Andy Gray and the SUN

[AuburnWarrior]

HRC, I am not saying that G&K are the poor buggers I was refering to and I can see your point but in 2008 I was in a sales meeting and 3 girls were laughung looking at a mobile so when we stopped for lunch I asked the girl whose phone it was what was so funny and she said she had filmed her and her boyfriend doing the deed and was showing them the movie. I have heard more filth from the mouths of women than I have from men in a profesional environment. Another girl used to use her pictures in Nuts and Zoo magazines to get her customers to place an order.

It's not about individuals though, it's about the masses.

The law states that you cannot make sexist, racist or homophobic comments whilst in the workplace. It's also worth noting that this also covers nights out down the pub if more than eight people from your place of employment are present.

If you found the girls behaviour unpleasant or offensive in anyway then you should have reported the behaviour.

Work environments are becoming more and more sterile. We'll be at a place soon enough where you'll simply say "good morning" and "good night" and that will be it - no chit chat, no banter - only work related conversations.

AG/RK were foolish, they got caught and they were disciplined. It can/will happen to people on this forum.

 

[HRC99]

HRC, I am not saying that G&K are the poor buggers I was refering to and I can see your point but in 2008 I was in a sales meeting and 3 girls were laughung looking at a mobile so when we stopped for lunch I asked the girl whose phone it was what was so funny and she said she had filmed her and her boyfriend doing the deed and was showing them the movie. I have heard more filth from the mouths of women than I have from men in a profesional environment. Another girl used to use her pictures in Nuts and Zoo magazines to get her customers to place an order.

It's not about individuals though, it's about the masses.

The law states that you cannot make sexist, racist or homophobic comments whilst in the workplace. It's also worth noting that this also covers nights out down the pub if more than eight people from your place of employment are present.

If you found the girls behaviour unpleasant or offensive in anyway then you should have reported the behaviour.

Work environments are becoming more and more sterile. We'll be at a place soon enough where you'll simply say "good morning" and "good night" and that will be it - no chit chat, no banter - only work related conversations.

AG/RK were foolish, they got caught and they were disciplined. It can/will happen to people on this forum.

All sorts of conversations will always take place at work. But conversations like Keys to Redknapp about "smashing it" and "hanging out the back of it" go way past any type of banter or anything suitable for a workplace.

Ultimately, harrassment is about power rather than the specific topic of conversation. That is why Keys and Gray have gone not just because they made one or two comments.

It is clear to me, from seeing those clips, that this is not new or one off behaviour. It is a culture that is unhealthy and one that Sky have now dealt with. They should have dealt with it long before but it was clearly accepted or in some way tolerated. If they had dealt with it, perhaps, no-one would have lost their job.

 

[madandra]

So why were they (AG&RK) not pulled up when they first stepped out of line. I dont believe that the people who were in the editing suite on these occassions only just remembered about previous rude or sexist remarks after the remarks about the lino on Saturday?

It seems like the TV company have been sitting on these snippets of 'evidence' until such a time they wanted to dust them off, broadcast them and turn public opinion against the subject(s).

 

[medwayjon]

If you ask me it is a hatchet-job against keys and gray.

Whether or not it is acceptable banter it was a private conversation that happened to get recorded.

 

[HRC99]

So why were they (AG&RK) not pulled up when they first stepped out of line. I dont believe that the people who were in the editing suite on these occassions only just remembered about previous rude or sexist remarks after the remarks about the lino on Saturday?

It seems like the TV company have been sitting on these snippets of 'evidence' until such a time they wanted to dust them off, broadcast them and turn public opinion against the subject(s).

I think you are probably right.

I have seen it several times before in companies. Where you have successful people behaving badly, the company accepts/tolerates that behaviour until it either gets too bad and they are left with no choice to act or they decide they don't need them any more.

I think either they'd decided they'd had enough of Keys and Gray and could do without them. They've then hammered them and got rid of them without having to pay them off.

Keys and Gray are probably feeling very aggrieved and that they have been shafted right now precisely because this kind of thing has been going on for a while and no-one said anything about it before. It should never have got to this point if it had been dealt with from the start by Sky but they didn't and the cat is out of the bag.

 

[HRC99]

If you ask me it is a hatchet-job against keys and gray.

Whether or not it is acceptable banter it was a private conversation that happened to get recorded.

Probably right in the first instance as I've said but it can't be a private conversation with cameras and microphones there as well as cameramen, sound engineers, floor managers, directors and all sorts of production staff listening in.

