Just when the furore over the Luis Suarez-Patrice Evra fiasco seemed to be dying away, Liverpool defender Glen Johnson has reignited the debate by suggesting in a recent interview that Evra deliberately avoided Suarez's handshake. Johnson is entitled to his opinion, and if that's what he thinks then fair enough, and I would argue that his attack on former Man United defender Paul McGrath (in the same interview) is much more contentious.
During the Suarez-Evra affair, Liverpool's players donned T-shirts bearing Suarez's face in an ill-advised show of support for the Uruguayan. At the time, McGrath was unimpressed with this crass display, and singled out Johnson for individual criticism. He told TalkSport:
"If I was in Glen Johnson’s situation, I'd have thrown the shirt to the floor.
In an interview with The Daily Mail yesterday, Johnson was asked about McGrath's comments, and his response could open the defender up to accusations of defamation. He said:
"The McGrath thing...that’s actually racist. Saying what he said is racist. He is only saying that to me because I was the only black lad wearing the T-shirt. He’s targeting me because of my colour".
Bringing up the Suarez-Evra issue again is something you'd expect from a footballer, but to tenuously accuse a fellow player of racism in such a public forum? That must surely be a huge error of judgment...?
Johnson then offered an insight into the nature of his support for Suarez, and why he wore the T-Shirt:
"Listen, I’m my own man. If I have something I want to say or do then I will do it. The reason I wore the T-shirt is because I know 100 per cent Luis Suarez is not racist. He is one of the lads in the team that I get on with best of all at the club".
Given his apparent friendship with Suarez, it's fair to suggest that Johnson is not really in a position to be objective on the subject of Suarez, which perhaps explains his comments on the whole issue, which are clearly driven by emotion.
I would expect McGrath to respond to Johnson's comments in some form over the next few days. An accusation of racism is a serious thing, and I doubt McGrath will let it lie. I certainly wouldn't. Would you?
Jaimie Kanwar
During the Suarez-Evra affair, Liverpool's players donned T-shirts bearing Suarez's face in an ill-advised show of support for the Uruguayan. At the time, McGrath was unimpressed with this crass display, and singled out Johnson for individual criticism. He told TalkSport:
"If I was in Glen Johnson’s situation, I'd have thrown the shirt to the floor.
In an interview with The Daily Mail yesterday, Johnson was asked about McGrath's comments, and his response could open the defender up to accusations of defamation. He said:
"The McGrath thing...that’s actually racist. Saying what he said is racist. He is only saying that to me because I was the only black lad wearing the T-shirt. He’s targeting me because of my colour".
Bringing up the Suarez-Evra issue again is something you'd expect from a footballer, but to tenuously accuse a fellow player of racism in such a public forum? That must surely be a huge error of judgment...?
Johnson then offered an insight into the nature of his support for Suarez, and why he wore the T-Shirt:
"Listen, I’m my own man. If I have something I want to say or do then I will do it. The reason I wore the T-shirt is because I know 100 per cent Luis Suarez is not racist. He is one of the lads in the team that I get on with best of all at the club".
Given his apparent friendship with Suarez, it's fair to suggest that Johnson is not really in a position to be objective on the subject of Suarez, which perhaps explains his comments on the whole issue, which are clearly driven by emotion.
I would expect McGrath to respond to Johnson's comments in some form over the next few days. An accusation of racism is a serious thing, and I doubt McGrath will let it lie. I certainly wouldn't. Would you?
Jaimie Kanwar
there was a number of people wearing the t shirt so why do u think he singled out johnson,he spends alot of time with suarez and must no how this has has played on suarez,why did he not say to kenny or anybody else about the t shirt because he singled him out because of the colour of his skin,in my eyes that is wrong i am from a mixed race family if somebody said that to me i would be offended is he saying that all the other people are not black so what the say doesnt matter or if johnson thinks suarez isnt racist he should go against him as what ever you believe all black people should stand together,in my opinion i agree with what johnson said there are to many people who are bigots and that doesnt help fight racism it just gets everybodys back up.
