The Banter Thread

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Jason Roberts is set to boycott this weekend's Kick It Out initiative in protest at a perceived lack of action on racism.

The Reading striker will refuse to wear the campaign's T-shirt after accusing the authorities of lacking "the stomach" to take a strong stand on the issue.

Roberts believes John Terry's four-game ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand is "nowhere near what people expect" and says it is down to players to take a lead.

He told Sky Sports News: "It seems like the authorities don't have the stomach to take this on, and if the players don't take it on then nobody will."

A number of players, among them Aston Villa's and Reading's, are thought to be considering whether to join Roberts in boycotting the anti-racism campaign's annual week of action.

And in the meantime Roberts has called on Chelsea to come down hard on their captain after a club statement confirmed Terry is facing internal disciplinary action.

He said: "You know we've sat and we've spoken about the Serbian FA and their view of what happened out there with the England Under-21s and how you have to take responsibility.

"I think for a club like Chelsea, if you find yourself in the middle of this, you have to be seen to be doing the correct thing and the correct thing is to be taking action against someone who has done something like that in the game.

"If you used that sort of language in the workplace, what sanction would you expect to be given? I don't know. You say about fans saying it on the sidelines and what would happen to them?

"It seems like the authorities don't have the stomach to take this on, and if the players don't take it on then nobody will."

"Certainly a four-game ban is nowhere near what people would expect for something like this. I guess it's up to Chelsea to do what's right."

When asked about a possible punishment, he added: "I think they should be considering everything. Like you said, if someone uses those words in the workplace they would be sanctioned accordingly.

"I think to use that language in any context, regardless of the way it's been painted, the context in what it's used is still debatable in my eyes, and the fact it's come out in that way you have to be strong in their actions.

"The fact someone is such a huge part of a club, you have to make a decision on that and as I said, it's come a year too late, and we'll wait and see what the authorities further have to do about it."
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Terry making more friends then :o :p

Honestly has there ever been a more hated individual within football than Terry?

EDIT: I guess Barton may be quite close

EDIT 2: Story is already developing

Brothers Anton and Rio Ferdinand are expected to join Jason Roberts in leading a black player boycott of this weekend's anti-racism campaign in the Premier League.

Queens Park Rangers' Anton and Rio, the Manchester United defender, plan to refuse to wear Kick It Out T-shirts in protest at the Football Association's handling of the John Terry affair.

The Ferdinands are upset over the four-game ban and fine handed out to the Chelsea captain by English football's governing body for using racist language in an exchange with Anton last year and Terry's subsequent opaque disciplinary action from his own club.

The brothers will be joined by Reading striker Roberts, who told Sky Sports News of his plan to boycott the shirts after Terry revealed his decision not to appeal the FA's punishment.
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Few papers are saying Rio will be fined £220,000 for embarrassing Fergie over his refusal to wear the Kick It Out shirt which is the same amount Terry got fined for racially abusing Anton :o

Thankfully the Mirror believes he can't be fined because he hasn't broken any club rules but if Fergie feels undermined you would have to ask how much longer Rio will be playing for United.
 
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I don't believe anything will happen myself but there's no doubt Ferdinand has done himself no favours in this mess. Supports his brother, then makes a racist tweet, then undermines his manager and refuses to support the Kick It Out campaign. Make up your mind FFS! :o

Edit: Fergie doesn't come out of this looking too great either. He spoke on behalf of Ferdinand and all black players by saying they should all wear the shirt despite Ferdinand tweeting his support for not wearing them the day before.
 
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All the players and substitutes from two football teams - 36 people in total - received red cards as a Paraguayan junior league match ended in a mass brawl.

With five minutes of the game left to play, referee Nestor Guillen sent off a player from each side, but the pair refused to leave the field and continued their fight.

In seconds, the rest of the players had joined in with some punching and aiming kung-fu kicks at their opponents.

The match officials fled to their dressing room and issued the red cards from there.
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Video:

http://video.au.msn.com/?mkt=en-au&...&src=v5:share:sharepermalink:&from=dest_en-au
 
Philip Brown, victim of racism.

Brown was a guest on Victoria Derbyshire’s show on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning. But he attempted to turn the discussion into a Phil Brown self-help group as he pondered aloud whether he might have been a victim of racism.

Listeners might have guessed there was trouble ahead from Brown’s first interjection: “I wanna know what racism is. Is it personal? Is it just down to how you feel or is this a global thing?”

He later added: “[Football's] a team game and everybody pulled together with regard to the last 20, 25 years trying to stamp out racism from the world of football.

“In the main, it was from the terraces. Now it’s a player-to-player thing. So, all of a sudden it’s now how personal is that racism, that remark?

“I’ve been called ‘sunbed’. I’ve been called, you know, ‘orange man’… and it’s not as serious as what these guys are claiming because it’s from their past and where I’m concerned it’s a level of abuse at my skin colour.

“Now, I don’t class that as an abuse, so I just get on with it. But these guys…”

And to top it off, he then wondered whether Rio Ferdinand is campaigning to bring racism back into football.

He said: “I’m not too sure what point he’s trying to make. If he’s not going to wear a Kick It Out campaign [t-shirt], is he not wearing it to bring it back?”
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Arsenal’s annual general meeting today looks like it will be fun:

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Chelsea trying to offload Terry?

Valencia sources have told Sky Sports they have been offered Chelsea captain John Terry by an agent.

However, the Spanish side insist they have not made any decisions on their future transfers at this stage.

A Spanish intermediary has claimed that he is in talks with Valencia over a possible move for Terry.

Club sources told Sky Sports: "We are working the market and we have received many names, Terry is on the list we have received via an agent, but nothing is decided."

Valencia sporting director Braulio Vazquez would not talk about specific names, but insisted any signing would have to be approved by coach Mauricio Pellegrino.

"The opinion of the coach is key for any reinforcements," he said.

Reports claim that Terry could be heading to La Mestalla as early as January.
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http://www1.skysports.com/football/...em-the-services-of-Chelsea-skipper-John-Terry
 
I really don't know why they think we'll be really well off under financial fair play, will failing to learn a single lesson in football terms change under financial fair play? Will the best players suddenly be half as good if a team is forced to pay them less? If real can't afford to pay ronaldo half a mil a week, and they have to offer him less, can anyone offer more than Real can afford anyway? Will Messi move to Arsenal because Barca can't afford his wage anymore, even though they make more than Arsenal?

Will some teams do worse under FFP... if and only IF its heavily enforced, yes, will enough to make Arsenal win anything, not a chance.

Arsenal aren't well run, being in profit doesn't equal being well run. Paying Rosicky 60k a week to be injured most of the season and below average when he does play isn't good business, same goes for Diaby, keeping on players who suck isn't good business, playing crap players and refusing to start our best players isn't good business.

The simple fact is, we've been failing to win things for years, making the same mistakes, being tactically inept, horrendous injury record and ridiculous playing policy. Still Fabregas being played while having a season long injury against a physical Stoke the game before the final, first final in years, is literally unacceptable, it was moronic in every possible way. FFP has only been on the cards for the last couple years and not enforced for the next few years properly(if ever), what explains the failure in the previous years? Not trying to win things because FFP will come into effect in the future is unacceptable.

We may have an easier time of competing under FFP, that doesn't mean we shouldn't or can't compete now.

If we continue with players like Diaby and Walcott under FFP we'll still not win anything then, if we got rid of our worst players and get better players, we can win now or under FFP, its that simple. Most of our best players have cost next to nothing, its simple time and trying lots of players, you don't have to continue paying them and giving them raises AFTER they've proven not good enough.
 
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