Stoke challenge the entire concept of the rule of law.

By Tony Attwood

Stoke’s chief executive, Tony Scholes, has decided that a new view of the rule of law should be adopted in England and Wales.  (I say “and Wales” as the legal framework of the two countries is linked.  Just want to get that clear).

He says this because, it seems,  he has invented a new legal framework.  It is one that takes as a starting point that only an individual can know what goes on in his or her own mind (which of course is true) and that this knowledge should be the dominant issue within the handling of any court case involving intent and motive.

In short he argues since no one else knows what goes on in a person’s mind, the notion of motive is non-existent beyond what the individual says.   So if I punch you in the face and then say “sorry, I thought you were attacking me” I have to be believed, because no one else knows what goes on in the murky world inside my head.

If I trip you up while walking down the street, and say, “oops, I didn’t mean my foot to be there” then I must, absolutely must be believed.  As when I steal from your house (not that I would of course) and claim that I didn’t know the property therein was yours.

So strongly do the Stoke hierarchy believe this notion that they have now  accused the Football Association of double-standards (although perhaps it should be no standards) after the player known as  Charlie Adam was given a three-game ban for stamping on an Arsenal man who was lying prone on the ground.

The view of Stoke, to be clear, is that since no one knows what goes on in Adam’s mind, no one can say other than him whether he was trying to stamp or trying to avoid stamping, and therefore he should be let off.

Continued to its logical conclusion, all trials in England and Wales should be stopped when the the defence is “I didn’t mean to do it.”

But Adam was found guilty of violent conduct in relation to his actions against Olivier Giroud.  The assault, as it has now been defined, was either missed or ignored by Mike Jones but picked up by television.  (It could hardly not be, it was so utterly obvious).

But Stoke contested the FA’s notion that Adam should be charged and demanded an independent panel investigate.  They upheld the charge.

And you might think that was that.  But no, for this is Stoke.  And this is Tony Scholes.

And this is what he said…

“I am extremely disappointed for the effect that this is going to have on Charlie and on the football club.  However, I am not surprised because clubs like ours very rarely succeed in appeals to the FA. We put together a strong defence which was based upon the facts, which were that Charlie needed to plant his foot, and in changing direction his eyes followed the ball at all times.”

OK, so far as expected.  But then comes the really exciting bit…

“How can anybody other than Charlie say what intent was there?”

So there we have it.  If you get mugged in Stoke, beware, because the mugger might well go into court and claim the “City defence” of “you don’t know what’s in my mind.”

——

Do you fancy writing for Untold?   Here are the guidelines.  

64 Replies to “Stoke challenge the entire concept of the rule of law.”

  1. well said. As for stoke rarely getting decisions overturned….that would be because they are guilty every time.

  2. If Charlie honestly didn’t mean to stamp on OG (*cough* bull***), then maybe they should ban him from playing. It’s akin to someone crashing their car when they haven’t passed their test. If you’re incapable of keeping yourself in enough control to avoid putting everyone else at risk . Then get off the road!!
    The St-Orcs really are messed up, aren’t they!!!

  3. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help us get the 3 points back. I am not sure which games Adam will miss but if it is against any of the other top teams then it will actually negatively impact Arsenal!

  4. It would have been better if the FA were able to require the game to be replayed starting at the time of the incident.

  5. poor innocent unintending charlie adam! What a shame dat dis bullies wud seek him out. Infact Giroud should be banned instead, why did he put his foot in the path of a well meaning player who ordinarily cant hurt a fly. Shame on arsenal whose players are not strong enough to withstand well meaning tackles from well meaning and innocent players like shawcross.

  6. Charlie Adam has quite a bit of previous “form” and on most occasions seemed to get off unpunished – wrongly – but the expectation of escaping punishment for dangerous play has been raised by his previous escapes and those of his fellow Orcs.

    Scholes seems to enjoy quite a collection of thugs, Walters & Whelan come to mind in addition to Adam, Shawcross, Crouch, N’Zonzi, Huth etc. When permitted to play like Orcs by biased or incompetent refs they can make life difficult/impossible for any team. The Scholes perspective seems badly out of alignment with how football should be played.

