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uploaded : Wednesday 16th Apr 2008 at 18:43 |
| Contributed
by : Liverpool Fans and Carol Gould |
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I would like to make one apology to Liverpool fans: the last line of my editorial mentioned Rodgers and Hammerstein and I stressed they were Americans and Jews. This made many Liverpool Football Club fans believe I was accusing them of anti-Semitism. This was not meant to be the case. Much of the article was about other clubs and what appears to me and to many of all faiths to be a wave of anti-Semitism and racism across British football. Because I grew up in the USA during the civil rights liberation era, my antennae go up when I see mass-display racism. Any british football fan who can honestly say 'there is no anti-Semitism in the stands or in the media' is living in cloud cuckoo land.
In any event, I was making a sweeping swipe at the anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism seen recently across the football spectrum including a report in the 'Jewish Chronicle' about sports reporter David Mellor of 'The Evening Standard' taking undue swipes at Avram Grant for being a co-religionist of Roman Abramovich.
Any misunderstanding where Liverpool, my favourite club, is concerned, is regretted.
Carol Gould
********************
More letters from LFC fans will appear over the weekend, and more may be read in the 'Letters to the Editor' column if readers scroll down this Homepage. I welcome fury as long as it is not accompanied ( as some have been) by obscenities and depraved references to my breast cancer articles of last year.
CG
***************
Liverpool Fans' Blog about 'Disgusting' Carol Gould:
http://forums.liverpoolecho.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=36946 .
******************
From Eamonn Clabby:
Dear Mrs Gould
You raise some valid points about the attitude of many in Britain towards either foreign ownership of football clubs and the underlying prejudices that are present among some of the fans.
I was reading through media articles about Liverpool FC when I saw your piece that seems to have enraged Liverpool fans recently. I would like to write that not all British people are so vitriolic about both Americans and Jews although unfortunately a vocal minority are to extreme degrees and even more effectively ignorant masses follow what they read/see. You must accept though that many in this country (UK) are not as bad as these bigots. Ironically with all the crys of some Liverpool fans for DIC to take over, they forget that if that were so Benayoun may have to leave due to Dubai's attitude towards Israel and all the Liverpool members of the England squad having visited Israel to play would be subject to that countries policies on entrants who have a "visited Israel" stamp on their passport.
I love America and have enjoyed visiting it. The sporting stadiums in Boston and New York were a model I feel we should follow here, although I fear with the inherently (sometimes violent) drinking (to excess) culture football fans have in Britain this would be a pipe dream. My own Team, Tranmere, across the Mersey from Liverpool is in the lower leagues but it also has its problem with a minority of thugs that includes some older adults acting the pied piper and many young yobs who are terribly abusive and agressive. For example chanting against the Welsh when playing a welsh side when some of our own players play for the Welsh national team. But this is the problem with both the English game and our society...Too many have been allowed to feel comfortable with abuse against anyone...and they can terrorise areas. Although too many have been allowed (media and politicans included) to feel they can hurl abuse at America or Israel and face no punishment. I would point to the abhorrent Ken Livingstone for that. There are many genuine football fans in this country and I think you may be a little unfair in your comments about our fans in general.
As you must know yourself, this is a country were people are arrested for dealing with scum who cause trouble while the latter get away with it, which surely is a reflection on the disgraceful state of the government. Although I wonder if there were Anti-Islam chants at football games, the singers would be removed in an instant. It saddens me that so many of the people in this country are making America and Israel and their peoples scapegoats for, seemingly everything but I hope you also acknowledge that not all think that way.
From Redguard:
Dear Ms Gould,
Following your article; 'Soon You'll Walk Alone, Liverpool Fans'.. Thursday 10th Apr 2008, I feel that I must take this opportunity to hopefully appraise you of some certain facts. Without doubt, your comments of yesterday were met with distaste not only with Liverpool fans but with Americans who also found your article to be highly distasteful and inaccurate.
