Gunnerblog

Stephen Kelly: You are an idiot

512 guns February 25th, 2008

Birmingham defender Stephen Kelly has spoken out on Martin Taylor’s tackle on Eduardo, and more specifically Arsene Wenger’s initial comments on the incident:

“That is disgraceful talk from Arsene Wenger. It is terrible. You know the way Martin is. He slid along the ground.”

“Slid along the ground”, did he?  Is his foot on the ground in this picture:

Didn’t think so.  Kelly, seemingly oblivious to reality, goes on:

“It wasn’t a malicious tackle and the reason the ref has sent him off is because he has seen Eduardo has broken his leg.  I don’t think you can send a player off for that. That’s football.”

I’m sorry Stephen, but that tackle is nothing to do with football.  The ref didn’t send him off because of Eduardo’s injury - he sent him off because challenges like Taylor’s have no place on the pitch.

I don’t want to keep going back over it and demonising Taylor, but what choice do you have when idiots like Kelly come out to defend the indefensible?  Alex McLeish, meanwhile, has been bleating to the media about “his [Eduardo's] studs being caught in the grass” and the fact that “he [Taylor] didn’t feel he made that much contact with Eduardo”.  Arsene Wenger had the good grace to see that his comments were over the mark and retract them.  Will Kelly or McLeish do the same in the cold light of day?  Somehow I doubt it.

Taylor himself has managed to keep a dignified silence, for which I can respect him.  It’s just a shame he is surrounded by so many idiots.

Eduardo, meanwhile, has spoken with great courage about the situation:

“My concentration is on making as quick a recovery as possible. I am determined to overcome this injury.  It was an unfortunate situation but these things can happen in football.  I would like to say how touched I am by the many messages of support I have received and to be surrounded by my loved ones at this time.”

I believe Eduardo will be back, because he has the spirit and desire neccessary.  This is a guy who slept in a freezing Croatian stadium as a teenager.  He’s worked so hard to get where he is today - he won’t give that up without a hell of a fight.

If you want to contact Eduardo, send him an email at arsenal.croatia@gmail.com by Wednesday, or write to him at:

Eduardo da Silva, c/o Arsenal FC, Highbury House, 75 Drayton Park, London, England, N5 1BU.

I do think those messages will reach him, and furthermore, I think they’ll make a really positive impact on his recovery.  We should get a statement from the the club today explaining the full severity of the injury, and from then on we’ll have to try and refocus on the games ahead.

The best present we could send Eduardo would be a Premier League winner’s medal.

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