Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Transfer Balls: Manchester United will sell De Gea for a guranteed £30m
You or Real Madrid can buy Manchester Untied goalkeeper David De Gea for £30m. that, says the Sun, is the amount stipulated in the player’s new contract.
The new deal was pretty much a win for everyone:
Manchester United get a great goalkeeper for the currentseason
Dea Gea gets his pay hiked from £35,000 a week to £200,000 a week
De Gea gets to keep in shape for next summer’s European Championships
Man United get a big fee for their player when Real Madrid come calling again
Real Madrid will pay £30m cash rather than cash plus a player
De Gea gets a signing-on fee to replace any gap in salary
His agent buys a mid-sized Caribbean island
Easy.
Posted: 13th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment (1)
Manchester City star Yaya Toure in naked bum for son kiss ‘n’ tell
The Sun continues to gun for Manchester City’s Yay Toure. Having introduced readers to £10 tipped ‘Flora’ Ntonya and (alleged) Sainsbury’s sex with Sandra Ntonya, the paper shows us a lad who could be the footballer’s “secret love child”.
The story begins:
MARRIED Manchester City star Yaya Toure has a secret two-year-old love child — after cheating on his wife with an ex-girlfriend. Role model Toure, 32, abandoned Mariam Camara when she got pregnant. And she has told how he stopped giving her money to raise their child — because she refused to send him sexy selfies.
The paper had us up to the big about Yaya being a role model for anyone else but his own children. Why are footballers role models and not, say, newspaper editors or Prince Harry?
Toure, who claims he is proud to be a family man and a role model for youngsters, had a four-month affair with Mariam. After initially refusing to accept the baby boy was his, he finally agreed to stump up cash to support the child.
But yesterday Mariam told how the £230,000-a-week midfielder then cut off the money because she would not send him pictures of herself in provocative poses.
She says:
“Whenever he sent the money there were conditions attached. I would have to give him something, like naked photos or photos of my bum. And if I didn’t send the photos we wouldn’t get the money… Yaya is a role model to thousands of young people around the world. But he doesn’t have the heart to properly care for his own son.”
And about those role modes, she adds:
“I knew he was married. I knew his wife from back home. But we didn’t really talk about her.”
Can’t mum be a role model for her child? Or does she first have to become a footballer?
She adds:
“I want him to take responsibility. It’s not about money. He needs to see his son. But he won’t even respond to my messages.”
If you can’t through over the phone, always good to reach out via the Sun’s dating app. Can’t fail.
Posted: 13th, September 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Watch: Anthony Martial scores brilliant debut goal for Manchester United against Liverpool
Is Anthony Martial any good? Manchester United made the 19-year-old Frenchman the world’s most expensive teenager. Much to prove, then, on his Old Trafford debut. And he only went and scored a belter against Liverpool. There will be films made about this goal:
[VIDEO] Anthony Martial! Goal debut! What a goal! Brilliant! ManUtd 3-1 Liverpool. #mufc #lfc pic.twitter.com/87r4gl4on7
— Juan Mata García (@MataGarcia_ID) September 12, 2015
Posted: 12th, September 2015 | In: manchester united | Comment
Transfer Balls: the Metro says Paris is in Spain and Cavani is all set to join Arsenal
The Metro cannot let it go. In a sport of Transfer Balls, the paper says:
Report: Superstar will do everything possible to seal January Arsenal transfer
Who is this superstar?
Cavani is apparently unhappy in Spain and wants to move on.
That would be Edison Cavani, who plays for Paris St Germain – in France?
And that is the same Metro which reported in August 2015:
Edinson Cavani to fly to London to have medical and seal transfer from Paris St Germain in coming days
Which he didn’t – perhaps he followed the Metro tour bus and went to London in Italy by mistake?
Posted: 12th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Manchester United: Watch Louis Van Gaal chant himself in the third person
Are we warming to Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United’s hammer-headed Dutch manager? One thing is for certain: he can be entertaining (and more entertaining than his teams – ed). In this video, Van Gaal reveals that he is encouraged by the fans chanting “Louis Van Gaal’s Army”.
