The Guardian: Newcastle fans held racist protests about Andy Cole's signing

[S.S.R.]

Did Chelsea protest about having a convicted nonce as a coach?

Tell the story.

 

Surely you know about Graeme Rix? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Graeme+Rix

[Guest Heneage]

Did Chelsea protest about having a convicted nonce as a coach?

Tell the story.

 

Surely you know about Graeme Rix? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Graeme+Rix

I had no idea...

[Willow]

• This article was amended on 26 May 2010 to remove a quote saying that there were protests outside the Newcastle ground when Andy Cole made his debut there in 1993, and that the player scored a hat-trick that day. A clarification covering the facts, and missing context, behind the quote will be published in the Guardian shortly.

[Guest Roger Kint]

• This article was amended on 26 May 2010 to remove a quote saying that there were protests outside the Newcastle ground when Andy Cole made his debut there in 1993, and that the player scored a hat-trick that day. A clarification covering the facts, and missing context, behind the quote will be published in the Guardian shortly.

 

Already posted above you

[Guest gggg]

Those fucking Taylors.

[Guest Geordiesned]

From the comments:

 

The author has it spot on. Newcastle, despite the protest, had strong racist undercurrents in the ground back then. I can remember the protests, the blackened faces/bleached teeth, the fake KKK hats and the burning of crosses in Ruel Fox's lawn. I remember them well.

 

Andy Cole cited racist abuse as a reason for him leaving Newcastle too. His family were under a constant stream of racist abuse from local yobs and they moved to the leafier and safer climes of Moss Side.

 

 

The clowns will probably believe that!

 

[Mick]

 

I was at Grimsby on a Boxing Day when he scored and that song was being belted out.  Mind you when he got sent off at SJP for the Mackems he did get abused...............

 

I was also at Grimsby, I was in the home end until a fight started and we were escorted around the pitch.

[indi]

Apart from the rest of it they say that Zesh Rehman was the first British Asian to play in the Premier League when he made his début in 2004, yet didn't Chopra make his début in November 2002 and had even played in the Champions' League by the end of that year?

[Mick]

I've had an aoplogy from Chelsea football club after contacting them.

[Guest Clapton]

My e-mail to  Taylor and his response.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good evening Mr. Taylor,

 

I wonder whether you wish to respond to the numerous comments on the Guardian website following today's article by Chris Arnot which contains a preposterous purported quotation attributed to you relating to Newcastle supporters and Andy Cole's debut.  Did the writer quote you accurately?  And if so, can you explain the multiple errors?

 

 

Reply Forward

 

 

 

Thanks for your email. I thought it may be helpful to explain that the comments you refer to are an out-of-context part of an interview in which I spoke generally about racism within the game, the lack of Asian players and how role models can help inspire and overcome prejudice.

 

I’m personally disappointed that my quote has come across in a negative way. What is missing from the piece is the fact that the groups I was referring to were explicitly not Newcastle supporters. The quote does not, nor would I ever, imply that Newcastle fans racially abused Andrew Cole. In fact the point I was making was in praise of Newcastle fans who shunned the minority who were attempting to stir up trouble at the time.

 

I would never say these people were Newcastle or indeed football fans, in fact I would suspect the opposite to be true. Having lived in the city for seven years and having been back to St James Park subsequently I have nothing but the utmost respect for Newcastle fans. 

 

The wider point lost in the piece was how fans have been instrumental in overcoming racism within the game and how players and role models such as Andrew Cole, and in the case of Chelsea - Paul Canoville and Paul Elliott, deserve a great deal of credit in the fight against racism.

 

I do hope this email helps to explain the context of the quotes and I can only apologise if anyone has taken offence.

 

I have subsequently spoken to the Guardian newspaper and it has agreed to issue a clarification.

 

[Disco]

Did Chelsea protest about having a convicted nonce as a coach?

Tell the story.

 

Surely you know about Graeme Rix? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Graeme+Rix

I had no idea...

 

I remember us belting out a ditty about that at Wembley at the semi final as he walked round the cinder track pre second half.

[nobby_solano]

Why did he even bother mentioning newcastle then?

 

[Liam Liam Liam O]

My e-mail to  Taylor and his response.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good evening Mr. Taylor,

 

I wonder whether you wish to respond to the numerous comments on the Guardian website following today's article by Chris Arnot which contains a preposterous purported quotation attributed to you relating to Newcastle supporters and Andy Cole's debut.  Did the writer quote you accurately?  And if so, can you explain the multiple errors?

 

 

Reply Forward

 

 

 

Thanks for your email. I thought it may be helpful to explain that the comments you refer to are an out-of-context part of an interview in which I spoke generally about racism within the game, the lack of Asian players and how role models can help inspire and overcome prejudice.

 

I’m personally disappointed that my quote has come across in a negative way. What is missing from the piece is the fact that the groups I was referring to were explicitly not Newcastle supporters. The quote does not, nor would I ever, imply that Newcastle fans racially abused Andrew Cole. In fact the point I was making was in praise of Newcastle fans who shunned the minority who were attempting to stir up trouble at the time.

 

I would never say these people were Newcastle or indeed football fans, in fact I would suspect the opposite to be true. Having lived in the city for seven years and having been back to St James Park subsequently I have nothing but the utmost respect for Newcastle fans. 

 

The wider point lost in the piece was how fans have been instrumental in overcoming racism within the game and how players and role models such as Andrew Cole, and in the case of Chelsea - Paul Canoville and Paul Elliott, deserve a great deal of credit in the fight against racism.

