Saturday, February 20, 2010

"Lost in translation" after Fulham loss by Shakhtar Donetsk Manager?

What is great about writing is I can get different opinions on my entries. I had the pleasure of being on the friendsoffulham.com website. This is a great site and I recommend it highly for all fans of the club. I decided to put my entry " Sour Grapes and Disrespect from Shakhtar Donetsk Manager after loss to Fulham" on their messageboard. I was curious how this entry would be received by the fans of Fulham. What I have learned from this entry is that their could be different perspectives on the comments by the Shakhtar manager. I welcome different opinions on everything I write that involves Roy Hogdson's team and their competition.

Some of the comments I was reading involved "lost in translation." Some of the members were saying in their comments that since the manager speaks another language that his comments from the translator could have been " lost in the translation." This is a possibility that could be true. When you are commenting about an event with 2 different languages the content could be perceived in 2 different ways. However, the comments are pretty consistent from what I have read on Shakhtar.com before the match by the press office of Shakhtar Donetsk. Again all of these comments are open to interpretation. Don't get me wrong as I mentioned in a prior post, Shakhtar's manager had some complimentary comments about Roy Hogdson's Cottagers. Also, to be fair in a prior article the press office on the Shakhtar official website had some nice things to say about Bobby Zamora as well.

Some other opinions I read by members involved that the comments were mild into comparison to Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourihno, and Arsegne Wenger. I can definitely see this perspective on the subject. My counter to this opinion is that Roy Hogdson is far more gracious in defeat than those 3 managers. I am also a fan of the New England Patriots. I am used to Bill Belichick blaming himself and his coaching staff for a loss. He would never say " we shouldn't have lost the game." He would tell the media after the loss that the New England Patriots need to make the proper corrections before the next game.

I guess I was hoping the Shakhtar manager to be more humble after the match. Fulham have come so far in the last 2 years I was just expecting something different from the Shakhtar manager. What I have learned is that there are different ways to look at comments. I stick by my comments and still believe that the Shakhtar manager was being arrogant. I am open to the idea that this is my opinion and there are other opinions on the subject. I thank the members of friendsoffulham.com and plan to return to the site often. We all have different opinions on Roy Hogdson's team. What is great though in the end we all support the Cottagers.

3 comments:

  1. Two things here.

    1) Hodgson's unusual in being such a gracious and considered post-match interviewee. Similar, Belichick's a breath of fresh air in the NFL.

    2) The Shakhtar coach's comments will have been designed not just for the press as a reflection of the game but as a method of geeing up his players and the fans for the second leg. They are still very much in the tie. He might also have been trying to influence the referee.

    I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't think he was being disrespectful as he went out of his way to praise Fulham at the end of his comments, but that's not to say that I agree with all that he said.

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  2. Dan,

    Thank you so much for your comment.

    Roy is a class act. This is one of the reasons I hope he is a Fulham Manager for a long time. He also happens to be a great manager that constantly puts his team in position to win every week.

    On the second point I guess Shakhtar's manager is not my cup of tea. If for some reason Fulham move ahead in the Europa League I would be very interested in his comments.

    This will be a huge challenge on Thursday and I look forward to it.

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  3. I shouldn't worry too much about Shakhtar's manager. His comments will mainly be intended for the home audience.

    Hodgson's quality - and as good as he seems (I had the good fortune to meet him at one of our pre-season games). He's a top manager and, like you, I hope he stays with us for many years to come.

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