“The fans are shouting every week ‘Louis van Gaal’s army! Louis van Gaal’s army!’ So the fans are very satisfied with Louis van Gaal and the players are satisfied with me.”
What he lacks in melody, and rhythm he makes up for in self-aggrandizement.
(Anyone else think a word is missing between ‘Gaal’ and ‘army’? ‘Louis Van Gaal’s hungry Army’, perhaps, or ‘Louis Van Gaal’s private Army’?
Posted: 12th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal do their bit for the refugees with Save The Children donation
Arsenal football club are doing their bit to ease the refugee crisis. The Gunners will donate £1 for every ticket sold during their Premier League match with Stoke City this weekend to the Save The Children charity.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger explains:
“For the game against Stoke, for every ticket sold, £1 will be donated to victims of the Syrian crisis. It’s an exceptional circumstance and I’m very happy that our club contributes to help refugees to settle in countries where they come without anything.
“We’ll give £1 for every ticket sold [against Stoke] and if everyone can contribute like we do then I think we can give very, very strong help.”
The Stoke City match is a category B fixture:
So much for the Arsenal. What about the Save the Children charity?
The charity is well run. Although it has attracted criticism. In 2013, Save the Children was caught in the media’s crosshairs. The Indy featured allegations the charity had spiked stories about fuel poverty to woo EDF and British Gas sponsorship. The charity denied any wrongdoing.
Also in 2013, the Mail looked at the boss’s pay:
It was revealed earlier this week that Mr [Jon] Forsyth earned a salary of £163,000, which is now known to include £22,560 in performance-related pay…
Three staff at Save the Children earn more than £140,000. The highest is chief operating officer Annabel Hoult who earned £168,653 last year.
The Mail omitted to say what they should be earning. Less? More?
In 2015 the Times reported more on the business of giving:
Save the Children spent a third of its advertising budget with an agency run by its chief executive’s brother, The Sun reported today. The children’s charity employed the Adam and Eve agency, whose founding partner is Jon Forsyth, brother of Justin Forsyth, who has led Save the Children since 2010.
Last year’s £729,343 spend – one third of the charity’s £2 million budget for advertising and creative projects – was approaching double the £443,693 the charity spent with Adam and Eve in 2013…
“Save the Children’s working relationship with Adam and Eve predates Justin Forsyth working at the charity and was started after a thorough competitive tender process overseen by an external third party,” said a spokesman for the charity.
“Mr Forsyth has no input in awarding any contracts to Adam and Eve, and the relationship has been consistently openly declared in Save’s annual report.”
Save the Children says that £308 million of its £348 million outgoings was spent on charitable work last year. Of the remaining £40 million, £20.3 million went on fundraising.
Every little helps.
You can donate direct to the charity here.
Posted: 11th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Liverpool fan wins £4000 compensation for police-induced Manchester United toilet trauma
Liverpool fans Kieth Culvin (correct spelling) has been awarded £4,000 after suing Greater Manchester Police over a false arrest claim. In 2013, Culvin was at Old Trafford to watch Liverpool take on Manchester United.
After the match, police held back the Liverpool fans, treating them as criminals without any crime having been committed. Culvin needed the toilet. As an adult who paid his way to watch the match, he expected to be able to visit the little boy’s room. But having raised his hand and asked permission, the police told him to wait.
This was despite an agreement between supporters’ group The Spirit of Shankly and the GMP that the loos would be available for Reds’ fans kept in the stadium after the final whistle. Culvin claimed he was negotiating with the police at the time when a local copper took a tumble near him, leading the authorities to wrongfully arrest the Liverpool fan for an alleged assault.
However, the case against Culvin was eventually dropped when mobile phone footage cleared him of any wrongdoing. Here’s the footage…
Following that, the still aggrieved fan launched a legal case of his own against the GMP, culminating in the £4,000 payout.
