On the edge of Beasley Street
As you may or may not be aware, former News of the World journalist Rob Beasley has a book out on Jose Mourinho. The book has caused something of a stir, principally because it publishes emails, phone calls and conversations between Beasley and Mourinho that Mourinho presumably thought would be kept private. Because, y’know, they were private. At best, it’s a bit of a d*ck move.
Of more amusement to Mediawatch is the fact that the book contains some absolutely sensational paragraphs. Over the next few days (f*ck it, this stuff might last for weeks), we will present you a passage without comment. Enjoy.
And so, presented without comment…
‘FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Lampard jetted off __with England to the World Cup in Brazil that summer. The great and the good of football, and quite a few of the evil and corrupt in the game, were also attending the greatest show on earth. Not Jose. He was heading to Africa to tackle the greatest scandal: 842 million starving people around the planet. The Chelsea boss was swapping the touchline for the front line in the fight to eradicate hunger around the globe.’
Laying it on a little too thick
‘In Rooney, it seemed that the script was written. He looked energised and hungry and he soon delivered a shot that flew narrowly wide, prompting gasps from the crowd. In the end, Rooney’s efforts were to no avail, but it made for tantalising theatre… the sight of Rooney calming an ugly situation that was sparked initially by Gary Cahill’s foul challenge underlined the value he still has to the group’
‘What it did prove is that he is not done yet. Even if he does not feature from the start, this game underlined the value he still has in the squad.’ – Matt Lawton, Daily Mail.
Steady on old thing…
‘Hendo Watch’
Things included in Mike McGrath’s ‘Hendo Watch’ feature in The Sun:
– ‘Decent audition’
– ‘Hendo was the player organising the troops’
– ‘…trying to get something on a tricky night’
– ‘…dictate play from the back’
– ‘…had an important role’
Things excluded in Mike McGrath’s ‘Hendo Watch’ feature in The Sun:
– That abysmal no-look backpass.
O Captain! My Captain!
‘Mediawatch offers its genuine applause to the Daily Mail’s Dominic King for trying to paint a rose-tinted picture of Jordan Henderson’s first night as England captain, but see if you can spot where he was forced to give the game away:
‘The news agenda for the past 48 hours has, of course, revolved around Wayne Rooney being axed but while that hullabaloo has raged, one man has quietly gone about his business and digested his little piece of history.
‘Henderson is not someone who hides. He never has been. So when Southgate handed him the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of a footballing icon from Merseyside – he took the Liverpool captaincy off Steven Gerrard, remember – he was not going to wilt.
‘From the moment he sprinted onto the Stadion Stozice’s spongy pitch at 8.08pm local time, his game face was on. While some of his colleagues laughed and shared a joke at times during the warm up, Henderson’s expression never changed. A job needed to be done.
‘If England were going to fall short in this Group F assignment, it was not going to be down to him. He gathered the squad in a huddle before the game started, imploring them to give a big effort, and made a point of being in position to get the ball off Daniel Sturridge from the kick-off.
‘So how did he play? So how did he play? It wasn’t his finest evening.’
It was all going so well until that last bloody line.
Slight difference of opinion #1
The following headlines are on feature pieces in Wednesday’s papers:
‘Henderson fails to lead by example’ – Matthew Dunn, Daily Express.
‘Three Lions armband in safe Hends __with Jordan in command’ – Darren Lewis, Daily Mirror.
It’s fair to say that Henderson’s performance has divided opinion.
Slight difference opinion #2
‘Stones – Nearly got undone as he tried to overplay in dangerous areas early on. Struggled badly’ – Daily Mirror.
‘John Stones: One shaky moment aside, the Man City defender was imperious tonight. If only his confidence on the ball was replicated by his team-mates’ – Daily Express.
The Daily Mail’s ‘best 100 players’: A quick update
Twenty-seven of the 60 players named so far are based in the Premier League. That’s quite a strong ratio to every other league in the world.
Keep your shirt on
‘Red Monday – Liverpool v Manchester United: Do red shirts win titles?’ reads the headline on Skysports.com.
‘Liverpool and Manchester United go head-to-head on Monday Night Football, when red flags, scarves and replica jerseys will be on display in both the home and away sections.
‘The pair have won 38 English titles between them – contributing to the perception that red shirts equal success in football. Indeed, a remarkable 44.7 per cent of title-winning clubs have worn red home shirts since 1889, according to a Sky Sports study.’
A few things that sprung to Mediawatch’s mind:
1) Liverpool and Manchester United wear red. The two most dominant teams in English football history (38 titles between them) wearing the same colour is one way to massively skew the data.
2) These are only home shirts. Do white away shirts win titles?
3) Mediawatch understands the basic loose theory on red shirts, but is going to put its neck on the line to suggest that financial power, standard of players, standard of manager, facilities, strength of academy and depth of coaching are all infinitely more important.
The glorious return of acewatch
‘Tottenham leading race to sign Portuguese ace: Arsenal and Liverpool have scouted him too’ – Daily Star.
No it’s not Cristiano Ronaldo, but Leonardo Da Silva Lopes. He’s 17 and has played 18 games for Peterborough United.
Breaking news
‘Paul Pogba gets new haircut ahead of Red Monday’ – Skysports.com.
All that access. All those pundits. All that airtime. And this.
Weird headline of the day
‘The football buzzwords, clichés and stock phrases that need to die, immediately’ – Daily Telegraph.
Is one of them the phrase ‘needs to die, immediately’?
Misleading headline of the day
‘The Premier League’s money men: From Abramovich to Henry, who owns your club and how much are they are really worth?’ – MailOnline.
As ‘dream wrecker’ Katharina Liebherr and Denise Coates can testify, they even let women own football clubs now. Political correctness gone mad.
And another headline of our times
‘RIP CHAMAKH’S HAIR: Marouane Chamakh’s drastic haircut mocked by Twitter users after move to Cardiff’ – The Sun.
Recommended reading
Jonathan Liew on Lionel Messi’s new boots.
The Guardian’s round-up of the World Cup qualifiers.
Luis Miguel Echegaray on Paolo Guerrero.