Sometimes I love writing this blog. And I always love Arsenal football club. I’m proud of the way in which we – for the most part – do things properly. There’s a class about Arsenal that has always been something that we, as fans, are proud of. Trophies are important, the stuff that happens on the pitch impacts us deeply, but we know that Arsenal is a club of class and tradition and I’ve always been proud of that.
Except two times in my life. The first was when the Super League announcement came and it was depresssing to see that Arsenal were willing to go down that US model route and announce they would break away from the Premier League and other competitions. That hit me and I had a rage and sadness about the way in which my club had acted.
The second was yesterday when, after we’d just released Thomas Partey from his contract, he was officially charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. And today I am sad. Firstly, I’m sad for the women who are caught up in this, because they have had to sit on this for literal years before it became public. Lord knows what they have been through and whilst I don’t know them, follow them or haven’t seen too much about them, I think I’ve seen some stories about how they have been abused online because of this situation. I’m sorry but that is utterly inexcusable. To abuse somebody because they have been wronged and you have an affinity with the predator of this situation? Unacceptable to me. They will get their day in court and they will be able to tell their side of the story and that is important. We are talking about one of the most heinous crimes you can get; a violation of somebody that no human being should have to go through. Of course at this stage we have to say that these are merely allegations and Partey – via his lawyer – has said he welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name.
That last bit tells its own story – finally. So basically this is an acknowledgement that everyone knew this existed. Which also means the club knew about this for a long time. Yet no action was taken. Worse than that, Partey has played an integral role in the back end of this season and that in itself is bad enough. I was talking about this yesterday with the wife and we both agreed that there would – and should – have been things Arsenal could have done. They could have suspended him pending the conclusion of this situation. They could have sacked him outright. They could have told the world he was injured. There’s lots of ways they could have handled this. Yet it was swept under the carpet and then cynically it has all come out now that he has departed the club. I’m sure you’ve thought this as well, but I also think about how there were noises that the club wanted to renew his contract! Knowing what they will have known, how on earth they could have even remotely entertained that idea is utterly baffling and really quite tragic to think about. The ‘look the other way’ nature of this leaves a blemish on Arsenal’s history and I hope there are some serious questions being asked about how thie should have been handled. More importantly, that this never happens again.
I am also slightly concerned that it wasn’t until he was released that this process has been made public. Why is that? I really hope it isn’t because he is a famous and high profile person. Again, I do not know the in’s and out’s of this situation, we all have to be careful how we talk about what is a very serious crime, but the timing of this announcement has left me with a knot in my stomach because I immediately start to think about sinister reasons behind it all coming out now as opposed to previously.
I don’t really want to comment too much more on this, because of the sensitive nature, but let’s just say it’s not a great day to be an Arsenal fan.
I wanted to say a few final words about Tomiyasu though, as a way of looking at a positive contribution to the club. I remember when we signed him – I was in Portugal and I had Sky Sports News on in the hotel room. The wife was like “are we going down to the pool now?” and I made her wait five minutes so I could read and watch all of the breaking news on it. His first season was immense at right back but that first injury he got set the sad tone for his Arsenal career: Blighted by injuries and unable to put together any kind of rhythm. It’s testament to the man himself that, despite that, the club offered him an extension last summer. But it said a lot that it was just one year with an additional one year, so that he could prove his fitness, which sadly he has not done and now he’s exited the club. I believe he still has four or five months of rehab left so my hope is that the club still offer him their facilities. Tomi, you were a fine player and by the sounds of it a lovely person, so I don’t think there’s a single Arsenal fan out there who wouldn’t wish you the best of luck.
Right, I’m wrapping this up for today, with the hope that we have some good news at some point.
Catch you tomorrow.
Firstly, it was only made public because the CPS finally allowed charges to be presented. Secondly, this has NOTHING to do with Arsenal, the players are grown people, as we’re Ronaldo and Mason Greenwood. Thirdly, INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY! Unless you are leading a lynch mob.
It’s disappointing that some Arsenal fans are so quick to judge Partey based solely on allegations. Both as a club and as a society, we should uphold the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” A person’s career shouldn’t be jeopardised by an unproven accusation.
Perhaps the club could have quietly suspended him, citing injury, while the investigation ran its course. The media also has a responsibility not to allow public opinion to predetermine guilt.
Arsenal did well by refusing to join the bandwagon of “judge him first before he’s heard”. Allegations do not have any other description, they are just allegations. If Patey had indeed committed those acts, it’s the court that finds it out when all the parties present thier evidence.
Stop judging people based on what others say.
I am very surprised that you have passed a judgement even before the accused is trialled. You have to remember that we seen cases like this before where the accused were proven innocent. The sensible thing is to wait for justice to intervene before passing any judgement.
I am surprised that you have been allowed a column to pass judgement without trial.
