Cesc is not stupid enough to carry on lying
1 comment March 19th, 2009
Cesc Fabregas has given another interview to The Sun in which he again denies spitting at Hull assistant manager Brian Horton:
“I’ve absolutely nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of. The simple fact is I did not spit at the assistant manager of Hull City.”
He’s equally forthright on accusations he spat at Michael Ballack four years ago:
“I have seen this video on the internet many times before and I remember the incident clearly.
It was four years ago and I lent over to Michael Ballack who was playing for Bayern Munich at the time and I shouted at him because I felt like I did not make a bad tackle and I felt that the contact was minimal. I did not spit at him. It happens during matches that sometimes you have heated exchanges with your opponents.
I am not proud of it but I was 17 years old. The referee saw it and gave me a yellow card. People can try to find as many video clips as they like from when I was 17 years old or when I was 12 playing for my school team but this does not change anything … I did not spit at the assistant manager of Hull City.”
It’s a pretty categoric denial by Cesc, who isn’t stupid enough to repeat a false story, especially with an FA inquest about to start.
The same, sadly, cannot be said of Phil Brown. Once again, I urge you all to listen to this interview – it is hilarious hearing Brown entirely fail to deal with Victoria Derbyshire’s equally entirely reasonable line of questioning. If I wasn’t in such a rush this morning, I’d take it apart piece by piece. Fortunately, Nick Szczepanik of The Times has done that already, in what makes for a very enjoyable read. It’s worth noting that Szczepanik is a Liverpool fan who has little affection for Arsenal.
The absurdity of Brown’s claims was further exposed when arseblogger alerted me to this video of Brown and Wenger clearly shaking hands up at Hull just a few weeks back – something which Brown clearly stated had not occurred:
With Szczepanik suggesting there is also photographic evidence of a handshake at the Emirates back in September, Brown’s emotional rhetoric is crumbling in the face of cold hard fact. I am certain that soon this incident will be mocked and laughed at in the same way his on-pitch team-talk is.
Finally, congratulations to the U-18s, who won the first leg of their FA Youth Cup semi-final 2-1 against holders Man City.
I wish I had more time, but I don’t. Enjoy your Thursday, folks.
