Copy of letter sent today to the FA re the allegations by Hull City management against Arsenal FC
Sirs,
I understand you are seeking evidence concerning the allegation that Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal FC spat at the feet of a member of the Hull City staff at the conclusion of the FA Cup quarter final game at the Emirates Stadium on 17 March.
This allegation is made in part by the manager of Hull City, Mr Brown, and as you may not have concrete evidence concerning the issue you will need to consider the likelihood that Mr Brown is telling the truth.
With this in mind you will undoubtedly be checking on the veracity or all the statements made by Hull City FC in this affair, and that of course will include footage of the end of the EPL match between Arsenal and Hull City played at the Emirates stadium earlier this season. There you will find Mr Wenger the manager of Arsenal shaking hands with Mr Brown. In case you do not have access to this footage, a still from it is available at http://www.arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=513713
You will know that Mr Brown stated after the match on the 17th March that Mr Wenger had refused to shake his hand both at the match on 17 March and at the match earlier in the season. The picture shows that Mr Brown is lying, and that he did indeed shake Mr Wenger’s hand.
The important point here is that while it is quite possible that Mr Brown cannot remember whose hand he has shaken, and whose not, he chose to make an assertion as part of his evidence, and used it in interviews to develop his point that there is something unacceptable within Arsenal FC. In fact he said on Setanta TV “It just shows you what this club [Arsenal FC] is all about.”
In an interview on BBC Radio 5Live on 18 March Mr Brown was then asked what he meant when he made that comment on TV following his allegations of Fabregas spitting at the feet of his assistant manager. Mr Brown then said ‘I didn’t say that did I?’.
As one who has studied and worked in the world of psychology – and particularly on the issue of memory – for many years I would say that it is clear from these statements that Mr Brown is likely to have a short term memory problem. This is not that unusual – it is estimated that around 10% of the population have such a problem and it is commonly found among people with dyslexia, dyscalculia and similar disorders, and in general terms it does not interfere with such people’s lives. But it does make them extremely unreliable witnesses, and I am sure you will wish to consider this in relation to the evidence put by Mr Brown in the enquiry into this incident.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Attwood C.Ed., B.A., M.Phil (Lond), F.Inst.A.M.
One of Browns complaints (i think on radio 5 on weds morning, but on the bbc website here http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7950287.stm) was that:
“The pictures in the national papers verify the aggression he was showing towards players and staff after the game. I could go on but I’m not one for crying over spilt milk,” (from web article above)
Aside from the sheer comedy of the final sentence, I believe the picture he was referring to was this one gracing this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1162809/Disgrace-Fabregas-accused-spitting-row-Brown-rages-offside-Gallas-winner.html (i feeel dirty just linking to the mail… euurrgh) which shows cesc apparently snarling at a hull player, but if you look closely he is actually this side of the camera to the hull player and facing away from him and therefore in no way does this photo show him acting aggresseively to players and/or staff!
Brown has lost it. And as tony rightly says in the previous article, Cesc should demand an apology or sue. If Hull go down now, I won’t shed any tears!
phil brown is crazy, journalists are crazier!
lots of journalists say cesc is a bad ass, truth doesn’t seem to matter.
daily mail says even if Cesc didn’t spit he needs to grow up.
most absurd piece of article! if Cesc didn’t spit, he should sue mad phil.
mad phil’s accusation doesn’t have any evidence, he and his assistants are only witnesses. mad phil has changed his story a couple of times, but any journalist doesn’t care about that. they only focus on having a go at Cesc and Arsenal. FFS!
what a bunch of idiots! they should be ashamed of themselves.
Totally off-subject , but there’s a great feature on the Guardian website about the demise of Charlton since Curbishley left. When he was at the club which was doing okay in the Premiership the fans were starting to get on his back. After he left the club collapsed.
Great posting on this from a gooner called ‘ny1703’
“A lesson to all fans, especially those who ‘have paid and earned the right to boo’!
