We avoided reporting on the Conor Gallagher “controversy” as it was just such a social media confection.
A camera in the tunnel made it look like the midfielder deliberately ignored a kid’s handshake, which somehow turned into accusations of racism. It should have been ignored totally, but the club chose to address it, and now Mauricio Pochettino has been forced to respond too.
“I hate that people feel free to abuse” he said when asked if the torrent of bad-faith foul social media accusations had affected his captain. He really does look like he’s frustrated by the modern world where players can get targeted like this.
It’s all so silly though, and the best thing to do is ignore it. We understand why the club (and subsequently Pochettino) felt they had to address it, but we don’t really agree with it.
You can see the manager speaking in the clip embedded here:
https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1775535640903590061
So, why are you knocking Poch’s defense of his player as a “rant” (as if he’s gone off his rocker or acted inappropriately)? You could have written that headline at least a dozen different ways, SuperFrank, and you willfully chose to hype it with a loaded word—“rant.”
To any right-minded person, Poch is obviously on point. And, no, simply ignoring the vitriol is not the answer. Poch is right to defend his player and to call out the underlying cultural norms that are fueling the abuse. We need look no further than the racist abuse heaped on players like Vinicius Jr. to see that turning a blind eye does not magically defuse the situation. It takes people of good will (like Poch) using their platform to affirm what the norms of a civil society can, and should, be.
Unfortunately, the online economy of “clicks” favors the sensational and the controversial and everyone who operates in the space has a responsibility (whether they accept it or not) to abstain from indulging their worst impulses wherein they play to the “clicks” with rumour, over-statement, and/or rushes to judge people (be they owners, managers, players, or whomever) without giving them their due (which is to say, at least some benefit of the doubt). Sadly, this headline serves as yet another example of Chelsea News using a headline to “stir the pot” in search of clicks instead of taking a fairer, more neutral approach and letting the reader decide whether it’s a “rant” for themselves.