ReplyDeletemy name is ken im on someone elses computer that is my blog above but its come out with his facebook sorry about that
ReplyDeleteAre you for real? We all know the truth of the situation,Suarez is a scapegoat,Evra has most, if not all of the hallmarks of a dispicable individual.What shocks me most about this post is the apperent acceptance of what is more and more obviously a false accusation of racism against Suarez,which is every bit as disgusting to me as genuine racism.Not to mention the offenisve idea that a black man who belives in Suarez's innocence should fall in line because others don't.McGrath did indeed single out Johnson because of his colour and that to my mind is racism..........
ReplyDeleteRacist pure and simple. Johnson has the right TO ANSWER QUESTIONS PUT TO HIM HONESTLY as he did. Its OBVIOUS Evra did not want to shake with him as I said before....Compare any of the other shakes to the Suarez one and you can see Evra had clearly thought about his actions previously. There is intent there to cause an issue. Those are all facts. Clear to see in any video angles of the handshake.
ReplyDeleteWhat's done is done you can't re-write history and Johnson regardless should have kept his GOB shut instead of drawing attention to this issue AGAIN.
ReplyDeleteIt's been dealt with unless you all want to keep this seeping wound open.....LET IT GO and concentrate on football.
Johnson was targeted by two well known personalities over what could be described as NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS. Mcgrath was clearly out of line and should be made to apologise.
ReplyDeleteMarcel Garvey on the other hand should face a 8 match ban and a hefty fine. He called Glen an ‘Uncle Tom’ - thats as blatant as you can racially get.
this is my facebook thanks
ReplyDeleteYou really have to wonder what the hell is going on at anfield. Surely they have to have told their players to just shut up about the whole topic. Suarez's half hearted apology was supposed to put this whole nonsense to bed, and now you have this eejit dragging it all back up again.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool are never going to be able to move on from this if their players keep bringing it up all the time. They need to shut up about it. This nonsense about evra not shaking his hand was completely discredited by the apology. Why drag it up again.
also there is a problem with johnson's broader reasoning. No-one ever accused Suarez of being a racist, so believing that he is telling the truth because he isn't a racist doesn't really make sense. Evra doesn't think that he's a racist either. Just that he used racist language to wind him up.
He also doesn't seem to be aware that the FA found suarez's testimony to be incredible, because saying negro during a row in spanish is offensive, and they were clearly having a row.
Johnson is is a tricky position. Suarez is his teammate. he is earning £120,000 a week, he's not going to get that anywhere else. He's the only black senior player, and the only black senior player signed in nearly 3 years. It's not in his interests to think too deeply about this, but it is in his interests to keep his mouth shut.
Why should Liverpool keep there mouths shut about an injustice?
ReplyDeleteBecause for better or for worse no-one else sees it as an injustice. Liverpool are not going to change that, that battle is over. It is time to move on. He's certainly doing luis suarez no favours by keeping this story in the news.
ReplyDeleteOh ffs. Why can't Glen Da Johnson let things lie. Both clubs have moved on. He could have just said 'no comment' to the question. The club's PR team must still be doing a horrendous job, if players like Johnson think its ok to answer questions about the subject at this moment in time. Yet another stupid moment from our club in relation to Suarez-debacle. The unprofessional-ism and the hothead nature of the club's actions and the players and manager around this incident has been a utter shambles.
ReplyDeleteMore hypocrisy alert!!
ReplyDeleteJohnson has just accused Mcgrath of being racist, but not one person on here thinks that Mcgrath should jump up and down, make a fuss, etc, etc. And no wonder our club keeps messing this up, if Johnson does not understand that the tribunal never said that Suarez was racist and is still touting that inaccurate nonsense, no wonder no one at Liverpool will let it lie and they keep putting their foot in it.
And, it is strange, no one suspects that Johnson is just toeing the party line and saying what his club wants him to say? A lot of people would do it for £60,000 a week, wouldn't you say?
Funny thing, no one said Suarez was racist, but his reaction to the entire debacle and the reaction of some supporters has done more to show how much racism there is in this world. If someone accused me of racism my reaction would not be to try to stamp my feet for five months and ridicule the entire process. An injustice has been done? I'd be so angry at such a slur I'd be suing everyone and anyone. And I'd have told my supporters not to resort to racism and racist name calling and behaviour a long time ago. Not Suarez, though, he doesn't seem to mind the circus that has gone on around him and i find that odd for a non racist.
