www.billnelson.com

JT becomes OJ.

Guilt or no guilt at least the defence case wasn't based on some pathetic argument that he was depressed, emotionally disturbed or otherwise psychologically unfit.....

... I'm a so over hearing that lame defence as an excuse for people's bad and criminal behaviour.

It's still sucks though.

Yes, not a good precedent. I wonder whether Terry will start doing a lot of support for anti-racism causes now. It'll also be interesting to see what the FA has to say.

I suspect the FA will bring some action which fudges the whole racial aspect (eg a general "bringing game into disrepute" disciplinary action) - or some such BS.

The case is as clear as mud to me. Newspaper accounts can't seem to agree. The Guardian (front page) says Terry "denied" calling Ferdinand a "f***ing black c***".

Other papers imply that he admitted saying it. But the issue seems to be not whether he said it, but whether he was just "sarcastically" repeating what he thought Ferdinand had already accused him of saying. (Ferdinand denies accusing him of saying it prior to him saying it).

From Guardian:
Delivering his judgment, chief magistrate Howard Riddle said: "Weighing all the evidence together, I think it is highly unlikely that Mr Ferdinand accused Mr Terry on the pitch of calling him a black C***. However I accept that it is possible that Mr Terry believed at the time, and believes now, that such an accusation was made.

"It is therefore possible that what he said was not intended as an insult, but rather as a challenge to what he believed had been said to him. In those circumstances, there being a doubt, the only verdict the court can record is one of not guilty."

Clear? I thought not.

What is clear and was never in any doubt, was that Terry was always going to get a not guilty verdict...These players have now almost got a 'licence to kill'..i.e. they seem to get away with everything...'the untouchables'...a slap on the wrist, a small dose of media embarrassment, for any major misdemeanor or more serious criminal act...all forgotten in a couple of weeks...it stinks.

Except for Suarez, who basically got crucified in a case with no evidence. Publicly branded in UK as a racist (his grandfather is black; he'd done work in South Africa with poor black kids; whole of Uruguay - including its president - was in uproar over the hypocritical UK media's misleading, ignorant coverage of case).

JT becomes JB.

More like licence to smell like a pile of turds........

Someone left behind a Daily Mirror at the hotel Saturday with some interesting information. Seems Terry will face legal fees somewhere in the neighbourhood of £300,000 in total as the result of this trial. So the maximum £2500, had he been found guilty, seems yet another anomaly of a more than bizarre system of legal fines. Apparently he’s fecked off, leaving England with his family to go somewhere where he can scream n*gger at the top of his lungs until he gets it out of his system.

Some of the quotes taken during the case I found very funny or at least, ironic. Some examples:

Prosecutor: "If referees enforced the no-swearing rule, you lot would be off the pitch in ten minutes. It wouldn’t be much of a spectacle.”

Prosecutor: “You are a figurehead in this country, an example to children.” Terry: “In football terms, possibly.”

Bruce Brook, Chelsea chairman: “I don’t have lunch with him... It’s definitely an employer-employee relationship.” How quickly they make distance.

Prosecutor: “You’re a supreme athlete.” Terry: “I used to be.”

Magistrate: “Most people would prefer to you to stand.” Ashley Cole: “I’ll sit.”

And the object of the slurs, Anton Ferdinand said, “If someone calls you a C***, that’s fine. But if someone brings your colour in, it takes it to another level ... it’s very hurtful.”

Apparently he reads this forum. Or am I Anton Ferdinand?

As someone on Twitter aptly put it:

"If only Terry had done the sporting thing and confined his remarks to Ferdinand's
sister's genitalia, then there would have been no problem."

("Sister's genitalia" being a reference to Patrice Evra's largely ignored, unreported insult to Luis Suarez).