Nicolas Pepe: Saint Nic Is Back

[Riou]

“I’m quarter black”, “but I have black friends”, “my nephew is black” so I can’t be racist

John Terry right now...

 

[2Smokeyy]

John Terry right now...

It wouldn’t surprise me if John Terry said “I can’t be racist, I have a lot of black friends” then Ashley Cole steps forward.

 

[Riou]

It wouldn’t surprise me if John Terry said “I can’t be racist, I have a lot of black friends” then Ashley Cole steps forward.

"Hi Gallas, it's JT, how ya doing mate...I know we haven't spoken in a few years, but I have no time to explain...when you get this message, I need you to meet me in Westminster courthouse quick"

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Think this could be a deadline day one.

£15m or an option on a loan type of deal.

I'm not sure about the PSG / Newcastle stuff. Being realistic I'm not sure why clubs with those level of resources would be interested in him.

Get him in a counter attacking side, as a wide forward in a league that he gets a bit more time on the ball and I think he'll be absolutely fine. Just got to rebuild his career a bit.

 

[lomekian]

Not directing this at you but I cringe whenever I hear comments like “I’m quarter black”, “but I have black friends”, “my nephew is black” so I can’t be racist absolute cop out comments when the pressure has been applied.

Anyways, hopefully Pepe finds a decent club that he can play regularly. I honestly can’t see a deal happening until the final days of the window when teams start to panic.

Having black friends and having 1 or more black parents is a rather different kettle of fish in terms of perspective don't you think - and I'm not just referring to myself. One may have witnessed racism, the other has almost certainly been a victim of it for large parts of their life.

But its part of the fact that we are a delicate point in our social evolution regarding whole range of issues - be it race, sexuality, gender, disability status etc - where we are much more conscious of discrimination and a significant section of society is thankfully much more willing to speak out and challenge discrimination (despite our politicians swinging wildly towards fascism throughout the western world), but in our desire to do the right thing, it is very easy to see something and fill in the blanks according to negative assumptions. Which of course is exacerbated when right-wing a-holes constantly ascribe people being rightly called out as cancel culture. While sometimes, as alluded to, there can be 'cancel culture' - and too often people being punished for sins of attitude of their teenage years - for the most part, its bang on.

The balancing act is a difficult one because we are still learning where the balance lies after centuries of just accepting bigotry as part of everyday life. All we can really do during this learning period is try to practice a degree of kindness and forgiveness, while sticking true to our principles.

As with myself above, given how what I wrote could be read, I have absolutely no issue with being challenged, as it was careless of me not to see the possible connotation myself. And @Makingtrax responded with the right attitude to my apology and clarification.

So much of this is about education - and its amazing what can be achieved in terms of influencing people to change mindset or be more thoughtful when one is patient and forgiving, even over the nuance-shy world of social media. Its bloody hard work at times, and often doesn't yield results, but I've seen first hand (and contributed to!) what can be achieved if you put the time in.

Back on topic, its hard to imagine anyone with Pepe's wage packet and recent form is going to be first choice target for many teams, so it will be largely a case of seeing how other business shakes out. Same with Bellerin, Torreira and probably Pablo Mari, despite his lower wage.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Having black friends and having 1 or more black parents is a rather different kettle of fish in terms of perspective don't you think - and I'm not just referring to myself. One may have witnessed racism, the other has almost certainly been a victim of it for large parts of their life.

But its part of the fact that we are a delicate point in our social evolution regarding whole range of issues - be it race, sexuality, gender, disability status etc - where we are much more conscious of discrimination and a significant section of society is thankfully much more willing to speak out and challenge discrimination (despite our politicians swinging wildly towards fascism throughout the western world), but in our desire to do the right thing, it is very easy to see something and fill in the blanks according to negative assumptions. Which of course is exacerbated when right-wing a-holes constantly ascribe people being rightly called out as cancel culture. While sometimes, as alluded to, there can be 'cancel culture' - and too often people being punished for sins of attitude of their teenage years - for the most part, its bang on.

The balancing act is a difficult one because we are still learning where the balance lies after centuries of just accepting bigotry as part of everyday life. All we can really do during this learning period is try to practice a degree of kindness and forgiveness, while sticking true to our principles.

As with myself above, given how what I wrote could be read, I have absolutely no issue with being challenged, as it was careless of me not to see the possible connotation myself. And @Makingtrax responded with the right attitude to my apology and clarification.

So much of this is about education - and its amazing what can be achieved in terms of influencing people to change mindset or be more thoughtful when one is patient and forgiving, even over the nuance-shy world of social media. Its bloody hard work at times, and often doesn't yield results, but I've seen first hand (and contributed to!) what can be achieved if you put the time in.

Back on topic, its hard to imagine anyone with Pepe's wage packet and recent form is going to be first choice target for many teams, so it will be largely a case of seeing how other business shakes out. Same with Bellerin, Torreira and probably Pablo Mari, despite his lower wage.