He said:
I think the outcome vindicates myself – I did nothing wrong. My worry is that other supporters might not know they can pursue these matters further if it happens to them. I think more should, as that is the only way we will get behaviour changed and as supporters be treated properly. I’ve still continued to meet with GMP to discuss policing of supporters at Old Trafford and thankfully no other issues like this have occurred so far.
Amanda Jacks of the Football Supporters’ Federation, who supported Culvin in his legal action against the GMP, said:
What made the real difference here… was Kieth himself having the presence of mind to ask his fellow fans to use their mobile phones to film events as they unfolded.
Who police’s the police?
Video: Spirit of Shankly
Posted: 11th, September 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Manchester United: David De Gea signs new four-year contract
David De Gea has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United, keeping him at Old Trafford until at least 2019. There is an option to extend it for a further year.
The Spain international, 24, joined the Reds back in 2011 and has registered 175 appearances for the club, winning the Premier League title in 2013 and two Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year awards. David De Gea said:
“I am delighted to be starting this new chapter in my United career. I have always enjoyed playing with these great players in front of our fantastic fans. Manchester United is a special club and Old Trafford is an ideal place for me to continue to develop my career. I’m looking forward to putting a difficult summer behind me and concentrating on working hard to improve and help my teammates to be successful.”
Louis van Gaal said:
“I am absolutely delighted David has signed a new contract. He is one of the best goalkeepers in world football. I am very pleased that he will be part of the team for many years to come. David made a very important contribution to our performance last season and he has been the club’s Player of the Year for the last two seasons. He is a popular player who is keen to learn and enhance his game. At such a young age for a goalkeeper, he has many years ahead of him.”
World ends.
Posted: 11th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Liverpool: Steven Gerrard reveals what would have made him stay at Anfield
The Daily Mail is puffing its interview with former Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard.
I might have stayed if Liverpool offered me the right job, reveals the Kop legend
Might have. Before we get to his latest words, it’s worth recalling what Gerrard said in May 2015:
“I am looking forward to being able to breathe and play football under a little less pressure and going back to days when maybe before I was in the first team at Liverpool when you really enjoyed your football and there’s not that responsibility and pressure.”
The Mail’s exclusive are is a trail for Gerrard’s” explosive book”, which the paper is serialising.
Says Gerrard:
“Yeah, I do miss it. I miss everything about it. When I switch on the TV and see the stadiums, with 50, 60, 70,000 people — the aggression, the intensity, the tension. I am jealous. I miss the build-up, competing with better players, I miss being Steven Gerrard, Liverpool captain and walking out in front of my people with that pressure and trying to get a result for them.”
But the bit we want to know is how Gerrard could have remained at Anfield?
“Ability-wise, I could still play but physically I couldn’t play every game at my age… I might be contradicting myself here but what would have kept me at Liverpool into this season was the chance of shadowing Brendan Rodgers and his staff as well as playing. Those ideas were only mentioned to me after I had announced I was leaving.
“I don’t know if I am going to be good enough to be a manager, or a No 1, No 2, No 3 or No 4. Liverpool replaced coaches Colin Pascoe and Mike Marsh in the summer, so they were looking for a new No 2, or No 3 or No 4. I would have been tailor-made to fill one of these roles, as well as making myself available as a squad player. I could have been a good squad player, a good sub, as well as getting management experience that money can’t buy.”
So much for being able to breathe.
“I’d have stayed on as a squad player if I’d had the chance to learn more about management or coaching. I left with all the doors still open, but yes, I could still have been at Liverpool now.”
Posted: 11th, September 2015 | In: Books, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Manchester Untied will have to pay £768m for Cristiano Ronaldo
Transfer Balls: How much is Cristiano Ronaldo worth? Paris St-Germain and Manchester United have asked just that question. The Mail says the reply from Real Madrid told them the former Manchester United player could be theirs for… £728m.
That translates into €1billion.
And its more than the £87m the Ligue 1 side bid for Ronaldo on the most recent transfer deadline day.
Still, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Posted: 11th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer balls: Manchester United offer David De Gea and his agent a fortune to stay
The Sun leads with news that David De Gea “could make a shock U-turn and sign a new £200,000-a-week deal with Manchester United”.
