Guess Who’s Coming To Arsenal…
ByThat seems to be the game being played up and down Fleet Street and on air waves. Some people actually make a living from speculating and rumour mongering when it comes to the transfer window. But let’s face it, for the most part, it’s all bull shit designed to sell papers and bring in the listeners so as to sell advertising.
I was bemused over the weekend when a particular sports radio show proclaimed that they had an ’expert’ in the studio who was clued up on the January transfer window. They were asking people to call in so that their ’expert’ could confirm or deny the transfer rumours for their club. I don’t know what was more tragic – the self proclamation of expertise in transfer rumour mongering, or the fact that the said expert worked for the News of the World.
It’s like a whole new industry designed to peddle hogwash has been unleashed on us, and right on cue, you find Arsenal supporters (in fairness, supporters of other clubs too), lining up to masticate over falsehoods that have been concocted by lazy journalists who have no clue about what cuts.
I laugh when I read stories like ”Player X has been linked to Arsenal”, or ”Player Y is the sort of player that Arsenal need for their midfield”
The question I’d like to ask is “who linked the player with Arsenal?”, If it isn’t a journalist sitting down his local pub on a Tuesday morning racking his brain on how to meet the copy deadline that evening?
”I know what! That kid is tall, he looks like an Adebayor, he’s African and can speak French – wouldn’t it be funny if we linked him to Arsenal”
And
There starts a story about how we’re going to sign the new Adebayor. What then follows is the trail of lazy uncorroborated copy and pasting that gives a non-story a life of its own.
Take the Patrick Vieira to Arsenal story over the summer. I know for a fact because I was listening on the radio on the way home, when Ian Wright, almost in exasperation that Wenger was not going to sign a so called world class defensive midfielder, plucked a thought from the air in the mould of ”What Arsenal really need is a ‘Vieira’ type player who will stamp their authority in the midfield”. Very few people at the time believed that Arsenal had the solutions within. Wright then innocuously suggested “wouldn’t it be nice if Arsenal does bring Vieira back for a season just to provide some leadership and presence within the dressing room and play a few difficult matches”.
Believe it or not, the next day there was an unconfirmed report in a tabloid that proclaimed that sources inside Arsenal suggest that Wenger is looking to re-sign Patrick Vieira to bolster his midfield. This was accompanied with the usual waffle of how Vieira is Mr Arsenal and how he will be a good fit for the inexperienced Arsenal midfield.
Sky Sports news, The gospel according to St. Murdoch included it in their news roundup session – where they essentially read all the sports tabloid headlines without regard to journalistic integrity and in effect giving some of the nonsense credibility.
The Vieira story then started feeding itself like a hungry beast with Italian newswires picking it up as fact because English tabloids had written about a romantic return for Vieira to Arsenal and Sky Sports News reported it. The English papers then quoted the Italian press as more proof of the credibility of the story and the Italian press further obliged by quoting the English press who quoted them in a vicious cycle that forces the story to have an uncontrollable life of its own.
The next thing you know, Wenger has to respond to a question about re-signing Vieira in one of his press conferences, and because Wenger doesn’t want to be blunt, he says he hasn’t thought about it, but just by mentioning it, the story then becomes ”Wenger is thinking about re-signing Vieira”.
You catch my drift, right? And all because a lazy journalist was listening in a pub when he heard Ian Wright romancing about what Ian Wright thought Arsenal needed.
Just thinking about this January transfer window, there seems to be this misguided notion that Arsenal (or any other team for that matter) have to buy and spend big money to give them a chance at whatever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against improving the squad by bringing in new players. I’ve been vocal about this. What I have a problem with is buying for the sake of buying or because there’s undue pressure from outside. If there’s a player out there who can add value to this Arsenal squad, a player who is better than who we already have, then I’m all for it. No one can argue that our last 3 signings, Vermaelen, Arshavin and Nasri haven’t added significant value to this squad. The core of players being developed at Arsenal can greatly benefit from such a value signing.
It’s this thoughtless ’cheque book’ style of management that has landed many a club with unmanageable debts. Perhaps more teams should consider that solutions for some of their deficiencies so far lie within the club if they could get more of their players fit or playing better. Perhaps its a tactical change for some that will work, or maybe just players actually playing to their true form. It’s folly to think that buying reinforcements is the only solution. I believe it’s one of the solutions, but not the only one – but more importantly, the player being brought in has to be the right fit for the club.
