Everton: Jim White demands Martin Keown answers after he ‘slaughtered’ Toffees fans but gave Arsenal supporters free pass
Martin Keown claimed that he “came for” Everton fans for leaving early while excusing Arsenal supporters for the same thing because they are “different circumstances” as Jim White grilled him for answers.
The ex-Toffees and Gunners centre-back had accused Evertonians of “jacking it in” and “giving up” on 28 April [talkSPORT] for leaving during the 4-1 loss to Newcastle the day before, but had a completely different viewpoint when home fans exited during Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat by Brighton on Sunday (14 May).
While White slammed the Emirates departures as “poor” Simon Jordan claimed it was “no different than the critical observation Martin made of Everton fans”, but the former defender insisted the situations were indeed completely different.
Speaking live on talkSPORT on Monday (15 May, 2m 5s) Keown said: “I played for both clubs, and the Evertonians never go, and that’s why I came for them and their fans. And I asked for solidarity, and I still do… but the Arsenal situation, the way it is, everyone tries to leave that ground.”
Jordan, suddenly a key Toffees advocate, defended the supporters, saying: “Everton fans… they’ve stood there for the last two years watching dire football, vilifying their board of directors, so I think there is a point where it does become incumbent on the players to do their jobs first, and if the fans don’t want to watch it… they should be, to a certain extent, immune from criticism.”
White then wanted answers about the weekend and said: “[Deniz] Undav scored the second on 86 minutes, then there was an exodus… I’m asking you, you did come for the Everton fans the other day. You slaughtered them for leaving early.”
“No, no. I asked them to get behind the team,” protested Keown.
“So shouldn’t the Arsenal fans have waited yesterday? Never mind this ‘trying to get away from the stadium’. You went to the stadium for a reason, to watch your team. They didn’t win, but shouldn’t you stay?” asked White.
Keown said: “It’s different circumstances. Everton is becoming toxic. There was difficult people talking about walk-outs, and the team’s sitting at the bottom of the table. Forget all of those issues about who owns the club, get behind the team. It’s a different situation.
“Arsenal have fallen short. You could say the fans turned their backs, and there might not be any difference in your mind.”
Confused
Keown tied himself up in knots trying to justify two opposing viewpoints that was ultimately impossible to do, and came off seeming needlessly critical of the Toffees fans and comparatively soft on their Gunners counterparts.
In both cases supporters left when a negative result appeared to be obvious, and whether it is fighting for the title or survival it is the same principle.
Two things can be true at once, and while nobody is compelled to stay to watch their team lose it is in theory the purpose of being a ‘supporter’ to ‘support’.
But admonishing Everton fans for leaving on the basis that they usually don’t, while allowing Arsenal’s to do so because it’s what they supposedly always do is clearly holding them to different standards.
There are endless accusations of bias and agendas in football media, which are largely pointless because even fans of the richest, most successful sides in the world will always be able to find a complaint about the way they are portrayed, but this sort of thing doesn’t help with that.
And especially when Keown was advancing one of his own arguments on that front on the very same show, when he was accusing Martin Tyler of being anti-Arsenal on the Sky Sports commentary.