Will any among Charlton’s fans come out now and justify booing Curbishley? Would you believe there are still some Arsenal fans who feel “Arsene has taken the club as far as he can” because we are 5th/4th? Will Charlton’s sad case make any impression on them? No, because they have never planned their lives nor anything else beyond the next hour!”
Spot on Mr ny1703!
BTW, Brian Horton was busy throughout the game swearing and jeering at Wenger, everyone in the dugout, the bench and the seats nearby saw it. Cesc was sitting very close by and saw it.
He deserves to be spat at.
Also, Hull advanced to the 6th round by beating Sheffield United with a goal THAT DIDN’T EVEN CROSS THE LINE:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1159482/Sheffield-United-boss-Blackwell-escapes-FA-charge-calling-referee-Walton-disgrace.html?ITO=1490
That’s a report on Hull’s 5th round win over Sheffield United. The referee incorrectly allowed an own goal, the ball didn’t cross the line, and SheffU should’ve gotten a penalty in the incident. Hull advanced in the FA cup with a goal that was worse than our winning goal. But you won’t hear Brown complaining about that.
I agree 100% with Ian on this issue – Charlton were doing brilliantly, Curbishley was made to feel that they had had enough of him – and now look where the club is.
The promising thing about Hull Spittle is that the insanity of the FA and the press is pushing Arsenal supporters and the club together – and we all know that when we have our backs against the wall we do much better.
After this incident Cesc will come back tougher and even more of a fighter (in the best footballing sense), the club will unite… I noticed at the end of the game Kolo congratulating Gallas – victory in the face of the dirty enemy.
That’s what we want: a unity. And that is what we have not had with people booing the players. Brown has helped to make us a much stronger club once again.
Tony
You’re so right, Tony! For me, it’s a Total Siege Mentality until the end of the season.
Brown has reminded us all WHO IS THE REAL ENEMY!
We are on our own. Good.
Let’s stick it to the lot of them. They are not worth a jot.
I wonder how fird up Cesc is feeling right now.
Guys, you have to read this article entitled “Why English football is a poorer place since Thierry Henry left Arsenal” — he also praises Wenger:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/03/19/why-english-football-is-a-poorer-place-since-thierry-henry-left-115875-21210377/
NYmarcus – Thanks for the link, good feature.
Henry is an Arsenal legend and he was more than a player – he was an ambassador for the club.
Back on the Hull thing, one if the funniest Brown comments made was about Wenger getting his keeper booked and the fact it meant he was forced to change his tactics.
So what tactics were they then? Er… timewasting perhaps?
So its Barca in the final then
Tony, Benitez has been, reportedly, given a £30 Million transfer kitty as a reward for signing a new contract.
Your view, given your past analysis of their financial situation.
NYMarcus. Copied your link across to ACLF. An interesting read, thanks.
The owners, commenting on Benitez contract were asked about the finances, and said, “the club is not for sale”. But they also said that they would bring in new money in the summer through a share deal.
Nothing is clear but it looks like they will try and sell some of their shares, or alternatively issue new shares, to pay off the troublesome £350 million loan. If doing that, it makes sense to bring in £400m, and use some of that for transfers.
But they also said that they wanted to raise further capital for the stadium project – and that would be as much again.
The question then is, who would put up this type of money? Probably only the Arabs. The Arabs pulled out of the deal to buy Charlton at the last minute because of the credit crisis – so it would seem odd if they then went back to Liverpool – but on the other hand maybe the Charlton deal went bad because Liverpool said, “dont buy them buy us”.
Tony
Cheers, CB!
NYmarcus,
Remember me, your old sparring partner?
Hey, AIC, OF COURSE I REMEMBER YOU AND I MISS OUR DISCUSSIONS VERY MUCH!!
NY,
Great. Let’s do a better job of keeping in touch this time.
How can we do that, AIC? Talking on ACLF is impossible.