The Gabby Appreciation Thread - Update: 4 year deal

[Percy McCarthy]

Just to be clear, I didn't mean it when I said it to SHEPS.

I do think there's an element with Gabby of people not wanting local black kids to do well. It's pretty rife in general society in my experience, so why should it be any different at the Villa. Other than that, I can't understand the antipathy towards him from 'some' match-going 'fans'.

As I've said before, I've sat in front of people singing the b-lose version of his song, and also heard people say they hate him. And that was when he was doing well.

[paul_e]

I guess you mainly mean in terms of running lines and one-on-ones then.

Running Lines - I'd never call him brainless over this, just typically english, movement off the ball is the least appreciated skill in English football.  It's why we generally look so static at international level, lots of emphasis is put on the player with the ball and how great he is at passing, not much is put on how easy the player on the other end makes it by getting the run right.  We appreciate players that can do it, but it's always treated as if it's a natural ability, not something that can be coached.

One-on-ones - He's not great at taking them, we all know it, we've seen lots of evidence for it.  It's a shame because he gets a fair few as well.  However, it's a confidence thing.  As soon as he moves away from instinctive play his lack of confidence strikes and he often gets caught in 2 minds and ends up doing neither of the things he's thinking of.  We need to coach that out of him, he needs to be much more decisive in those positions.  Even if he misses I'd rather see him try to curl it into the bottom corner than hit it tamely at the keeper like he often does.

[Risso]

Assuming that people who criticise a black player are racist is as bad as being racist, in my view.

Yes, but then again, I didn't actually do that, did I?

Lots of people criticise Gabby (me included) and don't think he's all that (me included). I'm not saying they're racist at all.

I'm saying that the overuse of the word "brainless" makes me feel a little uncomfortable, that's all. Incidentally, I'm not talking about his interview technique, I'm talking about when it is used to describe his play.

Well, when you said "Admittedly, he's not the brightest spark around (judging by his interviews), but I really wonder if he'd get labelled that quite so much if he was white. it really did give the impression that you were

a) talking about his interviews, as you actually mentioned 'interviews'
b) accusing people of racism, otherwise why mention his colour in the first place?

[pauliewalnuts]

Assuming that people who criticise a black player are racist is as bad as being racist, in my view.

Yes, but then again, I didn't actually do that, did I?

Lots of people criticise Gabby (me included) and don't think he's all that (me included). I'm not saying they're racist at all.

I'm saying that the overuse of the word "brainless" makes me feel a little uncomfortable, that's all. Incidentally, I'm not talking about his interview technique, I'm talking about when it is used to describe his play.

Well, when you said "Admittedly, he's not the brightest spark around (judging by his interviews), but I really wonder if he'd get labelled that quite so much if he was white. it really did give the impression that you were

a) talking about his interviews, as you actually mentioned 'interviews'
b) accusing people of racism, otherwise why mention his colour in the first place?

a. I mentioned the way he comes across in interviews as a suggestion that I appreciate he's no Clark Carlisle, but it's not that I am getting at. As I clarified in subsequent post.

b. I say i found it vaguely concerning on that level to hear him described as that so frequently, I did not in any case say "by criticising a black player you're being racist" as you suggested, which I explained again in previous post, but if you want to imagine that was what I was saying, knock yerself out.

[Chris Smith]

There are still plenty of racists around so it stands to reason that some of the stick Gabby gets is because he's black. Similarly some of it is because he's a working class Brummie, our accent is frequently derided and we're caricatured as stupid because of it.

That said, he doesn't appear to make a lot of effort in interviews and that disinterest doesn't really endear him to the general public. Personally, I'm only really interested is what he does on the pitch but understand that others attach more importance to what I see as peripheral issues.

[Dave Cooper please]

Some people who criticise Gabby may well be racist, but I think we need to be very careful when waving the race card on here without good reason. personally speaking being labelled racist would be one thing that would seriously piss me off.

[paul_e]

The main problem with bringing race into a discussion like this is that it allows for some truly pathetic arguments to follow, it's an argument that you can't win, particularly on the internet, because the only person that knows the motivations for you typing what you did is you.

If someone thinks you've typed it for other reasons nothing you say will convince them otherwise, and any trying to argue generally gets turned around as proof that you are racist.

I refer back to the previous thread discussing racism, where percy got pretty much accused of being racist because he's married to a black woman.

[Breezeblock]

re Gabby and racism, there's something about the way he gets labelled "brainless" so often that sets my racism-detector going a bit.