He hasn’t. But he “could“.
The Sun says De Gea’s Mr 15% Jorge Mendes has been deep in talks with Man United’s deal makers. We also learn that Real Madrid are “believed to have given up on ever landing De Gea”.
Over in the Express, their version has De Gea “snubbing” Real, the club that only days ago he was “distraught” not to have joined. It adds:
Real president Florentino Perez insists the Spanish club would “definitely not” move for De Gea in January and described his relationship with super agent Mendez [sic] as “broken”.
Is the agent dictating the player’s career?
The Guardian recalls that Van Gaal has not exactly wooed De Gea:
United had already put a new contract on the table last season, believed to be offering the goalkeeper £200,000 a week over a five-year period, but the likelihood of that being signed receded after Van Gaal accused him of not wanting to play for the club in the light of Real’s overtures.
That rift between goalkeeper and manager widened when De Gea professed himself “baffled” at the comments, and after his proposed £29m move to Real collapsed embarrassingly on transfer deadline day, it had been assumed that the Spaniard would wait until his contract ran down next summer before moving home.
Maybe his agent needs the cash? If De Gea signs a new deal at Old Trafford, any transfer fee will rise – and with that the agent’s cut of any move. If the Spaniard sees out the final year of his current contract (£35,000 a week) – forcing his way back into the side – a monkey with a bell could negotiate a better deal at Real Madrid.
Posted: 11th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Spurs balls: Rodney Marsh on Harry Kane and forgetting Benzema to Arsenal
In the Daily Express, a “Man City legend urges Harry Kane to leave ‘mediocre Spurs’ for Man Utd”?
Who is this quotable legend? It’s Rodney Marsh, who tells talkSport:
“He needs to go on and become the player he can be. He isn’t going to become that at Spurs because Spurs have now become that mediocre, second-tier team in the Premier League.”
There goes Rodney, making a comment to get himself on the news cycle. And it worked. Just as it worked when he opined:
“I had a phone call from a mate of mine, and he’s been right on many things, and he said that he believes Real Madrid have accepted a bid somewhere in the region of £48million for Benzema from Arsenal. In the past this guy has always been right, he’s never been wrong yet…”
Unlike Marsh…
Posted: 10th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Spurs | Comment (1)
Manchester City fan has entire transcript of Martin Tyler’s ‘AGUERO!’ commentary tattooed on his arm
As it was quite possibly the last genuinely dramatic thing that happened in the Premier League, Sergio Aguero’s title-snatching 93rd-minute winning goal against QPR on the final day of the 2011/12 season has attained iconic status in the prevailing years.
Aguero’s late winner saw Man City whip the championship away from underneath Manchester United’s nose with nanoseconds of the campaign remaining, and the accompanying apoplectic yowling from Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler has since become synonymous with the occasion.
So much so, in fact, that one City fan has immortalised that glorious day by having the entire transcript of Tyler’s orgasmic howling tattooed on his forearm…
Photo: @mancitybear
Impressive, no?
No, not really.
Posted: 10th, September 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports, The Consumer | Comment
Transfer Balls: Manchester United paid only £6m for Bastian Schweinsteiger
Criticised for spending £58m on Anthony Martial (a sum Louis Van Gaal called “ridiculous“), it turns out that Manchester United scored a bargain elsewhere in the summer transfer market. Bastian Schweinsteiger’s former club TSV 1860 Rosenheim says United paid £6.5m for the Germany midfielder. The £15m figure previously reported in all media is wrong.
Spotter: Pies
Posted: 10th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Chelsea and Spurs can share Wembley Stadium
Chelsea and Tottenham can share Wembley Stadium while their grounds are redeveloped. FA’s chief executive, Martin Glenn says:
“We are there to provide help. We can run the FA for less costs and we can raise more. There’s a range of things. It’s primarily a football stadium, football matches are more profitable to run than concerts and other things.
“We are the national stadium and seeking to use it more is what we are all about. We have an obligation to football. I’m not talking specific clubs but it’s in our interest as an association for clubs to redevelop their grounds, make superb facilities and if it’s possible to help them in that transition by using Wembley, we are absolutely supportive of that.”
