MORONIC ASHLEY COLE

[Rimshot]

I'm no apologist for the FA but Ashley Cole's latest tweet shows just why his 'evidence' in the JT case might be considered suspect. The man is simply moronic, inarticulate and apparently incapable of associating public comment with public perception.
I've always thought him over-rated as an international footballer and would be quite happy to see him now omitted from the England squad in favour of Walker, Bertrand, Gibbs, Baines.......anyone you like really.

[Garawa]

It seems to me like the fiasco has created an even bigger mess than was previously present. The FA seems to want to pretend there is no racism in football at all. They have stated that Terry said what he said as an insult and is not a racist. Effectively then you are saying it is OK to use racist language when insulting somebody which would be interesting if someone from the crowd was to do the same. It makes a mockery of the "Let's kick racism out of football" campaign unless it is OK for the players who set the examples????

You now have Ashley Cole, who possibly lost respect from everybody a long time ago, now deriding his ultimate employer after they let his pal off virtually scott-free. I know he was replying to the fact they stated his testimony was suspect but has hardly done much prove otherwise. Instead of showing that any racist abuse can and will not be tolerated we have now made excuses for it with those involved acting like petulant schoolkids. It has alienated further the ordinary fan which will be made a trillion times worse WHEN Terry is cleared on appeal. I can see it. That's when all the good work that has been done over the years will be for nothing, the precedent will have been set by then not only by the law but by over-ruling the already paltry penalty handed out by those that matter within the game.

Cole may be one of the best left-backs to many, but all his antics show him to be a vile human not worthy of such a lofty position. Cole and Terry should both never play for England again but then these days being called up for your country is only a burden anyhow!

[Elgrande]

A moronic footballer; no shock there then. As for the racism issue, it is too easy for anyone to shout racism at the drop of a vowel. Talking to many of the older generation of West Indians in SE London they in the majority (85%+) blame the PC attitude to race as the biggest cause of racial tension. Shouting an insult in the heat of the moment is not the same as singling someone out for abuse because of their colour.

[Robpthegills]

I think if Anton Ferdinand is big enough and ugly enough to throw vile insults at JT then he should be big enough to take insults back.

You can call somebody a paedophile apparantly without any comebacks even though it can have a permanant damning effect on that persons life, but you cant call them black which has no further
effect on their life.

I am all for punishing people. If terry had got up from a bad tackle and called ferdinand those names yes he should be banned, but he didnt he traded insults. Ferdinand was just as much to blame as was his cousin or whatever the link is for his racist and intentionally unprovoked racist comments.

[Rimshot]

Nice to see you on the board ElG even though I think your post is complete tosh !

[Garawa]

I see part of he says though. I don't agree that an off the cuff remark should be treated differently to one that is pre-meditated. There must be at least a partly racist viewpoint there to use the words in the first place.

I do however feel that political correctness had made things worse. We have heard about councils not putting up Christmas banners to avoid upsetting non-Christian locals which caused furore only for the leaders of certain groups to come out and say how they were embarrassed at being singled out and didn't have a problem with it. We try so hard not to upset people that we end up creating such a problem that would not have been there had we carried on as normal stirring up racial prejudice at the same time.

[Elgrande]

Nice to see you on here too Rimshot and I expected that response from you. I think gawara is right though apart from the first line. So if you get up and call them a fat / bald/ ginger / Paddy ***** then does that make you shapist, follicist or racist? Just a thought not a justification!

[Garawa]

We had that conversation at length before and you are right. All I could come up with is that as a nation we have decided to outlaw prejudice against skin colour (not race as such) but haven't outlawed bigotry against hair colour. Instead we discriminate which then brings in other areas outside of law. So whilst it might not nice to discriminate in these areas that could find themselves in court, using the same language aimed at skin colour is covered by law.

It creates a huge grey area of what is or isn't acceptable, but's all we have without banning everything.