[Football] Mohammed 'Al' Fayed

[Withdean South Stand]

I still don't understand why these stories come out so late in the day? I'm not sure anyone is truly surprised by the allegations now coming to light but I really don't understand how or why it's kept quiet for so long in the age of social media. It's not hard to imagine publications not wanting to run this kind of story against someone so socially powerful but everyone with a phone and a social media presence has the ability and opportunity to make this type of thing public.

Who is next to fall?

 

[Silverhatch]

Deeply ingrained and powerful public figures wield immense influence - often by having access to ‘challenging’ information about other immensely powerful public figures. Establishment is built on this foundation.

 

[clapham_gull]

I still don't understand why these stories come out so late in the day?

They haven't. There have been previous documentaries and numerous newspaper stories about it.

Post Harvey Weinstein the reaction to them has changed.

 

[Withdean South Stand]

They haven't. There have been previous documentaries and numerous newspaper stories about it.

Post Harvey Weinstein the reaction to them has changed.

So why has it now become covered by the mass media? This is the part I don't understand.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I asked the same question and was called an “idiot” which is so NSC for some posters

I am at a complete loss as to why someone would stay at a company for years after something like this has happened to them.

Miss X resigns, finds another job elsewhere. New employer asks for a reference from Harrods. Perv has already flagged to his HR team that he'll write Miss X's reference himself. I'll leave you to imagine what he might write. Miss X has jod offer revoked.

It really can't be that difficult for you to understand.

 

[Flounce]

Miss X resigns, finds another job elsewhere. New employer asks for a reference from Harrods. Perv has already flagged to his HR team that he'll write Miss X's reference himself. I'll leave you to imagine what he might write. Miss X has jod offer revoked.

It really can't be that difficult for you to understand.

Every job does not require a reference. OK Miss X may not get a high flying job, she could go abroad (which would not work for a 15 or 16 year old I accept) or take a low level job, not requiring references, for a few months, leave and then apply for another job leaving out any mention of having ever worked at Harrods. Unless she went for another high end department London store job I suggest that would work. What else do I need to understand? Beats working for a sexual predator for years, imo anyway.

 

[The Clamp]

Every job does not require a reference. OK Miss X may not get a high flying job, she could go abroad (which would not work for a 15 or 16 year old I accept) or take a low level job for a few months, leave and then apply for another job leaving out any mention of having ever worked at Harrods. Unless she went for another high end department London store job I suggest that would work. What else do I need to understand? Beats working for a sexual predator for years, imo anyway.

Well, there must be a reason. The only option left is that she enjoys being raped by her boss. And I sincerely doubt anyone is suggesting that.

 

[Flounce]

Well, there must be a reason. The only option left is that she enjoys being raped by her boss. And I sincerely doubt anyone is suggesting that.

FFS why do so many of you think that I am casting any aspersions on the validity of these accusations or suggesting they enjoy being raped or assaulted? I just don’t get why someone wouldn’t go out of their way to get away from working for a sexual predator for years afterwards.

 

[The Clamp]

FFS why do so many of you think that I am casting any aspersions on the validity of these accusations or suggesting they enjoy being raped or assaulted? I just don’t get why someone wouldn’t go out of their way to get away from a sexual predator.

Now hang on there, I didn’t accuse you of casting aspersions. I said that there must be a reason they stayed. And it’s unlikely it was because they enjoyed being raped.

I am not accusing you of anything.

 

[Flounce]

Now hang on there, I didn’t accuse you of casting aspersions. I said that there must be a reason they stayed. And it’s unlikely it was because they enjoyed being raped.

I am not accusing you of anything.

OK, thanks but nobody has given me a valid reason why any of these poor women stayed at Harrods for years after the offences. I genuinely don’t understand it

 

[The Clamp]

OK, thanks but nobody has given me a valid reason why any of these poor women stayed at Harrods for years after the offences. I genuinely don’t understand it

Coercion. Manipulation. Fear. Control. Threats.

It’s hard to understand.

I’m certainly not blaming you for anything .

 

[Flounce]

Coercion. Manipulation. Fear. Control. Threats.

It’s hard to understand.

I’m certainly not blaming you for anything .

