Mark Sampson sacked by the FA

[Finnegan]

10 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Yes allegedly he did and I agree if that's true he should be reprimanded at least.

 

That said banter creates team spirit: no I'm not saying its necessarily banter or making light of racism but I'm sure O'Neill and Pearson have said worse tongue-in-cheek in front of the lads.

 

And Aluko just comes over as a bitter woman scorned: you really get the impression that this whole campaign is based on her having been dropped rather than anything he said or did

 

Banter, for **** sakes, that word is becoming the bane of my life. 

 

Ebola jokes because someone has Nigerian family or joking that a black player is a criminal isn't "banter", it's just offensive. 

 

I don't know anything about Sampson, Aluko or women's football so I can't really comment on the context of their relationship and whether or not he thought it would be appropriate. 

 

I have a Polish colleague I can make all sorts of Polish jokes to and he can make all sorts of Welsh jokes back and its fine. But Aluko obviously didn't feel Sampson had any right to make those remarks and, moreover, I'm not the manager of a national football team. 

 

[Finnegan]

Now THIS is political correctness gone mad. 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41337127

[Guest MattP]

It's worth stating again that the FA said nothing had changed with regards to the alledged comments to the players, they still accept the result of the independent investigation and there was no evidence to confirm Sampson had made the comments to Aluko and the other player. 

 

He has been sacked purely on what happened at Bristol City. It does seem to stink though, any accusation of a racist comment these days and you have to prove yourself innocent rather than the other way around.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

24 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Banter, for **** sakes, that word is becoming the bane of my life. 

 

Ebola jokes because someone has Nigerian family or joking that a black player is a criminal isn't "banter", it's just offensive. 

 

I don't know anything about Sampson, Aluko or women's football so I can't really comment on the context of their relationship and whether or not he thought it would be appropriate. 

 

I have a Polish colleague I can make all sorts of Polish jokes to and he can make all sorts of Welsh jokes back and its fine. But Aluko obviously didn't feel Sampson had any right to make those remarks and, moreover, I'm not the manager of a national football team. 

 

Yeah but you don't know the context the comments were made in  Finnegan and I'd bet the players ribbed him often about being a white man in charge of a multicultural womens team.

 

When you build a relationship with people even at work the barriers break down and in football you do have to find a way of becoming close to the players so they like an respect you. Its not carte blanche but come on let's be a bit realistic here.

 

This stinks of Aluko being angry at Sampson for dropping her because she's not good enough and trying to find any way to get back at him - using the race card - which has ultimately worked.

[Lovejoy]

33 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Yeah but you don't know the context the comments were made in  Finnegan and I'd bet the players ribbed him often about being a white man in charge of a multicultural womens team.

 

When you build a relationship with people even at work the barriers break down and in football you do have to find a way of becoming close to the players so they like an respect you. Its not carte blanche but come on let's be a bit realistic here.

 

This stinks of Aluko being angry at Sampson for dropping her because she's not good enough and trying to find any way to get back at him - using the race card - which has ultimately worked.

She has probably ended any hope of getting back in to the national team now though. I say that based on the players in the squad clearly backing their manager earlier this week with those celebrations, I think she wouldn't be selected based on the fact she's now turned on them as well, there would be big divisions.

 

Not saying it's right or wrong, all I've seen is what's been in the written press, so I'm not anywhere near informed enough.

[ScouseFox]

pretty sure most of this storyline actually happened on bend it like beckham 

[foxes_rule1978]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

Now THIS is political correctness gone mad. 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41337127

This is nuts..

[Finnegan]

21 minutes ago, ScouseFox said:

pretty sure most of this storyline actually happened on bend it like beckham 

 

I used to work with Parminder Nagra's sister. 

 

True story that. 

[purpleronnie]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

Now THIS is political correctness gone mad. 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41337127

Could it be that it was covered up because it related to the league club rather than the England side?  Just playing devils advocate here.

[RonnieTodger]

1 hour ago, ScouseFox said:

pretty sure most of this storyline actually happened on bend it like beckham 

I was literally just thinking the same thing.

 

"You don't know what it's like to be called a p*ki" 

"Of course I know what it's like, I'm Irish!" 

[davieG]

Quote

 

What the FA chief said

FA chief executive Martin Glenn, speaking to BBC Sport's Richard Conway

Why have you taken this decision today?

In 2014 there were concerns raised about Mark's time at Bristol Academy. These were investigated by the FA's safeguarding unit and Mark was cleared in terms of his suitability to continue in football in early 2015.

Let's be clear, Mark is not deemed to be a safeguarding threat in football. The problem is that when I read the full report of that just last week, the issue became one of Mark's conduct and it's really around the boundaries between a player and a coach.

On reading that report, I felt that what I saw was incompatible with the standards that we'd expect for someone to work at the FA.

Many people will look at this and perhaps think this is a convenient way to get rid of Mark Sampson given the ongoing scrutiny he is under over Eni Aluko's allegations - what do you say to that?

I can understand why people would say that but they are two very different things.

The concerns Eni Aluko raised were about perceived bullying and perceived racism. We have investigated those properly, there have been two separate investigations actually which have broadly concluded there's no systematic evidence for that.

This is a different issue, this is about his conduct before his time at the FA which we judge just isn't consistent with the standards that an FA employee needs to show.

Is Mark Sampson fit to work as a coach in football generally in your opinion?

Mark Sampson is absolutely clear to work as a coach in football.

But you don't think it's appropriate to work as the England coach when he can work elsewhere?

I think that's for other people to make their mind up. In terms of the standards we set at the FA and what we know about what happened, we are very clear about our decision.

Reaction to Sampson's sacking

A spokesman for Bristol Academy said: "In 2014 the club was made aware of the FA's investigation into allegations surrounding Mark Sampson.

"Bristol Academy Women co-operated fully with that investigation, which found that Mark Sampson did not pose a safeguarding risk working in the game. The club has had no further contact from the FA on this subject in the intervening years."

Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch said: "This situation is a mess and raises very serious questions about whether the historic processes that the FA had in place around the recruitment of coaches were appropriate, for something like this to have been missed.

"The FA are right to have taken action but reassurance is needed to make sure this does not happen again at any level of coaching."

 

I'm confused, what's he actually guilty of that makes him unsuitable to work for England but not as a football coach elsewhere which seemingly could be another women's academy? Surely all football in England is subject to the FA  rules and guidance?

[Guest seanfox778]

5 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

I was literally just thinking the same thing.

 

"You don't know what it's like to be called a p*ki" 

"Of course I know what it's like, I'm Irish!" 

Oscar worthy 

[MC Prussian]

So, the "scandal" regarding Sampson's time at Bristol City Academy involved a six-month relationship with a female player who was at least 18 years old back then.

What's the issue here?

[Guest MattP]

4 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

So, the "scandal" regarding Sampson's time at Bristol City Academy involved a six-month relationship with a female player who was at least 18 years old back then.

What's the issue here?

Nothing, but his days were numbered as soon as he was accused of racism, you don't come back from that.

 

Bit like Big Sam, the rule of the mob now rules over due process, very sad.

[Samilktray]

Turns out he was a dickhead then 

[AKCJ]

Eni Aluko told MPs that Martin Glenn told her that if she made a statement to say that the FA was not institutionally racist she would be paid for it. If he has any decency he will hand in his resignation tonight.

[AKCJ]

FA chief executive Martin Glenn: "We want to issue a full apology to Drew Spence and Eni Aluko. They were both subjected to discriminatory remarks, which is against the Equality Act and the values of the FA. We have a grievance procedure, but it's clearly fallen short. In terms of a general apology about how we (FA) have handled this, I think we have handled this with decency. I think the FA has taken it very seriously."

[Facecloth]

2 hours ago, AKCJ said:

FA chief executive Martin Glenn: "We want to issue a full apology to Drew Spence and Eni Aluko. They were both subjected to discriminatory remarks, which is against the Equality Act and the values of the FA. We have a grievance procedure, but it's clearly fallen short. In terms of a general apology about how we (FA) have handled this, I think we have handled this with decency. I think the FA has taken it very seriously."

So basically sack him and then they can ignore all the evidence in the racism investigation and practically find him guilty.

[Fox92]

3 hours ago, AKCJ said:

Eni Aluko told MPs that Martin Glenn told her that if she made a statement to say that the FA was not institutionally racist she would be paid for it. If he has any decency he will hand in his resignation tonight.

I was going to say unbelievable but it's not really. Shameful.

[Stadt]

The FA is a mess, everybody knows it but I'm doubtful it'll change anytime soon.

[Dames]

The FA is an old boys club that is absolutely threatened by getting with the times. Those old codgers see it as a safe space and will cling onto it for as long as they can.

[Wymsey]

Doubt that there'll be a worse situation than this that tells you thst The FA need a complete reform imo.

[Guest ttfn]

On 18/10/2017 at 16:16, AKCJ said:

Eni Aluko told MPs that Martin Glenn told her that if she made a statement to say that the FA was not institutionally racist she would be paid for it. If he has any decency he will hand in his resignation tonight.

Is this not a gross over-simplification of what happened?

 

Half of a pre-determined settlement wasn't paid to Aluko. The FA withheld it because the second half of the payment was dependent on a standard clause about her not making derogatory remarks about the FA, which she then did (in the eyes of the FA and their legal team) through a tweet which could easily be interpreted as accusing the FA of endorsing racism. 

 

There was then a clear-the-air meeting between Glenn, Aluko, her PFA representative and the FA HR director at which Aluko said she didn't think the remarks were derogatory. To put the issue to bed, the FA then asked her to make a statement to the effect that despite her tweet she didn't think the FA was institutionally racist and at that point she'd be paid her money, having demonstrated that she hadn't breached the terms of the settlement.

 

This is all a matter of record and makes for far less sensational reading than the headlines.

 

The FA have handled the whole thing shambolically (including the above) but some of the reporting hasn't even attempted to engage with what the testimony of the FA representatives. You could say that's karma for the FA given that they pretty much entirely failed to engage in dealing with Aluko's original complaint though.

[fuchsntf]

On Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 12:18, Dames said:

The FA is an old boys club that is absolutely threatened by getting with the times. Those old codgers see it as a safe space and will cling onto it for as long as they can.

To be fair, its not any longer....The 60s upto the 80s, were a lot of jobs for the boys.

The high flying bosses, today have a totally different attitude, and in any male orientated group have,

Dickheads, hidden Racism, not just on colour...Hard to the core banter, business  nous, and slimeballs.

Over the years there has been in all levels of our society in UK and in Europe, great changes on discrimination

and Racism, but all organisations and individual Stupidity within, just mirrors all corners of our various societies.

 

So called civilization, carries its costs and burden of human hypocracy, and bigotry, but we do and have progressed,

Its just very very slow...In the USA it seems institutional Where trust has been lost or rides on v the back of a lost horse.

The self righteous onvthese inquiries, just find words that seem also for The cause , and just point scoring  and just inappropiate

False feelings...etc etc

[Head Honcho]

After todays claims by Aluko Racist or banter?