I found myself engaging in a rousing chorus of “Super Stevey Clarke” after his comments on the Ilunga affair last night…it was brilliant to hear him defend Ilunga, and with perfectly legitimate reasons. Equally, I was delighted to hear him criticise Steve Bruce for his comments about our players – using the reasoning that Zola didn’t do it, and therefore neither should have Bruce. Being honest, I too was critical of Ilunga’s reaction; I felt it was embarrassing – however on reflection after seeing the highlights again, and hearing Clarke’s comments, I am significantly feeling less ashamed of the way his reacted. Naturally.
Clarke was spot on with what he said and somehow it’s managed to instill a sense of confidence in me for tonight – COYI!
You may have been reading some comments from a blog called Salut!Sunderland over the past few days regarding the whole Ilunga affair – I’ve been following the comments closely too. Salut!Sunderland are part of the same football blog network as myself, FootballUnited, so I was able to phone him to discuss his views on Ilunga, our Academy and why exactly he disagrees with “choreographed songs” at football grounds.
He was in the middle of cooking his dinner – hence the reference to onions at the beginning.
Just press play…
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Wore these to every game this year. They may not be lucky, but they're comfy:
The reaction of your player, to go down clutching his eye after he was pushed in the upper chest area was nothing short of play acting and he should be disciplined by the FA for it. For the West Ham management to defend him, well, its just like a parent defending their child, even though they know he has done wrong.
If I was a west ham fan, I would have beene,barrassed by both the players reaction and the wet paper bag response from your management – - – a joke from start to finish
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watch the highlights again mate – pushed in the face
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Exactly. There was a great picture online that clearly showed one of Jones’ hands in Ilunga’s face. One of his fingers may have been in an eye, but you couldn’t tell. I found Bruce’s (and Cana’s) comments rather embarrassing really. There was no need for all the commotion afterwards. Ilunga did nothing wrong.
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Ilunga tried to headbut jones in the chest and got what he deserved!
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having listened to that I agree with Clarke ie shut it unless you’re prepared to criticise your own players as well You when questioning him were critical of Ilunga but he steadfastly refused to be critical of any of the Sunderland players or fans and there is good and bad at both clubs
Northern web footed swamp monster Horrible fans shitty team awful city and a total ***** for a manager Complain about that salut!sunderland cos thats all that you can do when confronted with the truth?
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Yeh Dean. Typical COCK-ney answer mate. Never expected anything else from the most self opinionated fans in London. Wish the world cup was here, so you could win it again for us … yaaaaaawwwwnnn
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Not a cockney mate actually I’m South African and I’ll be at the world cup watching our academy graduates win it
the comments were tongue in cheek meant to highlight the pointlessness of slating the opposition when the same problems exsist within
People in glass houses and let he who is without sin etc
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Sam – I am writing in response to your article to appeal to your sense of sound judgement. Let’s reflect on the incident for a moment. Ilunga deliberately attempts to headbutt Jones, a la Zidane. Ilunga was booked by Mariner after consulting his linesman for the initial headbutt!! Wait a moment. Let’s replay the France v Italy world cup final. It’s obvious that headbutting is only a bookable offence. Unless of course the card was red and someone had painted it yellow – because that’s the only explanation for Ilunga staying on the pitch!! In response, Jones pushes Ilunga admittedly raising one hand to his face and the other to his chest. I doubt that many other players would have reacted differently, but righly so, Jones was sent off. However, Ilunga’s response was a shameful, sensational overreaction, and a deliberate attempt to get a player sent off, despite being the initial aggressor. In my view this kind of thing is and always has been the worst part of the beautiful game. It astounds me that you and Steve Clark for that matter defend such blatant appalling conduct. It seems to me that your loyalty to your club distorts your sense of rationale after your blind defence of disgraceful on-pitch behaviour by one of your players. Forgive me – but I don’t see any honour in that. You are condoning violence and cheating and If the situation was reversed – I promise you I would be equally as critical of Jones. I would compare you and Steve Clark to a scumbag defence barrister who contrives to secure the acquittal of a guilty criminal on grounds of technicality and slick semantics. Cast your mind back to Euro ‘96. When teams from all over Europe were diving, feigning injury and blatantly cheating. We had Stuart Pearce. Do you recall when he got whacked in the face while trying to defend a set piece sending him crashing to the ground? He got straight up with a scowl on his bloodied face, determined not to whine like his opposition, and to set an example as to the way the game SHOULD be played. Come on Sam – try again mate.
