Stoke, Telenovella, Web, and Collina and after that maybe some football

I started following local paper “This is Staffordshire” last year in the aftermath of Ryan Shawcross breaking Aaron Ramsey’s leg for one reason only — Lou Macari. Lou had penned a preposterous article that was picked up by Gunnerblog (all us bloggers only talk to each other you know) in which the former Stoke manager had the temerity, no… insanity, to blame Arsene Wenger and Aaron Ramsey for what happened that day. The article has since been pulled but Gunnerblog still has the pertinent quotes:

What got my goat about events at Stoke on Saturday was not the tackle, but Arsene Wenger’s ridiculous reaction to it.

And my favorite:

I’ve got to say I felt sorry for Shawcross. Not just because of all the hoo-ha over the challenge, but the fact it overshadowed one of the greatest moments in his life after being called up by England for the first time. I suppose the furore over the Ramsey injury is a bit of a spanner in the works, but the call-up is still a feather in his cap and he should go there and enjoy the experience as much as possible.

I wonder if this is just Lou’s outlook on life; blame the victim, feel sorry for the perpetrator.

I feel terrible for that guy who shattered that young man’s leg while driving drunk. After all he’d just gotten a promotion at work. I hope he doesn’t let it bother him too much.

And as we head into Tuesday, with the Stoke game fully five days away Lou Macari has hit again with another insane article which should have been titled “Aaron Ramsey needs to apologize — tout suite.”

Former Stoke manager Lou Macari is just asking for a simple thing, he wants Aaron Ramsey to make a public statement accepting that Ryan Shawcross didn’t mean it.

But he could kill all that off in an instant by saying he accepts that Shawcross never meant to cause him any damage with the tackle. That’s assuming he believes it, of course, but I certainly hope he does. Speaking as a neutral, I never for one minute considered that Shawcross went in to do him any damage. No way.

A year later and Lou Macari, the neutral former Stoke City manager, is still looking for other people to blame for Shawcross’ actions. See, this isn’t about “intent” because only Ryan Shawcross knows his intent, this is about the fact that he made the tackle at all. This is about the fact that Shawcross tackled Aaron Ramsey in a way that should never be excused and took a year of his life away from a promising young footballer.

Intent is irrelevant and highlighting the intent is an intentional tactic to move the debate away from where it should firmly be. But I don’t expect anything less from Lou. This is a man, after all, who by saying he hopes Ramsey doesn’t think Shawcross intended the tackle is actually shifting blame on the victim.

Meanwhile, UEFA has decided to pull out their Ace in the public relations war that is brewing between Barcelona and Real Madrid and has sent Perluigi Collina to the Nou Camp as an “overseer” for today’s match. From his seat in the stands there is very little Collina can do to effect the refereeing so it’s clear that he’s just being sent as a figurehead. Maybe he’ll have a word with the refs at half-time, but I doubt it.

Sending Collina and making it so widely known before the match is simply cover for what UEFA should be doing which is banning the starting XI and managers for both teams and forcing this Champions League semi-final to be played with academy players… behind closed doors… with no television cameras.

Let’s face it, no one is going to watch today’s game for the football. We are watching the game to see what further levels of depravity these two teams can stoop to. I won’t be tuning in to see slick passing and stalwart defending but rather to see if Sergio Busquets will come out of the tunnel waving a giant banana while making monkey noises at the Real Madrid players.  I’m watching the game today to see not IF someone is sent off but if there’s a record breaking number of red cards.

How many players will get booked for simulation? How many guys sent off for shooting on goal? Will Danni Alves cling to life in the hospital bed while his rich uncle makes off with that whore Scarlett?

In short, I’m tuning in to watch the Telenovella “El Classico.”

And finally, on the subject of referees and upcoming soap opera clashes, Howard Webb is expected to make an appearance on “Days of our Manchester” this weekend.

To give you a little back story, Howard was once married to Fergie but they were split up by an evil organization called “FA” who sent their operative Chelsea (code named “Terry”) to sleep with Wayne and break them up. It turns out that FA is actually a double agent and stands for “Fergie and Associates” who have used the last two years to get Fergie and Howard back together so that they can rule England as King and Queen. It’s all a bit complicated, there’s a sub plot with Wayne kissing a kid in a hospital and all this stuff with the French invading from the South but I’m sure it will all be wrapped up this weekend when Howard makes his big announcement: he’s actually a man.

Stay tuned.

Bookmark It