My sense is that if there’s a player out there who can fit our style of play and hit the ground running by playing Wengerball, then our scouting system will find that player and Arsenal will buy such a player. I think it’s wrong to buy a player because of market pressure and to have to change your system of play to fit that new big money acquisition. For the long term health of the team, this is one case where the tail should never be allowed to wag the dog.
Also, I just thought I’d mention a new section of Stone Cold Arsenal, the Stone Cold Article Series. This new section provides a more straightforward way of accessing related articles that cover a similar theme or topic area. The article series can also be accessed from the main menu.
Tue 13th September 2011; 19:45, Dortmund
It’s very true, you can often forecast the next mornings offerings.
It’s sometimes sickeningly predictable, sad to see how many people go with it. The only problem is, is that 1 in 30 is true and you never know which one it could be. I have to say the next Adebayor you mentioned, is perhaps this Traore gentleman. I thought that there could be something to that one. I am an excitable fellow, it’s not my fault i’ll hang my head in shame.
Good article Darius on how the iZombies of Fleet Street (and their broadcasting partners in crime)manufacture “football news stories”, then comment and speculate upon their own “stories”, like a dog chasing it’s tail.
This does nothing to enhance and increase the levels of understanding and awareness of readers, viewers and listeners, and unfortunately is not a new phenomenon.
No wonder why Jean Seaton, John Birt, Noam Chomsky et al correctly pointed critical fingers at the media – way back when – and saw them (in particular contexts) as being highly problematic in liberal democracies, yet alone non liberal ones.
The development of 24 hour news channels and new media (the information superhighway, or the internet) have merely made things a lot worse.
Every now and again, we see hear and read certain people say that football is about opinions. In my view, that assessment is wrong. Football is about what happens on the pitch, no more, and no less.
The rest – “expert” opinion and analysis, phone ins, emails, texts, blogs and so on…they are an entirely different but related industry to the actual game of football.
I would say that football SUPPORT is about opinions only. Expert opinion is a joke the only expert in the field is somebody who admits that they know nothing.
1) The Vieira story was not concocted. Wenger confirmed in several press conferences that he spoke with Patrick, Paddy confirmed that he wanted to come to England, and was desperate enough to seriously consider Spurs.
2) Who does it hurt? Some folks will never be happy until we sign a new starting XI of galacticos, so? It’s not the rumor mill that makes people that stupid, they were born that way.
3) I took a principled stand last year just like you are. First I published an article almost exactly like this. Then I published another. Then I started making jokes about “so and so is not coming to Arsenal” and finally, I announced that I would not link Arsenal to a player until we have a picture of him holding up a shirt in front of the Emirates. You know what it got me? Nothing. Fewer readers and the ones who did stick around (all lovely folks) were speculating in the comments!
4) What does it tell you that Arseblog, today, is reprinting a story from the Daily Fail about Louis Saha coming to Arsenal? This is a story which I know for a fact was made up by another blogger. What does that tell you?
Maybe that we’re all just having a bit of fun.
Tim. Wenger openly admitted when asked that he does speak to Patrick Vieira regularly, in the same way he speaks to henry. They talk about all things life and all things football.
That’s different from Wenger saying that “I spoke to Patrick because I wanted to re-sign him for Arsenal”. There was never a question of Wenger re-signing Vieira after letting him go 4 years before hand. Both have admitted they keep in touch, but Wenger has never said he considered bringing him back to the club – and even in his last press conference he gave the reason why he was never going to re-sign Vieira.
I haven’t read Arseblog today, though I have noticed of late that there’s a lot of copy and paste blogology going on there. I do try to go out of my way to avoid the Daily Wail or Daily Fail.
Magneto. Great points there.
I think of the media as the last bastion of imperialism, and despite it being easy to resign to the inevibility that the bias and bullshit from different outlets (pick your persuasion), shape the opinions of the masses, we can still do something about it in our very own corner.
Mainstream media is bad enough, but sports media just takes it to a whole new level.
This could be poorly timed given the chastising of Transfer rumours, but word is that Sol has returned. Fantastic if true.
Good post Darius.
As Els has pointed out, Sol Campbell, if the press is to be believed, is back – Played for the reserves apparently. Did anyone here watch him at the game?
I hope he’s free of the psychological issues that marked his exit; we could do with his experience and talent.
Tail waging the dog always ends up giving the dog a severe headache. Such dogs spend the rest of their lives chasing their tails unless someone puts them out of their misery.
Honestly, Jeez. One of the best post on this subject evar!