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funny enough I don’t recall too many West Ham fans defending Ilunga for his actions but once again stop crying most players would have done the same Darren Bent anyone What about criticising Malbranque for the dive getting the free kick for your first goal cheating isn’t it or the animal with the captains armband in your team
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A dive by Malbranque? Get real, if you think thats a dive you need your head checking
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Arsehole – remember this when you are in the Championship where you belong.How dare you state shitty Team awful City and Horrible fans.Compared to that horrendous shit hole of London it is paradise.
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First of all i am a West Ham Season Ticket Holder.
If a Sunderland player had fell and held his face like that as if hit by force and not slightly touched we would be going mad.
Players play act on many occasions so feel he let us down.
Up the Hammers
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This makes me mad!
The man had a broken jaw recently, A BROKEN JAW!!!!
who is bruce or anyone else to say how much that still hurts when PUSHED IN THE FACE!!!!
and to complain about ice being applied to a recently BROKEN JAW!! my god has the man no shame.
The only thing that clarke was doing was pointing out that Bruces comments and all the others were way over the top considering that he recently had a BROKEN JAW!! and that if you want to point out whats wrong with the game then dont miss out your own teams 2 footed tackles, kicks in the back and diving. If Bruce had had some class, like Zola, he wouldnt have spoken about opponents players and everything said since has purely been in retaliation at the unfair and unfounded and uncalled for attack on one of his players.
Who recently had a BROKEN JAW!!!!!!!!!
A BROKEN JAW!!!!!
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Awful city – oh and Green Street is the Algarve.
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no and to be honest i feel a bit safer popping out to the local chippy in the alcarve.
oh and most people speak english as well.
as for the game a great game and the correct score who cares who said or did what.
if both teams play football like that week in week out they both deserve prem. footie
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I was waiting for a bubble blower to get personal and start insulting sunderland the city etc yawn,who are west ham the 7th or 8th biggest club in there city,a city i lived in for 5 years and was glad to get out of as london apart from its great multi cultural society and culture is a dump,horrible,sunderland is a far greater place to live than the capital,especialy once the regeneration is done in roughly ten years.Fact of the matter is sunderland started poorly and gifted the hammers two goals before pulling one back and losing jones b4 halftime.Then with ten men tore west ham to shreds and deserved 3 points in the second half.West ham will struggle but sunderland will finish top 9.By the way that was the worst away support we have had since pompey brought about 80 fans last year,sang twice wen you scored boring,so dnt diss our fans as SAFC have some of the best in the world as we dnt have to make poor pathetic low budget british thug movies to prove it just look at our attendances and records.
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Yeh I suppose the SOL was sold out at the weekend
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stick to sunbathing at -12 and leave the north east football knowledge to the newcastle fans
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Rob – Broken jaw or not he still tried to headbutt an opponant and his overreaction was totally deliberate. I am tired of ridiculous excuses – the guy HEADBUTTED Jones – what’s the matter with you, your bias and lack of impartiality is astounding!! have had aa broken jaw, and I can tell you categorically that it doesn’t hurt once it heals. You are defending someone who aimed a headbutt at another player – and that player reacted instinctively, yet beyond the rules of the game. Steve T – thank God there is someone out there capable of common sense. I promise if any Sunderland player had behaved like that I would be equally as condemning. (BROKEN JAW OR NOT)- fool!
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Thats the thing sam h even with a poor attendance by our standards 39k it was still more than west ham get on a good day,people are picking and choosing games as there is a recession and growing unemployment and west ham are no big drawer,it was sold out v liverpool last home match and will be the next home match the big club from london ARSENAL.
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but if you’ve a bigger ground and cheaper tickets, of course you’ll sell more – it’s the percentage of ground filled that I guess counts. But it’s got nnothing to do with anything right now!
