsenal player if they had offered him £1120.000..So please dont blame all supporters for unsportsmanship, and itrs obvious supporters do expect these overpaid players to show some respect for the club and for the supporters who help to pay them..most of who would have to work years for what these players earn in a week..
Adebayo is the most foolish paler to act in such an abnormal manner in the feild forgeting he is nothing but a stranger in europe and may be harmed if he is not security ok. so he should be punished for such act
manyumwa White players rule the Prem Torres, Gerrard Rooney, Lampard 4 best players in the League your a racist black with a HUGE chip on your shoulder.
Wait a minute here guys! Has Eto been subjected to such? Messi? Lampard? Gerrad? Rooney? Yes!!! Is the answer! They have all suffered the same fate but how many of them have reacted by kicking out at former team mates? CR7 scored against his former club and kept his celebration low why? Respect. Do u think Titi would have done that? Did he not prove his worth b4 asking for increase? He wanted trophies more than money and thus concentrated on trophies b4 asking for money. Why did Ade not do that? If we are saying each time a player his insulted or stuff, he could run to the fans to make faces at them? Common!!! These guys are being paid to keep their cool and entertain. Without these fans they are nothing. No one watches footie, then it becomes nothing. Ade should remember the patience that the fans and coaching crew had b4 he became this good. AW asked the fans to respect him, came out in public to say that he was not a money grabbing guy and what did he do? Ran the full length of the pitch to tell the fans 'hey, I came cos I didnt care about AW and his plans, the guy does not have bucks no more!'Made Arsene look like a fool. Arsenal lost fair and square but Ade was a shame much as Cantona was.
Arsenal fans have only themselves to blame for Adebayor leaving.
A matvh ban can go for the RVP incident. But for the fans, sure teh yellow card closed that case. Generally, Adebayor just reproduced a trade mark he learnt while in the Gunners. All gunners are ruthless and malicious. Highly unfriendly they are and I have never seen them as repententant and sportmanly. Wenger has to teach them some discipline since we think they are LADS
What angers Gooners now is that, during the game, Adebayor slapped Alex Song ("my brother")as he passed him, tried to "do" Cesc's ankle after he tackled him, then WILLFULLY kicked RVP in the face (because RVP did a sliding tackle, which missed Adebayor completely and took the ball from him) and is now being praised so highly in the press for being a thug!! Sublime skills? No, pure malice aforethought!
What a joke that Roy Keane backs Adebayor ("leave the boy alone") This is the same Roy Keane (lest we forget!) that "did" Alf Inge Haaland because he "dissed" him!
Adebayor deserves every punishment that the FA throws at him, if they have the guts to do it!!!!
What annoyed the Arsenal fans is that they paid Adebayor's wages and did not give value for money! Adebayor "took the money and ran" to the next club who would pay him more. Man City will understand this better next season! Sorry for what happened to the steward, but that was a consequence of Adebayor's actions, crowd incitement.
The final question is how many more Arsenal players need to get broken limbs before the FA does something about it? If Adebayor gets away with his deplorable actions then it gives evry other premiership player 'carte blanche' to assault and maim any Arsenal player knowing full well that they'll get away with it!
The press' support for Adebayor's thuggery is frightening, as is their two-faced condemnation of Eduardo, whilst lauding Rooney, Babel, Drogba et al for doing the same! Arsene knows, Arsene's right!
Adebayor was wrong when stamped Von Percy in the face should not have been allowed to play on red card,Barry penalty area goal bound red card,we can understand these things happen ref cant see everything, but the help from three other officials should be questioned.
What angers Gooners now is that, during the game, Adebayor slapped Alex Song ("my brother")as he passed him, tried to "do" Cesc's ankle after he tackled him, then WILLFULLY kicked RVP in the face (because RVP did a sliding tackle, which missed Adebayor completely and took the ball from him) and is now being praised so highly in the press for being a thug!! Sublime skills? No, pure malice aforethought!
What a joke that Roy Keane backs Adebayor ("leave the boy alone") This is the same Roy Keane (lest we forget!) that "did" Alf Inge Haaland because he "dissed" him!
Adebayor deserves every punishment that the FA throws at him, if they have the guts to do it!!!!
What annoyed the Arsenal fans is that they paid Adebayor's wages and did not give value for money! Adebayor "took the money and ran" to the next club who would pay him more. Man City will understand this better next season! Sorry for what happened to the steward, but that was a consequence of Adebayor's actions, crowd incitement.
The final question is how many more Arsenal players need to get broken limbs before the FA does something about it? If Adebayor gets away with his deplorable actions then it gives evry other premiership player 'carte blanche' to assault and maim any Arsenal player knowing full well that they'll get away with it!
The press' support for Adebayor's thuggery is frightening, as is their two-faced condemnation of Eduardo, whilst lauding Rooney, Babel, Drogba et al for doing the same! Arsene knows, Arsene's right!
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