Dig Dig

Except that Hitzelsperger hasn't played since coming out and Rogers retired before returing to the sport in America?

Not sure if there was much chat about performances but more about Koemans reluctance to use him in some big games early on. Glad Cedric is looking good and that Yoshida isn't playing there.

Any list with Reading at the top doesn't deserve to be looked at.

I thought FF was pretty good but that was from using Davis and Boruc as a benchmark. I do think his tendency to stay stuck to his line a bit of a liability though. Hard to know what to make of Stek. He's. Not had loads to do. Pretty good to be a keeper at Saints as you tend to look very decent.... Unless you're Davis or Gazza

It is consistently excellent, always gives Pelle a chance high up the pitch

Pretty ludicrous statement. The results of both clubs have been poor and anyone in those positions would do well not to be sacked regardless of race. Accusations like this do more harm in the long term.

I'm not actually sure what the debate here is anymore. Is homophobia, real or percieved, a reason for a gay footballer not to openly come out? I'd say it is and I've not seen a coherent argument which would suggest otherwise.

The average age in the Kingsland must be somewhere around the 50's from just looking around.

Good read as usual from the Swiss Ramble. The bottom line seems to be that we have a good model which allows a club of our size to compete at a higher than expected level yet hasn't yet stood the test of time, particularly relating to the reliance of player transfers. It's tough to get this right consistently enough in order for it not to eventually become detrimental to the team and our finances.

Agree, couple of slightly iffy passes back in the first half but clearly our best CM by a long way. His passing and general composure on the ball is usually good. His ability to use his body to role players and shield the ball is particularly impressive as he often just waltzes out of tight situations with the ball.

Steward said it was because of all the extra paper tickets due to it being a cup game but I'm not sure what difference that makes considering everything is still scanned at the turnstile.

But focusing on goals and assist stats exclusively doesn't capture his contributions like the perfect ball across to Tadic from which he set up Pelle's goal or his ability to link deeper midfielders to the attack which undoubtedly leads to chances and goals and also helps us to maintain our style of play.

Agree Tadic made a big impact when he came on (as did Davis) but are there really many on here who think he's awful? He one of our most creative players. The game itself was tedious first half with a flat atmosphere but two decent goals in the second half made up for it. I thought the team selection was a bit of a risk but lucky Villa are woeful.

This is a fair assessment. I remember him being key to some very important results in our first season back and his inconsistency has since been around playing time and games rather than performances.

Just seen Koeman talking about the prospect of resting players and giving others an opportunity so perhaps the team won't be as strong as we would like.

Either.

I'm quite comfortable stating that some gay people, footballers or otherwise, are not open about their sexuality due to fear of the reaction as fact because it quite simply is.

No, but I do have a problem with your hypocrisy in not wanting others to jump to conclusion around why gay footballers and others don't come out yet continuously do just that by linking it all to your tiny, microscopic view on and insight into what is undoubtedly a much more complex issue.

Maybe maybe maybe maybe....maybe, just maybe, some have wanted to come out but have been fearful of negative reactions from fans, managers, team mates, sponsors etc etc whether legitimate or not and regardless of you not seeing any homophobia in decades and having a gay mate with a black boyfriend and all. Maybe you can at least acknowledge that this will undoubtedly be the case in some situations. Maybe.

You're looking for the most overt examples but the reality is that forms of discrimination can be very subversive and as I've said earlier, each individual will have different experiences and their own interpretation of possible reactions to coming out. I haven't seen anyone suggest that Britain is a hotbed of homophobia, racism etc as we're a pretty liberal Country by other standards yet lets not pretend that it's not significant enough for people to have reservations about the impact being openly gay could have on their lives. It all depends on circumstance. A footballer, builder or soldier as examples will have more reservations than many other people in society due to historical context. You shouldn't need examples of people being openly abused in the streets to understand that.

Yea but Hypo has a gay friend with a BLACK boyfriend so what does anyone else know? He is the authority on that rare phenomenon called homophobia.

The media nonsense will be because it's not really done, but the reason no one does it is because of the media nonsense. Is that the only thing or could it be that there is still a a fair bit of stigma attached to being gay, the extent of which depends on family, friends, your age, occupation etc etc. Everyones individual situation will be different but would you openly come out to tens of thousands of people who will use anything possible to ridicule given the chance or to a group of lads who you have to share a changing room with? You might decide that it just isn't worth it for a variety of reasons and that in some cases that may be because of fear of homophobia. To try and pretend otherwise is just bizarre really.

I never said what the reason is, but clearly there is one. Why are you talking on behalf of society?

Does the fact that Nelson Muntz is a made up thick bully in a satirical cartoon not tell you something? You can come out with as many hypothetical, nuanced arguments as you like but the fact is that many people (and obviously footballers and sports people in general) aren't open about their sexuality for a reason and that reason isn't that everyone is universally fine with it, either directly within or outside of the sport itself.

Clearly it's meant to be insulting otherwise the population of gay people in Brighton would be of no relevance at all. Football fans aren't generally interested in the demographics of the town of cities of the opposition unless there is something there which can be used to mock and ridicule.