Dave Whelan's comments..

‘I don’t know how it’s come across but it’s unfair if it’s come across like that. What I said is this: Malky criticised somebody and called them a name. We all get called names. We get called Limeys, Brits. The Scots get called Jocks. And we don’t take a blind bit of notice. I don’t know what all this is about.
‘There’s a big difference if you criticise a black person because that is something I would never ever do or agree to.
‘I would never even dream of that. That is something that is totally taboo. Everybody on the planet is equal and everybody who plays football is equal and I believe in that. I go to Barbados a lot.
‘I have friends, black people, white people, everybody is the same and everybody should be treated the same on the planet and that’s all I have to say on the subject. We are all equal under the sun. OK?’

 

I go to Sheffield a lot but I still hate the cnuts.

 

What do you mean I'm racist against Asians? I love a curry, me.

 

I've got a Motown album and everything.

 

I moved to Bradford. So, thanus.

 

As Kyle said in Road Trip when the black fraternity played a prank on him pretending they found a white pillow in his bag and that he's part of the KKK "I'm not racist, I watch Oprah everyday".

 

There's some right horrible racist ******* in this world. Dave Whelan isn't one of them. He's just an old fella struggling to pick his way through the politically correct minefield that is today's modern language. He's towing and tripping himself up, but that doesn't make him a bad man, nor does it make him racist. I don't find it particularly funny either because I know both me granddads would struggle explaining themselves too and I wouldn't like to see either of them being ridiculed when I know they were as tolerant as I am, they just did't have the language. It's easy for us, we've been brought up with it, they come from a time when calling someone black was racist and they were taught to use the word 'coloured'. That's before we mention the racist media they were bombarded with, everything from politicians speeches to sitcoms.

Employing Malky Mackay doesn't make Whelan racist either. Mackay's a lovely person, but he's a good football manager and that's what Whelan wants at his club. Whelan has said what Mackay did and said was wrong, but calling folk names doesn't exclude you from employment. If the FA judge that he should be excluded then fair enough, but at this moment they haven't. I wouldn't employ MacKay, but I don't judge Whelan for doing so, I just judge Mackay for what he said. People are allowed to employ cnuts, it doesn't mean they're cnuts themselves.

All the targets the media could go after and they're chasing around an old fella 'cos he's not politically correct and even when he tries to explain himself they poke more fun at him. IMHO it's a right shitty state of affairs.

 

I watch crimewatch so I can't be racist

 

Don't think my old man would say that Jews are more money grabbing than anyone else. Just cos someone is old doesn't excuse them from holding unacceptable stereotypical views.

 

The head of the Premier League holds sexist views but that seems to be alright

 

Some of my best and hardest working servants aren't white

 

Don't think Whelan would have said it either out right. But he was asked to explain Mackay's comments and he got himself in a right pickle. The Guardian sent David Conn to interview Whelan. I read The Guardian and I like David Conn very much. He's an intelligent, media savvy bloke who writes good copy. He had Whelan on toast. Fed him the questions and let Whelan hang himself. Good sport I suppose, but is it good journalism? Is turning a bloke, who has never hurt anyone, in to public enemy number one in the best interests of football or society at large? And remember, we didn't get a verbatim interview from The Guardian, we got an edited piece.

Whelan explains himself here. There's a full transcript of the interview at the bottom of the page. It would be quite easy to edit that down to make him look a lovely person, but taken as a whole, he doesn't strike me as racist.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30139723

Speaking of stereotypes, here's a joke I first heard from Billy Connolly: There's a nasty rumour that copper wire was invented when two Scotsmen were fighting over a penny. I've used it myself since with Scottish friends. The stereotype of the Scottish is they're tight. The stereotype of Jewish people is they tend to work in finance and earn a lot of money. Am I racist for using that joke. If I'm not, how does what I've said differ to what Whelan said even without the explanation?

 

I must have missed something there Jay. The full transcript is not the original interview. I was listening to radio five when the story broke and it was pretty clear that whelan did say what he now says he didn't. He even repeated and clarified his view. Conn wasn't trying to trick him at all. In any event the point I'm making is that you can't excuse comments just because he is an avuncular old bloke. I know many that age who wouldn't say those things. I also know plenty my age or younger who would.
Finally, he wasn't in anyway making a joke or poking fun like Billy Connolly.

 

I wasn't calling Whelan owt, with this thread. I just highlighted that Barbados comment cos I found it amusing.

I know plenty of folk who struggle when talking about other races, creeds etc. Of differing ages.

It's more about being decent/respectful than it is to do with age. In my opinion.

 

Sorry for the confusion, my fault, I wasn't saying the full transcript that I posted was from the original interview, I was saying it was the full transcript from his interview with the BBC where he explains his interview with The Guardian. The reason I posted that is, should the BBC have wanted, they could have edited down that transcript to make the man look racist.

For example, the below statements are all exactly what Dave Whelan said in the BBC interview:

"I did say that the Jewish people chase money. I always try and tell the truth. I didn't think that I did anything wrong in that. I said that the Jewish people chase money. I do a lot of business with them. I did not say that and I did not mean to insult any of my Jewish friends or any of the Jewish people. I just love the game of football. If somebody says to a Chinaman, 'you're a chink', would he be upset about it? I don't know really."


I don't think Whelan does deny what he said to The Guardian does he? He merely qualifies it. He says, "I was asked that question and I did say that the Jewish people chase money, but I also said that they chase money like the English people chase money." He's not denying he said it, he's saying that he added to that point afterwards. I'm sure you can play the tape and I'm sure he says it, but unless you hear/read the full transcript you don't necessarily get the gist.

Dave Whelan is a businessman. He's made an awful lot of money. He's proud of that. I don't believe for a minute that he thought he was being derogatory by saying other people also like to make money, even if that is a stereotype. He wasn't trying to be insulting, he's not offensive, he's out of touch.

IMHO when we continue to vilify people who are merely politically incorrect it leads to a society where the police don't arrest child abusers for fear of being labelled racist. I think we've gone so far the other side of what is acceptable that it's harming our society. The people I know have a sense of humour about who and what they are. We talk about it, sometimes very seriously, sometimes taking the piss, but we're not serially offended by every bit of language that isn't perfectly politically correct. I like political correctness in that everyone should be treated equally no matter their ethnicity, sex, sexuality or gender. I like the fact the it's super uncool to call anyone a name in an attempt to be offensive based on the person's ethnicity. I like that we try to show respect to everyone. But if someone isn't meaning to cause offence and says an unfashionable word or talks in stereotypes, let's forgive them and move on. There's real problems in this world; Dave Whelan isn't one of them.

 

Englishman Scotsman and Irishman walks in to a bar, Englishman and Scotsman says We like to go to Dublin for a nice Guinness

 

I will agree that the press will be making a massive deal of this where it's not warranted but Dave Whelan isn't just an bloke at the end of a bar making himself look foolish.

 

Thats a very good post mate..

 

Well said Jay, couldn't have put it better myself. Bit sick and tired of the holier than thou crowd, seems whenever anything is in the news these days the most important item on the agenda is 'who can we blame' or'who's f**ked up'.

As you say, Dave Whelan is not a racist, just someone not particularly PC savvy, but hey don't let that stop us all from stringing him up.