Before I continue May I remind you that;
i) Fact; Liverpool were, and still are, the most succesful British football team prior to an American takeover, (not point scoring against Americans as I'm alluding to Gillett & Hicks - G&H ).
ii) Under G&H we have won zilch.
iii) The new stadium will probably go down in history as a White Elephant under G&H; being no more realistic than the Red Ruby Slippers in the Wizard of Oz.
iv) You are not an expert witness as to drunkeness when referring to drunken fans on the television. Under British Law, as I understand, only a doctor or police officer can give such expert opinion, and would certainly have to be in the persons presence, i.e. eyes glazed, unsteady on their feet, speech slurred (and to rule out influence of a drug); smelt heavily of intoxicants, etc.
Surely you are not oblivious to the fiasco unfolding yesterday whereby Mr. Hicks has again put self interest first, effectively pressing the 'self-destruct button' when it comes to the running of this World reknown highly successful club..........???
Here's a recent example of balanced journalism;-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/04/11/sfnliv111.xml .
Anfield fiasco: Tom Hicks could sink Liverpool
By Henry Winter
11/04/2008
Tom Hicks must never be allowed to board the ferry across the Mersey because he would only rock the boat. Just when Rick Parry attempts to keep the good ship Liverpool steady through another storm, Hicks lumbers on and threatens to capsize it. Madness.
In the dispute that escalated yesterday between Parry and Hicks, let us play spot the difference: Parry has Liverpool's best interests at heart while Hicks has Hicks's best interests at heart. Parry is a lifelong fan. Hicks is a businessman. Parry works hard to keep the club united and focused on reaching the Champions League final. Hicks picks fights. Spot which one you would want running your club.
The word on Merseyside is that Hicks demanded Parry's resignation as a tit-for-tat against George Gillett, the other co-owner who had ticked off Ian Ayre, the club's commercial director much admired by Hicks, before Tuesday's Champions League vanquishing of Arsenal.
Parry seems to have been caught up in the crossfire between two Americans. It does need stating that Parry is not football's top-ranked chief executive. He has certainly made mistakes. Liverpool have been slow to develop their commercial potential, although that pre-dates Parry's arrival at Anfield from the Premier League (four European Cups in seven years should have generated more funds).
Parry has not always enjoyed the best relationship with Rafael Benitez and has courted ridicule by wearing a Liverpool tracksuit emblazoned with his initials. A chief executive's place is in the board-room, not the dressing-room. But if he occasionally fails to see eye-to-eye with Benitez, who can be awkward and appears still to hold a candle for Real Madrid, then Parry is not completely at fault. Sporting replica kit is unwise for an executive, but such vanity does provide material proof of Parry's deep affection for Liverpool.
Those cyberspace mischief-makers who inserted the claim that Parry is known as "Coco" on his Wikipedia entry are being slightly cruel. The real clown wears a Stetson. It is difficult to see what Parry has done wrong in the period since the Americans rode into town. He pleaded for Hicks and Gillett to give peace a chance. He has sided with Gillett, but then most sane souls around Anfield would.
Parry cares about people at Anfield. When Steven Gerrard's autobiography (ghosted by this writer) had to be run by Liverpool, Parry read the criticism of him and Benitez during the Chelsea contract saga but did not ask for one word to be changed. He respected the captain's right to make comments, however unflattering they were towards him and the manager. Parry's stance contrasted with officials at some other clubs, who demanded that books by some of their players be amended.
Parry is a fan of Gerrard, just as he is a fan of all those driving Liverpool in the right direction. Hicks is getting in the way, and yesterday's fuel-on-the-fire antics hardly help. If he wants to dismiss Parry, then he should do it in the closed-season.
The mess highlights one reality: the sooner all football appreciates the dangers inherent in foreign ownership the better. If football ever contains more people like Hicks than Parry, then the game really will be heading to Hell in a debt-laden hand-cart.
