‘Reflections’ is very much the domain of Stephen Goldsmith but he’s moonlighting, housemoving and heaven knows what else so begs other Salut folk to step into his shoes. It falls to Monsieur Salut to look at two issues that leap from the pages and screens: Manchester United’s supposed interest in Simon Mignolet and the rather fanciful notion that terrace chats should be tasteful …
‘Man Utd line up move for Sunderland keeper’
Now there are rumours and rumours. You look in vain for serious substance to the one that says Sir Alex Ferguson has his eyes, soon to be followed by his paws, on Simon Mignolet.
Monsieur Salut went in search of the source for this slightly alarming snippet. Our own Jeremy Robson, writing at the Blackcats list, said: “Mignolet is a fantastic goalkeeper who has the talent to be the best in the world.”
So where does the story come from? First mention I came across was at the CaughtOffside site. But, as is often the case with football sites, it wasn’t their story but recycled from elsewhere, in this case that fountain of wisdom and intelligence TransferMarketWeb.com
Off we went there to read the full story. It went like this: “Manchester United are interested in the goalie of Sunderland Simon Mignolet (24). He can arrive if David De Gea will leave.”
That’s it. Those few words, which may or may not have been written by a native English speaker (doubt arises because of the odd use of verb tense for De Gea’s possible departure), but tell us nothing. Sadly, thin and unsourced as it is, the report could still – for all we know – turn out to be true. Great news for Keiren Westwood, another international-standard keeper but currently kicking his heels as Mig’s deputy, but not so good for us.
The Bleacher Report recently named Mignolet’s stunning save from Kevin Nolan at Upton Park as one of the best 10 in the football-playing world so far this season
As Martin O’Neill said earlier this month to The Daily Telegraph:
He’s been fantastic for us, absolutely splendid. There are parts of his game he wants to improve on, but I tell you he is as brave as a lion. He’s been as good as anyone in the Premier League this season … When I look at Joe Hart I see an excellent goalkeeper, his performance for Manchester City against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League was sublime, but Simon is playing just as well.
MoN added: “Maybe his work has gone a little unnoticed.” Let us hope that applies to SAF.
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‘Alan Pardew joins Martin O’Neill in slamming chants’
When I first read that headline from our old friends at the Morning Star – mention of which demands another outing for Jake’s propaganda – I wondered whether “slamming chants” had taken over from rap to such an extent that Pardew and MoN had formed a slamming duo.
Not so.
The Newcastle manager, not necessarily a role model for dignified behaviour at football games, was criticising Sunderland supporters who sang “Steven Taylor, we wish you were dead” in retaliation for his pre-match comments that he’d sooner turn to stamp collecting than play for Sunderland.
Newcastle fans, for their part, had concocted this catchy little chant: “Jimmy Savile is Cattermole’s dad.”
Pardew called the chants directed at his player “unacceptable” and demanded action against the fans responsible. O’Neill said he was “disappointed”. Reports called the chanting crude but, unlike Pardew, also referred to those about Cattermole (and, of course, Bramble, who must by now be getting used to this sort of thing).
The first thing to be said is that if, as reported, neither manager heard the chants during the match, that may be because among 47,456 supporters present, only a few were singing the offending lines.
The second is that the chants were so staggeringly unfunny as to make you wonder why anyone bothered sitting down to compose them. But I can think of worse things happening at sea, and between warring tribes of football supporters.
Jake said “Alan Pardew’s quite a cad at times,
He should stay north of the river Tyne,
He once made a pass at a friend of mine,
Yes he’s quite a bounder.”
I can see that one catching on but only in the Premier Concourse.
I think we all would have been better served if both managers had simply said, “So what?” and cut this off at the knees.
Neither chant was funny or even faintly amuing. I supose the Taylor one was a variation on the “Matt Killgallon, we thought you were dead” one which surfaced last year and was amusing.
But, when you have several columns to fill in an ailing red top, you need all the “news” you can get.
And both Pardew and O’Neill giving reporters a knee-jerk reaction instead of shrugging this off as nonsensical non-news.
I think that both said that they had heard nothing.
Following that, both have been asked again and (I believe) said the same again + (something like) IF the reports are true then I think……..
However, some journo’ has decided to try and make the latter comments front page news by omitting the caveats.