    For once I don’t agree with AW! It looked to me as if Agger saw who was challenging for the ball, identifying Wilshere and deliberately hit him hard. He may not have intended to break a bone, but he meant to really hurt Wilshere. It was a reckless challenge and should be punished.

  7. Oh my what a lot of drivel on here! Arsenal players the complete innocents, wilshere committed four fouls in the first five minutes in the game at Stoke. Giroud spent most of the game falling over and trying to con the ref into giving free kicks because he was pretty poor when on his feet I suppose! Your manager claims the ref gave a “nice” penalty for Stoke, he and your players would of wanted a penalty had it been the other way round! Get over it, Stoke were the team who wanted it more on the day, look at your radio reporters/supporters interviews after the game, grown “men” blubbering, loved it, thanks.

  8. And so Peter Coates (Chairman of Stoke City) goes on to add, “However, I am not surprised because clubs like ours very rarely succeed in appeals to the FA”.

    This just shows how much class this football club have. “A club like ours” he says? what ever does he mean?

    I think he means a club full of ruthless muggers intent on bullying to win kind of club. Yeah, unfortunately modern football has moved on a bit these days. Still, if the fans are happy going to a boring boxing match, HAPPY DAYS!!

  9. I don’t think Adam should’ve been suspended for doing exactly what he and every Stroke player were instructed by their manager to do,
    He should be awarded a Stroke player of the month or a ‘Stroker’ for short , for carrying out manager’s instructions to perfection 🙂

    Only in England in 2014 can a player openly admit his team’s strategy to kick another team intentionally and that not become a front page news.

    Can you imagine Bayern players being targeted by some relegation zone club and that not becoming a nationwide story in Germany?

    But all Arsenal fans should be able to take solace in fact that players like Charlie Adam have been doing it for a long time and on the whole have been getting away with it . Bale labeled Adam a ‘coward ‘for late ,studs on ankle tackles that sidelined him for months in 2011 and again in 2012
    Adam’s rap sheet is longer than most in PL and it is no surprise Stroke FC have acquired his services as he fits perfectly with their idea of 1970 ‘s football.

  10. @bjt as much asstoke were a bbunch of orcs who were foilers of the best… We simply didn’t merit a win… To be honest have any of our performances have been dire, albeit Sunderland and napoli. I hope not but I can’t see anything further than another implosion we are used to seeing under Wenger for the past nine years. I fully accepteEverton to take us out if we think we just turn up and they’ll step aside.

  11. he manager has still not signed his contract yet, and as long as that remains the case, the idea of him hopping over to PSG to replace Laurent Blanc on his one year deal cannot be 100% ruled out. Many would welcome a change.sign the petition please to remove this man. Epetition.removewenger@doodlepol.com

  12. Here is a recent form guide for the top four teams, with the number of points taken from the last 6 games played:
    Chelsea – 14
    Liverpool – 16
    Arsenal – 8
    Manchester City – 13

    It would not be true to say I have lost faith in Arsenal’s title challenge, because I never truly believed. However, up until yesterday, I was at least prepared to be converted, and would listen to an argument that it could be done is spite of my own reservations – that the squad was not deep enough in certain areas and that the manager did not have the tactical nous to win key matches against the principal rivals.

    Maybe there are some optimists still out there. As I said at the outset of this piece, on paper, Arsenal are still very much in it. However, form is key, and that of the Gunners has gone to pot. They need a run-in even better than last season’s, where they took 26 points from their last 10 matches. Unfortunately, the opposition they must face to do that is much stiffer. Win every game and they would have 89 points. There is still plenty to play for, but I just can’t see where the inspiration is going to come from after the malaise I witnessed yesterday, because there is an all-too familiar feeling about this time of the year.

  13. The look on Wenger’s face when we went a goal down was pitiful. Usually, i become the ‘tasmanian devil’ at these points in the stadium or in the pub, as it has been the same diet for far too long now. However, that look suggests he should give it up and move on. My tolerance has gone but i can’t have a pop anymore. For such a big club, our fans have shown so much respect to him and rightly too. However, if he truly loves this club, he must be honest to himself and to us. He has a legacy to this club but he has run the club a bit like the grandad from Brewsters Millions in the last few years handing out money to his own, while we have been sitting here scratching our heads. That’s it, i have worked it out, every new player who joins, gets plonked plonked in front of a grainy projector and has to listen to Wenger explain the contract and what they need to do to access the millions. I’ll have ten million on arsenal to win a trophy ! –