All the people talking about 'injustice' seem to deliberately miss the point as well, and seem just a bit too happy to do so. You want injustice, start a campaign supporting the Oldham lad who got abused who probably gets less in a year what Suarez was being paid while he was being suspended.
Liverpool don't mention the Oldham lad much, so keeping their mouths shut about an injustice isn't impossible, is it?
ReplyDeleteSorry, that's just silly, there's nothing racist about calling people an Unlce Tom, what are you on? Where do you get that idea from?
ReplyDeleteSign of a racist, they start calling everything and everyone else racist.
Mind reader and handshake analyst. Surprised you have time to post such deep insightful stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhat are all the hallmoarks of a despicable human being? You mean he is black?
ReplyDeleteDon't try and dupe us with this 'this is as bad as real racism nonsense' either. Do you know what form real racism can take? So, if Evra is lying about Suarez, is that more disgusting to you than real racism and the violence that often accompanies it? How many people have you ever seen get lynched for being wrongly accused of racism?
It's not racist for a black man to suggest that another black man might be upset by racism. It might be strange to many on here, but Mcgrath probably understands racism on a football pitch more than most of you and he probably has heard more about what really happened. Not seen many people coming out and saying that it is unlikely that Suarez said anything, have we? Unless they are connecting to Liverpool.
JK at the risk of being labelled sniping at your comments, did you not run an article yourself asseting the very same thing tha Glen Johnson has Said. I am sure you did highlighting the fact that evra had his hand by his side.
ReplyDeleteI agree that johnson would have been better advised to keep his mouth shut as just when the furore surrounding the incident was dying down it has been reignited.
I am a White male and I think Johnson is right to label McGrath a racist. He singled Johnson out because of the colour of his skin. Racism is NOT a one way street why is it okay for 1 black person to make a racist comment about another black person answer is its not just in the same way that it would be fround upon if I called an Irish White Male Paddy or Mick or a Welsh White Male Taff Etc Etc.Etc. We either have zero tolerence or we allow everbody to do as they please.
Liverpool FC = delusional
ReplyDeleteSeriously, so many LFC fans (and players) seem to be acting like complete clowns these days. You're supposed to be one of the biggest clubs in the world but you're more and more like the old Newcastle United. You're supposed to be about playing good football and "collecting cups in May" (rather than February) ... instead it's playing video in slo-mo to see did he mean to shake his hand or not, or it's trying to figure out whether negrito is a racist term in latin america, or pretending that Suarez is a great striker if you ignore the number of goals he scores. Shankly and Paisley wouldn't recognise you these days.
ReplyDeletewhat has happened to the guy helping with that who said he shouted u manc b......d there have been no charges but the police have all the video evidence so again because he said thats what he said it must be or do u think the police are in on it,so lets not say he is guilty till proved as u would not except that for yourself would you
ReplyDeleteRedredman - If you're referring to labelling McGrath racist then no, I've never posted anything stating that.
ReplyDeleteRe Evra allegedly refusing to shake Suarez's hand - I posted a Poll asking fans if they thought he'd refused, but I never stated that as an opinion. I've always believed Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand, not the other way around.
Really,you speak for the moral majority do you?
ReplyDeleteRacism needs to be tackled on all levels,it also seems that in some quaters(mainly white middle class ones)that racism is a disease only suffered by whites.Football,like many things, acts as a microcosm for society,it therefore should not be permissible to operate double standards,in other words in no other area would one mans word alone provide enough evidence to condem another.This can of worms needs to be opened before it expoldes.Also @Colm,out of intrest what are you trying to allude to concerning Liverpools transfer policy? As for it not being an injustice,or rather no one see's it as one,the bulk of the posts i have read would seem to differ.
McGrath is a drunk , ignore him, Evra is aliar, unwanted in hios native France and reviled by the French football authorities after his actions at the last world cup, better stop at maure where the morons love you
ReplyDeleteHahaha.How pathetic.
ReplyDeleteBig al - thanks for your comments, but in future, I'd be grateful if you could attack the argument rather than the person. Whether McGrath is a 'drunk' or not has no relevance when it comes to his views on Johnson. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, Big Al, you don't represent Liverpool fans. You just represent morons - whether of the Man Utd or Liverpool variety (both teams have loads of them).
