Anthony O’Connor .. & any other 'Off Topic' Issues!

I can't believe you're comparing throwing some elastic material on the ground to burning all of your money

 

It's not a comparison. It's an illustration of what happens when you break something down to it's material meaninglessness. Which you can do with anything. I'm illustrating how you could do the same with money.

 

I don't think any of us can really know or appreciate the true extent of Rahic's malign impact on last year's dressing room. It's hard to imagine a more demoralised, demotivated and disunited group of players.
Armbandgate was probably the low point of a very low season and, like most of us, I wanted AOC out of the club in the summer. But none of us knows the full context behind it.
Actions speak louder than words and he has done what he can to put things right on the pitch this year. So I'm prepared to cut him some slack for his previous misdemeanours and hope he can keep turning in superb performances to get us back up at the first attempt.

 

Which is all well and good whilst we're winning. What about if we lose a few and stay sliding down the table? Will he still have that effort, drive and desire? Will he still be praising the group as a whole?

Hopefully we'll never find out but he doesn't get a completely free pass from me just because of a decent start, he'll need to maintain it over a much longer period to really start to win me over.

 

The Pakistani flag is just "a piece of material", how about you pop into Bradford next home game and walk up and down on it. Or nip over to America and do the same with the 'stars and stripes'?

It isn't what the armband is, it's what it represents and I'm really not sure why you can't understand that?

 

Are we 100% sure that him taking off the armband and throwing it into the goalmouth was as an act of disrespect or might it have been that the elasticity was not tight enough and it was slipping down all the time so he got rid of it to stop it annoying him?

 

i would also say lack of leadership from inept managers who weren't up to the task

 

Yes, I'd agree with that. Collins and Hopkin were both pretty clueless and Bowyer was never going to keep us up given what had gone before. But all of them were trying to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear of a squad that Rahic saddled them with in his close season madness.

 

I don't know if this was the case or not, but in my opinion the whole thing was blown out of all proportion. Yes I understand the significance of the armband and that it should be worn with pride, but it wasn't as though he ripped it off aggressively and flung it to the ground as some huge gesture. Maybe we will never know and everyone has there own opinion. I think, as someone has already pointed out, its a storm in a teacup

 

Well not really. The point is that he is a professional footballer and therefore his performances on the pitch are the primary area of concern. This season his performances have been very good. What he supposedly did with the captain’s armband seems more important to you than his performances and that makes no sense to me.

 

And what does it represent that the shirt doesn’t?

 

Mercenaries and bad apples are all well and good when you're winning games.

You don't remotely think Anthony's pathetic attitude last year was negative? Denouncing the captaincy, fussing over a goal bonus...

You wouldn't get that from a decent character.

 

I thought it had been confirmed on here that the goal bonus affair was just a very poorly timed and ill-judged joke

 

It represents that you are captain of the team and that you SHOULD be leading by example, not stropping like a 13 year old girl as you and the rest of the team meekly submit to opposition after opposition.

It SHOULD be seen as an honour and a signal of respect from the management and teammates alike.

It SHOULD represent that by wearing it you're agreeing to 100% commitment to the cause and your level best in dragging that out of every single player around you.

Most recently, Gary Jones showed us how it SHOULD be worn and his attitude was the very least we, as supporters, SHOULD be demanding from our captain.

 

Can't even believe you're asking that question

 

You’re just listing things that a professional footballer who proudly wears the club’s shirt should be doing. Do you believe if Jones wasn’t captain his behaviour would have been any different? Some people have a character to lead and others are followers. What matters is that players perform on the pitch and show the pride and desire that we expect (regardless of the armband) and that is what AOC is doing this season.

Last season was a disaster, the whole team, management and back office setup was a joke and no matter if we had Gary Jones as captain or AOC we were still doomed.

 

As I’ve said above, last season was a disaster and there isn’t any player that was the sole cause of it and there isn’t any player that could save the situation given the miss management on and off football pitch. AOC is playing well and that is all he can do the rectify the disaster of last season. I’m not sure what else he can do. Surely staying and helping us push for promotion shows he is a good character and has some pride, rather than jumping ship.

 

I can't believe people can't get over it. The goal bonus thing was dealt with in that he doesn't have one and didn't he say he armband was defective and took it off for that reason.

Frankly I'd have been embarrassed to be the captain of the team last season truly one of the worst teams I've ever seen us field.

His performances and commitment this season have been tremendous and he deserves a pat on the back for that!

 

The whole club was in a state, the Portsmouth match was probably the lowest ebb........
I travelled down on the Friday, had a great night in Pompey with the missus, got a phone call Saturday morning to ask if I fancied going to watch Brighton v Puppies instead. Full corporate including meal AND free bar. Plus chance of watching town get spanked. I threw away my city ticket, changed my hotel booking to Brighton and the only dampener was the Pompey score line (plus the Brighton lot presuming I followed the dogs!)
The point of the above tale.....I gave up on city, probably because the team, the back room staff, the chairman, the owner, it appeared at the time had all given up. AOC had a strop, stamped his feet in frustration and threw a bit of material into the goal. Anyone who has played sport has kicked a ball away, thrown a golf club, smashed a tennis/ squash racket, kicked down a changing room door, I know I’ve done all the above. He to my knowledge never disrespected the fans, this season he’s been the model professional, please people wipe the slate clean and cut him some slack, one of our best players so far this season and appears to be getting better each game.

 

The question is, would Jones have stropped and thrown away the armband. It doesn't need answering though.

You asked me what the armband represented and I've told you. If you don't agree that's fine but in my reply you'll at least be able to understand why feel the way I do about the incident.