 

[USER1999]

I can't feel sorry for anyone who earns 1.5m a year. They had it good for 20 years, and they messed it up. Idiots.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As a final footnote Sian Massey was in HID's club today having lunch with two guys who were shall we say a tad over protective of any members wishing to say anything to her. My wife did manage to say hello to her in the loo and Sian revealed that she was down to do another PL game this weekend but has been pulled from officiating in alny of the divisions.

Surely that can't be right. It wasn't as though she made an error during the game or had any control over the comments of Dumb and Dumber and yet she is paying a price too. Very sad.

 

[richart]

Sure i read she was down to do Corby Town versus Fleetwood in Conference North this weekend. You shouldn't believe what women say in the toilets Homer.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Sure i read she was down to do Corby Town versus Fleetwood in Conference North this weekend. You shouldn't believe what women say in the toilets Homer.

But it isn't exactly the PL. Or the Championship or even League 1 and 2. There are enough FA cup ties she could have done

 

[richart]

I understood she was scheduled for Corby game, and was pulled, just as she was for Crewe Bradford game in mid week. Always thought officials were given their games weeks in advance, but may be wrong.

Corby were expecting their biggest crowd of the season.

 

[HRC99]

As a final footnote Sian Massey was in HID's club today having lunch with two guys who were shall we say a tad over protective of any members wishing to say anything to her. My wife did manage to say hello to her in the loo and Sian revealed that she was down to do another PL game this weekend but has been pulled from officiating in alny of the divisions.

Surely that can't be right. It wasn't as though she made an error during the game or had any control over the comments of Dumb and Dumber and yet she is paying a price too. Very sad.

I think the point of standing her down was to protect her from the huge media interest that would follow. Give it a week or two and it will settle down.

It was also felt that it wasn't fair on the clubs to expose them to the media circus.

Fair enough really. She'll be back. And no-one's going to have a bad word to say about her ever again. If they've got any sense. She'll be bulletproof. Webb, Riley, Clattenberg et al would kill for that kind of protection.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As a final footnote Sian Massey was in HID's club today having lunch with two guys who were shall we say a tad over protective of any members wishing to say anything to her. My wife did manage to say hello to her in the loo and Sian revealed that she was down to do another PL game this weekend but has been pulled from officiating in alny of the divisions.

Surely that can't be right. It wasn't as though she made an error during the game or had any control over the comments of Dumb and Dumber and yet she is paying a price too. Very sad.

I think the point of standing her down was to protect her from the huge media interest that would follow. Give it a week or two and it will settle down.

I don't agree. There will still be the same media circus whenever she comes back. She's been pulled from her PL game on Wednesday now as well. Surely if they'd let her ref today or given her a line job in a cup tie then the media would have had their pound of flesh and she'll be yesterdays news. By letting her wait, the whole thing just blows up again next week, the week after or whenever and will go on much longer than if she'd been tucked away amongst the sports story's in the sunday papers. Lets face it the red tops are bound to be after Keys and Gray tomorrow anyway.

 

[HRC99]

As a final footnote Sian Massey was in HID's club today having lunch with two guys who were shall we say a tad over protective of any members wishing to say anything to her. My wife did manage to say hello to her in the loo and Sian revealed that she was down to do another PL game this weekend but has been pulled from officiating in alny of the divisions.

Surely that can't be right. It wasn't as though she made an error during the game or had any control over the comments of Dumb and Dumber and yet she is paying a price too. Very sad.

I think the point of standing her down was to protect her from the huge media interest that would follow. Give it a week or two and it will settle down.

I don't agree. There will still be the same media circus whenever she comes back. She's been pulled from her PL game on Wednesday now as well. Surely if they'd let her ref today or given her a line job in a cup tie then the media would have had their pound of flesh and she'll be yesterdays news. By letting her wait, the whole thing just blows up again next week, the week after or whenever and will go on much longer than if she'd been tucked away amongst the sports story's in the sunday papers. Lets face it the red tops are bound to be after Keys and Gray tomorrow anyway.

There will inevitably be interest in her return whenever it is but it will also inevitably diminish with time and as other things replace her as a news story.

With two or three weeks off, the interest will be significantly less than at its current hysterical levels and she can make her comeback, get it out of the way and get on with her career.

 

[SwingSlow]

My work is full of people like you!!! Too good to buy the sun but sit around reading someone elses copy all day

How can you take all day to read the Sun?

 

[Pongo]

Glad to see the back of him. I don't care whether he's sexist or not, he's just an annoying prat. I could never really figure out what the point of Richard Keys was either. A real sniveller. A big thanks to the Sun for the picture of the lino out dancing, a very shaggable match official IMHO.