Villa owner Randy Lerner has attempted to take the heat out of the Second City derby by revealing General Krulak has said “sorry” for his “pig wrestling in mud” jibe at Birmingham chairman David Gold.
Krulak, a non-executive director at Villa, caused a firestorm when he said “sometimes you have to wrestle with the pig in the mud” in a putdown of their bitter city rivals when addressing the £45 ticket prices charged by Blues for the St Andrew’s clash this Sunday.
The General, a former chief commander of the United States Marine Corps, issued the comments on one of the four Villa fans’ websites he regularly posts on.
But American billionaire Lerner conceded they were ill-advised, retracted immediately and that the General had apologised.
“I’m very familiar with the situation. It was a poor choice of words, not the right phrasing,” said Lerner.
“The General acknowledged that, retracted the statement and sent a written apology to the chairman.
“That seems to me to be a respectful way to acknowledge what had occurred and make it very clear to Mr Gold he wanted to be swift and conspicuous in his retraction and apology.
“I don’t have first-hand experience of these situations, but I’m pretty clear knowing these kinds of local rivalries don’t need any extra trouble. So the idea of any kind of incendiary conduct is just foolish.
“And if you were in the room he’d have shook hands and said: “Right, let’s get a beer and get over it”.
“I know he was eager to get it sorted. This is a guy who has been getting along with people for a long time.
“You can’t possibly have the career he’s had and not be somebody that gets along with people.
“He’s got a contagious personality. He’s compelling in terms of being funny, he’s intense, direct and accomplished.
“I spoke to the General about it afterwards and he had made his own decisions on how to handle it.”
Lerner has revealed he will probably miss Sunday’s big game because of commitments with the Cleveland Browns.
“I don’t believe I’ll be there. I have a conflict in my diary,” he said. “I want to be there and I may be, but I don’t believe I will.”
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19 Comments
If you’re going to use General Krulak’s words, at least quote him correctly and get the context right. The quote was: ‘Not sure what Mr. Gold is after other than publicity. When you get down in the mud and wrestle with a pig, the pig loves it…and you get muddy. I think I will just let him continue to talk.’
You’re welcome.
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All the General was saying was that he did not want to get involved in a slanging match with Gold. If anything the language he used was comical and in my opinion if Gold did not have such an inflated sense of his own importance he would have seen there and then that any stand off was just ridiculous and pointless.
But Gold still wanted a public row even though the General did not. I think that’s what annoyed Gold and that is why he is still screaming and stamping his feet.
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This article sums up the express and star!
They claim the general is trying to turn down the heat ahead of the derby, but they turn it up themselves by complety mis qouting the general out of context!
“sometimes you have to wrestle with the pig in the mud” is not the correct quoute. How does that relate to ticket prices in anyway?
Besides, £45 is an unreal amount to pay for tickets. Same old Blues, milking their one year stint in the top flight for as much as they can get!
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normally the express and star get their facts right, a shame they have let themselves down on this one.
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Considering DG’s religion I would suspect that any reference to pigs would be insulting whether the yank has been misquoted or not. If our friends at B6 feel comfortable with senior represents of their club resorting to this kind of rhetoric I would say it says as much about their lack of class as it does the general’s!!
Ricky. It may please you to pretend that we only spent one year in the Prem. on our previous visit. That way you can forget how many times you played us before you managed to get a result!!
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‘Lack of class’ coming from a persons club who’s chairman earned his money how? They will need every penny come January when facing a relegation battle.
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Apparently, the general made many rousing speeches to the troops during his military years, so howsabout we lend him a microphone on the pitch before the kick off and he can prove his diplomacy and professionalism by apologising to all of the Blue Faithful in public?.
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apologise to the Blues Faithful? Is that for sending you down last time or this one?
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Personally, I don’t think he needed to apologise at all. His comments were taken completely out of context by the Birmingham board (who pretty much proved the General’s analogy to be spot on in the process) and by the local media (as once again evidenced above).
For myself, I’ll be happily singing ‘David, David give us an oink’ all through the match at the Sty, and certainly won’t be apologising for it.
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Lack of class garconsavage? That’s rich coming from a board of porn peddlers…
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Why should Mr Gold’s religion be a factor? After all, and it really does become tiresome having to continually explain this to our reactionary neighbours, no-one called Mr Gold a pig. At any point. Is it now offensive to mention a pig (at any point) if a Jewish person has been referenced(at any point)regardless of context? One would suspect that the religion angle was only brought into the argument as some sort of emotional blackmail?
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DBTW,
Sorry to disillusion you and taking into account that you and your friends have dificulty getting your heads around anything that has happened prior to the last 100years. No one result took Blues down anymore than the previous six points we took off you on previous occasions kept us up!!
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Maybe so Mr Savage, but if you had indeed picked up the 6 points from their superior,and indeed cleaner rivals in said season, i am right in saying Top Flight football would have been reclaimed for a third sucessive season? It just wasn’t to be though. If i were you I’d blame Gary Cahill and Kevin Phillips
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You’re quite right garconsavage, it really doesnt matter WHO sends you down. Someone always will…..
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Anyone see the irony of the residents @ Sty Andrews complaining about pig references? UTV.
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NoEllis82: You’ve got to appreciate the double standards as well. On one hand, we’re asked to respect Gold’s religion, on the other General Krulak is called a ‘Yank’ and criticised for using an Americanism…
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Surely any reference to Mr Gold and pigs is only offensive to the pig?
The pig doesn’t choose to sit in filth, but Mr Gold is happy to make money from it.
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Well, the comments here back up the findings of the survey carried out by the FA to see if there is any connection between educational levels (intelligence), and verbal abuse/violence among football supporters…………… yet again Villa prove they are intellectually subnormal, just get real……….
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Randy Lerner has only apologised on behalf of the other American, as he is well aware that in today’s global arena, the Americans are now playing second fiddle to their commercial masters the Chinese!!;-)
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