Very sad that all these allegations always come against black African players. As an Advocate I also find it very sad that people a quick to judge without allowing the law to take its course. At the end of it all it will be found that he is innocent but his name will still have been tainted. Cry beloved Africa.
Hmmm…
This is how we all thought Mendy was guilty but now is suing city for unfair termination and unpaid wages.
Why jump the gun before its being shot? Ehu you becoming the jury, judge and executioner?
Just allow the courts of law to do their job and not prosecute and judge the man before trials even begin cos you font know what happened and don’t know until the story is told.
He hasn’t been found guilty yet. Reserve judgement until then or you are just another cancel culture vulture
We have seen this script play over and over. When such reports come out we assumed the football player or celebrity is guilty.we see the women as guilty can’t we for once look at the celebrities as victim. My advice to this footballers is to be extra careful with this ladies.
“To abuse somebody because they have been wronged and you have an affinity with the predator of this situation?”
You don’t seem to understand how the criminal justice system works.
“how we talk about what is a very serious crime”
An allegation of a crime it is not a crime.
You are essentially announcing partey’s guilt — Did you do the same for Jonny Depp, Emery, Mendy, McDonald and others?
What’s more sad and depressing is the constant abuse aimed at Arsenal. You don’t suspend people on allegations and at that time that’s all they were. I hope you realise that under UK law a person isn’t legally obliged to even tell their employer they’ve been arrested or are under investigation unless it’s in their contract or they work with vulnerable people or children. The fact we all thought it was Partey is irrelevant and its irrelevant if the club knew. I’m sure they would have taken legal advice and followed that advice. A 3 year suspension whilst under investigation would have ruined his career, and whilst that’s fine it he’s eventually found guilty. If he is found not guilty Arsenal would have to pay him millions, not just a few. None of this is on the club and I wish people would stop blaming them for things outside of their control.
Very simple, the court is there because they don’t just assume that someone is guilty. The suspect has to be tried first. Arsenal has no way of knowing the final court ruling so I don’t see anything wrong the club did. My thoughts with the involved victims
With the greatest of respect, unlike other places in the world, here we are presumed innocent until proven guilty, your clearly of the opinion that Partey is guilty, and there is cover-up, your of the elk that no smoke without fire, there are many many cases of force allegations but always the named accused was unfairly vilified buy the media without ever knowing the full facts. Please highlight the evidence that you have that shows a cover-up, which must not only include Arsenal but also the metropolitan police.
While i understand what you are saying about Partey, there are two things you have not touched. 1. Innocent until proven guilty. 2. “Believe all women” has cost some innocent men dearly. Why should the club mete out any kind of punishment based on allegations? If he’s guilty, then let him face the Law. But what if he’s innocent? He’s been dragged in the mud and has lost his livelihood, and the women always walk away scott free. `in this day and age, all it takes is for a woman to say: “He raped me”. And you will lose Literally Everything. Let the Process run its course, then we can decide.
I don’t know how you people in the UK run your lives… you people seem to believe everything that women say. How can you be equal yet a woman’s word is more believable than a man’s would?
Here in Africa, we are all equal, a word for a word. Proof for proof.
You can’t just blame someone over something just because someone has accused them.
I can’t say that Partey is Innocent either, there could have been subjective reasons and situational circumstances that could have led to these allegations. People should also be mindful of whom or where they spend their time.
That said, please let us all know that we are not righteous in all our dealings. So let’s be kind in judgement of others.
Wholeheartedly agree!
You wholeheartedly agreed with unproven allegations . Change your fabrics and start wearing garments laden with conscience.
As an Arsenal fan I am ashamed of you. You can’t say allegations then turn around and charge him in that same column.
Days of believing all women are over. Did you not learn that women have been lying on men for centuries and getting them killed? Don’t you know the modern version of that is financial gain?
You saw what Amber Hurd did to Mr Depp, Mendi(killed his career with an accusation), etc…
In fact a lying white woman is responsible for black Wall Street in America to be burned down and caused the death of many.
Tell me the consequence(s) for making a false accusation for anyone when it’s proven for destroying someone?
Hmm – you seem to have forgotten the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty.
This isn’t new news and was publicised back when the initial accusations were made. Then followed by counter accusations of the offended parties being a spurned ex girlfriend and her friend. The third accusation seemed more spurious from my memory. Someone is lying that’s the only fact known currently.
You, just like the rest of us, don’t know the facts so your supposition is poor form. The club stuck by him so clearly believe his version of events?
The player seems to welcome the bringing of charges as an opportunity to clear his name. If he is guilty then he will be found so and then you can question the clubs actions and decry the player as sub human – but your decision to do so now – rather than be objective for a player that has been largely great for us since his arrival – we’ll, there is nothing more to say in my view.
As for timing – Partey is out of contract and will likely be leaving the UK – perhaps to a country with less that simple extradition protocols. I imagine that’s a CPS decision point
I hope he is innocent – but support the most stringent penalties if he is found otherwise- until then ….
