Making Media Molehills>Mountains
It’s a damning indictment of the lengths the media will go to to sell papers that a rumour spammed on Arsenal messageboards about a completely fabricated signing by Boca fans made it onto the back page of The Sun (amongst others). As the lead sport story.
Now, I deal with journalists every day – and I probably have to be a little careful what I say – but exactly how can a complete lie, spread on internet forums known for rumour-mongering and “my-brother’s-cleaner’s-best-mate-heard-a-bloke-in-the-pub” style speculation, suddenly be reported as fact on the back of the best read, and therefore most influential to the general footie fan, newspaper in the country?? It beggers belief.
I understand agents use the media as a tool to drive prices higher – that’s a given. And these papers have to fill their back pages somehow in the off season. But the amount of absolute tripe that is peddled is horrendous. I would wager that a good 70% of the transfer ‘gossip’ peddled in the press is the product of imagination not investigation. If you throw enough shit…
It would be annoying if it wasn’t so funny.
Goodbye, Arsene’s rose…
Sorry for the time away. Turns out being busy and blogging don’t mix. There’s a surprise.
So – Thierry has finally admitted the inevitable and jetted off to Barcelona to join Messi, Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Deco, Giuly, and Iniesta in what will probably be the most frightening attack in the world. He leaves for something of a paltry £16 million, considering he was being touted for nearer 50 last year. However, his contribution since then, bar a wonder-strike or two, has been relatively negligible. His swansong in English football came in defeat to PSV, and he totalled a mere 12 goals in 2006/7 – a sad and, at times, sulky end to what has been a world class spell at Arsenal.
Nary a summer these days goes by without the speculation, or reality, that one of Arsenal’s stars will leave. Petit, Overmars, Vieira, Henry. Arsenal didn’t want to sell any of them. With Pires and Lauren also departed, Ljungberg likely to move this transfer window, and Fabregas and even Wenger under increasing scrutiny, Arsenal are seemingly in meltdown. They have lost their captain and talisman, and only have the money they’ve made from transfers, and little else, to replace him and plug the fairly gaping holes in their squad from last time around.
And yet, the whispers grow – Arsene knows.
Henry, for all his match-turning brilliance, was not a good captain. He was selfish, egotistical, and impatient – not exactly a role model to hand-hold a generation of kids through their development. He wanted success badly with Arsenal, but was aware of the ticking of the clock, and ultimately it was fair that he moved somewhere where that success would be more immediate. His likely successor, Gilberto Silva, is everything Henry is not. He’s quiet, selfless and works hard. He led by example last year and showed rare fortitude in a team bereft of mental strength. He’s the man for the job. Arsenal, without Henry, will operate in much the same way.
The system’s merits are debatable but, without Henry, the team should be able to play without an Henry-shaped monkey on their back. Thierry’s influence and role within the Gunners was such that often, faced with either a shot or a pass to Henry, Thierry would find himself with the ball. The youngsters now have no-one to hand-off responsibility to in the final third, and this could be their defining moment. In the same way the departure of Van Nistelrooy revitalised a Man U side dragged down by continually looking for him in the box, Arsenal can now play to their strengths and express themselves without fear of recrimination. Wenger’s notorious for unearthing a gem or two – he needs two now more than ever but, as ever, Arsene knows.
Expect the unexpected – to see a resurgent Arsenal next year.