May I remind you that your comments are not confined to a select few, but will filter through to all corners of the globe. I do hope that you take time to reflect upon your article and in future do bear in mind that football supporters are not all thugs, they are represented internationally, including America, (especially with such a massive following that Liverpool has). Please try not to be so xenophobic and stereotypical in your reporting. We are just ordinary people who happen to care and have a passion for a wonderful and highly successful football club.
Liverpool Football Club and her loyal fans have no agenda against Americans. On the contrary we welcome all supporters around the world without predudice. Our concerns are with the current owners who have lied to us and only have self interests. They just happen to be Americans who are actually despised, to some degree, by their own nationals.
Redguard
*****************
To and from Damian Lewis/Carol Gould:
Dear Damian,
'Appalling' regarding the Pound Sterling to Americans means 'appalling' -- it is a disaster for those who bring dollars over here. In the wee hours I had actually typed 'amazing' but 'amazing and Vista Spellcheck changed it to 'amazing.'
I have had a considerable number of emails ranging from insulting to depraved to obscene. The abuse goes well beyond anger or irritation ( which I welcome) at my editorial about the years of anti-American screeching on the football pitches, whilst Americans bow and scrape to Brits wherever they may appear across the USA . So the abuse yesterday and today somewhat proves my point: you chaps are really one angry lot. Why are you so angry ? Have you ever seen Yanks at a sporting event? They don't even need police because a crowd of 100,000 will have fun, stay sober and go home happy.
It will please all of you that I leave England penniless after ploughing hundreds of thousands into the British economy for thirty years. I was misadvised by two UK Endowment advisers and one UK Pension adviser; I have had twelve UK estate agents assigned to selling my home and it remains unsold after fifteen months ;of little or no effort on their part, I have lost my home in the USA and will soon lose mine here. So, thirty-odd years in the UK take me back to the USA with no wealth, ( note not all Yanks come here to make a quick buck!) and I am telling you gentlemanly chaps this because the filth I have received, including one death threat, mean you hate me to death and will be delighted to hear of my UK financial woes.
My two new books are out this and next year; obviously three different publishers think my work worthy of worldwide distribution.
Carol G
----- Original Message -----
From: Damian Lewis
To: Carol Gould
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 4:42 PM
Subject: Fw: Disgraceful biased media article.
----- Original Message -----
From: Damian Lewis
To: cgould
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 4:00 PM
Subject: Disgraceful biased media article.
My my what a tangled web you weave,Conspiracies, anti-Semitic and anti-American plots you must feel the whole worlds or is just England out to get you! Here are some comments from http://forums.icnorthwest.co.uk/viewforum. regarding one of your "holier-than-thou" Article.
----------------------------------
Disgusting and absolutely disgracefully uninformed example of the rubbish that will be absorbed by millions of our American cousins who will no doubt accept this article as being factual.
Liverpool Football Club and her loyal fans have no agenda against Americans. On the contrary we welcome all supporters around the world without prejudice. Our concerns are with the current owners who have lied to us and only have self interests. They just happen to be Americans who are actually despised, to some degree, by their own nationals.
-----------------------------------
This article is so atrociously ill-informed that it is below contempt.
I'm not quiet sure how she's links ill-feelings towards TWO Americans who have consistently lied about how our football club is being run with Anti-Americanism or Anti-Semitism. Nationality or Religion aren't even remotely linked to the reason why our co-owners are despised by Liverpool fans.
She mentions the fact that Hicks and Gillett have promised a 80,000 seater stadium to be built by 2010. She negates the fact that they've scrapped the designs twice now and we'll be lucky if the work even begins by 2010.
She mentions our record losses of £21.9m. She fails to mention that the debts of £80m we had under Moore's have been trebled by our "esteemed" new owners, mainly to pay the banks back for the funds they borrowed to buy the club, despite saying that they had paid for the club out of their own pocket and there would be no debt against the club.
"Appauling state of the Pound Sterling?" I'm not well up on economics, but isn't the pound worth more against the Dollar than it has been for a long while? It's something like 2.1 dollars per pound these days.