You know you would have saved yourself 10 minutes and the hassle of typing up an essay if you just read the below:

NOt DIreCtiNg thIs At YoU

Sometimes I question whether people on A-M actually read a post before they quote it

 

[lomekian]

You know you would have saved yourself 10 minutes and the hassle of typing up an essay if you just read the below:



Sometimes I question whether people on A-M actually read a post before they quote it

I never said you were directing it at me. I did say "...and I'm not just referring to myself", before talking in much more general terms. Perhaps I'm not the one who needs to work on their reading

 

[2Smokeyy]

I never said you were directing it at me. I did say "...and I'm not just referring to myself", before talking in much more general terms. Perhaps I'm no the one who needs to work on their reading

My point was there was no need for an explanation or justification as I saw what you posted on the other page.

 

[lomekian]

My point was there was no need for an explanation or justification as I saw what you posted on the other page.

I'm pulling your leg - but I wasn't attempting to explain or justify, I was talking more broadly because I thought it was a topic worthy of it - its all good, either way

 

[Macho]

Not directing this at you but I cringe whenever I hear comments like “I’m quarter black”, “but I have black friends”, “my nephew is black” so I can’t be racist absolute cop out comments when the pressure has been applied.

Anyways, hopefully Pepe finds a decent club that he can play regularly. I honestly can’t see a deal happening until the final days of the window when teams start to panic.

Claiming half black on an anonymous forum is so dumb course it's a cop out and it changes nothing. Loads of self hating weirdos out there.

Just own the jungle baller comments it's not like people disagreed or felt strongly about it. People are more concerned about how many millions this dud would fetch.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Claiming half black on an anonymous forum is so dumb course it's a cop out and it changes nothing. Loads of self hating weirdos out there.

Just own the jungle baller comments it's not like people disagreed or felt strongly about it. People are more concerned about how many millions this dud would fetch.

I think it would have been seen differently had that comment been said about Saka for example which I find a little bit strange. The lad wouldn’t have had time for an explanation, so he got off lucky there

 

[Macho]

I think it would have been seen differently had that comment been said about Saka for example which I find a little bit strange. The lad wouldn’t have had time for an explanation, so he got off lucky there

There were 2 black players on the bench that got racist abuse after Saka scored last season against Leeds but there were only tears and flowers for Saka, this fanbase is useless.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

At

The difference is Minamino is probably on like 40k pw and Pepe is on 140k pw. Think this is the main reason we can't get fees for our unwanted players, and why Liverpool can.

Surely we can waive a loan fee and let the other team pick up all his wages or just reduce our asking price? It's not down to the player to take a pay cut and we've got a bad history of protecting the value of our players and selling well. Hopefully Pepe is a bit pragmatic too but who knows.

 

[MikelHadADream]

At

Surely we can waive a loan fee and let the other team pick up all his wages or just reduce our asking price? It's not down to the player to take a pay cut and we've got a bad history of protecting the value of our players and selling well. Hopefully Pepe is a bit pragmatic too but who knows.

I think that's probably what's going to happen. He's only got 2 years left hast he? Think this year it will loan like you mention then next year we may pick up 15m for him. More likely we pay him off.

 

[ptrcopp]

The fact Pepe has 681 minutes over 20 appearances explains his lack of output this season.

I’d take the player we had the previous two seasons who contributed 11 goals & assists than continually try to force something (anything!) out of Nketiah and run ESR and Saka into the ground

 

[Vanpayslip]

For the three positions behind the striker we have ESR, Martinelli, Ødegaard, Vieira and Saka. That’s only 5 if you exclude Pepe and assuming that if Jesus were to join that he would not be available to play wide permanently unless another striker is also signed.

5 isn’t really enough. Last year the attack looked completely burnt out and that was with no European football and no significant cup runs in 2022. Just Vieira isn’t going to be enough given that players will be attending the WC mid season. Simple fact is that either he goes and is replaced or stays and will be called on to play. His role in the squad was previously redundant but now I can’t see a repeat of last year happening again where arteta carried on playing the same few players and then we had major burnout towards the end of the season.

 

[Entropics]

At this point whoever is getting Pepe is getting quite a bargain, a guy that never stopped delivering even if thee manager was working completely against him.

Still remember a big fuss made by Arteta over how he stopped a ball, even if he had to end up doing some strange pirouettes for us to get past the mighty Norwich. Of course the fanbase lapped it up.

It's insane that if Pepe wanted to remain at Arsenal FC under this manager what he had to do was pass the ball back more times and run more towards our own box. It's still hard to believe.

 

[GDeep™]

At this point whoever is getting Pepe is getting quite a bargain, a guy that never stopped delivering even if thee manager was working completely against him.

Still remember a big fuss made by Arteta over how he stopped a ball, even if he had to end up doing some strange pirouettes for us to get past the mighty Norwich. Of course the fanbase lapped it up.

It's insane that if Pepe wanted to remain at Arsenal FC under this manager what he had to do was pass the ball back more times and run more towards our own box. It's still hard to believe.

I think he’ll see out his contract here and move back to France or Italy even.

 

[Pulp]

Would be strange if the club cant get a deal for Pepe. While he has played little last season, he has done okay when he has played. Might be the wage demands are too high, but he isnt on Özil level wages as far as I recall. Think he will be sold.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Erased from history ffs, even I forgot just what a good season he had.