 

I do hope this email helps to explain the context of the quotes and I can only apologise if anyone has taken offence.

 

I have subsequently spoken to the Guardian newspaper and it has agreed to issue a clarification.

 

 

This was always going to get brushed under the carpet as a misunderstanding.

[Elliottman]

Why did he even bother mentioning newcastle then?

 

 

just because he lived up here i suppose. I bet his fucking heart dropped when he started getting all these emails though!!!

[bowlingcrofty]

Why did he even bother mentioning newcastle then?

 

 

Especially given the fact that we had one of the first Asians (the subject of the article in question) through our books and in our first team...

[summerof69]

The thing is that i actually believe him when he says that he actually meant quite the opposite. he lived in Newcastle so i imagine he liked the place and he probably has a few friends there. Not to mention the media dislike us and have a track record of having a go at us, twisting words and making up myths about us especially if the words can be blamed on someone else who doesn't work for them because they are then less likely to take the blame. Why would he want to have a go at us or make something up he has nothing to gain.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

The thing is that i actually believe him when he says that he actually meant quite the opposite. he lived in Newcastle so i imagine he liked the place and he probably has a few friends there. Not to mention the media dislike us and have a track record of having a go at us, twisting words and making up myths about us especially if the words can be blamed on someone else who doesn't work for them because they are then less likely to take the blame. Why would he want to have a go at us or make something up he has nothing to gain.

 

I don't believe him for a second.  If they've taken it to the opposite extreme of what he actually said, he should be taking them to court.

[summerof69]

The thing is that i actually believe him when he says that he actually meant quite the opposite. he lived in Newcastle so i imagine he liked the place and he probably has a few friends there. Not to mention the media dislike us and have a track record of having a go at us, twisting words and making up myths about us especially if the words can be blamed on someone else who doesn't work for them because they are then less likely to take the blame. Why would he want to have a go at us or make something up he has nothing to gain.

 

I don't believe him for a second.  If they've taken it to the opposite extreme of what he actually said, he should be taking them to court.

 

 

 

Fair point, but i cant imagine what he would have to gain from saying something like that and what is to say he wont take them to court though admittadly that is unlikely

[Guest malandro]

The thing is that i actually believe him when he says that he actually meant quite the opposite. he lived in Newcastle so i imagine he liked the place and he probably has a few friends there. Not to mention the media dislike us and have a track record of having a go at us, twisting words and making up myths about us especially if the words can be blamed on someone else who doesn't work for them because they are then less likely to take the blame. Why would he want to have a go at us or make something up he has nothing to gain.

 

I don't believe him for a second.  If they've taken it to the opposite extreme of what he actually said, he should be taking them to court.

Have NUST said anything about this subject yet?

[Ronaldo]

Yes.

[Guest malandro]

Link?

[Ronaldo]

FB.

[Guest Geordiesned]

His explanation doesn't really make sense. If he truely was talking about non-football fan protests then why would the protestors shut up when Cole scored a hat-trick (even if he had!)? Why would they care what he did on the pitch? The simple fact is that nobody but Mr Taylor knows of anybody who protested about Cole joining Newcastle, supporter or otherwise. The reason being there were no protests at all.

[madras]

My e-mail to  Taylor and his response.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good evening Mr. Taylor,

 

I wonder whether you wish to respond to the numerous comments on the Guardian website following today's article by Chris Arnot which contains a preposterous purported quotation attributed to you relating to Newcastle supporters and Andy Cole's debut.  Did the writer quote you accurately?  And if so, can you explain the multiple errors?

 

 

Reply Forward

 

 

 

Thanks for your email. I thought it may be helpful to explain that the comments you refer to are an out-of-context part of an interview in which I spoke generally about racism within the game, the lack of Asian players and how role models can help inspire and overcome prejudice.

 

I’m personally disappointed that my quote has come across in a negative way. What is missing from the piece is the fact that the groups I was referring to were explicitly not Newcastle supporters. The quote does not, nor would I ever, imply that Newcastle fans racially abused Andrew Cole. In fact the point I was making was in praise of Newcastle fans who shunned the minority who were attempting to stir up trouble at the time.

 

I would never say these people were Newcastle or indeed football fans, in fact I would suspect the opposite to be true. Having lived in the city for seven years and having been back to St James Park subsequently I have nothing but the utmost respect for Newcastle fans. 

The wider point lost in the piece was how fans have been instrumental in overcoming racism within the game and how players and role models such as Andrew Cole, and in the case of Chelsea - Paul Canoville and Paul Elliott, deserve a great deal of credit in the fight against racism.

 

I do hope this email helps to explain the context of the quotes and I can only apologise if anyone has taken offence.

 

I have subsequently spoken to the Guardian newspaper and it has agreed to issue a clarification.

 

keep digging. ask who these other people were and ask about the nature of their protests. seems to me like he's back ttracking after being rumbled about lying.

 

 

we had some terrible times up here with racism, i remember millwall in the league cup in the back end of the 70's, west ham throughout the 80's, i remember the NF selling their "bulldog" paper outside the little leazes early 80's(can't remember them at the gallowgate)in the end they were done in by ridicule not violence and we are all the better for it. by the 90's the racist chanting had gone, all that remained was one off shouts when someone needed to identify someone "useless black/ginger/lanky/fat/irish bastard"

[Cronky]

It seems pretty clear that he made it up to add a bit of drama to the story. His explanation for it is laughable.