It’s official; Arsenal is of less interest than moaning tweets from WHU fans

Arsenal is of less interest than moaning tweets while football journalists need to take lessons from horoscope writers.

By Tony Attwood

Normally of course I normally see the games Arsenal play; at the Ems because I have a season ticket, away, by watching the match on TV, or occasionally going to games.  I even managed to see the two matches while I was in Cyrpus, thanks to friendly publicans.

But last night I couldn’t do it, as I was flying back from my hols, and got to my car in the Manchester airport carpark just as the second half started.  So I listened to Radio 5.

Fair enough, the commentary was not of Arsenal; there were a number of games on and the station has a public service duty to cover different clubs.  But what was odd that there were only a couple of updates from the ground during the whole 45 minutes, and these were very brief giving little more than the score.

Still I plodded on down the appalling M6 (now being converted to a smart motorway, whatever that is, but obviously not being converted in a very smart manner).  However I stayed listening to the station expecting a proper report on the game at the end, but instead got little more than a 20 second piece listing the scorers in order.  What took up a lot of time was three complete repeats of the live commentary of Rooney scoring (the “commentary” consisting mostly of two men shouting “ohhhhhh” at each other for about 30 seconds).  The other games got summaries and there was a lot about Man City’s winner, but of Arsenal… no.  No post match review.  No post match interview.

So we got to 10.15pm with the programme host telling us there was still “much more to come” on the show “including your tweets”.  And yes that is what we got (after another repeat of two grown men shouting “ohhhhh” at each other).  Primarily a reading of mindlessly mundane complaints from West Ham fans.

Now I must admit that after a lifetime of watching football I don’t put much store by what football journalists say or do, but when that is all you have as a way of gaining information it would be nice to know something – anything – about the game.

Of course the producers will say “we have a limited amount of time” – because when anyone complains that is what they always say – they probably have it on a reel to reel tape and just press the button, since they have been saying that since Eamonn Andrews presented the 5pm saturday sports report show from a studio in Dublin (yes really they couldn’t even bring themselves to run it from England).

Thankfully Blacksheep texted me the score and a brief commentary so I got an update waiting for my luggage, on getting in the car, and again when stopping at a service station.  But I don’t pay Blacksheep for that (don’t you dare start asking mate when we meet at the weekend), but I do pay the BBC each year and I expect better.

Anyway that is three wins in a row in the league, for the first time this season, and we are fourth.  But we must not forget this: “Tottenham on target to challenge Arsenal for north London bragging rights.”  Unfortunately for the writer, a certain Alan Smith, that was written in August 2010 in the Daily Telegraph.  Mind you the Daily Mail ran “Tottenham are poised to dominate north London” on 29 September 2011.

Or to be more up to date, “Arsenal have dominated Tottenham for years… until now” that from the Daily Mail by Adam Crafton on 17 November this month.  Ah well.  There’s tens of thousands more like this.

Curiously on the plane yesterday evening I found myself sitting next to a lady who has the job of replying to correspondents of a national newspaper, who write in with questions and comments about the publication’s daily horoscope.  And inevitably when you get two writers sitting next to each other there is a lot of talk about the oddities of one’s work and one’s editors and readers.   But it did strike me that the Mail could have sought her advice on the prediction lark.  “Tottenham are poised to dominate.”

But I guess football journalists are no different from astrologers.  They get it wrong, but never apologise.

I did get to see some of the Leicester Tottenham game in a bar in Pathos (we were dancing there not boozing I must add) and it struck me then that my prediction about Tottenham’s home form going into a tailspin this season has not been fully seen through, (won 3, drawn 3 lost 1 in the league) but their goalscoring has been fairly pathetic (9 for 5 against at Wembley).  Only Burnley’s supporters have seen fewer goals at their ground this season.

I wonder what happens to journalists who make crazy predictions?  Like the Daily Mirror with “Tottenham have stepped out of Arsenal’s shadow” on 15 November this year.   That was from Darren Lewis who added “It used to be Arsenal who ruled north London but now the Gunners are drifting as Spurs go from strength to strength”.    I wonder, has Mr Lewis written an apology?  I suspect not.

Of course the big problem is that these people keep their jobs.  Imagine an electrician who said “From now on the red lead is neutral”.  Probably be out by the end of the day.  Doesn’t happen with journos nor caption writers, as the Mirror also ran, in their article the line “Tottenham are now the dominant team in north London.”

Obviously I have no idea what is going to happen through the rest of the season, but for now, I think I shall be dropping a line to the horoscope department of a certain national daily and pointing out that maybe the lady in charge of handling their correspondence should take over the football column.  She  certainly couldn’t do any worse.

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