In a game filled with managers who brazenly and unashamedly turn a blind eye to the on-field indiscretions of their players, former Everton manager David Moyes has proven once that he is a class act, and a great asset to the Premier League.
On Saturday, serial cheat Ashley Young received yet another yellow card for diving during United's 2-0 win against Crystal Palace.
Young embarrassed himself by hurling his body into the air after pulling the old cheat's trick of deliberately making contact with the defender's leg.
Luckily, the referee spotted this attempted con-trick, and issued the yellow card forthwith.
Most managers - Brendan Rodgers included - refuse to admit it when one of their players dives, but after the game on Saturday, Moyes publicly condemned Young's theatrics. He told reporters:
"I’ve always said I don’t like diving. He [Young] deserved to get booked. I don’t want any of my players diving, I don’t want anybody doing it. I will definitely say to Ashley that it is not what I want"
This is such a breath of fresh air, and kudos to Moyes for having the courage to tell the truth. He could've been a coward and argued that he 'didn't see it', and/or denied that Young dived, but he told the truth, and that is extremely heartening to see, especially when he's only three games into his new job.
This kind of honesty is extremely rare in the cynical, narcissistic world of top-flight football, and when it happens, it should be lauded. In Moyes' case, I've highlighted a couple of situations in the past where he's bucked the trend for managerial honesty.
* In October 2012, Moyes slammed Phil Neville for diving against Liverpool. In his post-match interview, he said: "I said to him [Neville] it's completely wrong, and you don't do that".
* In December 2012, Moyes publicly slated Maroune Fellaini for headbutting Ryan Shawcross, and even argued that he deserved to receive a suspension. He told reporters:
"He [Fellaini] deserves to get the punishment. I've seen it, it's a terrible thing to do. It should have been a sending-off in the game. I've told him it's not acceptable and whatever he gets, he and us deserve it"
In all three incidents, Moyes could've taken the easy way out, but he chose to show true leadership and publicly acknowledge and condemn the incidents, despite the fact that - in Fellaini's case - he risked weakening his own team by inviting the suspension of Everton's best player.
Strong, courageous, honest leaders (like Moyes) tell the truth and take responsibility, even when doing so means taking the blame, and/or making a personal sacrifice.
Football is a cesspool of cheating, selfishness, greed, lies and corruption at the best of times, but every once in a while, a small ray of hope shines through the darkness to remind us that not all is lost.
This weekend, that hope came from David Moyes, and I sincerely hope the rest of the Premier League is watching.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
On Saturday, serial cheat Ashley Young received yet another yellow card for diving during United's 2-0 win against Crystal Palace.
Young embarrassed himself by hurling his body into the air after pulling the old cheat's trick of deliberately making contact with the defender's leg.
Luckily, the referee spotted this attempted con-trick, and issued the yellow card forthwith.
Most managers - Brendan Rodgers included - refuse to admit it when one of their players dives, but after the game on Saturday, Moyes publicly condemned Young's theatrics. He told reporters:
"I’ve always said I don’t like diving. He [Young] deserved to get booked. I don’t want any of my players diving, I don’t want anybody doing it. I will definitely say to Ashley that it is not what I want"
This is such a breath of fresh air, and kudos to Moyes for having the courage to tell the truth. He could've been a coward and argued that he 'didn't see it', and/or denied that Young dived, but he told the truth, and that is extremely heartening to see, especially when he's only three games into his new job.
This kind of honesty is extremely rare in the cynical, narcissistic world of top-flight football, and when it happens, it should be lauded. In Moyes' case, I've highlighted a couple of situations in the past where he's bucked the trend for managerial honesty.
* In October 2012, Moyes slammed Phil Neville for diving against Liverpool. In his post-match interview, he said: "I said to him [Neville] it's completely wrong, and you don't do that".