  14. Nail on head Kos and Rupert in the other page. It was so PREDICTABLE that the ( relatively ) “good” season we’ve had so far ( mainly due to Bould improving the defence, and the now faded “Ozil effect” ) has been merely another false dawn. Another mirage that evaporates as soon as we come under pressure to deliver. The only good thing that may come out of it, is that if we fail to win anything yet again, Wenger has hinted that this will be his last attempt. The rumour is that he will see how we do this season, and if we flop once more, he’ll walk, at long last. It’s that hope that sustains me and keeps me supporting the Gunners. The day he leaves is the day I’ll throw a celebration party, because that’s when we’ll finally have hope restored to our club ! ” In Arsene we rust.” –

  15. With regards to Trev are you one of those lemmings who feels that Arsenal wouldn’t exist without Wenger? How long do we go without winning a trophy until we finally accept we will never enjoy success again with him in charge. The players, management, board and a large number of our fans seem to view finishing in 4th as a great success, I for one was embarrassed at the way celebrated after our win at Newcastle. As a long standing season ticket holder, I have been fortunate enough to see us win the league on several occasions and you can just tell when a side is going to win the league, not just because of results but the players hunger and confidence. I haven’t felt this once this season and realistically Sagan is the only one who could have made it into the invincible team. Call me negative, call me a glory hunter but I have supported arsenal for 34 years and I cannot bear the thought of another 3 years of wenger. He’s had more than his fair share of loyalty from the fans and for the good of the club he should go at the end of the season and then allow us to move forward. –

  16. Steve, I am not sure you quite understood the article. But actually you have reminded me of a point I have wanted to make for some time, which is the use of the phrase “get over it.” It appears increasingly in comments from supporters of other clubs when Untold comments on the activities of their clubs. By no means does every supporter from elsewhere use it, nor is every supporter from another team antagonistic, but it is a most interesting phrase.

    It seems to suggest that somehow the debate and discussion should not happen – that issues should just be let to pass without consideration.

    It is obviously something that Untold and its writers would not agree with, but the increase in this viewpoint that somehow, events should happen and then be left without debate, is worrying. It’s as if we should all shrug our shoulders and just let the world pass us by.

  17. The fact is we have not played well for a couple of months apart from the odd game-what gets me is that we could have had a significant lead at the top if we would have beaten Everton at home, and the first half of that game was the worst of the season-what an opportunity wasted. Our record against the top sides is dreadful and, although I am going to Munich, I guess I will have to enjoy the sightseeing and pray for the same result as last year!

  18. In less than two years Brendan Rodgers has turned Liverpool from mid-table also-rans into viable title contenders – they certainly have a momentum with them reminiscent of our charge to the title in ’98. I’m not advocating we should install Rodgers as our new manager but the work he has done with both Swansea and Liverpool is indicative of what new,dynamic management can bring to a football team. I have always been willing to cut Arsene Wenger a huge amount of slack these past eight or nine years (Stadium, financial constraints etc. etc) and can only be grateful for what he has brought to Arsenal (and those of us who endured the 70s and 80s know exactly what I am talking about) but I really do think it’s time for a change. Despite last season’s undefeated run-in -against eminently beatable opposition – the February/March collapse is too common an occurance. Ozil may well prove to be a brilliant player in years to come, but somehow I doubt it and as suggested above £55M for Suarez would have been money better spent regardless of his histrionics and doubtful provenance as a nice human being. The team is tired, the players are tired and I am now firmly of the opinion that the manager’s thinking is tired. One final point – and again this will probably provoke unkind comments in response – is anyone else fed up with the sight of Jack Wilshire holding onto the ball too long and spending half the game sitting on his backside with arms outstretched? – new hat’s a fake petition damn. Need to get thebsm to sort out the link.

  19. mark, Kos, Rupert etc.

    Simple question.

    Taking into account the following facts, under what premise do you think we SHOULD finish above Chelsea and City?

    City: Net spend over last 5 years = £500 Million

    Chelsea: Net spend over last 10 years £600 Million

    Arsenal: Net outlay on Stadium £400 Million +

    Do you expect that fool Wenger to work miracles ?