You admit you don’t know the ins and outs of this situation but you and your misses agree the player should have been sacked……. Tat says more about you and your misses than te accused…
There are so many questions:
Why 3 years?
Why at the end of his Arsenal Contract?
I wonder how this would have been handled if the accused was a member of the ground staff say?
Same same same.
I had the conversation with the Mrs also who looked into it extensively when the news first came out. I assured her, Arteta won’t have him near the squad now, he doesn’t tolerate this kind of character.
We were both sunken each time his name was on the teamsheet. The idea of innocent until proven guilty doesn’t really stand here as the evidence was concrete and obvious from the get-go.
Nice to know we weren’t the only ones who felt this way. Questions need to be asked.
Bloody nonsense, this concrete evidence you’ve seen! Care to elaborate? I looked at everything that girl plastered on social media at the time and it was a money grab at best. She was after his money plain and simple. You and your Mrs virtue signalling to prove to the world you’re “good” people when actually it shows you to be part of the problem.
Get what you say, but at what point does a club get to say an accusation is truthful and the ‘offender’ is guilty and subsequently suspended or sacked. No one knows the reason for the delay in levying charges, but I’m pretty sure the Crown Prosecution wouldn’t listen to any Football Club asking to wait until the end of the season to charge one of their players.
Arsenal were correct in not finding him guilty before a trial, if they had suspended him, they were telling him we don’t believe your side of the story which would be grossly unfair
We have seen several high profile people found guilty in public opinion only to be found innocent in the only court that matters
If Partey is guilty then he will be held accountable and rightly so. All of these opinion pieces jumping on this before a evidence has been reviewed in court of law and someone found guilty is very unhelpful noise. Let’s wait for the case to run it’s course and justice to be had one way or another in court and then splurge on the opinion pieces. Partey could be guilty. But if it goes to court and it turns out the claims were spurious and he is innocent, what then? Was this still a sad a depressing day to be an Arsenal fan? Should Arsenal be held accountable for not firing an innocent person that has had false claims made against them?
Joke post: If he was charged like Mendy, then the club would have had a decision to make. Being arrested is not the same as being charged. Most Arsenal fans have known about the allocations for years, don’t recall too many getting on the soap box then and rightly so. On the Mendy point, based upon his charges most people believed he would be buried under a jail, the findings of the case proved he was a vile sexual predator but broke no laws and was not a rapist, yet our club sould have condemned one of our best players on zero evidence to the detriment of our own interests. Hindsight is always 20/20. As pointed out above, likely the chars have been made now is to stop him leaving the country, if this is an open / shut case, why has it taken so long to bring the charges. If he is guilty, hope he gets it ten fold in the showers, but given his service to the club, give him his day in court before condemning him.
I closely follow your posts and you have never seemed to like Thomas Partey despite his emense contributions on the field. You have already nailed him guilty before any fair trial. I hope it has nothing to do with race because you have always wished Thomas away from The Arsenal.
That is simply not true. Partey was a player I coveted, I have said on countless times how good he has been. My issue with himn – when I have had it – is because of his injury proneness – it has nothing to do with the colour of his skin. Do I say the same thing about the other black players at Arsenal? Of course not! In terms of on the pitch, I have only ever been disappointed with his lack of availability, not the player. And if you have followed me closely for some time, you would know that already.
I might be an Aussie but I am also an ARSENAL fan through and through. Let me start by saying I find any crime against a woman by a man as totally abhorrent. And I find rape the most abhorrent crime because it is the most personal invasion there is. Having said that, I have a big problem with taking action against someone who has not been convicted of a crime. We live in a democratic society in Australia as is the same in England. Both go by the adage of “innocent until proven guilty” that is one of the corner stones of a democracy.
In Australia the rugby league competition (NRL) have installed what they call no fault stand down for crimes with a medium to long term “possible” gaol sentence. This basically means although still presumed innocent you are considered guilty without saying your guilty. The player is stood down until they have been to court and found either innocent or guilty. The player is still on full pay but are not allowed to play.
The problem with this is, as has already been the case in one instance in Australia the player (in this case 2 players) spent two years on the sideline only to be found innocent.
One of the players was making a big name for himself and had broken into the state of origin rep team.
Spending two years on the sideline has basically ended his rep football career and even set his club level back. So an innocent person had there life and career stuffed up by a faulse accusation.
As I said at the start of my post I am disgusted by crimes against women and I would have no problem with rapists being shot, hell I would gladly pull the trigger.
But you can’t throw out the “INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY” in a democracy or you have no democracy. They call it China/Russia.
I’m also an Arsenal fan who was born in 1965 in Essex and has moved to Uxbridge ! Give the man a break, nothing is proven until a jury reaches its verdict, at the end of his trial ! My Son was falsely accused along with others years ago and it’s never really left him !
Innocent until proven guilty!
How about the time when Arsenal unfairly dismissed a kit manager?
We’re you not sad about that?