Super TOKELY Goes Brawlistic, sponser and ace ferocious.

[EWS]

It seems that since The Sun coined that phrase, everything to do with us is going to be a variation on that.  Anyway, page 7 of today's paper (Early Morning Edition) has a story of how Tokely and Sandy Grant had a "verbal altercation" in the Heathmount Hotel on Sunday, and they had to be seperated by Charlie and Bennett.  Am going to type up the article just now.

Wasn't sure where to put it, so placed it here since it is to do with Rossco, if you feel it goes someone else then just moved it :)

Soccer star Ross Tokely was last night accused of sparking a brawl - with one of the clubs sponsers.  The Inverness Caley Thistle defender had to be hauled off finacial advisor Sandy Grant during a night out at a hotel.

Club manager Charlie Christie and director of football Graeme Bennett were forced to seperate the pair and lead Tokely, 27, away.  Grant and the burly 6ft 2in player had been drinking with other team officials on Sunday evening, the day after Celtic thrashed their side 3-0.

One stunned onlooker at Inverness' Heathmouth Hotel said "It was startling stuff - not something you expect between people associated with the same team. Tokely and Sandy Grant just started shouting and pushing and shoving each other.

"It would have been nasty if it had come to blows.  But thankfully Charlie and Graeme could see what was going on and came and told them to ease up before grabbing Tokely out of there.  He was pretty irate.  People in the bar were amazed as they saw him being led out.  We don't know what kicked it off.

"Possibly something was said about Tokely's performance against Celtic.  Whatever the reason, Tokely had to be taken out.  His girlfriend then came back in shouting she was going to get the police.  It's not what people expect when they go out to enjoy a quiet Sunday evening meal at a respectable restaurant."

A club insider said there had been a row about coaching, but added: "It didn't warrant such a reaction from Tokely.  He had to be held off."

Last night, Tokely refused to comment on the claims.  Charlie Christie said: "It was a verbal altercation that took place.  I was there and I witnessed it.  It was calmed down pretty quickly.  There were raised voices and Graeme and myself went over to tell them to settle down and keep the noise down."

Now, it's a shame about this, because I thought that Tokely had a rather good game and kept the Celtic wingers tame most of the game.  Also, with the problems that his ex-wife comes out with, it isn't going to help the opinion of him.  Shame really.

[L_G]

I'm really not interested in these stories, they are pure speculation usually very one sided.  Reporter isn't Ewan Murray by any chance??

[EWS]

Edited to include the story and a further comment from myself.

[CaleyD]

Must have been a slow news day and if you read the quotes and ignore the journalists attempts to sensationalise the whole thing you can see it looks to be no more than a heated argument.

Discussion of players and their personal lives has always been discouraged on here, but since this (non) story has made the national press then I am happy to leave it open for discussion (for now).  However, should discussion stray from the facts and degenerate into people simply using it to have a go at one or other party then I will not hesitate to close and/or remove the thread.

Hopefully forum users will (as they often do) recognise this as nothing more than 'gutter press' and not give the journalist responsible the reaction he is obviously looking for.

[Johnboy]

Typical gutter press garbage..... How can they say we were "thrashed" 3-0..?  :020:

[mainstander]

I would say to EWS that if its a "shame really" and "isnt going to help the opinion of him" what the h£ll are you doing spreading the story on this site to make things worse. I see just about everybody whose commented afterwards thinks its an awful story Perhaps a hint for the moderators to hook this thread completely.

[EWS]

The reason why I put it up is because it is a story on our club.  It is in the public domain, so whether it is here or not is irrelevant.

Further, by hooking it just because of "the comments of others" then we could be accused of trying to hide the failings of some of our players behaviours.  It is already out in the public domain, and so having it here is not doing any harm.

We cannot pick and choose what happens to our players, but we can at least allow this information to be filtered to people.  There is no point in trying to protect our players by denying that things like this happen.

As always, there are two sides to a story.  One will be the club trying to play it down, the other will be the story of someone there.  It would be interesting to hear what Mr. Grant himself thinks about the incident.

[CaleyD]

I was sorely tempted to close the thread when I saw it, but I believe most of our site users are responsible enough to "self moderate" with regards to these things.  I also think it is sometimes better to leave these things so as we, the fans, can make our opinion known regarding the levels certain types of journalist will stoop too in order to fill a few column inches.

[L_G]

I too considered moving/closing the thread, but as the story is in the public domain (even if it is the SUN) I left it.  I think you are right CaleyD must have been a slow day.

Ross is a well thought off player and I see no advantage either for the jounalist to print the story or for it to be given any credibility here. 

I take it EWS you have never had a heated discussion after a couple of pints.  Every one is entitled to a private life.

The members of the public quotes are hilarious.

[EWS]

I have...however, I am not a public figure or a "celebrity".  I have also not had to be restrained or had to be led out of a pub because of a heated debate...nor had my girlfriend come in and threaten to call the cops...

[L_G]

As always, there are two sides to a story.  One will be the club trying to play it down, the other will be the story of someone there.  It would be interesting to hear what Mr. Grant himself thinks about the incident.

I can assure you that Mr Grant is a professional business man and true supporter of ICT (more than most will ever know).  I'm certain he would be the first person to play the situation down.  Like many of us he would see no point in dragging this on and on.

[Kingsmills]

Whilst the story is of no concern or interest to me I hav to commend the moderators on their decision not to close the thread.

The allegations are in the public domain ad those siteusers who fel the urge to dicuss Rosco's alleged behaviour have every right to do sosubject to the usual constraints of defamation.

