[Politics] Les Ferdinand...

GT49er said:

Yeh, he does. He's black (or a person of colour if you prefer - and probably pretty well off himself for that matter) and he thinks it's a meaningless gesture. White folks know better, eh?

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

Thanks for that.

I see from the comments on this thread that NSC is overwhelmingling in favour of ending the knee-taking nonsense. Fair enough.

I am happy to climb down off my high horse and boo those knee-taking BHA player weirdios. Boo. BOOO!!!

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Invicta said:

I pretty much thought Les Ferdinand wanted an end to it last week and some real actions implemented to improve things, seems a fair point to me.

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

A desire for real action is not a reason to stop taking the knee.

I don't see how QPR and other clubs not taking the knee will move things forward.

Sir Les seems a bit peevish to me.

Anyway, few of us on NSC have a dog in the fight (few of us are black) so we are just spectators, really.

I'd be interested to see what the majority black view is on this.

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Invicta said:

I'd certainly go with LF's view on this. As an ex professional footballer he's more qualified than me. Also as a senior member of the QPR Exec team his views seem well justified.

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

He's just one voice. There are others.....

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sp...ck-alex-dyer-qpr-les-ferdinand-take-the-knee/

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GT49er said:

The point is that white folks who think taking the knee was a powerful gesture (especially in America) but should no longer be part of the highlight clips of every match on SSN or the BBC are no more racist than black people who also think it's a meaningless gesture in the UK are Uncle Toms.

Yes, there are views for it and against taking the knee. Here in England it is sadly the police who sometimes get shot, so not quite the same thing as protesting in America about trigger happy racist cops (and, FWIW, on the policeman killed in Croydon thread, I can make a good guess about who you identified as 'Gammon' and had on ignore - but I can assure you that none of them said anything but regret and sadness about the policeman who had been killed; not one word, suggestion or hint about the killer's race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, class or social standing} - none of that until your post railing against 'gammon'.

I appreciate your liberal and anti-racist views - and I'm far from gung-ho against many of them - but today you have been barking up the wrong tree more than once. Sorry and all that .........

#teamLesFerdinand.

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GT49er said:

The point is that white folks who think taking the knee was a powerful gesture (especially in America) but should no longer be part of the highlight clips of every match on SSN or the BBC are no more racist than black people who also think it's a meaningless gesture in the UK are Uncle Toms.

Yes, there are views for it and against taking the knee. Here in England it is sadly the police who sometimes get shot, so not quite the same thing as protesting in America about trigger happy racist cops (and, FWIW, on the policeman killed in Croydon thread, I can make a good guess about who you identified as 'Gammon' and had on ignore - but I can assure you that none of them said anything but regret and sadness about the policeman who had been killed; not one word, suggestion or hint about the killer's race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, class or social standing} - none of that until your post railing against 'gammon'.

I appreciate your liberal and anti-racist views - and I'm far from gung-ho against many of them - but today you have been barking up the wrong tree more than once. Sorry and all that .........

#teamLesFerdinand.

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bn9 bha said:

A bloke down the pub.......

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

Nedum Onuoha just explained on R5 he heard from a QPR pal that QPR's not taking the knee was a complete cock up, and Ferdinand's explanation was ill considered damage limitation (my words not his, but....). The players were going to take the knee and something went wrong. Cock up, not any sort of plan.

That explains why there was no advanced warning.

Time to move on (with a continuation of taking the knee, 'the start' as Nedum puts it).

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Weststander said:

QPR Director of Football Les Ferdinand said: “This should not be about QPR. Many clubs did not take the knee on the opening weekend, yet this was not reported.
“Taking the knee was very powerful but we feel that impact has now been diluted.
“In the same way ‘Clap For Carers’ was very emotional for us all, it got to a stage where it had run its natural course and the decision was rightly made to stop it.
“Does that mean we, as a nation, don’t care or appreciate our NHS workers? Of course it doesn’t.
“No one is more passionate than me about this topic. I have spoken on the matter throughout my footballing life.
“I work for one of the most diverse football clubs in this country. A lot of people are being fooled out there.
“Recently, I took the decision not to do any more interviews on racism in football because the debate was going around in circles. People want a nice soundbite when something happens, but how many of the media who have criticised QPR over the past 48 hours genuinely want change?
“The taking of the knee has reached a point of ‘good PR’ but little more than that. The message has been lost. It is now not dissimilar to a fancy hashtag or a nice pin badge.
“What are our plans with this? Will people be happy for players to take the knee for the next ten years but see no actual progress made?
“Taking the knee will not bring about change in the game - actions will.
“Those media that have been quick to question us should be looking more inwardly. Our Under 18s were forced to abandon a game in August 2019 against AD Nervion FC due to racist abuse.
“More than 12 months on, UEFA refused to deal with the situation and the Spanish FA did nothing.
“What media coverage has been given to that? Not nearly as much as what has been granted to QPR not taking a knee.
“Don’t judge us. Simple research and evidence will show you we are doing more than most. If you want change, judge yourselves.”

Ferdinand has suffered racism, he’s campaigned against it and highlighted it for a long time.

I respect his decision and excellent explanation.

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

Nedum Onuoha just explained on R5 he heard from a QPR pal that QPR's not taking the knee was a complete cock up, and Ferdinand's explanation was ill considered damage limitation (my words not his, but....). The players were going to take the knee and something went wrong. Cock up, not any sort of plan.

That explains why there was no advanced warning.

Time to move on (with a continuation of taking the knee, 'the start' as Nedum puts it).

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