Captain's gesture (Smalley)

[argylelegend]

It's one thing to wish an injury on somebody, but to say that the team would benefit due to this fact is completely different in my opinion. I think we are better off without DS but the timing of the comments on twitter are harsh to say the least.

 

[Connor Clarke]

Talk about a mountain out of a molehill, oh dear. Unsurprising though! :roll:

But a big enough anthill for the club/Harbin to mention it in the matchday programme and for the players to show their support for Smalley.

Unrelated.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Sadly this is the age we live in. The world has always had plenty of complete donut in it, unfortunately nowadays social media in all its forms has given them a platform to voice their mindless opinions and gives them a sense of self importance, (one reason why I intend to go to my grave without ever sending or reading a 'tweet'). I'm not in any way excusing some of the comments made about Deane's injury, they are the words of morons, but we shouldn't let it get to us too much, this sort of bile would happen at any club.

I say either challenge these idiots or ignore them, whatever your preference, but do NOT let them take the gloss off what has frankly been a great weekend to be a green.

 

[Steve Evans]

i have just returned from work and read most of the comments.i do not wish injury to any player,whatever team they play for and i humbly apologise to all the people/players/staff that i have clearly upset.i wish dean smalley a rapid and painless recovery.

 

[IJN]

Talk about a mountain out of a molehill, oh dear. Unsurprising though! :roll:

But a big enough anthill for the club/Harbin to mention it in the matchday programme and for the players to show their support for Smalley.

Unrelated.

Rubbish, total crap.

Why on earth would the player hold up a Smalley shirt?

To support world peace?

 

[L G]

blimey, I go away for family pre xmas weekend, missing a home match, and come back to it 'kicking off' big time :shock:

Did we not win yesterday?

 

[Connor Clarke]

Talk about a mountain out of a molehill, oh dear. Unsurprising though! :roll:

But a big enough anthill for the club/Harbin to mention it in the matchday programme and for the players to show their support for Smalley.

Unrelated.

Rubbish, total crap.

Why on earth would the player hold up a Smalley shirt?

To support world peace?

To say good luck for his operation on Monday without any hidden message to supporters? Maybe... Possibly... Yeah probably :lol:

Good on them I say.

 

[IJN]

Sorry, I thought you said it was unrelated? :roll:

The players quite rightly show their support for their injured player, and John Harbin said what he said.

If you think that both actions are totally unconnected, you really should have a little think about things.

The words of so called fans, on Twitter, 'bantering' with the players in such a manner is bound to cause friction.

 

[IJN]

i have just returned from work and read most of the comments.i do not wish injury to any player,whatever team they play for and i humbly apologise to all the people/players/staff that i have clearly upset.i wish dean smalley a rapid and painless recovery.

:clap:

Well done Steve.

A good apology.

 

[Mannamead Green]

I don't even know who the 'geeky crew' is. Silly comment from you.

I said one thing on a networking site that was admittedly misguided, but neither the club nor Harbin could have possibly seen unless they're avid readers of my twitter feed. Which I very highly doubt.

I really really strongly doubt that holding up Smalley's shirt after the game was a show of defiance against Steve Evans. More a nice gesture for a mate, I think.

Harbin's article in the programme is the main source of this debacle, I think. While I respect his right of freedom of speech, I believe that it was a bit unnecessary to give it airtime, and I strongly disagree with his second point as regards to 'white ants'. Dismissing all criticism as unhelpful is very dangerous. I really just think, myself, that the article was unnecessary sh*t-stirring. There's no need to have a go at a few silly individuals when we're doing well in the league - concentrate on the football.

I've gone over why, unless you're directly mentioning the Argyle twitter page or Deane Smalley himself, saying things you wouldn't say to someone's face is immaterial. But I think by Ian's logic that you can't say anything about anyone online you wouldn't say to their face, there have been some past inconsistencies. The moderating team and yourself defending someone who made some disgusting remarks on Facebook from ANY questioning comes to mind. Or maybe calling Russell Brand a 'vile sod'.

Also, I don't agree that the players should react to 'abuse'; a certain Argyle player told some Aldershot fans to die and took the mickey out of an Argyle season ticket holder's appearance. The fans don't have the divine right to say anything to the players, but they do pay their wages. Whatever happens, the players are professionals and should be able to ignore it and not react. However much they are provoked, they shouldn't react.

Note: lol at PL2 for trawling through my twitter feed (not that I have a problem with it myself) while 3 weeks ago he was blowing his lid at anyone who trawled through Frank Harper's Facebook.

 

[SWTT]

There are definitely some nasty pieces of work in this thread and they aren't MG or Paven.

Ian, I don't see what right you have to take John Harbin's words and go about applying them to people willy nilly as if it's freaking gospel. You have your opinion that some jokes are crass, fine. Say that. Personally I feel you're making a mountain out of a molehill and I don't think you should be twisting what John Harbin says for your own agenda.

You talk of anonymity behind the keyboard, then reveal the name of the player that apparently wants to "do" Steve Evans then... Jesus fudging Christ. How pathetic has this circus of a club become? On the field things are looking brilliant, it's a friken pleasure watching those players represent us. But off the field it's just embarrassing from top to Internet.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

I don't even know who the 'geeky crew' is. Silly comment from you.

I said one thing on a networking site that was admittedly misguided, but neither the club nor Harbin could have possibly seen unless they're avid readers of my twitter feed. Which I very highly doubt.

I really really strongly doubt that holding up Smalley's shirt after the game was a show of defiance against Steve Evans. More a nice gesture for a mate, I think.

