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Opinion

Whatabout(ery) Paolo Di Canio?

2 years ago
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One of the excellent contributor Brian Standen’s favourite words recently on the comments sections of The Mag has been the wonderful ‘Whataboutery’.

It is used in reference to the seven month campaign of outrage since the Newcastle United takeover, on the bitter Sunderland forum RTG.

Although most clubs and fans in the Premier League have now calmed down and seem to accept that the Saudi PIF are here, that Newcastle are now heading in a new direction compared to under our previous owner, the mackems on the other hand cannot help but show their jealousy and disdain on a daily basis.

RTG have their own thread regarding ‘sportswashing’ and the involvement of the Saudi Arabian PIF as part of the consortium who now own our club.

There is never ever mention that there is also a Jewish family who own a percentage, along with an English woman and her Iraqi husband.

It wouldn’t fit in with their pot-stirring rhetoric on RTG, if the new ownership of Newcastle United was in any way seen as cosmopolitan.

The whinging on Wearside has only escalated since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

This is because the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the British Government because of his links to Vladimir Putin. Hence Chelsea put up for sale and the ‘Wise men Say’ (like it)…”well what about Newcastle and the Saudi Arabians?”

To them, Newcastle United fans all now believe that woman are second class citizens, we are homophobic and willing to condone ‘innocent’ people being beheaded, as well as supposedly supporting mass genocide in Yemen.

Yes, it’s absolutely ludicrous, but the takeover has warped rational thinking it seems in one pocket of the North East.
They are also totally oblivious to the fact that there is a civil war going on in Yemen, that any air strikes in retaliation are part of a coalition with the UAE etc. This is why the West does not interfere with the middle east, compared to the sanctions against Russia because of the Ukraine conflict.

The next most repetitive thing to ‘sportwashing’ on RTG is the “six ina rowa marra” mantra, that also gets a daily dose.
Yes we remember it well and it all started with a win back in 2013 by a Sunderland team managed by that paragon of virtue, Paulo Di Canio.

In his autobiography, Paolo Di Canio proudly stated that he was “a fascist, not a rascist”.

Sporting numerous Benito Mussolini and far-right tattoos, Di Canio as a player infamously incited Roma and Livorno (who have a left-wing tradition) fans with old Roman and neo-nazi salutes.

His first managerial appointment in England came at Swindon Town, one of the club’s sponsors, the GMB, immediately pulled the plug.

After Paolo Di Canio was named Sunderland manager, the former Foreign Secretary David Miliband immediately quit as an executive director.

The Durham Miners Association were so upset, they threatened to take back one of their historic old flags that they had gifted the Stadium of Light.

So the next time Brian or any of you hear or see a comment from one of these new human rights activists from Wearside, just remind them that they still have the mud stained suit that Di Canio wore as he skidded along the turf celebrating Adam Johnson’s killer goal at St James Park a decade ago, hanging up at the SOL.

I don’t know what the record is on Countdown for getting the conundrum correct.

However, if the conundrum was ‘Whataboutery’ I bet a mackem could answer it in a split second.

HTL

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