TyldesleyLatic

I haven’t seen the incident on telly since the game & I didn’t see it at the time but if there was no contact from Yakubu & Mariner had his back to play then he’s made a mistake
Just like Caldwell made a mistake for the first goal, just like several players then made the mistake of not playing to the whistle for the second goal & just like Jones made a mistake committing the foul for the penalty.
It happens. People make mistakes so deal with it. When people, like Martinez, start going on about being cheated & the odds being stacked against Latics when it comes to decisions its the last cry of the desperate & merely provides a smokescreen to the fact that the side yesterday wasn’t good enough to beat a team playing with 10 men for virtually half the game

I’d disagree that the significance of rememberance sunday & the poppy seem to be waning – If anything i think that the awareness around rememberance sunday & the wearing of the poppy has probably increased significantly over the last decade or so. Probably coz the UK has been involved in armed conflict on several fronts during that time.
I never remember there being 1 & 2 minutes silences at 11am on the 11th November when i was young yet you see that happening in shops, in the streets & all over the place now

At the school I work at the vast majority of the students are wearing poppies which they brought in themselves as opposed to the school getting them in & inviting students to buy em – as used to happen when I was at school many years ago

Its not stopped the Wigan Evening Post (or wigantoday.net) siezing on it as an example of rugby league being morally superior to those scum suckers at football towers:
http://www.wigantoday.net/news/players_talk_of_poppy_pride_1_3957250

He’s reet though!!! ;)

I’m gonna play devil’s advocate on this one as I can actually see (for once) where FIFA were coming from on this one – not saying I agree with it just that I can see why they took the stance they did.

The poppy is not seen as a political symbol at all by the majority of people in Britain & it didn’t start as a political symbol when it first appeared in the US. It is now mainly officially recognised in Commonwealth countries & America & there is some use of it in other western european countries.
However, like it or not & rightly or wrongly, there are some who view it as a political symbol & mainly those from countries who have lost people to the armies of the countries who use it – you only have to look at Northern Ireland where its use is extremely devisive. I can imagine that that applies elsewhere too.
As i say rightly or wrongly as the use of the poppy is supposed to be a symbol for remembering the war dead of all sides in a conflict

Anyway, bearing that in mind, FIFA has to be seen as neutral & publicly had to be seen to be acting as such. Hence why they said they couldn’t allow it on the kit (which is FIFA sanctioned) as it could have then snowballed & led to other footballing nations e.g. Palestine saying they wanted to put something on their shirts to commemorate those who have died in the troubles there – Israel objects & the same could apply all over the world

As I say whatever we think of the poppy & its use FIFA has to be seen as neutral & tread carefully & I don’t really think they had any other choice.
As it happens the whole thing was really badly managed by all sides & the solution they’ve come up with is a sensible one & one that could have been arrived at behind closd doors & without all the hoo ha this has created

Only my honest opinion but that (“I wil vow never again to purchase another season ticket unless action is taken against Antolin Alcaraz”) is a complete & total over-reaction.
It was disgusting & deserves to be punished by both the FA & the club but hardly warrants the sort of holier than thou response from many to it. The club will no doubt fine & condemn him but even if they don’t so what? At the moment there are far more important things to worry about

You mention Kevin Langley as someone who made youproud to be a Latic. During an away game at Doncaster in the 93/94 season he told the Latics faithful to “Go & f**k off” during a 3-1 defeat. That made me reet proud that did!!

Be careful fella, or you’ll be dragged up to the moral high ground to explain yourself before very long.[/quote]

Pretty much like you Griff I couldn’t care on this one. My reaction when I saw the Alcaraz spit was what an idiot a) for doing it & b) for the inevitable ban that will come his way. I agree he should get charged by the FA & I agree that he should get banned & fined by em. I also think that Latics should fine him the max fine that they can & strip him of the vice-captain position I assume he holds
My reaction when I saw highly paid players (relative to the average mon in the street) not prepared to bust a gut to prevent the opposition creating a scoring opportunity & then to compound it by standing close by doing absolutely nothing as the chances kept going in was far more extreme & led to a telling off from the missus for my language in front of 2 young children!!!

Both Diame & Gohouri should have a proverbial rocket up their backsides for the way they “defended” for that second goal.
Diame just stopped when it was he who was supposed to be tracking Henry & Gohouri’s attempts seemed to centre round standing still, gob open & with his hands on his head.

You also have to question the wisdom of a manager who had already picked Gohouri twice this season where he’d had absolute stinkers & yet chose to start with him again rather than put Boyce into the middle & put Stam or Van Aanholt out at right back.
People can talk about being “unlucky” recently or players not being able to find the target from 6 yards out but Bobby more than contributes to the shocking run of form recently with his team selections