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Gold in Fabregas blast

Gold in Fabregas blast

Birmingham chairman David Gold has criticised Cesc Fabregas' verbal attack on defender Martin Taylor.

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Comments

Kevin Jankowski (Liverpool fan) says...

I am sick of the comments about Martin Taylor! he never meant any harm to Eduardo and was just late as Eduardo was too quick for him. Arsenal fans seem to forget that they had Veira and Bergkamp too fantastic players but 2 who seen many a red card for a violent outburst or a tackle with intent to hurt the player. And Aresanl players and staff only ever see incidents involving their players getting hurt but never the other way round.

Posted 13:40 18th March 2008

Nick D says...

Aliadiere gets a four match ban for slapping someone yet Taylor gets only three for GBH, says it all really about the FA. The challenge was appauling; the players foot was nowhere near the path of the ball, it's all well and good saying it was a late challenge. Taylor has got away with murder, just as Reading's Hunt did last season after kneeing Petr Cech in the head.

Posted 13:39 18th March 2008

Colin Cassidy (Arsenal fan) says...

There are many things you can say both about the comments of Fabregas and Gold, I can both viewpoints and all parties have to think carefully before saying too much. It might be better if clubs should make 'official statements and ask players and others to keep their private opionions to themselves. Also it is;nt necessary for other so called 'neutral' fans like the watford fan to voice opionions about other clubs issues that have nothing to do with the issue at hand. It seems that A,F.C. GET MORE THAN THEIR FAIR share of biased knockers .When you reach thier level of skill maybe then you can boast. Alot of it seems to be because we have a foreign manager and a lot of foreign players this is childish natioalism!! For the rest it seems to be a mixture of envy and sour grapes. It is a pity but nevertheless a fact of life in the 'British Sports Arena and Media !!

Posted 13:38 18th March 2008

Rob Green says...

This is getting beyond ridiculous. Martin Taylor doesn't have a malicious bone in his body. He's only had something like 6 yellow cards in a career spanning nearly a decade. I think it's fantastic that a huge percentage of pundits and managers are backing him. Figureheads like Sepp Blatter should be much more aware of what they are saying. You wouldn't wish this kind of injury on anybody and we all hope that Eduardo makes a full recovery. Let us not forget, Arsenal fans, that people like Emmanuel Eboue make these kind of challenges every week and go unpunished. What's more, I don't see any uproar regarding thugs like Joey Barton week-in week-out. And where was Football's Governing body when Ricardo Carvalho nearly knee-capped Gabby Agbonlahor earlier this season? That was soon forgotten, and three weeks on I think people should move on and let a really genuinely nice guy like Martin Taylor get on with his career.

Posted 13:38 18th March 2008

Jason Kennington says...

I think everyone missing the point here Cesc is right to speak up, i'm an Arsenal fan and believe that if Taylor was foreign player this situation would be there for years to come, David Gold and co can say whatever they want to say, I wonder how the press would have reactedif the victim had been English or even a man u player (Rooney or Ronaldo?) and if the offender had been foreign. Surely any player going into a tackle has an obligation to ensure that he will not hurt his opponent and should be held accountable for whatever damage he causes through his failure to observe this duty of care!

Posted 13:36 18th March 2008

Paul Cross (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

I agree it was a bad tackle but I think Fabregas needs to look colser to home and his own team mates first. Eboue has got away with murder this season. He could have got two straight reds in the game against Everton for a punch to the face or for changing the direction of his leg while at least 4 foot in the air to stamp on the knee of another player... this could also have resulted in a broken leg yet nothing was done there. He then breaks John Terry's foot with a blatant follow through... I didn't see Cesc moaning about that. Moving to Liverpool and Dirk Kuyt's two footed jump where he was at least three foot in the air from about 6 foot away on Phil Neville where had Neville not stepped back he certainly would have had ar least one of his legs broken. I don't put Taylor in the same bracket in any of these incidents because his challenge wasn't pre-meditated... there was no intention to go in there to hurt him... those other challenges you could see what they wanted to do.... and winning the ball was somewhere down the list of priorities!!

Posted 13:33 18th March 2008

Chas Chaston (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, obviously Cesc is voicing his, however, to accuse Taylor of intent is disturbing, from what I hear Eduardo does not blame Taylor and holds no ill feeling towards him. The EPL is the best league out there and the speed is amazing, this is one of those unfortunate miss timed tackles that has a horrifying end. People in the game have stuck by Taylor whose record speaks for it`s self, Eduardo is moving on, Taylor is trying too, so isn`t it time everyone else did.

Posted 13:25 18th March 2008

Jude Davis (Arsenal fan) says...

It is clear for everyone to see from video evidence and photo stills that Martin Taylor made no attempt to play the ball, he lunged in way over the ball, and therefore the only reasonable explanation is that Martin Taylor tried to take the man and not the ball, 3 mins into a game and making challenges like that in a position of the pitch that was not dangerous to Birmingham is very stupid, I am all for tackling and think that referees give silly fouls for perfectly clean tackles a lot of the time but this was a career threatening injury, still might be and he can thank himself lucky he is playing football.

Posted 13:25 18th March 2008

Mark Ring (Bournemouth fan) says...

fabregas has no right to keep going on about this . taylor is punishing himself enough as he will remember this for the rest of his career and other people bringing this up is not helping at all.

Posted 13:25 18th March 2008

David Wilcock (Blackburn Rovers fan) says...