Given that scenario, I don’t think that either manager could be accused of “knee jerk reactions”.
I don’t see what’s wrong with either chant to be honest. I admit it’s not everyone’s taste from a humour point of view but I’m sure everyone would prefer this to violence. My opinion is it’s the press looking for a story where there isn’t one.
I’m all for more politeness and gentlemanly behaviour on the “terraces”. We can, with a bit of thought and wit, still direct insults at the opposition without resorting to lewd, foul-mouthed language. Here’s an example, sung to the tune of “There was an old man called Michael Finnegan”, you may know it better as “Alan Shearer’s Illegitimate”……..
“Alan Pardew’s quite a cad at times,
He should stay north of the river Tyne,
He once made a pass at a friend of mine,
Yes he’s quite a bounder.”
You see, I’m sure our black and white chums would feel quite hurt by these words, but at the same time bamboozled by our polite wit. Job done!
Calling someone a cad and a bounder is cruel. Pete Sixsmith once called a player a guttersnipe and he was never the same since…
The Independent says: “Neither manager heard the chants at the time…” Which means they’re reacting to hearsay. Did Cattermole and Steven Taylor rush in floods of tears to their respective bosses sobbing, “Please, sir, some rough men in the grandstands were unkind to us. Make them behave.”
The overblown reaction to all this is something I’d expect from stamp collectors, not footballers. And may I add, without wishing to ruffle Pardew’s hypersensitive Mag feathers any further, how much it upsets me that a namesake of mine should wear the black-and-white…
What I find interesting is that Pardew was reported as stating that he DID NOT hear the chants, during the game.
So, M Salut, we need to find which journo’ then has honed in on words, which I suspect, included a caveat along the lines of “I’ve been told, if this is true etc”, and then only chose to only report the more sensationalist language.
It’s not often that you will find me attempting to defend him BUT, on this occasion, I think his words MAY have been misrepresented!
Yes, Phil, i agree. My words above included these …
The first thing to be said is that if, as reported, neither manager heard the chants during the match, that may be because among 47,456 supporters present, only a few were singing the offending lines.
They were responding, both of them, to reports of. I don’t doubt the chants happened but nor that they involved very few fans of either side and further that it hardly matters a damn.
We need to “name & shame”!
That is a challenge I throw open to readers with the time to delve.
But this is where your journalistic experience would come to the fore.
We, mere, amateurs wouldn’t get past first base!
We (the readers) could then club together and purchase an individually designed mug (for you) to commemorate the event, following a competition to decide upon the best slogan..
Does anyone think either Taylor or Cattermole were remotely bothered by either chant. Taylor particualrly has said he loves the derby atmosphere. I find it ironic that the journalist who led with the “stamp collecting” story was also the first to print the outrage at the crude chants. I think Mr Kinnear was 100% accurate with his summary of him.
He was indeed. The reporting of the Taylor comments were deemed provocative when the ‘juicy’ story ran. Then, they were praised for being refreshing when the agenda became how nasty the SAFC fans were.
To slam the derby as ‘vile’ then pat Taylor on the back for making comments like this on the eve of it, is laughable.
There is nothing wrong with a bit of amusing sledging between fans but sadly there are fans in both camps who are best described as knackers.You know the type who adhere to everything NUFC or SAFC is dung.
Sunday chants fron both sets of fans were both tasteless
and unamusing.
Of more concern to me however was the junior football coach who agreed to pay the NUFC mascot a fiver for every SAFC player he snubbed.A picture of the youngster thumbing his nose at John O’ Shea in the tunnel is on the Internet for all to see.
Great example of prejudice being passed on by someone in a position to influence the attitudes of young people. I just hope he has no other more serious prejudices that he is passing on to his young charges
When you think of the exchanges between Liverpool and ManU supporters, this pales into total insignificance. Tasteless football chants have always existed, at least partly redeemed in many cases by a measure of wit. For instance: “Adebayor, Adebayor, he used to like coach trips but not any more.”
Or: “Cheryl Cole’s a slapper, she cannot f***ing sing! And when she’s shagging Ashley Cole, she thinks of Ledley King!”
I found an interesting piece on-line from last year, which addresses this whole issue:
http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/11121/
Interesting, meanwhile, that Pardew seems to be suffering from (or perhaps enjoying) selective deafness. He really is developing the morals of a magpie.