The Standard says Chelsea would prefer to stay at the Bridge when the builders move in. Tottenham have looked at relocating to Milton Keynes’ Stadium:mk for the 2017/18 season.
And can two sides share Wembley, a busy the stadium that hosts the RL Challenge Cup final and a series of NFL games, domestic cup and play-off finals and and a rugby union fixture?
The FA’s decision is surely all about the money. The Mail says Chelsea have offered £11m a year to use Wembley for three years while Stamford Bridge is rebuilt from 2017. Spurs have bid £8m a season. Given the vast sums of cash in the Premier League, both bids sound low.
Posted: 10th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports, Spurs | Comment (1)
Manchester United: players and Louis van Gaal in row over ‘rigid’ training methods
Louis Van Gaal and his Manchester United players have been involved in a “row” over his “rigid” training methods, says the Times. The story goes that a few United players approached the manager and bemoaned his lack of interest in creativity. They want to play with more flair and expression. They find his methods stifling. Instead of playing an instinctive pass they look to the bench for an instruction to obey.
That this “confrontation” occurred “several weeks ago” makes us wonder if it influenced Van Gaal shipping out Robin Van Persie or the panicky purchase of attacking Anthony Martial. Last night, Van Gaal called the projected £58.8 million fee paid by Manchester United for Martial “ridiculous”.
The paper adds:
The concern of the players is less to do with manpower, or squad strength, after a massive gross outlay under Van Gaal that is now close to £300 million, than the inflexibility of his methods. He has always been a very exact, demanding coach — and, at times, a fierce one — but players reared under Sir Alex Ferguson are still finding it hard to adjust, even into his second season.
Van Gaal has not backed down, insisting that “the success of his training methods was the reason why United have not suffered any injuries this season compared to the glut they encountered when he joined 14 months ago.”
Posted: 10th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United v Liverpool: police control scum fans inside a bubble
Manchester United host Liverpool in the weekend’s big Premier League match. The 5:30 kick-off gives time for fans to get to the game, soak up the atmosphere (and that’s the atmosphere outside the ground not the sit-down-shut-up funereal quiet imposed inside it), make a day of it and have fun.
Well, unless the Greater Manchester Police get involved. They have issued a set of rules that turn football fans – spending money in shops and pubs around the ground – into a citizen sub-class for whom free movement and free speech are a step too far. Fans are being punished for crimes they have not committed…yet.
The GMP rules:
1. You cannot drink alcohol on the street in Manchester city centre or Trafford (the borough where the ground is)…
You can. But the police say you must not.
2. There are no pubs in the area of the ground which cater for visiting supporters.
But you can’t bring your own because the police won’t let you open it.
3. Liverpool fans will be able to get a drink in the ground – a maximum of two alcoholic drinks per visit to bar per person…
A quota. Know your limit.
4. All drinks (including soft drinks) will be decanted and these arrangements are the same for home fans situated near to the segregation line.
Ever go to the theatre and have your over-priced drink decanted into a cheap plastic beaker?
5. I would like to remind all supporters that pyrotechnics are dangerous and are not welcome by the majority of fans. It is an offence to enter a stadium with such an item and those engaging in this behaviour risk arrest, prosecution and also a banning order.
No flares. Most fans don’t like them, say the police. Have most fans been asked?
6. Potentially there may well be a hold back at the end of the game – all fans will be updated about this during the game by public address announcements in the stadium. We will minimise the duration of this as far as we can but I feel it has been successful in recent league games at minimising any issues on the forecourt. During any holdback, the police will work closely with the stewards, and we will do our best to ensure that fans can access toilet facilities during any holdback. This will need to be done in a controlled manner to help regulate the numbers accessing the toilets at any one time.
And then this bit of hideous balls. Liverpool and Manchester United fans are now viewed as part of PR England:
As always, the TV cameras and media will be focused on one of the biggest club fixtures in the world. I hope that supporters from both sides act in a responsible manner and enjoy the game, no matter what the result.
