David Moyes has spoken for the first time about Manuel Lanzini breach of social distancing rules when a photo of him was published partying with Spurs players and families over Christmas.
The West Ham manager giving a virtual press conference ahead of the FA Cup game against Stockport told reporters “If you are going to take tough measures on players you might as well on the government people as well who broke the rules, because it’s certainly not just football players who’ve done it.
And you’ve got to be careful, a lot of people are throwing stones in glass houses at the moment regarding this, and for that point of view we all know the protocols, we all know we have to be ever vigilant and to make sure we’re doing the right things. But we can all make mistakes as well and Manuel Lanzini understood he made a mistake.
He’s apologised for it. He’s made a donation to the food bank for what he’s done and I think it’s a really good gesture. But I think you’ve just got to be careful. You know, I think there’s a lot of people out there who are claiming that things should be different. And I think that players are doing a remarkable job to keep the football going, keeping playing. And, you know, know that again, they will make mistakes. There’s no doubt about that.”
The gaffer later added “We’ve just got to be careful that everybody isn’t picking on football players because I think we all know people who are breaking the rules in their own way. But we have impressed on the players, that’s they need to follow the protocol. Everyday to training ground they have to go through rituals to make sure that they get in the building never mind anything else. So the players are very much aware of what the job is and they’re like most human beings at times they can make their own decisions.”
ClaretandHugh says: The boss makes a good point at some length – we all mistakes particularly in times where the rules seem to change almost daily. There is no excuse for failing to socially distance of course – that’s pretty basic but if any one of us tries to claim that we haven’t been in breach of the regulations at some time since last March we are probably being economic with the truth. To be fair to Manu he has never tried to excuse his behaviour and found his own way of saying sorry by helping the hungry in what is becoming as bad a winter as we can remember. We all love to judge. It’s a good way of making us feel better with our own mistakes. The boss has made a good case on behalf of his player whilst refusing to downplay his ‘crime.’ We move on and hope others will learn from this high profile error of judgement,
By the way ……….. How lovely to see that Covid19 rules don’t apply to Sir Alex Ferguson attending Man U games. Similarly, rules don’t apply to Gareth Southgate. Hmm. Can understand, maybe, Mike Summerbee’s attendance at Man City – but still not acceptable according to rules.
COYI
The people to blame are the friends and families of these footballers, the people feeding off of their fame and fortune. What role do their agents play apart from screwing money out of them. These are young men being badly advised, and subject to emotional blackmail more than most. Some of these people around them are like parasites leeching off of them in every way. Moyes is right to both castigate and also to defend lanzini at the same time. Yes he did wrong but we all make mistakes and learn from them.
Moving on – pointing fingers at others is no defence. Lesson to be learnt? If you’re doing ‘wrong’, don’t appear in photos or tell anyone about it. What were all these friends and families thinking?
COYI