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West spam were play acting all match and timewastin,they were shittin themselves second half when our TEN men battered them.I will agree though Cana our captain was lucky to stay on the pitch,but thats hes style and i wouldnt want him to change as the game will be a NO CONTACT SPORT soon,southern softies.
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and it’s Ilunga’s style to get away with a headbutt and fall to the ground and get players sent off well played Ilunga
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don’t thnk i’d ever encourage it from a West Ham player tho mate!
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Oh Deane, Deane. Please stop. Ive had enough of your witty educated & informed banter. I give in. By the way. Why were you off school today? Mumps?
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Dean – you are a muppet!! Is that the best you got – oaf? Well done Ilunga for being a cheating violent pest – typical ICF !!!!! He’s got a broken jaw and he was “touched” on it and went down like a old man’s willy – hoping his headbutt wouldn’t get him sent off. Why is it that not one Sunderland fan thinks he was innocent – could it be that your judgement is clouded by your loyalty! Cowards!! Like I said – if any Sunderland player did that I would rip him to bits. There’s cheating and there’s cheating – that was horrendous.
And those of you that slag off Cana – he’s got more nuts than Planters. He’s a hero in Newcastle – the more knowledgable area in the NE – let alone Sunderland!! Oh yeah boys – do you recall one of your heroes – Julian Dick(s). Now there’s a stand up guy.
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Sam h if our tickets are cheap why didnt west ham bring more fans then?they are not as cheap as you think and wages are lower up here albeit cost of living lower yet we still sell out away allocation everywhere we go even to your expensive city where we will have thousands at white hart lane on sat. Fact is sunderland fans are having to pick and choose matches as they cannot afford to go to all and west spam are a nothing fixture and club.
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I don’t really wanna get into an argument about it – it’s the same with all clubs. The bigger teams attract bigger crowds – it’s logical. As for us not taking our whole allowance – we did ave to travel, and with morale low it’s not the nicest of journeys!
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Glad I got to you all hope you’ll come and visit when we beat you at the Boleyn
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come on boys have a laugh footie fans have got to be the easiest people to wind up, myself included I just happen to be in a good mood at the moment
Smile you’re on wind up chat
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No the sol was not sold out but our attendances have been better than yours so a fail to see your point, when was the last time wist am had 47-48k at a match??? as for sh*t city as per other comments have you seen the area around your ground, makes afghan look like a bleedin top holiday destination. ohh and as for crap team we managed to draw with you and only had 10 men, nearly beat manure at OT and took liverpool out so we cant have that bad of a team. wist am into administration ohh how it would make my year!!!!
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When the last time we had 48k at a match is not the point mate…if we had a big enough ground, i’m sure we’d get that many regularly. If you have a 90k seater ground but only fill it 2/3rds full then you’ve got 60k in the ground – but relatively, it’s still empty.
It’s a pointless argument to be having – but just to look at some of the figures this year: We, on average, have filled our ground 89% full. Whereas you have filled it 84% full on average (based on capacity from Wikipedia and attendances from official sites)
It’s all relative
.-= Sam H´s last blog ..Irons! =-.
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[...] original here: Views from a Sunderland fan on Ilunga, our Academy and why he … VN:F [1.7.2_963]please wait…Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)VN:F [1.7.2_963]Rating: 0 (from 0 [...]
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Its amazing how many sunderland fans have over reacted to this. Illunga went to ground easy grabbed his recently broken jaw and either looked to be in pain or was in pain. the point is no one knows, so why presume he was making it up? why think that is bad but the dive for the first goal was fine? why think your players 2 foot tackles and kicking people in the back is not as bad as someone maybee exagerating a facial injury?
To be honest I dont mind the sunderland fans having a go, but to do so without saying anything about your own players seems a tad unfair. But the real problem is your manager having a go, especialy considering the mans recently broken jaw, it is something he should appologise for, it isnt his place to talk about opponant players. Zola knows that and so does Clarke, which is why he had a go back, purely in retaliation. IF Bruce had kept his big mouth shut, which he should, then Clarke and no other west ham fan would have said anything!!
the bottom line here is that pretty much every footballer goes down easy when pushed in the face. They have to so the ref knows it happend and acts accordingly. We saw last week that otherwise players get away with it when Upson was given a slap and nothing happend! His reaction on the floor after looked to be play acting but the simple fact of the matter is no one knows and the ice being applied after may be due to his recently broken jaw and as all broken bones are different, not even people who have had a broken jaw know exactly how it felt, so the fact there was no visable injury when the ice was removed is again no reason to condem the man.