Because it doesn’t matter if your team got thumped 5 nil so long as you didn’t swear on the telly and asked the police to use the toilet.
Posted: 9th, September 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Arsenal eye Zaza, Manchester City chase Isco, Manchester United are insane
Manchester City are in the market for… No, not a local youth who will rise through the ranks and bind the fans to their club. No. City wants another foreign-born midfielder they can spend squillions of pounds on. And that man is Isco.
Right now the 23-year-old plays for Real Madrid. But Spanish newspapers say Isco is tempting City and Arsenal. The Gunners have oodles of cash but won’t match any weekly wage packet City can offer.
A little oddly, Paris St-Germain defender Thiago Silva, 30, says the amount Manchester City and Man United spent on players this summer is “the edge of madness”. He fails to explain to the London Evening Standard if either Manchester club is in the same mental health clinic as PSG, which spent £50m on David Luiz.
Spain’s Fichajes website says the Gunners will also bid for Juventus striker Simone Zaza go in January. The 24-year-old striker is surplus to requirements in Turin.
And more Arsenal news in the shape of PSG’s Ezequiel Lavezzi, 30, who says new teammate Angel Di Maria is terrific and this will be final year in Paris, telling Telefoot “I’m very happy for new signing Di María, it’s always good to play with your friends. He is a great player, I hope he adapts quickly. I think it’s my last year in Paris. But I’m OK and I want to finish it the best way possible. You never know what can happen. Today I want to stay, tomorrow we’ll see.”
You can’t out a price on that kind of commitment?
Posted: 9th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Tottenham Balls: Emmanuel Adebayor is like a ‘negative woman’, says coach
On Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor, Togo head coach Tom Saintfiet had this to say:
“If you are dating a woman who does not want to respond positively, then you must look for another woman”
A striker is like a fine wine…
SEO Football – Arsenal: Henry’s strikers, Benzema and the three-year deal
SEO Football: a look at mainstream media football news stories written for robots.
Exclusive: Arsenal’s Benzema move, Chelsea’s Stones failure, De Gea’s Man Utd return
So says the Daily Express in a story that is not “exclusive” because it’s about the chatter on Alan Brazil’s talkSport podcast, which anyone can listen to anywhere.
In other Daily Express SEO Football balls:
Arsenal fans erupt on Twitter as club agree a three-year deal and Benzema anger boils over
A three-year deal for who?
A three-year deal with a lottery partner in China. And get a load of that “eruption”.
Next SEO Football headline:
Thierry Henry set for shock Arsenal return amid serious striker shortage
Thierry Henry is coaching the Under 18s (which he has been doing all season) – and that includes coaching their strikers!
Such are the facts in the SEO-led Daily Express.
Liverpool: Steven Gerrard’s Anfield return in the MSL off-season, Beckham’s two clubs and the brand
Steven Gerrard will not play for Liverpool in the MLS off-season. Well, maybe. MLS Commissioner Don Garber goes on the record:
“I don’t think so. And I had not heard that was something that was being contemplated…”
Garber recalled when David Beckham joined AC Milan from LA Galaxy in 2009:
“And people in our country said: ‘what? he plays for two teams? and you are trying to build a sport’. It was a challenge getting people to understand that. You then realise if he is playing for the Galaxy and Milan what a great thing that says about your league…
“(But) I don’t believe we are going to see many more off-season loans happening in our league particularly at what I would call the high-level designated players. It’s been a couple of years (since it has happened). I don’t remember the last one we have had – Robbie Keane with (Aston) Villa, (Thierry) Henry with Arsenal (both 2012).”
He went on to trail a competition where the Premier League winners and the FA Cup winners would take on their MLS equivalents in a mini-tournament.
“I would love to find a way that we could play our FA Cup champion and our league champion against an FA Cup and league champion tournament and play it in New York City every year. I would love to do that. If not every year, then every four years because I know they have other places that they want to go to grow their brands. Overall there is no doubt that there are opportunities for the MLS and Premier League to work more closely together on either a tournament or some other type of activity, but that (an idea) is about as far as it has gone.”
