[Archived] Andy Todd

[clitheroe_claret]

you lot on here need to get a reality check.

Have a look at the pic on the back page of the sunday express.

Todd with his arm out and in van persies face - todd`s expression said it all "have some of that"

Was quite impressed with him previously especially when he came to us to be taught how to play. under hughes hes gone down - his idea of defending is arms out and either pull, kick, push or wrestle the player to the ground.

sheer class

[Yorkshire Blue]

You can lipread still photographs? You should be working for a deaf charity.

Personally, I find your fascination with all things blue and white most interesting. Come on over. The water's lovely.

[AlanK]

his idea of defending is........

Being in the best premiership defence this side of xmas.

[Beckenham Blue]

Compare this knee jerk reaction by the clueless fools at the FA to their lack of action when Diouf blatently cheated at Ewood. In that instance they said that as the ref had not seen it as a dive then they couldn't act.

They should be ashamed of themselves for ignoring the issues that are really affecting the game and acting as the medias' puppets.

[clitheroe_claret]

using the term "best" loosely

unfortunately the media has latched on to the "hughes style", obviously sky are in there as well wanting ENTERTAINING footy - looks like you`ve been rumbled big time

[bob fleming]

Totally agree, the sooner Sky and whoever form a Super League for those great footballing entertainers, Barcelona, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Burnley and Arsenal and leave us mere mortals to it then all the better.

Actually no. I was talking out of my backside, as were you CC. I'd have thought it better for a supporter of a team wich has scored only one goal more than already relegated Rotherham United to keep their thoughts to themselves regarding "Entertainment".

burnley have scored 36 goals - that's the third lowest in their division - it's a slightly worse goals to games ratio than us - I bet Sky are knocking t'doors down at t'turf.

[Glenn]

A still photo in the express vs this.

It's plain to see RVP runs into Todds side BEFORE Todd raises his arm, the arm raise is an obvious reflex action. Only then does to take his eyes off the ball for the first time. From one of the other angles (which sadly I can find a clip of in t'interweb) the look of Todd has as he turn is clearly "What The Fleurk ?".

I can't see how the FA can even consider charging him.

[Laurence]

Just fired off my complaint to the FA for what it's worth.

what's their email address?

[Krillin]

First time I've seen the incident (don't watch tv when we lose....) so thanks for that Glenn.

It seems fairly obvious to me that both players are watching the ball go into the net. Their player runs into Todd and contact is made.

Maybe Todd thought that he was the victim of someone punching him when he felt the blow as it appears only after contact does he react with his arm.

The damage to their guy's face was probably received when he initially ran into Todd, and Andy's reaction seems to be more of a 'push away' rather than something that would cause that level of injury (Alan Green's 'punch' for example).

Todd's reaction should not, in any case, have warranted the feet off the ground/poleaxed performance from their player. Hopefully the FA will be equally keen to bring a further charge of disrepute towards Arsenal in the light of the supposed clamp down on acting/diving...........

Despite the referee not reporting it, some Arsenal players (including the injured guy) saying that they didn't think it was deliberate, and ex pro's on various tv and radio shows during this week being convinced that it was accidental, the FA seem determined to press home their charge.

Innocence is no excuse........

Edited April 20, 2005 by Krillin

[Radagast]

I actually thought it deliberate at first, but the more you see it the more obvious it becomes that it was unintentional.

Not that that's going to stop the media's crusade against us. Spineless FA.

[NEARREY]

Here's the webpage

[AlanK]

using the term "best" loosely

unfortunately the media has latched on to the "hughes style", obviously sky are in there as well wanting ENTERTAINING footy - looks like you`ve been rumbled big time

If " rumbled " means premiership safety and a day out in Cardiff then rumble away.

[PABBY]

A still photo in the express vs this.

It's plain to see RVP runs into Todds side BEFORE Todd raises his arm, the arm raise is an obvious reflex action. Only then does to take his eyes off the ball for the first time. From one of the other angles (which sadly I can find a clip of in t'interweb) the look of Todd has as he turn is clearly "What The Fleurk ?".

I can't see how the FA can even consider charging him.

Cheers for the link to my website Glenn, but the credit for this animated GIF should go to our own LeChuck via this post HERE. I simply saved a copy for my own use.

[LeChuck]

...and credit for that post goes to the guy I stole it off.

[Glenn]

Cheers for the link to my website Glenn, but the credit for this animated GIF should go to our own LeChuck via this post HERE. I simply saved a copy for my own use.

Sorry Pabby, I didn't realise it was your site. I just got sent the link by a gooner at work.

If you want me to remove it (either because you don't think your ISP would like it, or because were sucking your bandwith) just let me know and it'll be gone in a tick (and sorry for not noticing LeChucks link, as they say on slashdot, dupe dupe dupe, the dupe of URL).

[speeeeeeedie]

It looks dodgy at first glance. But after a good look at it you can see it is an accident on Van Persie's side as he runs into Todd who is running toward goal looking at the ball. Only when they collide does Todd raise his arm and push him away. I'm in agreement with Krillin, RVP probably bust his lip weh he ran into Todd. There is no reaction from our player until RVP runs into him. I do believe that he did push him away with the forearm/elbow and some intent may have been there, but more of the "get out of the way we're losing" type not a malicious one.

I think he is for the high jump though.

[LeftWinger]

I do believe that he did push him away with the forearm/elbow and some intent may have been there, but more of the "get out of the way we're losing" type not a malicious one.

