Football journalism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/oct/23/roy-keane-book-extract

found this pretty poor.

As a player, he was of his time by not being of his time: he captured the pre-millennium angst of the outsider who cannot understand the world of which he is part. In doing so he brought to mind a number of pop-culture characters of a similar disposition. Two in particular: Tyler Durden in Fight Club and Tony Soprano in The Sopranos. Like Keane, both raged, raged against the dying of society's light. There are other similarities. The intense adoration Keane receives evokes that of Tyler Durden, while his obtuse charisma, anti-heroism and scattergun frustration is shared by Tony Soprano. Keane, like Soprano, was raging for a better world and a better him. He has always been an incredibly complex man, a compelling fusion of instinctive intelligence and pathological desire.

back in your box.

Amused that they highlight the fact that Rafa gives them a quote for the front cover, and that the quote is "These are the writers as you don't normally see them: when they are fans with pens."

Not too sure that this is the ringing endorsement they think it is.

yeah exactly... fans with pens is as worrying a concept as monkeys with knives.

rob smyth can be pretty bad

definitely.

dunno if it's based on his stuff, but i've always felt there's a tendency on the guardian's football site to try and mention the wire at any given opportunity.

Like Colonel Kurtz, Ronnie Johnsen embodied the defeated machismo at the heart of the Western imperial project.

"pre-millenium angst", like what the fuck does this even mean? usually used to describe radiohead's music.

people felt a unique blend of unhappiness in erstwhile-present-day-year, 1999. the former current year has long been held up as a time of great and distinct feelings of things being rather rubbish.

Klebseron's arrival emboldened Trafford-watchers who had long been used to arrivals from Scandinavia and Holland but never from that far afield. It was said that as he exited the taxi to be greeted by Paul Scholes, he had never seen a person so pale before. Like Doug Liman's thrilling 1999 cult film 'Go', mutltiple narratives were coinciding here, different ideas about what it meant to be a Manchester United player.

aw, i was hoping that was real

Are you aware of the Sachin Nakrani affair, btw?

no, sadly

what's that?

a link to a summary:
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/guardian-journo-will-regret-starting-battle-with-united-fans/

ugh at that website.

That's even more numbing than the Duncan thingy story

Put this here 'cos these guys are too old to be child prodigies as such.

In Bed With Maradona did their list of the 100 best young players in the world this time last year and now they're assessing their progress one year on. Not an obscure list, the vast majority most people will have seen play or would have heard about. The new list comes out Dec 19.

Last year's 100 - http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal/2011/12/21/the-ibwm-100-the-class-of-2012.html

Progress report on first 20 of last year's 100 - http://inbedwithmaradona.com/the-100-2012-intro/ Click on the names on right hand side.

Some excellent photos as well.

Looked to see if Victor Wanyama made the list, now even more depressed about my impending forties by realising he can still make the next one :(

(putting this here coz a thread on Nigerian football would probably sink without trace)

Interesting exchange on twitter recently between Jonathan Wilson and Nigerian football writer Colin Udoh on the scarcity of away wins in the Nigerian league.

"Jonathan Wilson ‏@jonawils
@ColinUdoh Any explanation as to the poor away form in the Nigerian league? pic.twitter.com/YAetMgqs"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A8KQHu2CAAA3-Mg.png

Colin Udoh ‏@ColinUdoh
@jonawils
"Corruption/intimidation of match officials, intimidation of away team arising from desperation of home teams to win."
"I have seen a player from an away team deliberately miss what could have been a point-saving PK, just so his side leave unharmed"
"And a GK on fire on the day being begged by his team mates to let home team score after 3-min injury time stretched to nearly 15"
"you hear club officials talk about 'tactical' and 'playing the politics of the game'. It's just double-speak for bribing refs"
"the big (rich) teams that win or draw away from home, usually pay refs to allow 'fair-play', meaning a level playing field."
"I have been assaulted twice in two different match venues. Once for protecting a cameraman filming bizarre ref calls"
"I'll try and tell you a story about a young ref in a few tweets
here's the story. This young ref had just been promoted to the top level, and given a quite critical game to handle
Before he left, away team sent an emissary to his house to 'settle' him. He refused. Claiming he would just do his job.
On arrival in match city, home team sent their own emissary. He turned them down too. On match day, he did a fab job
by his and every standard. After the game, home fans attacked him claiming he was 'settled' by away team. Security got him away
At his hotel, away fans were waiting to assault him, claiming he had been settled by home team.
so he ended up taking a beating from both sides. He took slaps, blows, punches. After that, he started to 'behave'"

The controversial 4-1-9 formation: Jigawa Golden Stars won't win the Nigerian Premier League 2013/14

Bizarre that you can be relegated without losing a single home game because you don't have enough bribe money to win an away game o_O

Are you talking about Rangers?

http://www.insidefutbol.com/2012/12/21/joey-barton-mocks-end-of-world-mayan-prediction/75387/?

haha.

James Milner was speaking at the opening of the Etihad Campus Metrolink tram station, which will operate for matchgoing fans for the first time on Sunday against Leeds United. Milner, along with Roberto Mancini, Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany, has recorded public announcement messages on the trams which passengers will hear.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2289463/Martin-Samuel--The-Debate-Studs-high-tackle-red-card-Not-sure-fuss-Eh-Manchester-United-lost.html

they be callin him zingarevich

So just for that, here’s another little belter from Nigeria.

yeah samuel likes to leave a trailing leg somewhere in pfunkboy's record collection from time to time

it's been a long time coming but finally i get to see a daily mail columnist call someone a cunt. triffic stuff

Do any of you follow Henry Winter on Twitter? I don't know why I do, because he just self-importantly tweets robotic match updates non-stop. Every tweet comes with a silent FACT after it.