Harbin's article in the programme is the main source of this debacle, I think. While I respect his right of freedom of speech, I believe that it was a bit unnecessary to give it airtime, and I strongly disagree with his second point as regards to 'white ants'. Dismissing all criticism as unhelpful is very dangerous. I really just think, myself, that the article was unnecessary sh*t-stirring. There's no need to have a go at a few silly individuals when we're doing well in the league - concentrate on the football.

I've gone over why, unless you're directly mentioning the Argyle twitter page or Deane Smalley himself, saying things you wouldn't say to someone's face is immaterial. But I think by Ian's logic that you can't say anything about anyone online you wouldn't say to their face, there have been some past inconsistencies. The moderating team and yourself defending someone who made some disgusting remarks on Facebook from ANY questioning comes to mind. Or maybe calling Russell Brand a 'vile sod'.

Also, I don't agree that the players should react to 'abuse'; a certain Argyle player told some Aldershot fans to die and took the mickey out of an Argyle season ticket holder's appearance. The fans don't have the divine right to say anything to the players, but they do pay their wages. Whatever happens, the players are professionals and should be able to ignore it and not react. However much they are provoked, they shouldn't react.

Note: lol at PL2 for trawling through my twitter feed (not that I have a problem with it myself) while 3 weeks ago he was blowing his lid at anyone who trawled through Frank Harper's Facebook.

I never said such a thing.

Well done to Steve Evans for coming out and apologising.

 

[GreenSam]

Can I just interject?

I think there is no reasonable ground to assume that the players showed their support for Smalley due to some distasteful comments that were made on here and on other mediums. Far more likely surely that they just made a gesture in support of a friend and colleague who suffered a nasty injury. It was undoubtedly a nice gesture but it was one that could very easily have been motivated purely by compassion for Smalley. Such gestures are fairly commonplace in football and may well have taken place without the comments. Of course they didn't do it 'for world peace' but they may have just done it for the injury in general.

As for the comments specifically, it goes without saying that I don't support or condone such comments and in all fairness two of the people who made them have now admitted it was wrong. I agree with the point being made that real people play for Argyle and not just footballers who disappear when the game is over. I'll be honest, I did read some of the comments and bash my head against a wall. It's good that two of the people who made them have been gentlemanly enough to admit they were wrong. However:

I struggle to see the need for John Harbin to make such a public reference to it in his program notes. When there is such a feelgood feeling around the club and by and large the team and fans are happier with eachother than they have been in years, why mention this one example of tastelessness? Why, when the team dug in so well and there was such a memorable, magic moment with Curtis Nelson geeing up the fans after his injury to support the lads at 3-2 up in Northampton, could he not have resisted the urge to alert the public to what was essentially a minority of silly comments. People type crude stuff without thinking on the internet. I've done it, most people reading this will have done it. If you haven't, then fair play to you you're in a minority. I take on board that the seemingly faceless nature of the internet means that many people do not exercise the same discretion as they normally would in other conversations. However, surely that is even more of a reason not to shame people for falling into the very trap that so many have fallen into.

I don't mean to turn this into a massive dig at John Harbin because from all I have heard about him and from the impression I picked up at the meet the fans meeting a few weeks ago, he is an absolute asset to PAFC. He seems like a great and inspirational guy who genuinely cares about our players as human beings. He seems like a fantastic and straightforward person who has done wonders in his time here and whose wisdom has helped PAFC's players on both a footballing and personal level. Therefore I can absolutely understand why reading some comments would rile him (and perhaps rile the players themselves). I don't for a moment expect them to read what was said and laugh along with it. I get that they're gonna read it and be peed off.

However, I really struggle to see any merits in giving them the oxygen of publicity. All in all, these are pretty good times for PAFC from CEO level downwards. Why, when there's so much good stuff going on to write about, focus on a few people doing something we've all done which is 'press the send button without thinking' on an online forum. I can emphasise with why JH reacted the way he did but I feel he should have not given such daft comments airtime in the matchday program. I don't necessarily disagree with what he said but I disagree with publishing his thoughts on the matter. Ever heard of the saying 'don't feed the trolls'? All it served to do is dampen the feel good factor at the club and alert more people to the negative comments who would otherwise never have heard of them.

 

[IJN]

There are definitely some nasty pieces of work in this thread and they aren't MG or Paven.

Ian, I don't see what right you have to take John Harbin's words and go about applying them to people willy nilly as if it's freaking gospel. You have your opinion that some jokes are crass, fine. Say that. Personally I feel you're making a mountain out of a molehill and I don't think you should be twisting what John Harbin says for your own agenda.

You talk of anonymity behind the keyboard, then reveal the name of the player that apparently wants to "do" Steve Evans then... Jesus flipping Christ. How pathetic has this circus of a club become? On the field things are looking brilliant, it's a friken pleasure watching those players represent us. But off the field it's just embarrassing from top to Internet.

Where have I said any player wanted to 'do' Steve?

Also, I repeat if you haven't the balls to repeat to someone what you have said on the net, then you shouldn't say it in the first place. I stick by that, as it's surely just common sense and decency isn't it.

I'd certainly say that to Brand, any bloke who takes part in upsetting an old man and think it's a joke is a 'vile sod' and should be called on it. Obviously I can't do that, but if I ever did bump into him, of course I'd tell him to his face.

As for twisting what John Harbin as said, I printed what he said, where have I twisted it. I agree with every word he has said, I can't improve on it, why would I need to?

As for my agenda, yes I have one, support your team not take the pee out our own players. Simple really. What other agenda could there be?

 

[Gary Wills]

An apology made on the same forum as the malicious comments, seems a reasonable fix.

And yes IJN, I daresay the club staff have many naughty nicknames for the internet fans like ants, nerds and so on. In turn, most of us have a longer and thus stronger connection with the club than any of those in argyle employ involved with smalleygate, so we shalln't lose much sleep over that shall we.