Disagree. If you're running along and something hits you on the shoulder like that it's only natural to raise your arm to protect your face. The fact is he isn't looking at Van Persie, and suddenly he gets hit on the shoulder- it was a pure defensive reaction.

[Blue blood]

I do believe that he did push him away with the forearm/elbow and some intent may have been there, but more of the "get out of the way we're losing" type not a malicious one.

Disagree. If you're running along and something hits you on the shoulder like that it's only natural to raise your arm to protect your face. The fact is he isn't looking at Van Persie, and suddenly he gets hit on the shoulder- it was a pure defensive reaction.

Utterly agree with left winger - if anyone gets run into they're likely to try to push someone away. I fear the verdict has been made. Can't upset the media and Arsenal can they.

In a way I was reassured to see how sad Todd was after the third goal went in, it shows how much the club and the game means to him. Hopefully the suspension won't be too long. If he gets three games when compaired to the punnishment of the Dyer-Bowyer incident which was deliberate, continous and far worse then a three game ban would be very harsh indeed.

[USABlue]

Funny that, a clarrot talking about entertaining footy. Heh Heh, when was the last time a Burnleh team could be considered entertaining.

Why don't you stick with watching the gap close. Was you one of the 10,000 watching the "entertainment" at the morgue last night clitheroe

[USRoverME]

I believe it was an accident pure and simple.... however, will that really matter to the FA? Sorry no, we'll have to deal without Todd for a few games I'm sure...

In terms of evidence (again like the FA cares about that...) there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that it is an accident... but I have to admit the covering I was watching (Fox Soccer Channel here in the US) showed two shots while van persie was being cleaned up that had me thinking it might not have been an accident. Not conclucive evidence, but when everyone hates you (not that we care) evidence is second to public opionion in the court of the media.

1) They had a close of of Todd's face just after impact from direclty in the line of his run... and well, it might have been surprise, but for a bit it looked like Todd had flown off the handle... In fact the commentator had been protesting that it was an accident until he saw todd's face and arm in that shot.... then he wasn't so sure.

2) There was a shot of Todd waiting for the restart. They stayed on him for a minute or so. He had his head down, and had a bit of the look of a child waiting for his father to come home and give him a beating, that look of "oh man, I just messed up big time, and this ain't gonna be pretty..."

To everyone saying "well Todd said it was an accident, so it must have been an accident." Sorry, but get real.... If he did do it on purpose, what's he going to say? "Van Persie just scored another goal against us so I decided to plant an elbow in his face. I guess I'm sorry now, but did you see the look on his face when I smashed him up! Yep, he'll think twice before scoring against us again!" He'd be villified for life if he admitted daring to touch an arsenal player on purpose...

Good Luck Todd, hopefully nothing happens, but I just don't see the results falling Todd's way.

[Blue blood]

Heh Heh, when was the last time a Burnleh team could be considered entertaining.

It was entertaining when we beat them 5-0.

Found the dingle fans and players reaction brillian when MGP scored the winner this time too. Celebrating that we only beat them 2-1!

[blue phil]

The bottom line is the clips shown aren't conclusive either way . If the FA work on the principle that proof of intent must be beyond reasonable doubt then Todd is innocent . I hope he takes a copy of the Shearer incident (when he stamped on somebody's head ) and uses it as a "precedent" of innocent behaviour !

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

I actually thought it deliberate at first, but the more you see it the more obvious it becomes that it was unintentional.

That's the same with me Radagast. When I first saw it, I thought it was intentional.

But looking at it again, it appears to be more a case of Van Persie running into the path of Todd.

Andy wasn't looking at the Dutchman when his arm went out.

The bottom line is the clips shown aren't conclusive either way. If the FA work on the principle that proof of intent must be beyond reasonable doubt then Todd is innocent .

That's how I see it as well, Phil.

But I suspect that after all the adverse press headlines we've had - the men in grey suits at the FA will be looking to punish "disgraceful" Rovers....

Hughes has criticised the BBC for their coverage of Saturday night's highlights. Sparky said: "They showed four bookings from Rovers and none from Arsenal. I always thought the BBC was supposed to be impartial."

(Saturday night's programme was presented by Ray Stubbs rather than Mark's old team-mate and friend Gary Lineker.)

In his 1989 autobiography called "Sparky", Hughes said:

"The Welsh method is based mostly on the physical side of the game. We haven't got the same amount of skill as the rest of the top teams, so we go out to smother and stiflle rivals with application, workrate and aggression."

"Aggression is a natural and fundamental part of my game. I have always believed there has to be a physical, competitive edge otherwise football would never be the spectacle it is. I'm not talking about the naughty bits. You can always do without the nasty, over-the-top stuff that actually threatens the livelihood of players. But tough, uncompromising men are always welcome in my idea of football."

[clitheroe_claret]

nice one pabby - good video of todd doing rvp.

have watched it over and over again, forget the movement of van persie for now, study todd closely and he makes a definate movement to the right - APPEARS to jump into him and the arm/elbow hits him full on forearm smash.

Have seen a photo of van persie after the impact sent backwards almost vertically.

I would suspect though that todd didn`t intend to do the damage that occurred hence the hound dog expression seen on sky for what seemed like an age and well described by another poster.

[Ste B]

Todd has denied the charge.

He will recieve his punishment tomorrow.