Antiquated old twats like Hugh Keevins and Jim Traynor have no idea how modern communication works.

And, a year on, Jim Traynor is now Head of Communications at The Rangers. He still has no idea how modern communication works. He writes a blog on the Rangers website in which he slags off Alex Thomson (Chief Correspondent of Channel 4 News) and dismisses him as a blogger (a dirty word for Traynor who likes to think of himself as a Proper Journalist) in his, er, blog, purely because Thomson uses the internet to relay the results of his investigations that aren't always featured heavily on the actual TV news programme. Like, y'know, how Traynor uses the Rangers website now that he doesn't has editorial leeway on the Record and two hours on Radio Scotland every week to talk pish about how great (The) Rangers are/were.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2289463/Martin-Samuel--The-Debate-Studs-high-tackle-red-card-Not-sure-fuss-Eh-Manchester-United-lost.html

they be callin him zingarevich

― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 7 March 2013 22:42 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Too many photos interrupting the shite in between. Football writing should be something I can surreptitiously read at work.

xp to Ailsa

Jim Traynor hasn't learned the DNFTT rule of Internets. Repeatedly publishing articles responding to any old shite from a handful of Celtic bloggers and Alex Thomson means they've won. Why would you bother refuting some blog by a lone freelancer in Donegal unless there was something to it?

He also hasn't worked out (despite being a journalist for his entire adult life until now) that publishing a half/incomplete truth only leads to more awkward questions than would an outright denial or a refusal to even engage. He's quickly forgotten how his former peers work.

I don't think that's how his former peers work, tbh (hi dere Keith Jackson). And now he's couched in a role where he thinks his remit is to preach entirely to the converted (except the likes of us who read his ramblings to point and laugh) so accuracy is even less of a requirement.

I really find it mystifying that any club with aims to be taken seriously would employ a shambling idiot with a complete disdain for social media to head up their communications and PR. Instead they have someone who basically makes like me on here going "um, that man said something nasty about my team, let's slag him off for it". Except that I'm not the PR face of anything, just a random bored drone who needs a wee distraction from my work every now and then.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jun/18/newcastleunited-alan-pardew

idk is it just me or is this kind of a poor fucking show from a major media organ

like they may as well just go the whole hog and illustrate every story with a lolcat if they're really so desperate for the pageviews

I didn't check it out, but I'm sure that yesterday they had audio of a robot voice reading the thing.

unless it was a daft punk troggs tape, idk

list of informative and concise paul wilson columns

LEAGUE WINNERS

Louise Taylor

Tottenham. Europa League involvement and the potential loss of Gareth Bale are worries but Roberto Soldado and Paulinho look excellent signings and AVB is a class coach.

ban her

Not sure what I'm doing reading the Guardian's 'Rumour Mill' now that they are liveblogging the transfer world, but jesus christ it's irritating.

But Alan Pardew will not be outdone. No one outdoes Alan Pardew, for he is Alan Pardew, and Alan Pardew is Alan Pardew. Alan Pardew! Therefore he has been dragged to France by Joe Kinnear and Graham Carr, and ordered to sit in silence with his finger on his lips while they watched Bafétimbi Gomis and Yoann Gourcuff. Then, he was forced to eat his dinner, every last bit of it, and sent to bed while the big boys discussed what to do. He is Alan Pardew.

Meanwhile, relief for Manchester United: sometimes this week, Besiktas plan to sign their "left-back" Alexander Büttner on loan. No one at the club is quite sure why, but they are rumoured to have a vacancy for a free-kick mannequin.

And United will also be relieved to learn that after an intense period of intense psychotherapy and physical rehabilitation, Everton have recovered from the derision and insult that massacred their Monday. It has been a long road back, but, eventually, they made it, and they're here, and they're ready, and they survived, and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, of course there will be occasional lapses waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, it's to be expected, triggers, breathe, waaaaaaaah waaaaaaaaaaaah, calm. But they're here, and in the way that light can be found in the darkest places, a bulb has illuminated in the dinky little head of Roberto Martínez: sign James McCarthy from Wigan. Martínez plans to pay Wigan as much as possible, to avoid visiting upon them the same horror endured by him.

Their house style is fucking abysmal. They all try to get this mixture of cynicism and whimsy across while straining really hard to let everyone know that they are so far above caring about stupid football.

I thought that was David Peace for a minute

Their house style is fucking abysmal. They all try to get this mixture of cynicism and whimsy across while straining really hard to let everyone know that they are so far above caring about stupid football.

otm. it's like lawro with a better education.

I thought that was David Peace for a minute

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 10:29 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

you know who it is though right

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/4/5/1302019018185/Daniel_Harries.jpg

http://rlv.zcache.com/im_that_guy-r1289ab0e64804baa8a45db357ac030b9_v9wfy_8byvr_324.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/4/5/1302019018185/Daniel_Harries.jpg

They clearly got a good response to the original OBOs/MBMs written by Ronay/Smyth/Murray and have told all subsequent writers to just copy them. Jacob Steinburg seemingly chose to ape Scott Murray wholesale while most of the others, including That Guy, just write a terrible mish-mash of them all, devoid of any actual personality or feeling.

Yeah the Rumour Mill is total pish. The Fiver's pretty hit and miss depending on who's writing it but even on its off days it's comedy gold compared to:

Iker Casillas, the Real Madrid goalkeeper, has been displaced by Diego López, and accordingly, Arsenal would like to sign the former. In particular, they are attracted by his ability to play centre-back, right-back, centre-forward, manager, coach and chairman simultaneously.