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'd normally agree that it would be unwise to bring up the subject, in this case it appears he is asked a direct question. The club can't order him not to answer questions and they can't tell him what to answer either.
ReplyDeleteAs a general rule I try not to judge snippets of interviews without context. They are too often misleading.
The investigation into the alleged abuse of Tom Adeyemi, or "the Oldham Lad", has gone a bit quiet. If you want hypocrisy, you only have to look at yourself, gabweb. A man gives an open and honest opinion on something, so you say he's toeing the line, and it's because he didn't want to sacrifice his £60k. John Barnes is on a lot less, and he said much the same thing, so what's his excuse? [Did you formerly have the pseudonym "GAB"? If so, I remember you gave the impression that you were some sort of activist, foisting your opinions on others, then abusing anyone who disagreed with you.] Can I call you Uncle Gab?
ReplyDeleteAnd Jaimie, in your desperate attempts to be objective, you always err too far the other way. Defamation, my arse. McGrath did single out Johnson, for no other reason than his colour, and by your very own logic, that MUST be a form of racism.
okay we will have to disagree on this point and my post doesnt mention you referring to McGrath as a racist if you read it it says about evra refusing to shake suarez hand
ReplyDeleteYou can call me whatever you like, because your comments don't make any sense and have anything to do with the topic on hand. Some sort of activist? When did i say that? What i did say is that in my job i deal with cases of racism sometimes. And i see irrelevant tosh like you come out with all the time.
ReplyDeleteHonest and open opinion? How do you know that? Another mind reader. Tell me, what is Johnson thinking when he is losing his man for the next goal we concede that you will, no doubt, be blaming him for?
We are going over this all over again!! It is as much what Suarez said to the tribunal that did him, not what Evra said. There's a 115 page report that was made available for all to see, go and read it!
ReplyDeleteYou are right, it is very sad.
ReplyDelete...and moving on to a football related topic, Arsenal have agreed a £10.9m deal with Cologne for Podolski, he will be on over £100k/week.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else read this?
Sometimes its better to let everything blow over which has happened,and then let the truth be told, this has also happened.Why shouldnt people know the truth,why should Suarez be cast as the villain and Evra cast as the good guy who is whiter than white when he isnt.
ReplyDeleteYes, saw that, wonder if it is an attempt to keep Van Persie or a way of replacing him. They were clever about it, too. The guy has a 5 million release clause if his club gets relegated, they are 14th, and, I think, a 16 million release clause otherwise, so Arsenal come in, meet them half way and get their man. Van Persie will get a nice pay rise now, if he decides to stay, because he would have to be the top earner. No doubt Arshavin will be sold now, when his loan ends, so they will probably get most of their money back on this one. And have a far more useful player.
ReplyDeletei feel the same about heysel
ReplyDeleteit seems only the people who haven't read the report are the ones blindly backing suarez on here
ReplyDeleteread the report.....
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the fact that the 'truth' is clearly a subjective issue here. One minute, people want proof, next minute they believe whatever someone decides to say to the Daily Mail. This topic should have been put to bed by the club a long time ago and it is embarrassing that someone at the club keeps bringing it up but no one seems to want to go through the proper channels, such as an appeal or to a court, to clear this up. Just non stop tittle tattle coming out from various sources of the club, with no need for any further back up or evidence. At this point, you can't take anyone's word for anything, but the only people in football still talking about it come from the Liverpool side.
ReplyDeleteThe FA should be on the look out for anymore nonsense on this topic coming out, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteIt's Uncle Tom, not Major Tom. Uncle Tom was a black slave from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Calling a black person an Uncle Tom is as racist as calling him a Golliwog.
ReplyDeleteEvra is a scheming troublemaker and Suarez is childish; but they were signed on the basis that they are among the best footballers in the world in their respective positions, not because they are sensible, mature or conscientious.
ReplyDeleteThe FA had an agenda which allowed the incident between them to be blown out of proportion and Suarez's character defamed as a consequence. Our players supported Suarez based on that understanding, because racism wasn't the real issue between the players, only for the FA.
