stiv Bagnall chat's wolves, Ivan toney not taking the knee and more
FAIRPLAY, IVAN TONEY
Watching the game at the weekend against Brentford, something struck me in the face like a frying pan. This taking the knee thing.
Now when Colin Kaepernick did this in the USA originally, it was during their national anthem and it had real meaning, it sent waves out across the world. Outlining the very real racial discrimination that has plagued, in particular, the US for some time.
We have all seen the racism prevalent in most sport, especially our beloved football and like I suspect all of you reading this currently, you believe wholeheartedly in the cause to kick racism out of football.
The question is though, does taking a knee actually make any difference? And truthfully, no, not really.
If the taking of the knee is enforced by a whistle blow from the match official, then it’s no longer a protest against the issue at hand, it’s simply part of the match day routine.
What would actually be a protest, would be simply not taking the knee at the allotted time, as prescribed by the Premier League and the FA.
So hats off to you Ivan Toney, because I saw with my own eyes, you refuse to take the knee when the ref blew his whistle and that was a protest.
The whole point of this in the first place was to make a stand (well a knee I guess, but you get the point), to go against the system, to get your point across and frankly it worked.
So the correct response, when the ref blows his whistle, is to not take the knee. It stands out and helps highlight the issue.
I appreciate that there is a harmony to all people taking the knee, I get the whole “togetherness” of it, but surely Ivan was right in what he did, because, even if no one else did, I noticed and it made me remember the significance of taking the knee in the first place.
But now back to Wolves… god where do we start here?
Away from the pitch, it’s all been a bit pants really hasn’t it? I completely agree with the decision to sack Bruno when the board did. I completely understand why Lurpak Pettycoat decided to stay with his ill father. I even completely understand why the young chap at QPR decided to show some loyalty to the club that gave him his first real chance. But it doesn’t look good does it? Getting turned down for the second time by the trombone man and then by the YTS manager. It gives fans of other clubs a bit of ammo and with how we have been performing anyway, they didn’t really need it.
At this point, it’s like stomping on the head of the already, very clearly dead, puppy. Then setting him on fire.
It was good to see some spirit on Saturday though wasn’t it? Getting a goal back immediately in the best footballing move of the entire game by either team, but when Thommo Frank was making his subs, I looked at our bench and there wasn’t any real game changers there. Well, Johnny I guess if we wanted to change the game in favour of Brentford.
I’ve read that Julen will be given a substantial transfer kitty in January, should he sign the contract and let’s be honest, he needs to be. We need some strength in depth and we need some more leaders.
Also, I’m really praying, that as it was Lopetegui that gave Ruben his chance at Porto, he has some sort of amazing fatherly like relationship with him and can get him to stay, I’m not holding my breath though.
Its all a bit bleak right now, but remember…
Out of Darkness, Cometh Light
Come on me babbies, let’s turn this ship around and start playing like the amazing club we all love, like how we all know you can play.
ARTICLE BY STIV BAGNALL
Born and raised in Wolverhampton, Stiv is a lifelong wolves fan, watching his game in 1990 on the old red seats of the family enclosure. He is a published author and an award winning stand up comic and he can normally be found in the back office of his shop, MouseBench, in the Mander Centre.