Point of interest, did you come across anything similar whilst in your acting/film career? Another area where this sort of thing seems to have happened? Much more difficult to walk away from/change career imo as it seems to be a passion for actors, unlike working in a department store.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Every job does not require a reference. OK Miss X may not get a high flying job, she could go abroad (which would not work for a 15 or 16 year old I accept) or take a low level job, not requiring references, for a few months, leave and then apply for another job leaving out any mention of having ever worked at Harrods. Unless she went for another high end department London store job I suggest that would work. What else do I need to understand? Beats working for a sexual predator for years, imo anyway.

You either don't know a woman that has been raped and the dispair and complexities it brings or you live in cloud cuckoo land given how flippant you are about "just find another job".

You're also victim blaming by suggesting the victim should take the punishment of a lesser job or move abroad.

 

[Flounce]

You either don't know a woman that has been raped and the dispair and complexities it brings or you live in cloud cuckoo land given how flippant you are about "just find another job".

You're also victim blaming by suggesting the victim should take the punishment of a lesser job or move abroad.

Bollocks. You think staying at the job where you have been assaulted or raped is your only option?

What a f***ing sad f***ed up world if you believe that and suggest there are zero alternatives.

Thanks for the insults though.

 

[Rodney Thomas]

Bollocks. You think staying at the job where you have been assaulted or raped is your only option?

What a f***ing sad f***ed up world if you believe that and suggest there are zero alternatives.

Thanks for the insults though.

I think he is just saying it is far more nuanced than stay or don't stay. You yourself has said they "could take a low paying job", that is a nuance itself as maybe they can;t afford that. Life isn't as simple as Option A or Option B.

 

[Flounce]

I think he is just saying it is far more nuanced than stay or don't stay. You yourself has said they "could take a low paying job", that is a nuance itself as maybe they can;t afford that. Life isn't as simple as Option A or Option B.

Fair enough, I’ll leave it there, I have made my thoughts clear and most don’t agree. No mileage in continuing trying to discuss it.

 

[The Clamp]

Point of interest, did you come across anything similar whilst in your acting/film career? Another area where this sort of thing seems to have happened? Much more difficult to walk away from/change career imo as it seems to be a passion for actors, unlike working in a department store.

I came across it every now and again. Not often but from the unlikeliest of characters.
Drugs and very questionable sexual behaviour were never far away.

I have previously mentioned one particular, now deceased local personality whom I ended up giving a slap because of his behaviour around women and plying them with drugs.

And another I got into it with in the Lion and Lobster for his drunken groping and grooming of young actresses.

Some great people in that field, some bloody awful ones too.

 

[marlowe]

I’ll add in the testimony from the 16 year old girl, whose phone contained all the messages from Fayed, handed it to the Met police for evidence.
It was returned to her wiped clean.

Knowing, now, the Met police record of rape, and sexual assaults, coupled with accusations against a rich influential man, what chance did a young girl have of any justice?

According to her account in the documentary she was only 15 at the time of the assault, and had only just turned 15, which as her employer he would have been well aware of. She recounted that she had first met Al-Fayed when she was 14 while shopping with her mum in Harrods. He then arranged a job for her.

So it wasn't merely sexual assault, but sexual assault of a minor, which makes the Police's handling of the evidence on her phone, which they effectively destroyed, even more questionable.

So it also appears that he wasn't just preying on employees, but customers too, and in her case underage ones. Those cases would be harder to prove if there was no direct historical connection to Al-Fayed through employment records, as obviously not all of them will have been offered a job like she was.

The points where she mentions her age and the destruction of the evidence on her phone in the BBC documentary are at 1:07:20 and 1:14:00

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Coercion. Manipulation. Fear. Control. Threats.

It’s hard to understand.

I’m certainly not blaming you for anything .

All of these. And I would add shame, low self esteem and getting you've got a point to prove and not letting someone else get the better of you into the mix (not all of them at the same time, though!).

 

[Crawley Dingo]

I was talking to a former CEO of a top company about Strauss-khan the chambermaid rapist and he laughed and said "We've known about his antics for years", for every Saville etc there are dozens who know and stay silent. That to me is almost as big as the crime.