David Moyes to be SACKED over comments

joeinbrighton said:

How do we know that Vicki Sparks wasn't offended?

All we know is that David Moyes says he apologised to her and that he said that she accepted his apology.

Given that Vicki Sparks hasn't spoken publicly about this herself, we are having to take Moyes' word for it, but his recollection and perspective of the conversation he had with her could, in fact, be entirely different to hers.

And even if she did accept his apology, that doesn't necessarily mean she regarded his comments as acceptable and "part of the job".

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Hillian1 said:

You carry on being offended on her behalf then, I won't be offended if you do btw.

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BensGrandad said:

I cannot understand all the fuss being made about this as it was obviously a remark said with no intent or real threat. Perhaps it was a silly remark to make but she has accepted his apology so that should be the end of the matter as I see it. Bigger concern should be the performances of Sunderland team which could result in him getting the sack.

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Hillian1 said:

View attachment 83576

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BensGrandad said:

Not in the slightest and FWIW my wife says she isnt or wouldnt have been. by the remark.

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joeinbrighton said:

Yes I did listen to it and actually it changed how I thought about it.

When I first read a summary of what Moyes said, I thought it was a bit of an overreaction and that it was Moyes being clumsy in what he said.

Listening to it, yes it is clear that Moyes' tone is jocular and on the surface, he is trying to give the impression that the words are in jest.

However, the words along the lines of "do that again and you will get a slap even though you are a woman" and "be careful if you want to come back here again", there is something unpleasant about even thinking it is appropriate to say that in the context of a joke. It is belittling in tone, almost saying "who do you think you are asking me these questions?" or "don't have the temerity to ask me a difficult question".

I work in an office where most of my colleagues are women. Like any office, there is banter and repartee between colleagues. Would I say to a colleague "you are asking for a slap" if they were pushing their luck though? No, because that crosses a boundary I think of what is acceptable to say to a female colleague in a professional environment. David Moyes is not a colleague of Vicki Sparks', but he is talking to her in a professional capacity and so he should really follow the same guidelines on how he interacts with her.

These types of incidents are scrutinised a lot more now than they were before the days of 24 hour news media and so there is a natural tendency to think everything is blown out of proportion. But with that, people should also know that they are more likely to be picked up on stuff and moderate what they say and how they behave.

The unspoken issue with this is that a lot of people that will dismiss this as a storm in a teacup are possibly subconsciously thinking "what business has a woman got asking David Moyes that question?". One only needs to go on Twitter and realise that there are plenty of people out there who think like this and who think it acceptable to air those viewpoints on social media, not caring that they are sharing those thoughts with the Twittosphere.

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drew said:

I don't know but I guess they see each other regularly as this was following a home game and no doubt if she is a reporter in that area she'll have reason to be do interviews there often. I don't know but will surmise that they are not complete strangers.

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joeinbrighton said:

Pretentious. Moi?

As Vicki Sparks works for Radio Newcastle as well as for the BBC at national level, it is quite likely she will regularly cover Sunderland games, so yes I'd imagine they are acquainted. And it's because she is likely to be covering more games there in the future that she won't want to be uncomfortable interviewing Moyes again and so this situation puts in her in a bit of a compromising position.

Also, if Ian Herbert at the Independent is to be taken at his word, it would seem this isn't an isolated incident for Moyes - http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...vicki-sparks-sunderland-sacking-a7665236.html .

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BadFish said:

How do you know that she is going to feel uncomfortable interviewing him again, from what i could see from the footage she was still laughing when she said it so it is just as likely that she has accepted his apology and has moved on.

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joeinbrighton said:

Pretentious. Moi?

As Vicki Sparks works for Radio Newcastle as well as for the BBC at national level, it is quite likely she will regularly cover Sunderland games, so yes I'd imagine they are acquainted. And it's because she is likely to be covering more games there in the future that she won't want to be uncomfortable interviewing Moyes again and so this situation puts in her in a bit of a compromising position.

Also, if Ian Herbert at the Independent is to be taken at his word, it would seem this isn't an isolated incident for Moyes - http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...vicki-sparks-sunderland-sacking-a7665236.html .

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joeinbrighton said:

Because we're making the assumption that she has accepted his apology on the basis that a man trying to save face has said that he made an apology and she accepted. We don't know this to be true because Vicki Sparks has not confirmed this herself.

Also, just because someone laughs at something, doesn't necessarily mean they enjoyed the joke/banter. I saw the footage and it came across as nervous laughter to me. Laughter where the recipient laughs it off to be polite and because they don't want a confrontation, not because they thought David Moyes was the second coming of Tommy Cooper.

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joeinbrighton said:

Because we're making the assumption that she has accepted his apology on the basis that a man trying to save face has said that he made an apology and she accepted. We don't know this to be true because Vicki Sparks has not confirmed this herself.

Also, just because someone laughs at something, doesn't necessarily mean they enjoyed the joke/banter. I saw the footage and it came across as nervous laughter to me. Laughter where the recipient laughs it off to be polite and because they don't want a confrontation, not because they thought David Moyes was the second coming of Tommy Cooper.

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joeinbrighton said:

Because we're making the assumption that she has accepted his apology on the basis that a man trying to save face has said that he made an apology and she accepted. We don't know this to be true because Vicki Sparks has not confirmed this herself.

Also, just because someone laughs at something, doesn't necessarily mean they enjoyed the joke/banter. I saw the footage and it came across as nervous laughter to me. Laughter where the recipient laughs it off to be polite and because they don't want a confrontation, not because they thought David Moyes was the second coming of Tommy Cooper.

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Thunder Bolt said:

You're still catching [MENTION=1416]Ernest[/MENTION]

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