Sugar And Spice
‘ITS taken footballers a couple of days to respond to Sir Alan Sugars opinion that they are scum, probably because they were working out whether it was meant as a compliment or not.
| ”We beat the scum 5-1” |
Having decided that it wasnt, PFA boss Gordon Taylor this morning leads the fightback, arguing that the former Spurs chairmans comments were as offensive as any racist remark.
Note that Taylor is not calling Sugar a racist. How could he when the latter explicitly tarred every footballer, black or white, with the same brush?
But by equating his views with those of a racists, the implication of Taylors statement is that if Sugar isnt a racist he could be one.
The Independent allows us to judge for ourselves by printing the 57-year-old businessmans thoughts on the practitioners of our national game in full.
[Football players are] scum, total scum, he said. Theyre bigger scum than journalists, dont you understand? They dont know what honesty and loyalty is.
Theyre the biggest scum that walk on this planet and, if they werent football players, most of them would be in prison.
Where they would no doubt find themselves sharing a cell with many of Sir Alans friends in business.
While we ponder on the irony of the likes of Alan Sugar giving lessons in loyalty and honesty, 22 scum were staying out of prison by kicking a ball around a field in north London.
And the Times reports that 11 scum in red and white (who call themselves Arsenal) kicked the ball five times into the net of the other scum (called Crystal Palace) and so won the game.
In doing so, the paper says they played like champions but as there are no extra points in the Premiership for style they remain two points behind Manchester United and 11 behind Chelsea.
Sugar may not like footballers, but Malcolm Glazer does. So much so that the American wants to buy himself a whole club full of them.
The 76-year-old tycoon is likely to make a formal bid for Manchester United next week, which (says the Indy) will include formal pledges relating to transfer budgets, ticket prices, job security and the status of Old Trafford.
It is, the paper says, part of a strategy to change minds, not win hearts.
Supporters remain as implacably opposed to a Glazer takeover as ever, recruiting the likes of Eric Cantona and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer to the cause.
Cantona has said: If Glazer were to come here, we would lose everything.
A look at recent additions to Manchester Uniteds trophy cabinet would suggest theyre doing a pretty good job of that without him…’
Posted: 15th, February 2005 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