What Matt Carter says is a very good point, that fact is that it was indeed a horrific injury but an accident none the less and these happen in football. the major issue is stamping out bad tackles and to do this the managers and coaches must take responsibility but also the FA must review post match replays of incidents missed by officials.

Posted 13:24 18th March 2008

Jonathan Denby (West Ham United fan) says...

It is wrong for anyone to launch a scathing attack on Taylor. Where as Fabregas is correct to have his own views, what point is there to verbally abuse Taylor 3 weeks after the horrific challenge? Another point to be made is that Eduardo himself didn't condemn what Taylor did and openly accepted the guys apologies as well as allowing him to visit and discuss what happened. I can understand why people feel the way they do, but at the end of the day I feel that Taylor will for the rest of his playing career be abused for this, both mentally and verbally, and it doesn't require fellow so called "professionals" to aid this abuse. As for Sepp Blatter, his outrageous words were a complete disgrace. For the head of the governing body of football, he didn't at all make a genuine argument for his verbal attack of Taylor. If anything there isn't any talking done on the pitch, and football now seems to be more of a political and financial battle than that of which should be disputed on the league tables.

Posted 13:20 18th March 2008

Melvin Debono (Arsenal fan) says...

I watched the game and Birmingham went out to stop us playing from kick off, i was expecting a bad tempered game the moment they went in with tough challenges. If you look at the game again check how many tough tackles they had, i blame the manager and i do not think Taylor went out to hurt Eduardo, but it is about time we had video evdidence ...

Posted 13:19 18th March 2008

G B (Chelsea fan) says...

How can anyone take Full of Gas ! seriously he's scared of celery for gods sake ! On a serious note it shows how much that incident affected the arsenal players, the milan games apart they have lost an edge to their play. Mentally they are cracking under the strain look at Gallas their leader after his breakdown at brum he's not stopped banging on about bottle or lack of it in the squad. I don't know much about Martin Taylor but I agree with Gold look at his reaction to the incident his body language and even though he commited a foul he did not mean to deliberately hurt him, Eduardo was to quick for him a split second would have made all the difference. Fabregas should leave it alone now and concentrate on this weekend's clash with Chelsea. Lets hope Eduardo makes a complete recovery and hopefully we won't hear anymore sickening chants about his injury that some Spurs fans were singing at Wembley. C'mon Chels Normal service to be resumed tomorrow night !

Posted 13:14 18th March 2008

Cassandra Da silva (Liverpool fan) says...

I am extremely proud of Fabregas because he stood up and took a stand. stood up for his team mate. Fine, although I think that Martin Taylor was unlucky with this incident, a three-match ban is not nearly enough. This "punishment" if you can even call it that is just a sign for other "dirty players" as stated by Gold to get off of the hook easily. So I would just like to THANK FABREGAS for having the back bone to make the matter known, organisations must realise that everything they do or even don't do can infulence the way a player thinks.

Posted 13:13 18th March 2008

James Wariero says...

I think Cesc Fabregas has a right to his opinion...and I think the question from other commentators asking why he is talking about it "three whole weeks" after the incident is nonsense considering that duration Eduardo will be out for. I am sorry for Taylor but if he is the sort of player that could cause that kind of injury to someone on the football pitch as an "out-and-out accident" and "without any malice at all" then isn't his lack of skill a danger to other players? Is malice the only measure?

Posted 13:13 18th March 2008

Dean Prescott says...

Every player has the right to an opinion wether it's right or wrong, this case i think Cesc is wrong i don't think he intended to hurt Eduardo. But players should also look at themselves, what opinion has Fabregas got when Eboue was sent off against Utd at old trafford for flying kung-fu kicking Nani or whoever it was. Granted the injury isn't as servere but if it's intent we're talking then.........

Posted 13:12 18th March 2008

Richard Trevett (Arsenal fan) says...

Tackling from behind has no place in football it was outlawed many years ago thank god. Taking a year out of a fellow pro's career and dismisssing the result as part of a "contact sport " I am surprised a Watford fan would hold this view , a team who have always tried to play good football down the years . Most of all Ilike to see a good and fair game ,sure football is a contact sport but you must agree most of the fouls you see belong in a circus so the bad ones standout even more , that tackle was a bad tackle from behind and if the trainer had not acted quickly his career would finnished there and then

Posted 13:11 18th March 2008

Dan Richards (Sunderland fan) says...

Cesc is right to speak his mind, his mate may never play football again or to the same ability again, and the person responsible for this is playing football some 2/3 weeks later at the highest level in the world. Go on Cesc, say it like it is.

Posted 13:11 18th March 2008

Martin Paige (Arsenal fan) says...

Fair enough Fabregas might have chosen his words more carefully, but he is only showing his emotions for a team-mate. Lets face it, the Birmingham players have hardly learnt a lesson have they, if you look at last nights game there were still tackles being made with studs showing and aimed at ankles!

Posted 13:10 18th March 2008

Dan Stevens (Sutton United fan) says...

Fabregas has a point in that Eduardo misses 12 months due to a horrific tackle, and Taylor just gets 3 games out. I know who I feel more sorry for. Also, it's not as if Cesc has phoned up the media and said "Right, I want an article in tomorrows paper saying how outraged I am at Taylor's return!". Some journalist has spoken to him and asked him what he thinks about Taylor's return, and he's said it's not fair that he can return so soon.

Posted 13:10 18th March 2008

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