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Adam Johnson Trial Verdict

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NeilP said:
You wont be stopping me anytime soon marra. I think the fact that the club took guidance from the PFA and their legal team puts them in the clear morally, and legally. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
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Except it isn't hindsight. Plenty people had plenty to say about it a long time before today.
 

Littlerobbieh said:
Well I was asking your opinion. All you stated was people are going to be all over it in the press. I asked and ? So what next ?
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my opinion basically is, whats done is done, however as i explained earlier its far from over, there will no doubt be days or maybe even weeks of this after all, with all that been going on in the last few years to do with this sort of thing, the media will no doubt need to kick this until its dead, which for me means more bad press, and the club continue to be hammed until, those in london get there fresh kill, and chew it very slowly and very raw, of course this no doubt does not help the club at this time however, it was always going to happen.
 
He groomed a child over a sustained period of time. He admitted so. He also lied to his lass and made up stories. The disgusting creature is a manipulatuve sexual preditor. Proven so.
 
The Sheepfolds End said:
Except it isn't hindsight. Plenty people had plenty to say about it a long time before today.
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It's a bit emotive, because it's our club that is going to take the shit, but aren't the people who are saying that the club should have suspended him from the start also saying that the club have been cynical in deliberately ignoring a serious sexual offense for their own benefit? That's quite a strong insinuation and it's hard to imagine that happening, the stakes are too high.

They did suspend him, then changed their mind. What caused that to happen? We're guessing, assuming getting irate but I think that if they could have got rid back then they would have. I think if there are any fingers to be pointed it's at the PFA because I believe they put pressure on the club, and Johnson is definitely the culprit here for changing his plea at the moment the trial started. It left the club vulnerable and looking cynical. Like I said, damned if they do, damned if they don't. There was no right way for them because they'd been painted into a corner by the real cynical twat in all this.

I can't recall any Sunderland fans joining in the peado chants directed at Johnson either, the club and fans were very much in the innocent until proven guilty camp.
 
CissesUnderpants19 said:
my opinion basically is, whats done is done, however as i explained earlier its far from over, there will no doubt be days or maybe even weeks of this after all, with all that been going on in the last few years to do with this sort of thing, the media will no doubt need to kick this until its dead, which for me means more bad press, and the club continue to be hammed until, those in london get there fresh kill, and chew it very slowly and very raw, of course this no doubt does not help the club at this time however, it was always going to happen.
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So what are you saying?
 
I'll state my initial, cynical view on the clubs knowledge of Johnsons guilt here & now.... as soon as he pleaded guilty I questioned how long we (the club) had known and why we'd allowed him to play right up to the trial.

And when I read comments on this thread I thought they must've avoided that question in today's statement.

But now I've read the statement, they haven't avoided it. They've answered it quite specifically. He refuted the allegations and said he was confident of being found not guilty. They lifted his suspension after discussions with lawyers and the PFA and sacked him within one day of him pleading guilty.

The clubs statement is far more robust than I expected - I don't see why they need to comment more.
 
Regardless of how much the club knew and when they new it, that statement is terrible IMHO. The wording makes it look like they knew but don't want to admit it, so instead they shift the goalposts and say they didn't influence his plea.

Whether they influenced his plea decision isn't the question. The question is whether they knew and still played him. That's what the fans and the public want to know. A "lawyerish" statement such as this just adds fuel to the fire.

Absolutely gutted about this whole debacle. I know Johnson had a bit of a reputation for being a knob, but would never have guessed any of this. He completely deserves to go away for as long as has been suggested, and if Byrne knew and allowed him to play, she deserves the chop.

I know it's hard to say what you would do in someone else's shoes, but if there was a KNOWN sex offender playing for the club I love, my dad loves and my grandad loved, and I had the ability to stop that, there is no question I would have done so. Knowing and doing nothing is worse than relegation IMO, because we will now forever be known as the club that let him play.

If Byrne knew (which admittedly is still questionable) then she has taken away our integrity, and I don't know how long it will take us to get it back.
 
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