Donkeys years ago I gave up buying the rags that pass for newspapers in this country. Part of that was around the bullshit on the front pages, ripping peoples lives to shreds on a daily basis in order to sell as many copies as possible. Oh, I realize if your average English citizen didn’t devour their garbage, then they wouldn’t sell it but I got sick of reading ugly stories about who’d been up to what in which lay-by this week.
That was only part of it though. The other part was my increasing distaste at what apparently passed for football journalism. Whether it was the latest England manager being royally slaughtered, or whichever player they fancied holding up as a scapegoat on any given week, the venom knew no bounds as it sought to suck in as many anti-England merchants as possible.
There’s no-one quite like the British press when it comes to knocking their own. Build them up to knock them down, isn’t that how it works? Fawned over one season and f***ed over the next because god forbid they should allow any one player/club/manager (unless it’s Liverpool) even a modicum of success. So naturally, give them the slightest bit of controversy to report on and the majority of them might as well sign their articles M’Lud.
Anyway, every now and then I’m reminded exactly what it is I loathe about our journalists and this weekend that reminder has come courtesy of the NOTW’s Andy Dunn. No doubt taking in this week’s news of our Fifa ban with dick firmly in one hand and bic biro in the other, here he is slating the Premier League whilst saying no-one can take the moral high ground – er, isn’t that exactly what he’s doing?
Dunn feels the need to point out this isn’t a vendetta against the Premier League or England and yet in the same sentence suggests our ‘self-importance, runs seamlessly from club to country.’ So what, now we’re not meant to recognize we have the best league in the world?
We’re a threat Mr Dunn, we threaten Blatter and Platini’s ideals of the sort of clubs who should dominate in the world of European football – and you, for some reason, are happy to buy into it being purely about what is morally right for these young players. As if either of those two actually know the meaning of the word morality. Is it morally correct to deny talented players the right to develop at some of the very top clubs, in the world’s top league? Is it morally right to stop players playing where they choose? Well that depends on the player and club in question as far as Blatter’s concerned apparently.
As for our ‘boasts about being the richest league in the world’, what utter rubbish – this summer, England’s four Champions League representatives made their biggest ever net profit on transfer dealings. Ok, so we bring good young players in from other clubs’ academy’s but we’re hardly holding anyone to ransom – there’s no ‘plucking’ or ‘spiriting away’ as Dunn sensationally puts it – they come because the Premier League is the best league in the world. Obviously, that really gets Blatter and Platini’s goat but what I don’t understand is why we as a nation (no doubt influenced by the media) seem happier to slate than celebrate what we have.
And Mr Dunn has the front to suggest it’s Chelsea who lack class!
Blue is the colour
