See that John Lawless is the subject of a sports page letter in the Guardian this week. The writer " a Wittoner " is disappointed that we have signed him and questions the managers thoughts on the signing and will not be attending any matches whilst John is playing for us.
Anybody agree ?
My dad knows the ‘Wittoner’ in question… Big United fan who has only attended the FCUM game in recent memory. Don’t know how we will survive without his support.
I hate Man United with a vengance but I would NEVER make disparaging comements about the tragedy that was Munich. I do hope that Lawless was innocent of the supposed offence.
WHS.
we know that was a terrible tradgedy but surely its about time utd fans stopped goin on about it
to be honest its in the past this so called “wittoner” needs grow up… lawless seems good signing for us and hope see more of his talents in future.
and to question finley about signing him im gob smacked
after what fineys done as of late … finley knows what he is doing and i believe he is doing one hell of a good job of it
gary finleys red and white army
Bloomin’ 'eck! Where to start with this one without getting banned!
billy48, I think you’ll find it wasn’t the United fans who made the alleged aeroplane gesture! So in what way are “United fans going on about it”?
Feelings certainly running high over at FCUM. Not only the alleged on-field antics but also his membership of a Facebook group called “Munich 58 was the best thing ever”
Make your own mind up about him!
i support united but id rather forget about what hes done. Like most things it was probably made out to be worse than it was. If he helps us stay up thats all that matters to me, he has my support
I just think that because there was no evidence, he’s technically innocent so people should have no problem.
At the end of the day we have signed him to better our team and help us get further up the table and away from relegation. Personally i wouldn’t and don’t care about lawless’s history if it meant us being safe from relegation.
Definitely not an issue to get frustrated about.
I think there was evidence (eyewitness and video) and Marine certainly wouldn’t have sacked him for nothing so he isn’t innocent (technically or otherwise), BUT he has been punished and should now be allowed a fresh start.
Ed, feelings may be running high on FCUM’s site but I don’t see what that has to do with us. Are you suggesting that we should let supporters of other clubs dictate who we sign? If so, let’s have Boey back on here and seek his opinion!
Lawless seems a silly boy who needs to grow up but sadly, that hardly makes him unique in the world of football. There’s more than a hint of the Drama Queen about some of his critics and to bow to them would be giving in to bullying in my opinion.
If he does wrong again,then come down on him like a ton of bricks as we would with any other player. Until then let’s give the lad a chance.
I’m not suggesting any such thing. What gave you that idea?
We were asked our opinion by Eli and I gave it. If I was manager I would not have signed him, based on his previous behaviour and “interests” - fair enough?
What GF does and who he signs is of course up to him.
To describe Lawless as “a silly boy” is very wide of the mark - he’s a 26 year old father of four for heavens sake!
John Lawless reacted to provocation from FCUM fans in a stupid way. However, in my opinion it is difficult to stay silent in the face of some things but that does not justify his actions in any way.
My point is this: John Lawless has been punished for what he did and therefore that should be end of story. Because he’s a player and not a fan it is easy to single him out for punishment - has any action been taken against the FCUM fans? Of course not.
It’s very easy to paint Lawless as the perpetrator and the FCUM fans as the victims, but from what I’ve read it was six of one and half a dozen of the other so unless FCUM are going to start banning the sick element of their fans (which would be entirely correct) then John should be allowed to get on with his career regardless.
Greenie, you talk about the sick element of FCUM, how sick is it to belong to a Facebook group called “Munich 58 was the best thing ever”?
FFS
Unfortunately there is a sick element in football, none worse than when Liverpool play Manchester United. Having been a publican for over 7 years I have witnessed it, all too often, first hand.
It’s sad it has perpetrated down to our level of football.
John was sacked for his face book membership rather than his antics on the pitch. It may also have been something to do with the fact that Marine are in financial difficulties, and have announced that they are cutting the players budget by 25%.
eddiec wrote:
[quote]Greenie, you talk about the sick element of FCUM, how sick is it to belong to a Facebook group called “Munich 58 was the best thing ever”?
FFS[/quote]
Very sick Eddie.
Lets put a little faith in Gary and Lee for signing him, I think I read somewhere that John had played for Gary at a previous club, he will know if he can keep him on the straight and narrow (hopefully), he wasnt brought in as a panic signing gary obviously knows that he can do a job for us.
Lets let him settle down and help us survive in this division, hes done wrong, he knows it so lets forget it and get back to watching him play in the red and white stripes, and give him, and the rest of the team at witton all the support we can.
Stuart
stu0209 wrote:
[quote]Lets put a little faith in Gary and Lee for signing him, I think I read somewhere that John had played for Gary at a previous club, he will know if he can keep him on the straight and narrow (hopefully), he wasnt brought in as a panic signing gary obviously knows that he can do a job for us.
Lets let him settle down and help us survive in this division, hes done wrong, he knows it so lets forget it and get back to watching him play in the red and white stripes, and give him, and the rest of the team at witton all the support we can.
Stuart[/quote]
Spot on!
Don’t think this thread needs to be taken any further. 
The FA felt it appropriate to do nothing other than warn the player and therefore s far as the governing body is concerned they decided to take no further action. As far as the incident is concerned the subject is over and John will hopefully have learnt from his actions.
I’m a United fan and whilst I find John’s actions stupid and distasteful he deserves the right to another chance and knows that any repeat of his actions would inevitably result in punishment from the FA and the likely dismissal by us or another club.
United fans (and FCUM fans, which is one of the same thing), need to remember the FA punishment for Rio conveniently forgetting a drugs test and Cantona’s kung fu kick. Eric is still idolised at Old Trafford despite arguably one of the worst actions a footballer could commit. Did United fans refuse to go to games when he came back from suspension, just the contrary they could not wait to see him play again!
The other hypocrisy of this is that every week the United fans sing “we won it three times, without killing anyone, we won it three times” and a number of Hillsborough related songs too.
Whilst provocation is not an excuse, fans have to look at the own behaviour before lambasting Lawless.
Am surprised that it’s taken this long for the ‘debate’.
There is no justification for his actions - period.
Once could be foolish, reacting to ‘provocation’ for instance, however tenuous that may be! But coupled with the facebook thing its sick and out of order.
More importantly has there been an apology?
But in football there are no morals any more - either side of the fence - spectators have open season on players and players regardless of misdemeanours are always employed or re-employed - Joey Barton, Lee Hughes, Lee Bowyer etc.
From what I understand there has been an apology, but I could be imagining that.
In my view, the stupid part was that he was a member of the Facebook group. I personally don’t understand why FCUM fans are singing about Hillsborough and Heysel, and why they are getting upset about Munich taunts. They are NOT Manchester United FC, they are FC United of Manchester.