The “brand”. One day footballers will be ‘brand ambassadors’. Something to look forward to, there…
Posted: 9th, September 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Manchester United transfer news: Gareth Bale rumours is a Star U-turn
This will come as news to readers of the, er, Daily Star, which thundered:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 9th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Chelsea: Eva Carneiro ‘sues’ the Blues but the secretary tag need not be sexist
Chelsea club doctor Eva Carneiro is to sue the club, says the Sun. On what charge? What’s the crime?
Neil Curtis explains:
It is understood Carneiro could claim sexism in part of her case, alleging that Mourinho referred to her as ‘a secretary’.
Mourinho belittled her in public. It was pathetic. But surely a man can be a secretary? Alan Shaw is company secretary at Chelsea Football Club. John Alexander is Man United’s club secretary.
This is Arsenal club secretary David Miles:
Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Non-Executive Director of Manchester City, is Under Secretary to the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court. The board at Tottenham includes Kevan Watts, who spent seven years at H M Treasury which included two years as Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary.
So much for secretaries. In fact, we demand that more secretaries in football are women. Dr Carneiro could sue.
The Sun hears from Mary O’Rourke, a QC and medical expert, who opines:
“Ninety five per cent of secretaries are women. Everyone listening would have taken it as a comment that women don’t know anything about football. I have interpreted it as disrespectful to women supporters and women working in football.”
It was crass. It was dismissive and high-handed. It was very possibly a sexist slur. But in a court of law, it’s surely bunkum.
So much for the case. What of the facts? Well, the Sun’s report contains not a single word from Dr Carneiro, nor from a lawyer representing her.
Transfer Balls: Arsenal set to beat Spurs to Breel Embolo
Arsenal wants to sign FC Basel’s Breel Embolo, says the Daily Express. The Cameroon-born 18-year-old has scored 11 goals in 36 appearances for the Swiss outfit.
The paper says Wenger will bid £10million for the Swiss international in January.
It was only in July Steve Bates told his Sunday People readers that Embolo was headed to either West Ham or Tottenham. He didn’t.
The Times’s Gary Jacob says Basel want £20m for the player. Wenger will have to dig deeper.
Is Embolo any good? This report suggests he is:
Debuting in the 2013/14 Europa League against FC Salzburg aged 17, Embolo also made his league debut three days later, scoring his first professional goal only four minutes after coming off the bench.
Best not show that goal to desperate Manchester United. If they see it young Breel will be worth £30m plus…
Posted: 8th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Spurs | Comment
SEO Football: Liverpool ‘move’ Clyne in robot news masterclass, Daily Telegraph link Arsenal to Cavani
SEO Football: a look at mainstream media football news stories written for robots.
The Daily Express.
Scoop 1:
Liverpool star Nathaniel Clyne set for shock move
WHAT? He only joined in the summer!
The England international has been eyeing up the £600,000 house next to Rodgers’ Merseyside base…
Ah. He’s moving house.
Scoop 2:
Chelsea ace Terry in Arsenal transfer admission
John Terry is joining the Gunners? It’s an “admission“, after all.
JONN TERRY has revealed he would never leave Chelsea
John Terry not leaving Chelsea. Or to put it another way: “Terry in Manchester United transfer admission.”
Scoop 3:
Paul Pogba: Why I turned down £69m move to Chelsea
Pogba says he had no desire to leave Juventus. Mentions of Chelsea: nil.
The Express makes two headline out nothing by headlining another story:
Pogba’s Chelsea vow
Daily Telegraph:
Scoop 1:
Man Utd news: David de Gea could play against Liverpool
Or to put it another way: “David De Gea might not play against Liverpool.”
Scoop 2:
Gunners to bid for Edinson Cavani in January
That’s according to The Star via The Express, via some vague reports in Spain… According to said Spanish reports, PSG are willing to sell the striker if they receive a bid of around £45m.
Arsenal will offer £45m for a sub-Giroud finisher in January?
Such are the facts.
Posted: 8th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