Hence to single out Johnson specifically for being understanding and showing integrity in the face of the FA's witch hunt, using a constructed standard as opposed to understanding the real situation is indeed being racist in making assumptions about Johnson's allegiances.
You are wrong on this, and I can assure you about that. It is the sentiment of someone being an uncle Tom that is the issue, only people who are not black or do not have many black friends make that mistake. A golliwog is an inanimate object that does not have any personality and, like a lot of racism, is a physical based insult, an uncle Tom is a mentality, the comment is about the mindset and does not claim that the person, in himself, is inferior, just the attitude. There is nothing racist about that.
ReplyDeleteAnd the main reason that it is not racist is that it is an insult that mainly applies to black people that will come from another black person. You are not implying that, in insulting a black person, the other black person is saying he is inferior, for being black are you?
ReplyDeleteDon't try to say it is the same as golliwog, because you are way off the mark and now you are encouraging all the apologists on here to start calling people golliwog in the pubs they visit because you said it was no big deal.
If Paul Mcgrath goes to Glen Johnson and pulls him to one side and tells him not to enter a pub because there are 20 skinheads in the bar (I've been in a similar situation) do you consider that racist? There are times when you notice that people are different and you expect different behaviour as a result, there's nothing racist about it. The principle is the same with the shirt, Paul Mcgrath, like yourself, has an opinion about what happened, and I reckon he is closer to the truth than us, and, in the circumstances, would expect another black man not to join into this circus.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you and others are coming to the conclusion that Mcgrath is racist and Suarez is not shows how disingenuous some of you are being. This is just people being willfully dense, on a ridiculous scale, now.
Yes, sad to say, you could say that, no one minded shutting up about that injustice.
ReplyDeleteGlen only answered the questions of the journo. He said what he thought, and he said it openly and directly. He basically said what many of us thought from the very beginning. I don't understand why is Johnno being attacked for that now.
ReplyDeleteAs for McGrath - the hypocrite sh*t stirrer, Johnno just put him on his place and pointed out his hypocrisy. Fair and square. My eternal respect to Glen for that. Singling him out for wearing the t-shirt only because he is black, calling him "Uncle Tom" IS RACIST.
Hi, gabweb. I made the "activist" comment because, if you ARE the artist formerly known as Gab, then you once called me: dense, a Nazi, an apologist, etc ad nauseum. The reason my comments don't make sense, is because you are not open-minded enough to accept them. Why are my opinions "irrelevant tosh" but you seem to think your highbrow responses should be automatically accepted by everyone? You have your own agenda, fair enough. But to fit that agenda you dismiss out of hand the OPINION of Glen Johnson, preferring to hang on to every word McGrath has to offer. The very same Paul McGrath who defended Ron "Desailly" Atkinson (hypocrite), the very same man who accepted "Coons v the rest" comments in training, cos his manager was Old School apparently (apologist), and the very same McGrath who says that Glen Johnson should be on Evra's side PURELY BECAUSE OF HIS COLOUR (racism).Just don't get in a tizz that not everyone agrees with what you believe.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that if someone is accused of rape, the onus is on the victim to prove that the offence happened, but when someone cries "racism", the onus lies squarely with the accused to clear their name? Just a question, mate....
So, Gab, Pastor of Muppets is wrong, is he? Care to contact Wikipedia, too, cos they've got it "wrong"?
ReplyDeleteUncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.The phrase "Uncle Tom" has also become an epithet for a person who is slavish and excessively subservient to perceived authority figures, particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people; or any person perceived to be a participant in the oppression of their own group.[1][2]
I would suggest that Glen Johnson is even "closer to the the truth" than McGrath, mainly because he interacts with Suarez on a daily basis. (I could say something glib, here, such as the only thing McGrath seems to interact with is a pint. But I won't. Obviously.) Why would he expect another black man not to join in the circus? Damn the truth, so long as he doesn't break rank, eh?
ReplyDeleteQuite right. Otherwise people may start asking awkward questions, may start to see through the spin, and the hypocrisy of Evra, Gordon Taylor, Paul McGrath, and even self-serving groups such as Operation Black Vote and the National Black Police Association. God, how they'll miss their platform.
