Robbie Slater vs Harry Kewell

Bass0r · Aug 17, 2010

The Sunday Telegraph, on Sunday, August 15 2010, published a Robbie Slater-written article regarding Socceroos legend Harry Kewell:

HARRY Kewell has been put on a pedestal for years. Now it's time for him to call it quits with the Socceroos.

Even some of his teammates have had enough of the circus.

For far too long Football Federation Australia has universally backed Harry because of his profile.

FFA even tried to have us believe everything was all rosy in South Africa.

Let me tell you, it wasn't.

No player will say it publicly but there was disharmony. And here's one story to put a new spin on the spin.

It's an incident involving Harry and another player, whose privacy I will respect. It happened at Australia's farewell dinner after the Socceroos' exit in South Africa.

Put simply, the player told Harry to f. . . off, saying he was of no value to the Socceroos any more.

...

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...-started-the-row/story-e6frecj3-1225906693906
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Since hearing about the column, Harry Kewell last night appeared on Fox Sports FC - a live weekly Fox Sports football panel program featuring Robbie Slater as a co-host - from his home in Istanbul (where he plays for Turkish club Galatasaray SK) to respond to the claims.

The clearly-irate Socceroo got into a heated argument with Slater, denying the article's claims and questioning Slater's motives.

A transcript of the interview can be read here: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-slater-exchange/story-e6frexni-1225906586209

Audio/video and a report on last night's Fox Sports FC segment can be found here: http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27572150-5014539,00.html

Robbie Slater will also be appearing in an online Q&A session on the Fox Sports website from 3PM AEST today.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27573777-5014539,00.html

el-capitano · Aug 17, 2010

Kewell goes off

"Was that my fault again [that I played]? Would that mean throwing a little tantrum? I wanted to play. It was Pim's decision not to play me, not mine. We're all sitting there going 'how come I am not playing'.

"But we're all not going to sit there and bitch. We don't do that. We get on there with our work and support our teammates and country."

Kewell insisted his "boss", referring to Verbeek, instructed him not to address the media for the first two weeks they were in South Africa,

"I'm a player that does my job and I respect my bosses," he said.

"In my line of work I have respect, plain and simple, and I follow orders. I do my job on the park and I do my job off the park.

"The only circus created is one by him [Slater] and his mates and I'm ashamed of it."
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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...newspaper-column/story-e6frey4r-1225906582141

--X-- · Aug 18, 2010

Honestly this should never have been written.Robbie Slater can't go around defaming folks while hiding behind a wall.

And how he ever qualifies to write anything I'll never know,he's barely more understandable than H.
You're never going to win trying to cut down an icon like Harry,especially when your that cowardly
Thanks for damaging football numbnuts

epris · Aug 18, 2010

--X-- said: ↑

Honestly this should never have been written.Robbie Slater can't go around defaming folks while hiding behind a wall.

And how he ever qualifies to write anything I'll never know,he's barely more understandable than H.
You're never going to win trying to cut down an icon like Harry,especially when your that cowardly
Thanks for damaging football numbnuts
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The man knows nothing about the technical side of the game, only ever pips in with some pointless observation about a harsh yellow card or something similar....

el-capitano · Aug 19, 2010

Yawn........

Mandic added fuel to the fire by going public yesterday morning and saying it was Arnold who was responsible for the leak, and that Chipperfield was the one who had been identified to Slater as the player who made the disparaging comments.

''The source of the story was Graham Arnold, assistant coach to Australia,'' Mandic said. ''He was trying to flog this around for whatever reason … I have no idea why they do these things. Have whatever opinion you like but say, 'This is my opinion.' Separate opinion from fact.

''They can say Harry should retire - they can say whatever they please quite frankly - but to say that a player told Harry to ''F off'' just did not happen. Scott Chipperfield is a good bloke. He basically did not say that. Why Robbie feels that is the way to go, you have to ask Robbie.''
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http://www.smh.com.au/sport/footbal...or-slaters-slur-of-kewell-20100819-12s1f.html

Bass0r · Aug 19, 2010

Wait... he basically didn't say it?