"Alcohol-ridden slugs passing for men shouting their true opinions into the camera of the bloody yanks". This statement is extremely antagonistic, extremely insulting and wide of the mark. We were expressing our disgust with two individual Americans, not Americans in general. It was not a race/nationality issue so why is she making it into one. It would have been the same if the two owners were English, or Spanish or whatever. Its the way they have treated the club that is the issue, something she failed to comprehend by the looks of it.
I have problems with certain aspects of American society. I don't like their foreign policy, I don't like their President and and I don't like the supremacy they place on money. But that doesn't mean I dislike all Americans or everything about America.
I dislike TWO particular Americans because they have lied to us and have placed a part of our culture, our heritage into massive amounts of debt even beyond the levels they were before they took over.
This writer fails to grasp the concept and reasons for why these two Americans are disliked. Its not that they're Americans. Its certainly nothing to do with their religious beliefs. It is to do with the fact that they have lied to the fans, made empty promises yet to be fulfilled and have placed an enormous burden of debt against the club.
As you can see your not winning over many friends.next time your in town E-mail me and we will discuses the point of why we don't like to be lied to, as you obviously don't understand the concept of taking someone's word as his bond.
Thanks for your time
Damian Lewis
Liverpool Football Club Supporter
**************************
from Matt Wall:
but also known to be factually incorrect at times, which in this case you have been and clearly unprepared to admit !
a simple apology to go a long way !
--- On Fri, 11/4/08, Carol Gould wrote:
From: Carol Gould <>
Subject: Re: you stupid uniformed woman
To: wall
Date: Friday, 11 April, 2008, 9:31 PM
It is a democracy and the British press going back hundreds of years is known for its acerbic and often forked tongue.
CG
----- Original Message -----
From: Matt Wall
To: Carol Gould
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 4:23 PM
Subject: Re: you stupid uniformed woman
Carol
Excuse me but if you didn't want abuse 'Hurled' at you then you shouldn't have started hurling it our way via the press, did you not think that your comments would cause offence to very proud people who happen to love their club and resent anyone (American or otherwise) coming over here and upsetting years of tradition and loading us with debt ?
Matt Wall
--- On Fri, 11/4/08, Carol Gould wrote:
From: Carol Gould <>
Subject: Re: you stupid uniformed woman
To: wall
Date: Friday, 11 April, 2008, 3:13 PM
Dear Matt,
I have answered every email this past two days but yours is the first to hurl abuse at me and I therefore will not honour it with an informed response.
Incidentally, I have travelled all over the UK during my thirty-two years here, ( including my appearance on 'Any Questions?' in beautiful Blackpool, one of my favourite places, so this 'twat,' having survived breast cancer recently is grateful to have been given a few more years to see Liverpool again. Your threats prove the point I made in my article.
Carol Gould
----- Original Message -----
From: Matt Wall
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 1:30 PM
Subject: you stupid uniformed woman
The title of my email is based on your dreadful article (I use the word article lightly) you have completely misunderstood the debacle at Liverpool FC, firstly it is your American brothers who have fallen out so badly they are no longer prepared to be in the same room together let alone talk, they came to OUR club promising not to burden us with debt and you guessed it we are now owned pretty much by the banks because of their loans. I think many fans are prepared to forgive Gillett for genuinely being a decent person who will try and do the right thing by selling his shares to DIC but as for that fat oath Hicks who would do more good at clowns rodeo in Hicksville Texas, he is hated to such a degree now by his own Board members (Tom Jr apart) fans and decent football fans in general he can't go to the home games now for his own safety he has to make do with the away trips, all this is his fault he is a horrible man who has more in common with Donald Rumsfeld than any decent minded Livperpudlian. May I also remind you that there are a lot of Liverpool fans in the US calling for his head . . .
You should be ashamed of your uninformed rubbish, I wouldn't go anywhere near Liverpool in a hurry, then again you probably spend all your time in London you twat !
 
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