ReplyDeleteThe FA were far too anxious to two-finger Blatter and show how tough they could be on alleged "racism" in football. Suarez was a godsend - a naive foreigner playing for one of the bigger clubs, but relatively new to the country, and with his limited grasp of the nuances of the English language he played right into their hands. Add to that the kangaroo FA panel [95% conviction rate, no less], 'neutral' liguistic "experts", a voracious, lazy and dare I say corrupt media, and a gullible public crying out for a sacrificial lamb (so long as it wasn't their National team captain), and we got a Perfect Storm.
And Liverpool FC played right into their hands.
Quite the opposite, I wasn't inferring that calling someone a Golliwog isn't a big deal, but that it is a big deal to call someone an Uncle Tom as Jim has explicitly spelt out. It is not only racist, it is outright insulting.
ReplyDeleteYes, you carry on pinching people's skin and grabbing their head and telling yourself it is ok.
ReplyDeleteThe FA couldn't stop Suarez suing people, or Liverpool going to court about it or appealing the length of the fine, but they did neither.
The fact that the club has less black players in the first team than anyone else in the top 7 in league probably explains why the club took this stupid stance without feeling the need to go through the proper channels and probably explains why our supporters while swallow ANY old nonsense to clear their man. Pathetic. Not sure if this would be happening and being handled so embarrassingly were this at any of the other top clubs in England. Wonder why Chelsea players are not wearing John Terry t shirts, if our campaign worked so well?
Hypocrisy of Evra, Taylor, etc? Look at your own hypocrisy. You condone things done to others, because they are black, that you would not tolerate happening to you. One of the definitions of a hypocrite. Self serving groups? Most groups are self serving, that is why they are a group in the first place. And, believe it or not, most groups are self serving in the interests of people like you, even if they don't claim to be. That's how society became so unequal in the first place. Do you really believe that all non whites are inferior?
Suarez played in Holland, understood enough to speak to Kuyt in dutch and tell him, and then tell Comolli in spanish, that he said to Evra that 'he kicked him because he was black', The FA had a record of both Comolli and Kuyt saying this, then at the tribunal, there may have been a misunderstanding and Suarez may have been misunderstood, while still pinching and head grabbing, not in one language, but in two. How did both Comolli and Kuyt misunderstand him? Most people can't explain that so they ignore it. Suarez was not just stitched up due to his lack of English, so don't make it up that he was.
Liverpool could have gone through proper channels, but refused to. Like i said earlier, had Thierry Henry in his pomp been playing for Liverpool, the club and the supporters would not have been so blatant in their backing of racist behaviour.
Kuyt (appears) to push Evra in the chest, rather than dragging Suarez away (the way you would when you want someone to avoid getting themselves in trouble). Why would he do that? Maybe he was incensed with Evra, or rather Evra's antics?
ReplyDeleteAnd, for the sake of going over old ground, I reproduce this from an article on Churnalism [NewsFrames, January 6, 2012]:Suarez claims he said “Por qué, negro?” (“why, black?” – para 205). Evra claims he said “Porque tu eres negro” (“Because you are black” – para 205). The latter could be taken as offensive according to the FA’s language experts, but the phrase struck them as “slightly unusual” (para 182), whereas the phrase claimed by Suarez “sounded right linguistically and culturally”. (Para 191) Personally, I have been PATTED on the head many times, and never been offended. But that's just me.
Face it, Gab, we will NEVER agree on this one.
Callnig a black man an uncle tom is as offensive as you can get. It was racist to single JOhnson out for wearing a t-shirt that the whole team wore. But why everyone is even bothering responding to McGrath is beyond me, he's a WIFE BEATER, who walked out on his kids. He's a sad old drunk, who is a disgrace... So quote him all you want.. It shows that quality of your argument...
ReplyDeleteI'm an Arsenal supporter who has just stumbled on this. Gabweb is the only one talking sense here. The others are ridiculously stupid individuals who are quite clearly racist sympathisers. Glen is suffering from "I just want to fit n syndrome" Classic behaviour when you have a single black man in a pub who has clearly been brought up to down play his colour at every opportunity. Liverpool fans wake up. You sound pathetic
ReplyDelete