Some have called for his site to be boycotted whilst others have questioned his allegiance to Arsenal. I think that enough has been said with reference to his comments about Djourou and MP has since published an apology, with all the sincerity of a politician caught in a sex scandal.
My anger with the article focuses on his report of the FA Youth Cup game between Arsenal and Manchester United where he wrote:
There was a crowd of 38,000 there, mostly kids off the council estates. I hope the kids enjoyed the night because a lot of them have nothing. And many of their parents can barely cope with their own lives, let alone bring up a family. |
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How arrogant is this man? I am amazed how he can write such gross generalisations. I believe these comments are even more insulting than those made towards the young Swiss defender.
Who is he to assume that the kids there were from council estates?
Was it based on their clothing, their ethnicity, their behaviour or something else?I'm not sure how I'd pick "kids from the council estates" out of a line up of youngsters. Don't teenagers in London all look much the same regardless of their postcode?
And even if some were from local council estates does it make a difference from those kids who were from non-social housing? Arsenal need to encourage youngsters to follow them as its these kids who'll be buying merchandise and tickets for matches in the years to come.
How does he know "they have nothing" and what does he mean by nothing?
I cannot start to understand what he means by this and I've sat here for a while trying to work out what he means by this. Does he refer to a lack of emotional, financial or educational support? Does he infer they have no future? I have many friends who were raised in council estates and their jobs include: a mollecular biologist, police officers, teachers, nurses, corporate bankers and highly successful entrepreneurs. All of these friends would beg to differ that a childhood on a council estate dooms you to a life with no future.
How does he know that "their parents can barely cope with their own lives"?
It is cynical to suggest that parents cannot cope with their own lives if they are raising a family in a council estate. I'm by no means suggesting that life on the many council estates around London is easy but it is exactly the attitude that MP exhibits which perpetuates the public perceptions of the problems in these areas.
Who is he to assume that the parents cannot "bring up their own family"?
Is he suggesting that the average family that lives in a council estate is dysfunctional and ineffective? Does he have government statistics to back up these stereotypical and naive allegations? I presume not.
From what I understand MP has no experience in Social Policy and these comments were made without any corroborating data or evidence of any kind.
The comments were insulting, condescending and ill-conceived. He should be ashamed of himself.
I won't be using ANR anymore.