    By the way, I HOPED we would, even at one stage thought, against all the odds, that we possibly COULD.

    Either way I see no shame in finishing behind the oil money. You obviously think I should.

    Explain why please.

  20. for the 9th season in a row, and those who knew exactly what would happen with the “specialist in failure” remaining in charge are once again under attack by those who refuse to believe the evidence of their own eyes. Despite Wenger clearly lacking a plan B or the tactical nous to win key matches against the principal rivals, there are still some who honestly believe” he certainly had good results against principal rivals in the past so there is still some hope” and “we’re not dead yet, still a dozen games to play and fate can turn in our favour”. GET REAL! Wenger’s record against the top clubs has been disgraceful in the seasons since they last won a trophy. Arsenal have taken just 25 points from a possible 84 against top four opposition between 2009 and 2014! You people really think he’s still a great manager? Then consider this – when Flamini plays, Arsenal score much more, they concede less, and they win much more. According to Opta, the club’s win percentage with Flamini in the team is 72.73%; without him, it is 50%. Flamini also has the highest pass completion ratio of any midfielder in the Premier League, eclipsing Arteta. So what does Wenger do? We enter the battleground that is the Britannia, where we have WON just ONCE under Wenger in the League, with Flamini on the bench and Arteta starting the match. Enough said! WENGER/KROENKE/GAZIDIS OUT! VIVE LA REVOLUTION!

  21. mark.

    Liverpool.

    Net spend over the last 10 years £200 Millon +.

    Third biggest spenders, above United.

    In an attempt to keep up with the ‘oil’ nearly going bankrupt in the process. Still posting MASSIVE loses. Currently trying desperately to avoid contravening FFP.

    Still not won the title for nearly 25years.

    Liverpool. Your point is ?

  22. Jambug you just possess a loser mentality like your Lord, Wenger. You never want to win, you’re satisfied with mediocrity!

  23. mark

    How are Liverpool managing?

    Managing what exactly?

    Anyway, whatever it is you think they are ‘managing’ it was at a cost of £200 Million quid they didn’t have, that nearly caused them to go bankrupt. It still might.

  24. Gambon.

    Another one who just point blank refuses to answer a simple, direct question.

  25. Fans like Jambug are what the club doesn’t need! If Arsenal goes 20 years without a trophy, they’ll always find a way to defend Wenger by talking about Oil money clubs when we clearly had a 5 point lead this season and it was soo obvious we needed a couple additions in Jan to push on. But Le Senile fluffed it!

  26. Gambon.

    In response to your accusation that I posses a ‘loser’ mentality.

    Don’t presume to know me. You haven’t got a clue about me.

    I will however give you an insight.

    I am ambitious, yet I am a realist. I value success, but not at any cost. I also believe success is relative.

    I am proud of what I have achieved in my life. It has been achieved through drive, honesty, integrity, loyalty and good old fashion hard work.

    I have been given nothing. I do not expect to be given anything.

    So do not presume to taint me with having a ‘loser mentality’ just because I see to apply many of the values I hold so dear to the football team I support and love.

  27. Why is it that an article on Stoke’s pathetic repeated attempts to play the victim, (while at the same time pretending to be ‘manly’) leads to an attack on Wenger and Arsenal?

  28. Tony , his statement that, “….only an individual can know what goes on in his or her own mind (which of course is true) and that this knowledge should be the dominant issue within the handling of any court case involving intent and motive.”, opens up a can of worms in my opinion and the members of the Medical Division of UA . We feel that it’s not a legal argument but a medico-legal one .

    a) What is mind ? Is it matter ? Does it matter ? Half full or half empty ? Would it matter if he doesn’t mind?
    b) Do Orcs have a certifiable brain ? Some disturbing news have reached us that until recently the Pullis’ Pithing Procedure was being routinely performed to render them pliable to programing.It all went wrong when they started to ‘tune’ in to all transmitted messages from transmission towers .Talk about getting your wire crossed !
    (Pithing -to destroy the spinal cord or brain of. )

    c)Is ‘being of sound mind’ provable or measurable ? How does one authenticate or validate Compos mentis ( Latin. sane; mentally sound. being in full possession of one’s mind )
    Si ? Non ? Loco ? Non full decko ?

    d)Does snapping( or shearing ) of synapses make a sound in an empty mind ? Is there an echo ? Does the person know that he’s snapped ?
    ( Synapse -noun a region where nerve impulses are transmitted and received, encompassing the axon terminal of a neuron that releases neurotransmitters in response to an impulse, an extremely small gap across which the neurotransmitters travel, and the adjacent membrane of an axon, dendrite, or muscle or gland cell with the appropriate receptor molecules for picking up the neurotransmitters. )

    e) None of the above ! It may all be the figment of a seriously impaired imagination of a bored AKB !