[absent friend]

Further, by hooking it just because of "the comments of others" then we could be accused of trying to hide the failings of some of our players behaviours.  It is already out in the public domain, and so having it here is not doing any harm.

What failings?  It was the players fault then? Well it is good to see that the Sun readers are not biased!!

As always, there are two sides to a story.  One will be the club trying to play it down, the other will be the story of someone there.  It would be interesting to hear what Mr. Grant himself thinks about the incident.

I think you are suffering from a degree of innocence - there will be three sides to the story - the most concocted one will come from the Sun reporter, to earn his dirty pay!

[Bridge_Ender]

Of course players are entitled to a private life. I don't understand why this shouldn't be discussed though...

Tokely is in a public position and like it or not, when he misbehaves it is newsworthy. Whatever happened it appears 1 thing is clear, Tokely has over reacted aggressively to a situation. I say that because I have never heard of Sandy Grant, a respected businessman, getting involved in a public slanging match while Tokely does have reputed' previous' in such matters. What the argument is about is pretty much irrelevant and I'd imagine will be dealt with internally.

Bottom line, IMO, is that anyone in a public position should watch their step when out and behaving in anyway which attracts negative attention, which this undoubtedly has, has to be addressed by the club.

Besides, if I ever got into a public slanging match with my boss I'd expect to be severely reprimanded if not fired...

[L_G]

Of course players are entitled to a private life. I don't understand why this shouldn't be discussed though...

Tokely is in a public position and like it or not, when he misbehaves it is newsworthy. Whatever happened it appears 1 thing is clear, Tokely has over reacted aggressively to a situation. I say that because I have never heard of Sandy Grant, a respected businessman, getting involved in a public slanging match while Tokely does have reputed' previous' in such matters. What the argument is about is pretty much irrelevant and I'd imagine will be dealt with internally.

Bottom line, IMO, is that anyone in a public position should watch their step when out and behaving in anyway which attracts negative attention, which this undoubtedly has, has to be addressed by the club.

Besides, if I ever got into a public slanging match with my boss I'd expect to be severely reprimanded if not fired...

I take it you were in the Heathmount at the time then as you seem to know exactly what happened and since when did Sandy Grant become the players' boss??

There was obviously an incident but only those present can comment on what happened or who was to blame.

[Pele_Is_God]

Don't believe anything the sun prints- worst newspaper has to be said.Maybe the journalist is a Buddie :015: :004:

[Scotty]

To go back to questions about leaving this thread / closing this thread. Here is the policy that we have followed for years.

1. If it is details of a player's private life and not in the public domain - ie. it is unconfirmed or starts along the lines of "someone told me ...." - then we will delete it. always have done, always will do.

2. If it is details of a players private life and is already in the public domain or about to be - ie. it is in the newspapers and out there doing the rounds - then we will leave it to be discussed. As is made very clear when you register for this website (if you read the terms of service), it is the poster who is responsible for the content of their postings and not the website.

3. We do have a duty of care to ensure that anything that is posted doesnt go over the top and will close a post or remove postings if - in our opinion - the entire thread begins to overstep the boundary and ventures into the areas of defamation, slander/libel etc

In the case of this thread, most can see it for what it appears to be - a heated argument over a few pints. Tell me you have never seen that before with 'normal' people who arent worthy of quite so many newspaper column inches !!

Unless any of us were actually there we cannot blame Mr Grant nor can we blame Mr Tokely (despite his 'previous' as some put it). We cannot say one over reacted aggressively and effectively clear the other as we dont know what was said to warrant the alledged over-reaction. In short, we dont know - and nor are we ever likely find out - the exact circumstances of what actually happened.

As Grassa and Charlie were there then I am sure that it will be dealt with internally and very little more will be said and that is probably what everyone involved would prefer.

[Alex MacLeod]

Personally, I think enough has been written on the subject. What really gets on my tit in all this is that some prat, who witnessed what went on, felt the need to contact the Sun. And, secondly, that the Sun would print a story, and gloss it up the way they did, based solely on heresay.

Someone out there should hang their head in shame and stay away from the establishment concerned. People have arguements, and sometimes even fights, in pubs all the time but they dont make the papers unless the law becomes involved. It should be no different for Ross Tokely.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

:010: :010: :010: All the feckin garbage on this thread and you lot feckin delete my simple post!! I was merely trying to humorously point out the difference between this load of shyte and the previous load of shyte. I would rather have Rosscoe shown up to be a businessman beater than a wife beater.  :016: :016:

[Johnboy]

I still say it was a slanderous lie for the Sun to say we were "thrashed" on Saturday.... We only lost the the final two goals toward the end 'cos CC rightly decided to cast caution to the wind to try & save a point.... the 3-0 scoreline greatly flattered Celtic.....

The rest of that story is a complete non-event and just not worthy of any further comment....

If the Sun reporter wants to see some real action in a bar he could consider calling in at the Innes on Friday night.....

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

You mean you are going to clout f**ballers wife? That would be wife beating and you are not allowed to use that term on here. But then again you could text her afterwards to apologise.

[Johnboy]

No - not F'baller's wife thicky.....

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

:015: :015: :015: :015: I said it first.  :blah01:

[beachcomber]

fair play to the aforementioned businessmanny

if I was going to pick a fight with one of the team, Tokely is the last guy I'd choose

[Mrs Pauliebee]

He was at the Charlatans gig at the Ironworks last night - good on 'im!

Nope he wasn't drinking before anyone asks!