* In December 2012, Moyes publicly slated Maroune Fellaini for headbutting Ryan Shawcross, and even argued that he deserved to receive a suspension. He told reporters:
"He [Fellaini] deserves to get the punishment. I've seen it, it's a terrible thing to do. It should have been a sending-off in the game. I've told him it's not acceptable and whatever he gets, he and us deserve it"
In all three incidents, Moyes could've taken the easy way out, but he chose to show true leadership and publicly acknowledge and condemn the incidents, despite the fact that - in Fellaini's case - he risked weakening his own team by inviting the suspension of Everton's best player.
Strong, courageous, honest leaders (like Moyes) tell the truth and take responsibility, even when doing so means taking the blame, and/or making a personal sacrifice.
Football is a cesspool of cheating, selfishness, greed, lies and corruption at the best of times, but every once in a while, a small ray of hope shines through the darkness to remind us that not all is lost.
This weekend, that hope came from David Moyes, and I sincerely hope the rest of the Premier League is watching.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
what does this have to do with liverpool
ReplyDeleteJamie where do you think we will end up this season? Liverpool that is. What is your prediction for tomorrows game?
ReplyDelete3rd or 4th. 2-1 win vs. Swansea, or a 1-1 draw.
ReplyDeleteWhen has BR shyed away from talking about our players diving? none of them have dived this season... and hes never been asked about it so what was the point of this post?
ReplyDeleteNice article. Credit where credit is due indeed. Ashley Young will never change i think, refreshingly nor it seems will Moyes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see will this affect his 1st team oppertunities. I hope so.
Cynicaly i wonder would he have been as outspoken if it was RVP? Probably yes, but i still wonder.
why delete my comment
ReplyDeleteFair comment. And fair play to Moyes for his honesty. However, it's somewhat unfair to bracket Brendan Rodgers as a coward or someone who shirks responsibility. He did after all go town on Suarez when he admitted diving stating diving was not something the club advocated.
ReplyDeletePlease, not the Suarez conspiracy theory again. The media *is* covering Young's dive, and many newspapers have jumped on him for it.
ReplyDeleteAt no point did I call Rodgers a 'coward'. Please don't twist my words :-)
ReplyDeleteLet's wait and see what Moyes is saying when his team is winning due a penalty kick through a blatant dive ....
ReplyDeleteNot directly but you did say Rodgers is among those managers who fail to admit his player has dived and then said Moyes is a strong and courageous leader who tells the truth and takes responsibility. This implies you don't consider Rodgers does either. I appreciate what you're saying in this article but it does have an undertone of negativity towards our own manager who in my opinion is doing a very good job for LFC.
ReplyDeleteThat happened already yesterday
ReplyDeleteFor a long time, Rodgers did fail to admit Suarez dived. I've also praised Rodgers many times for his decisions in various articles. There is no 'undertone of negativity' towards Rodgers; the negativity is direct at all managers who turn a blind eye to various indiscretions, not just diving, but stamping, head-butting etc. I note this in the first paragraph of the article. Diving is just one aspect of that.
ReplyDeleteIf it was Suarez there would've been a bigger reaction, surly you've seen it yourself. The English get away with it more because they're English and English don't dive!
ReplyDeleteIf anything since Sturridge has been at Liverpool I've seen him looking to go down in the box with little contact more than Suarez.
Moyes wasn't courageous enough to admit that it wasn't a penalty and certainly shouldn't have been a sending off though. Credit it where its due as most managers won't point out there own players doing these things but he would have more credit if he admitted that it was poor refereeing that won them that game.
ReplyDeleteDon't remember him saying that after Welbeck's dive at Anfield????
ReplyDeleteref kidded points in the bag - would he have said it if they lost - no no no.
ReplyDeleteGood article and agree'd more honesty is needed from the managers would help to stamp out the blatant cheating from players (Suarez included).
ReplyDeletea rugby player bites another players fingers blood drawn - no Cameron intervention - no newspaper witch hunt. he chewed his fingers but the rugby hypocrites have put it down to an accident !.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't say anything about Evra'd dive! So he has a go at the players who have not got away with it. Yes Courageous indeed.