    WOO HOO ,HOO !

  29. Gambon.

    So I see from your answer that you deem to dismiss out of hand the Billion pounds spent by the oilers as if but an ‘irrelevance’, a ‘pittance’, and attempt to balance that gross figure against squandering a 5 point lead.

    I don’t think it requires me to point out the utter ignorance of what you have just written.

  30. They look like a team who will blitz anything in their path. We look like we have woken up from a hundred years of sleep. Face the facts loser

  31. @Mark, Gambon,

    Winning mentality……Are you showing one???? If what you are doing here is akin to winning mentality, then no thanks. We are better of without it.

  32. mark.

    Having trouble answering the question are we?

    I see Liverpool hitting a great vane of form and us having a poor run has suddenly turned you into a Liverpool fan.

    Bye then !!!

  33. @jambug

    Gambug is one of the most obnoxious prats from Le Groan, you will not get any sense out of him.

    Not sure why he has turned his attention to UA – he is only trolling here.

  34. I think he probably called his best palls from Le Groan over to here to troll us.
    Maybe I should have banned him after his first comment where he called Wenger names…. Still can… 😉

  35. The Groaning Trolls that have trolled every Arsrnal blog for years do not like having their ignorance of Football and their general stupidity and xenophobia exposed by trolls. Which is why they tried and failed to close this twitter account:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/LolGrove

  36. Tony Scholes is evidently from Florida, and a big fan of the “Stand your ground” law as it is interpreted there. An almost exact fit. You can figure out what’s different.

  37. What I don’t understand about these trolls is that I pose a simple question.

    Why and how do they expect us to compete with City and Chelsea considering the massive disparity in finances between us?

    Considering it is only those 2 and Man Utd that have finished above us in the last few years I think it is a fair and reasonable question, yet they respond by talking about Liverpool !!!!

    Not only do they dismiss a BILLION QUID as if it’s nothing, but start using Liverpool as a stick to beat us with. And this:

    Despite the fact we are level on points with them in the PL and have beaten them 2 out of the 3 times we have met this season.

    Despite the fact they have spent over £200 Million (net) themselves over the past 10 years(3rd biggest spenders in the PL) and have still failed to win a title. (25 years and counting, but you don’t get that thrown in your face every time Liverpool are on the tv).

    Despite the fact they have still yet to get a new stadium project off the ground. (We’ve already built our new £450 Million stadium in case you hadn’t noticed, and it wasn’t built or paid for by benefactors either).

    Despite the fact they’ve splashed so much money trying to catch Utd, Chelsea, City and Arsenal, yes Arsenal, that it’s nearly bankrupted them.

    So on the back of one result at Anfield during what is probably Liverpools best run of form in years we get this abuse from them.

    A sad bunch indeed. And they keep calling me a ‘loser’ !!

  38. @ jambug

    “A sad bunch indeed. And they keep calling me a ‘loser’ !!”

    They were being ironic, jambug; it must be self-parody. Even they can’t be quite so stupid … can they?

  39. Oh my, some people really are funny. So Liverpool are now doing better than Arsenal? Because they hit form over the last 3 or 4 games? When did they last win the title? Or let alone finish in the top four and qualify for the champions league? Ridiculous

  40. I, not being from London, took some time to get around to hating sp*rs. It was the arrogant Scousers that I roundly disliked. Funny to see that my initial impressions are being revisited.

  41. So we wait. Assess. And see. But Wenger will be running out of his ‘get out of jail’ cards if we don’t deliver. The irony is we are a victim of our success. Fourth place this season would have been exceptional at the start. However fans are right to demand more. They have tasted a sample of the good life. After all if you give a beggar a pound when he usually gets 50p, it is a pound that he will now want…although the 50p would have been accepted with grace, he now knows he should be aiming higher. We have been given a pound…cannot settle for 50p anymore! We shouldn’t have settled for it in the first place! That’s the reality!