Given all those facts and that sunderland fans and manager seem completely blind to anything their own team did then i dont think its hard to see who is really being hard done by here, yet again its west ham. more mud thrown in the press, more sticking and an unfair reputation building.
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Well said Rob!
.-= Sam H´s last blog ..Irons! =-.
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Rob and Sam H Read up, read up, read up.
Why do you conveniently avoid the subject of a deliberate headbutt? You both know that Ilunga behaved like a thug – if you study the replay closely, his face was hardly touched. And if a “feathering” like that is enough to cause one of your players to stay on the ground for as long as he did, then the “blowing pretty little bubbles” song is very appropriate for your playing staff. The fact is his play-acting was an attempt to “cover up” his headbutting crime – and incredulously it worked. He was only yellow’ed for his headbutt. You are as big a scumbag as he is for condoning appalling tactics and it goes a little further than blindly supporting your team. I WOULD NOT CONDONE ANY SUNDERLAND PLAYER THAT BLATENTLY CHEATED AND FEIGNED INJURY AFTER HEADBUTTING AN OPPONENT AND I WOULD HAVE THE BALLS TO ADMIT IT. West Ham (believe it or not) are my favoured London club – and Zola is a fine man. But Bruce was spot on to condemn Ilunga’s amateur dramatics. In every game there are two footed tackles, and minor incidents – but that one surpassed the norm. That’s why we are debating it. And if you had an ounce of impartiality you would agree – like some of your fellow supporters above. No matter who you support we should all stand united against the worst part of our game. But not you – eh? I wonder what your stance would have been if it was the other way around. Hypochrites!!!
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umm maybe tried to butt him MAYBE but definitely no contact
according to you then two footed tackles reckless challenges diving are all ok because they happen in every match but feigning injury (if it was feigning) is not despite it happening in every match or is it just more truthful you like most fans reckon it’s ok and justified as long as it’s your players that are the perpetrators most of all face facts the sending off of Jones motivated your players as you looked a much better team after the break so the sending off was far more helpful to your lot than ours
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Oh one more thing the rules clearly show that Jones should be dismissed whether Ilunga play acted or not and he’s been fined for it so he was correctly dismissed and Ilunga’s reaction is/was inconsequential
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Deane – Do you dribble when you talk? You have not been listening chap. Kenwyn Jones deserved to get sent off. Do you want me to para-phrase that for you? However, Ilunga’s offence was the greater – especially considering his pathetic antics after the incident. Here’s another thing – if Malbranque did dive (and I don’t recall the incident) I can not and will not condone it. If he did it he was cheating and if I was manager I would fine him. It comes down to this question me old son. Do you want players playing for the Hammers who A. stay on the ground for 5 minutes requiring an icepack after being moderately “pushed” (I have had a broken jaw and trust me – it don’t hurt once it’s healed – that is no argument – and remember it was a push – not a strike) – or B. Deliberately headbutts an opponent, and then feigns injury to avoid punishment. I don’t want players like that playing for my team, and if you could put aside your understandably fierce loyalty for a minute and focus on what happened, I’m sure you would say the same. Give me Stuart Pearce over Ilunga any day of the week. Whichever way you answer this – you’ve lost the argument. Let’s not forget about what a fabulous game of football it was – despite the incident. Good night x
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what argument you’ve decided you’re right and nothing else matters so no argument to lose not even a hint of discussion never mind so be it
By the way you’re wrong my ball and I’m taking it home
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Put it on your head – it would do a better job.
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I take it you mean put it on my neck can’t do that I’m afraid that would make me like a northerner
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No – I meant put it on your head, so that people could try to decipher which one comes out with the most sense. I’m a northerner and I have torn you up for arse paper – what does that say about you?
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With all due respect fellas, this “discussion” has just turned into a slanging match…
I’m going to have to turn commenting off, sorry
Sam
.-= Sam H´s last blog ..Irons! =-.
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