ReplyDeleteFair play to a certain degree from Moyes on not condoning diving from his players... But he turns the other cheek when Fellaini starts smashing people in the face with his elbows, when he's got the balls to acknowledge this elephant in the room....He'll have my respect
ReplyDeleteWell fair play to him, you can't knock him for that. He's been consistent in always saying his players were wrong to do whatever they done. I wonder if Young got a penalty for it, it being converted and the game end 1-0 would he be the same, but I'm splitting hairs there.
ReplyDeleteExcept he doesn't mention Young's second dive which apparently got them the PK (even though it happened outside the box) and the Crystal Palace defender sent off. Not very consistent to me...
ReplyDeleteyou can be a good father but a bad husband...lol i agree with jamie..!!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't put MOYES on a pedestal.For me showing true leadership isn't about publicly acknowledging and condemning bad decisions made by your players.That's just playing to media outlets and some fans with the "we do it the right way" talk.
ReplyDeleteDAVID MOYES will know that goes down well with everybody in this country and to some extent respect can be built or preserved with comments like that.
You can come out and talk tough to the media but if your players ignore what you say and still dive/cheat that's not exactly great leadership.
This style of management makes me think that a small telling off through the media is all they get.No follow up words are said by MOYES or any other manager you can think of that are made out to be the shining lights of football management.
It's funny how saying stuff publicly is regarded as true leadership.If BR is coming out with harsh words behind the scenes to LFC players that deserve it, that will do for me.Not everything in this game should be played out in front of a camera to get respect points from fans!
Moyes criticized Young because he is a average player. Suppose Rooney or RVP dives did you expect the same thing from Moyes? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteWell said Jaimie
ReplyDeleteHave they jumped on him, or did Young just make it look like that?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go so far as to call Moyes a class act, but he does deserve credit for the above statements. You can't fault his stance on these things.
ReplyDeleteI have always liked Moyes even though he was Evertons coach. I think he is the best manager besides Ferguson in the Prem. I don't root for his teams but he did miraculous work for the blues for a long time.....
ReplyDeleteWell said Moyes , it was obvious to all who saw the match .......but he is still a crap manger and wins nothing ..........
ReplyDeleteThere is scope in that argument to accept it as a perfectly factual statement that a manger didn't see the incident in question. He'd be a fool to start slating a player without seeing it for himself on a replay and not all managers would get the time or even the facility to review something like that in between the final whistle and the press conference. Maybe the "didn't see it" line is sometimes used as an excuse but that's not always going to be the case and managers don't deserved to be called cowards or liers in the instance where it's actually a simple statement of fact.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The proof will be in seeing a change in player behaviour. If Ashley Young continues to dive shamelessly then Moyes' words are just that: meaningless words made in a press conference. It's public posturing while behind the scenes nothing happens. I'd consider that far more deceptive, so we'll have to expect to see some change in the player behaviour in order to take Moyes seriously. A good statistic to examine would be to see how many yellow cards Everton players have received for diving vs other clubs. If Moyes is such a stand-out worthy of praise then his team behaviour should reflect that.
ReplyDeleteSo what did you say when Neville dived and got a yellow card last season at Everton??? Moyes was the one who was saying refs needs to look at Suarez cause he dives and in the end his own player now one of his coach's was the one who got a yellow card for diving. I did not see you write an article about it. Lastly, in a way you are admitting to what Aaron just said.
ReplyDeleteFunny that he didn't say it about Wellbeck after the game against us. Afraid of the backlash from his own supporters? Selective morals are as bad as no morals what so ever.
ReplyDeleteHe really isn't crap, there's no need for that.
ReplyDeleteYou are suffering from something called confirmation bias.
ReplyDeleteAlso, being Irish as your name suggests, I doubt you'd be happy unless the English were being drowned in boiling vats of their babies' tears, for any reason or on any pretext whatsoever, so excuse me while I take your opinion with a pinch of salt ;)
To be fair, I'll admit Suarez dives, but, I must say he gets a lot more attention for it than other players, such as Bale who had been booked five times (significantly less then Suarez who's been booked two or less times) for diving while he was at Spurs but seriously had a lot less British media attention about it surrounding him for whatever reason (he's not English but he's at least British).
ReplyDeleteExcuse me here. But is this the same David Moyes who had a video made up of seriel diver Andy johnson then took it to the referees committee to try and say he was being victimised ?
ReplyDeleteDo you honestly think the reaction wouldn't have been bigger if it was Suarez? If he had thrown his leg into somebody like that, the media would be calling for another ban, no doubt. You can see the obvious point Patrick is making as it was always those dirty little foreigners who brought diving into the English game according to the media and fans, right? Trying to make out that English players are too honest to dive when we all know that is a load of cobblers. Your comment about what would make us Irish happy is ridiculous beyond belief. Get a grip and at least try to argue the points instead of having a pop at somebody because you are stuck in the past.
ReplyDeletePatrick is not making that point, that the "media and fans" in England always say that it's the foreigners that brought diving to English football. He makes another point, claiming that it's still the case that the English football fraternity blame foreigners for diving and deny that the English do it.
ReplyDeleteThat's not true. No one much pretends that it's still just the foreign players that do it. We all recognise that it's a problem throughout the game and that English football culture has totally changed -- if it ever really was what we thought it was in the first place -- and that we'd like to change it back, if we can.
I like to think that it was different, anyway, once; that the game I watched when I was a kid was more manly, more honest, more about solidarity and togetherness, a celebration of working-class values, than it is now. It changed in the 1980s and 90s, along with the rest of that side of English culture, losing its characteristic toughness and directness along the way. That;s my memory anyway. You aren't going to change my mind about that -- as much as anything because I know it's a myth already. Like most people, though, I am attached to my myths.
Suarez is a serial cheat. He gets what's coming to him. Don't get me wrong, I love him for it; he's down there fighting his own personal war every day, isn't he? His own myth: that everyone in the world is against him, that he has to fight and beat them all, using all the means at his disposal. I hope he wins in the end! But let's not pretend he's anything other than a ruthless bastard.
Last note: I lived in Cork for the best part of 10 years and am used to Irish attitudes to the English, they don't bother me at all -- I even think they're justified for the most part, that's part of the reason I left -- but let's not pretend they don't exist.
I would admire Moyes honesty if he had put a question mark over the contentious penalty awarded following Young's tumble. His after the match comments confirmed yes it was a penalty!
ReplyDeleteTell that to Ian Holloway.
100% this
ReplyDeletejamie,how can you allow lasers comment above stand in this forum,its beyond belief that one of your posters can get away with that shameful post without been lambasted by you.
ReplyDeleteI think we are all addressing the wrong issue here. Until FIFA, EUFA and the FA are eventually dragged kicking and screaming to the court of public opinion to concede that it is impossible for a referee and his assistants to consistently detect foul play and other breaches of the rules during a football match without the aid of technology those of us interested in fair play will be ill served. - Can the regulators of this great game not accept that the speed, trickery and ability of players to deceive make it essential that the human with his Mk 1 eyeballs is replaced by cameras and video screens which allow a panel of three assistants in a sealed room to tell the referee on the pitch of incidents which require his immediate attention. With a limited number of cameras, 3 red/green lights and a chairman to convey their decision to the referee's earphone the problem is resolved.
ReplyDeleteHow wrong is it for millions of people watching on TV to be better informed of events than the controller of the football game!?
I absolutely agree. This is a game with ridiculous money in it and there is currently so much about the game that we can talk about re tactics that whether the belter in the black got the decision right or not is just pointless discussion.We should have moved have moved on with the technology. Especially when we have seen for years that decisions go the wrong way at Old trafford ALL the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm not online 24-7. Sometimes, I miss comments for a while. It's now deleted.
ReplyDeleteHe did the same thing to his own bloody team captain last year mate. Get your facts right.
ReplyDeleteYou left Cork because you felt that antipathy felt towards English people by some Irish people is justified? Did I get that right?
ReplyDeleteDoes he need to write an article about every single time Moyes makes a comment about diving!!?? Jesus Christ give him a break...
ReplyDeleteDude, just because you're doing a good job, it doesn't mean you should strictly escape criticism every time you do something bad. This is the exact kind of blind faith JK always points out, and it's true. According to blind faith logic, it's okay to f*** up, as long as you're helping the team get 3 points. It's okay to protect a player who bites and says racist things, as long as he scores a lot of goals.
ReplyDeleteHe was outspoken when P. Neville did it (the team captain), so why not when RVP does it?
ReplyDeleteBack on topic, I believe what Patrick was pointing is that there is one set of rules for English players and another for foreign players. Which is of course entirely correct....if you're talking about the media in England. "The English people" are, just like everywhere else, only as biased as their own loyalties lie. Believe me, when Cork lines up against Clare a little less than two weeks from now, the country will be split into and everything the opposition does, every refereeing decision, will be held under a microscope and criticised. That's what happens in English football too. Man U supporters will be the first to condemn Suarez or Bale whereas of course Wellbeck and Young actually got fouled or at least just tripped. And we, LFC supporters, are no better than them. All that said, English media and more and more so English politicians have embraced the blame culture. It's no different from what happened in Nazi Germany. They didn't out of the blue start murdering Jews, they gradually built up a hatred against them by blaming them for all that is wrong in the world. Now I'm not saying that the English media are trying to ignite a holocaust but they are guilty of scapegoating. Suarez is a good example but there are many others. When something goes wrong, English media will look for someone to blame rather than a solution. And when you need a scapegoat, someone from a minority is always your best option. They're less likely to beat you when they fight back.
ReplyDeleteWhat if we buy averagely/ bad? I honestly can't call it at the moment. I saw Arsenal and they were pretty good, Spurs I didn't see but I heard they were pretty good too. I think Chelsea have too much class to miss out on the top 2/3, but I'm not sure about Man Utd/ City either!
ReplyDeleteArsenal are always pretty good. And then they're horrible again. And then they're pretty good. And then they're horrible again. And then they finish fourth.
ReplyDeleteBecause he doesn't speak out when Wellbeck dives or when RVP puts his hands on a player not once but twice.
ReplyDeleteLike i said i'm probably just being cynical.
ReplyDeleteBut there is a difference between publicly criticising Neville at Everton, and Van Persie at Utd. Different profile players at a very different profile club.
Utd hierarchy may not mind this towards a relatively unmarketable player, i just think other factors would be in play if it was someone of Van Persies status at the club.
Having said that, VP isnt a cheat so my whole piunt is pretyy pointless :)
Lets see what happens when its not the 4th game of the season and the stakes are higher
ReplyDeleteAh, no, I was and am happy to leave Britain, or England in particular, or rather the south of it especially, because by and large the people that live there in and around London, and the rich above all, deserve all the antipathy that gets sent in their direction from virtually everyone in the entire world.
ReplyDeletePity Moyes isn't on the fa panel. The amount of Extra Time ext. Now the
ReplyDeleteTime Lord has Gone. We May get Back to UK time! Young's Always Dived!
I always Thought that was his Position! Or he was practising to be a
Squadie! Or a Worm Finder!
When technolgy is used to get the greater percentage of decisions right the referees lose the age old excuse that they were unsighted. They will be judged as a unit and selected for future matches on the basis of their past performance. There are those who will argue that it would reduce post mortem debates and still insist that everything is evened out over a season. Personally, I would prefer to discuss the quality of players/teams performance than what some slug did to gain an unfair advantage.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, how do you even out a goal gained by a cheat or a wrongful sending off in an important match. I am now seeking to buy the Crystal Palace manager a pint so we can talk about the game at Old Trafford.
Talk is cheap Moyes can prove his 'class' by benching players who cheat. Who wants to bet that Young will be in the next Utd team?
ReplyDeleteAh right...you didn't work for Apple there did you?
ReplyDeleteExactly Dave. That old adage of it evening out is just nonsense. It doesn't even out at all as these things effect momentum too.
ReplyDelete