  42. Lol. It’s not being negative but commenting on the facts before you. With the first real opportunity in 10 years to win the title, and with a known deficiency in striking options, signing a midfielder with known injury problems on loan is a testimony of the club’s ambition. With financial stability now realised, new sponsorship kit deal and healthy revenue streams, and, being one of the most expensive grounds to watch football, I think that there is a genuine right for disillusioned fans to be disappointed. When you also see the likes of proven quality such as Berbatov leave for Monaco, and no desire to sign replacements until the dying embers of the window, a club with the stature, heritage and class of Arsenal becomes a subject of humour and ridicule. The reality is that times have changed. To compete you need to pay a premium. And when you leave your exam preparation until hours before the exam, you must be willing to pay even more than premium! Negative? I just think that’s reality of genuine and understandable frustration of 9 seasons without a trophy and 10 without a title. And much of this because of intransigence and stubborn adherence to archaic ideologies which are no longer valid in modern football!

  43. If you are happy with finishing fourth every season without so much as a league Cup then we have nothing further to debate

  44. @Kos
    Did you think of all that by yourself. I dare say Tottenham supporters were delighted and thrilled with the ambition shown in the decision to ‘invest’ £26 million on Soldago, a proven goalscorer. Fantastic signing they and the media said, along with Lamela, Capoue and all the others they signed who were going to blast them into the top four but have now all but disappeared. I bet you would have loved a few of those signings at that time. How about now? £110 million down the drain.

  45. While Stoke is an abomination of a club with supporters that make Neanderthals appear intellectual-cruel, nasty morons, the fact is they beat us, and whilst fortune favoured them a little this time-with the help of a biased referee, it was not a totally unexpected defeat- a mid table side with fervent home support edging past another marginally better mid table side who played with insufficient hunger, strength and forward threat to win.

  46. The total thug that is Charlie Adam got off very lightly. He stamped on opponents twice during the game and also left his studs high into the thigh of Giroud on another occasion. All three incidents were clear and obvious red card offences (and all were ‘missed’ by the ref). A 9-12 game ban should have been the very least this thug should have received. Three games a piece for the three red card incidents and an extra three games due to repeated offences.

  47. “Only in England in 2014 can a player openly admit his team’s strategy to kick another team intentionally and that not become a front page news.”
    Tom,
    Not quite true. This past week, Nzonzi openly stated this and it was widely publicized to commend him.

  48. Stoke defends psychopathic behavior: that everything is permitted and no limits outside of the mind of the perpetrator are to be considered real. There’s no responsibility for actual consequences. The pitch is an unlimited free for all. This team’s legal theory is fitted around its pitch behavior: the theory that excuses maiming and callous indifference. It is institutionalized psychopathy, masquerading as some brand of normalcy called being “manly” or “aggressive”. What is actually in the background, which is not yet provable, is whether Bet365 are the beneficiaries of this “madman” posture of anything goes. Yes, any win via violence; or any loss via non-competitive orc-ball. Whatever the players (not the footballers) want is what Stoke and its enablers (from the House of Riley) aim to deliver. I have no proof for this. It is a wild surmise. And it is a thought experiment to match the football experiment known as Stoke FC.

  49. ITV today, RE the Stoke game.

    “Arsenal where bullied and couldn’t handle it”

    What Stoke do against US, is NOT bullying, it is thugery and yet again pundits, including our own Dixon, haven’t a word of condemnation to say about it.

    And by the way, I know we played poor but does that excuse the opposition to kick us off the park, or the ref to totally ignore it and give pathetic penalties.

    I don’t think so !

  50. Troll alert lads……and they are totally OFF TOPIC but on Wenger’s case as usual!
    These imbeciles must belong to a cretinous collective whose unique purpose is to troll pro-Wenger websites. It is very strange that they never mentioned our 4-1 demolition of Everton in the FA Cup at the Emirates, or how the Club has had a fantastic run-in over the last 3 years!
    Now back on topic, the statements by Stoke are so outrageous (like our trolls above) that they deserve (as do the trolls) the scorn being heaped on them and the ridicule of all true Football aficionados worldwide. End of story!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *