Jackie Broon

They may possibly have breached FA and statutory child safeguarding guidance, might not be something there would be a great deal of legal comeback on, but there could possibly be. Ultimately it will depend whether the media decide to run with it. At the moment they're just reporting the facts of the case and staying well clear of any comment, once the verdict is delivered their handcuffs will be off and they'll go into overdrive with it. Personally I can see the decision to un-suspend him being the main talking point as it's the most obvious way to drag the story out further and point fingers at scapegoats, as the media loves to do.

I just think we'd be better off with humans that are qualified and experienced in making reasoned interpretations determining the most serious criminal cases, rather than randoms off the street.

I agree, it appears to me that the burden is what it ought to be. My issue is that I think that a lot of the people plucked off the street for jury duty don't have the capacity to grasp where that burden lies.

This is what I've been asking for days. Suppose the jury must just decide who to side with in all these paedophile cases where the only witness is the victim... I honestly don't know. Yeah, while I reckon he probably did have a feel, even with that I wouldnt be sure 100% Can he get time for the other two things he pleaded guilty for? Reckon after all this we might see him with community service and a fine(?) The test is not "all doubt", it's "reasonable doubt". No offence like, but you are demonstrating the main problem with the jury system, normal people struggle to understand where the line is between reasonable doubt and absolutely no doubt, juries can be easily swayed too far to the side of caution by a good barrister representing someone that can afford one. The jury don't have to have been there and seen it to convict. It's a balancing exercise, one persons word against another can and often does lead to criminal convictions, especially when there is evidence the tips the balance. The jury can weigh the content of the messages, the admission of intent and everything else in the balance. It's not 'pics or it didn't happen'.

They almost certainly knew he was guilty, this is from a legal fella I know......"SAFC would have had copies of the advice from Counsel (Orlando Pownall QC is a big, big cheese in crime) and copies of the prosecution evidence once he was charged. They will have known the content of the whatsapp messages straightaway." They knew and played him to save themselves, which is utterly despicable in my opinion, and you're right, the FA should investigate it. The classy c***s. Would they have all that though? Strictly speaking they're nothing to do with this case, it's a matter between the crown and Johnson. Basically if an employee is charged with a child sexual offence, then there is procedure to follow for the employers. As a football club would have children of all ages on it's premises, they have a duty to consider there being any further risk of him reoffending while on bail. That is why in most cases like this, the employee would be suspended pending the outcome, simply to be on the safe side. Most SAFC fans seem to think that the club would simply ask him if he was guilty, he denies it, and they carry on, innocent until proven guilty and all that. However there's more to it than that. The club need to investigate further to see if they aren't putting children at risk, their legal people must have spoken to him, social services and the police. They would also have had to look into the CPS case itself and as my legal friend has said, they would have known the details of the case and the evidence against him. If they didn't do this, they were negligent themselves. I think at the very least they have turned a blind eye to this. If the CPS are pushing for prosecution you can bet they have good grounds for doing so. Sunderland have stuck their fingers in their ears and shouted 'la la la la can't hear anything' over the entire duration until he admitted to it. My view is that they did know and played him anyway, I cannot believe otherwise, it seems incomprehensible that they would not have had doubts at least. They kept playing him for one reason, he is one of their best players. Not sure if I am completely missing the point but it seems to me that it's more a case of the PFA being at fault than the SMB's...from what I can gather... The PFA's duty is to represent the interests of players, like any union should their members. The club has a duty to safeguard children. Whatever the PFA's position, it was the club's choice what to do, in similar circumstances almost any other employee would have been suspended. The club allowed Johnson to stay, for a year, in a position that we now know he exploited to have sexual contact with a child. Whatever they knew about the evidence, whatever pressure they had from the PFA, he should have been suspended.

Clearly never watched us play Actually said as much last time he was on. Wants the job. Aye, it was a strange response and there was something about it that made me think he was positioning himself for the job, or has already been lined up

I just hope they cling on until the penultimate week so we can be the ones to send them down. http://www.themag.co.uk/assets/aston-villa-sob-on-the-tyne-banner-newcastle-united-nufc-650x400.jpg

Can't see that happening. He may resign but the club hierarchy have long since rolled over and accepted relegation, sacking him would just cost money they don't want to spend.

According to the commentators the problem may be that we've brought in too many players.

As if the useless cunt could get the team to 'stick' anyway. I guarantee he sent the team out with instructions to 'keep it tight for the first 20 minutes'.

Alan 'I thought they were saying Boo urns' Pardew http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/familyguy/images/8/8d/Burns-excellent.gif

They're not married, if she'd left him she only would've been entitled to £15,000 per year child support, that's when he was earning £60,000 per week. Can't blame her for wanting to stay on the gravy train. She's also clearly been lied to by him about what really happened, it's been reported she walked out when they were reading the messages today.

Based on income isn't it? He's not going to be having much of that.

You'd think so, but something like half of Premier League footballers are bankrupt within 5 years of retiring.

Players are with us because they are flawed. If a player were complete with skill, pace, great decision making and consistency they would be playing for Man City, Chelsea, Barcelona instead of us. Sissoko has flaws and can be frustrating, but that's why he plays for us and not a top team.

Only thing that can save us now. For all the talk of Ashley wanting us to follow the 'Arsenal model', surely its Everton that Ashley should be looking too. There're the prime example of how to compete on a relative shoestring in the premier league and the man that set that all up is currently unemployed. But we're not interested, and vica versa, because he'd want full control over transfers... Like our current setup is such a sucess in that department!

Line-up from .cock: Very apt!

So what's the crack with him and Pulis? http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/29898/strange-case-of-star-player-caught-in-middle-of-chairman-manager-transfer-standoff/

I don't think Peace is going to accept any offer until it's too late for Pulis to spend the money. There's probably no point in us going back with offer after offer. If Peace is willing to sell this window, he's probably waiting until the last minute to do it.

If the secret footballer story has any truth to it the chairman might be temped to sell right at the close of the window so Pulis won't have time to spend it.

In previous January windows we've gone after / got the likes of Shefki Kuqi and Carlton Cole, it's a huge step up from those days. Gomis would be better than nothing, and certainly better than previous panic buys.

won't do though the land is being sold off and the fans are not putting up enough fuss so unfortunately we are f***ed with this size stadium forever Tbh, we don't need a bigger stadium, we wouldn't fill it. Even back during the Robson era there were empty seats at most league matches, for the Champions League matches it was half empty. Maybe if we had Dortmund-esque ticket prices it would be different, but that's just a pipe-dream in modern top flight English football, never going to happen anywhere. Don't think it was quite half empty for our CL matches.. I remember there being tonnes of empty seats. I wasn't intending 'half empty' to be taken literally btw, I'm know the attendances weren't 26,000, more like 40ish for most of them.

won't do though the land is being sold off and the fans are not putting up enough fuss so unfortunately we are f***ed with this size stadium forever Tbh, we don't need a bigger stadium, we wouldn't fill it. Even back during the Robson era there were empty seats at most league matches, for the Champions League matches it was half empty. Maybe if we had Dortmund-esque ticket prices it would be different, but that's just a pipe-dream in modern top flight English football, never going to happen anywhere.

That's a hit and a half. Ashley sold £200m worth of shares last year. I imagine he'll see this slump in value as an opportunity to increase his shareholding again, as he has done very successfully in the past.

Sign Mascherano? Nah, Hayden Mullins fits in better.