Admittedly, he's not the brightest spark around (judging by his interviews), but I really wonder if he'd get labelled that quite so much if he was white.

Like I said, I'm not screaming "racism!" at anyone, but it's something that I just feel a bit uncomfortable with.

*dons tin hat*

The brainlessness I was referring to was to do with his habit of running down blind alleys, not making himself available and being about 3 seconds behind everyone else when an obvious through-ball is on. To me these are the most frustrating things about Gabby, particularly the last one which almost always negates his turn of speed. Daniel Johnson, Darren Bent and Samir Carruthers all read the game so much better than Gabby. All are black and all have far better footballing brains. 

As for appearing a bit thick off the field, name me a footballer, black, white, brown, blue or polka-dotted who doesn't come across dimmer than a Toc-H lantern on the telly. It seems to be a pre-requisite for a professional footballer to have all of their intelligence in their legs.

[glasses]

Wow! This thread has kicked on a bit since I last looked!

Percy, fair play for pointing out that some people don't just like him because of him being a local lad, some of us actually rate him and think it would be a sad place without him.

Paulie, I know what you are getting at with the brainless thing. It was picked up in the 'Is football racist?' programme by John Barnes. He said that he thinks there is still a feeling that black people are thought of (in many quarters) as lacking intelligence.

Gabby is the only Villa player I hear labelled as 'not having a football brain' or 'lacks football intelligence', and while it may be true that he relies on a lot on instincts and raw athleticism, he wouldn't be where he is if these things were true.

Those cliches don't sit well with me either.

[glasses]

For arguements sake, when Warnock is out of position, he is said to be out of position, (or shit in many cases). Why does he 'not have a football brain' or 'lacks intelligence'?

[Breezeblock]

For arguements sake, when Warnock is out of position, he is said to be out of position, (or shit in many cases). Why does he 'not have a football brain' or 'lacks intelligence'?

In fair to Warnock, his positioning and movement when he was playing midfield at the end of last season was surprisingly good ergo there is a footballing brain in there somewhere.

But I agree, he is shit though.

[villastikz]

For arguements sake, when Warnock is out of position, he is said to be out of position, (or shit in many cases). Why does he 'not have a football brain' or 'lacks intelligence'?

In fair to Warnock, his positioning and movement when he was playing midfield at the end of last season was surprisingly good ergo there is a footballing brain in there somewhere.

But I agree, he is shit though.

Your point about being better in midfield last season in my eyes is the nail in the coffin for me as a LB - why do we want a LB who is better when not playing as a LB, clearly he isn't good enough for the position if he's better playing somewhere else.

Left-mid seems to me to be the position he should now be playing at, just not at the Villa though.

[pauliewalnuts]

Surely the question regarding Warnock in midfield is whether he's really any better than actual midfielders we have.

If he isn't, then what's the point in having him around?

[danlanza]

re Gabby and racism, there's something about the way he gets labelled "brainless" so often that sets my racism-detector going a bit.

Admittedly, he's not the brightest spark around (judging by his interviews), but I really wonder if he'd get labelled that quite so much if he was white.

Like I said, I'm not screaming "racism!" at anyone, but it's something that I just feel a bit uncomfortable with.

*dons tin hat*

The brainlessness I was referring to was to do with his habit of running down blind alleys, not making himself available and being about 3 seconds behind everyone else when an obvious through-ball is on. To me these are the most frustrating things about Gabby, particularly the last one which almost always negates his turn of speed. Daniel Johnson, Darren Bent and Samir Carruthers all read the game so much better than Gabby. All are black and all have far better footballing brains. 

As for appearing a bit thick off the field, name me a footballer, black, white, brown, blue or polka-dotted who doesn't come across dimmer than a Toc-H lantern on the telly. It seems to be a pre-requisite for a professional footballer to have all of their intelligence in their legs.

Is it not Gabby's job, and a very well paid one, to play football ? Well does he need to have the intelligence , so called , of a brain surgeon or an engineer ? The answer is no, not to say that Gabby is not intelligent at all, just to say that he has found his forte in life and in my view is a bloody good striker when he is on form. Would anybody say that a Brain surgeon or the engineer had no intelligence because they could not play football as well as Gabby ? Different people are good/ intelligent at different things.

[Percy McCarthy]

When I saw the headline 'Gabby: I Don't Want To Be A Black Cat', I thought 'but you are one, Daddio'.