Simpleton Gas

If they are serious about top six, they need to sign a proven striker. Otherwise, top 10 would a good season.

The pretext for the ban is apparently the BEP's reporting on the Bright sacking. However, I agree with posters who have suggested Barton is actually guided by his own financial motivations.

Mate. Its 'Your'.

Welcome to Bristol Jack...Ashton Gate looks a lot better from a long distance, doesn't it?

:laugh:. Friend and Hunt aren't first choices - they are cover for the RB and LB positions. The Dad Army's jokes were briefly amusing but overlooked the essential point that, of the likely first-choice back four, Wilson is the only one over 22.

Indeed - I have previously criticised JB for this.

I'm trying to imagine circumstances under which I would willingly decide to read Danny Baker's autobiography, but I'm really struggling.... As I said, I believe he was guilty of outstanding stupidity, not racism. However, any reasonable observer would struggle to believe that he looked at the photo and did not realise how it would be construed. 'Has whipped some up' and 'mind not diseased' also implies that the fault is in the observer, not in what he actually did. The lack of contrition is striking.

Well unfortunately, by virtue of his extremely ill-advised Tweet, Mr Baker has effectively been blacklisted (probably unfairly, as I don't believe he did this with racist intent) and is no longer employable within the media. If he can't tweet properly, then why should anyone care what he thinks about another football club? Even before this, he was renowned as a gobsh*te who would say the first thing that came into his head.

And precisely how did Mr Baker come to be an authority on Bristol Rovers?

I would direct you to the eye-wateringly racist material that he posted on Twitter. I'm sorry, anybody with a brain in their head would have realised how deeply inappropriate it was - it would have even raised eyebrows in a NF publication! I'm not in a position to comment on this, but I can say that Bristol was quite a racist city until quite recently and even now is far from the multicultural nirvana that it is caricatured as. However, I have absolutely no reason to believe that City fans were more progressive in this regard, and here its worth noting that I have recently highlighted a number of cultural sensitivities for the attention of several contributors. I can however say with considerably greater certainty that your socialist credentials have been brought into clear question by the extent to which you have bent over for Mr Lansdown and his fortune.

You make a very good point - in some north African (also historically Turkey) countries, the wearing of the hijab is actually suppressed by the political authorities. It seems that some in the west would like to save Middle Eastern women from themselves and their own choices?

The initial question was framed in relation to Jordan, a generally fairly liberal Muslim country, so let's focus on that specific example. Women are not generally forced to wear the hijab, and so they do not need to fight against it. The question doesn't necessarily arise.

Its interesting - in the Barton case, his wife's refusal to give evidence was cited as a reason for the trial not going ahead, despite the fact that there were alleged eyewitnesses, in addition to the testimony of the attending police officer/s and physical injuries. My original assumption was that the trial could still go ahead, even though his wife withdrew her initial allegations. However, this did not appear to be the case. Presumably, this exposes a major gap in the protection of alleged domestic violence victims, as I'm guessing many women are actually reluctant to give evidence? However, in both cases, the club can only act in accordance with what the law permits.

What would Danny Baker know about Bristol Rovers? And, more to the point, why would I care? He is a Millwall-supporting loudmouth who was sacked by the BBC for tweeting extraordinarily racist material.

Its interesting - there's no requirement within Islam for women to wear the hijab. It is more linked to patriarchy and culture than religion. One of the most common misconceptions is that women are forced by their fathers or male authority figures to wear the hijab. Another, which largely follows by implication, is that women from the same family will all wear the hijab - however, this isn't always the case. The requirement for women to wear the hijab is actually quite recent and is strongly linked to the emergence of political Islam. In places like Palestine, Turkey, North Africa and Jordan, women are generally free to make a choice on the matter.

An interesting link, but Iran is not generally spoken of as part of the Middle East. You are presumably also aware that the Islamic Republic is towards the more extreme end of the Islamic political spectrum, which leaves you open to the charge of cherry-picking. The region is not just defined in geographical terms, but also in ethnic, religious and cultural terms. Iran is generally spoken of as something separate from the Middle East, and as an external force that acts on the region.

I don't really have any ambition to go higher than the Championship. I don't like the PL and I think it is becoming increasingly impossible for teams from the lower leagues to genuinely compete - teams hit a glass ceiling and then steadily decline. The costs of competing at that level are too great - look at Reading. You could conceivably go even further and emulate your successive relegations of 1976-80. Bigger clubs than you have done this. Both are forms of schadenfreude aren't they? I take a mild pleasure in watching you fall flat on your face - I'm not actively invested in it, like some of our fanbase.

I have no idea, but I'm sure you can tell me. I will need to be more selective in dispensing my pearls of wisdom tonight, but I will reply on this. The question doesn't even arise - charges have been dropped, and he has no case to answer. Man Utd are currently looking at how to reintegrate Greenwood into their squad, but it looks likely that he will be loaned out to a club abroad. There's no reason why he couldn't be loaned out to a UK club.

You are fully entitled to personally ask Muslim women their views on the hijab and the burka.

Its interesting - Rovers have often adopted their 'small-time' (or 'tinpot') aspects in the same way that Wimbledon did in the 1980s, with the 'Crazy Gang' mentality - Steve Hamer, a former chairman, even directly drew this comparison. You'll recall that we actually embraced this at Twerton. In contrast, it is City's attempt to make the leap into a genuine contender that invariably amuses. Watching you try and then fall flat on your face, as in the 2008 play-off final, is a continual source of amusement. You try so hard to be 'massive' but never quite make it.

The problem with your concern about 'crimes against women' in the ME is that it is entirely selective. People use it as a stick to beat the region with, and this is shown by the fact that they don't even bother to consult the women of the region on their 'oppression'. The hijab is an obvious example of this - westerners look at this as a form of oppression whereas many Muslim women view as an expression of their freedom of choice and not, by definition, as a form of 'oppression'.

That's very kind of you Slacker. Not to worry - I'll check in when time permits and will re-engage when I see something/anything worthy of my attention...

As are you. Not still here. Thought I'd check in and see if the intellectuals of OTIB had anything else to add.

That's a very polite way of saying that you agree that BROS were sh*te. I like it - unusually classy for a City fan.

You are mistaken: there was no whatboutism and no attempt to relativize what has occurred. I simply object to BCFC fans pretending they have a moral high ground on this issue. Brown was sacked by Exeter and was then employed by BRFC. The matter has been handled by the courts, who have handed down their judgement. The player has indicated his intention to rehabilitate himself and the club have committed themselves to helping him do this. I consider the matter closed. Partridge, Brooker and Orr were employed by City at the time of their offences. I personally would have fired them and encouraged them to pursue their careers at another club.