How the football media is conning most of us, day after day after day

 

• In terms of squads, English clubs have a much tougher time than those in Germany or France
• In football the old order has changed, and Arsenal are benefitting enormously

By Tony Attwood

Quite often, when football journalists want a negative story to balance against their normal positivity about their favoured clubs and financiers, they look to Arsenal and write or talk about how they have bought the wrong players, have poor medical care,  playing styles that result in multiple injuries that last too long to heal, and have very critical supporters who don’t support the club through thick and thin.  If only Arsenal would sort out that lot, all would be fine.

Of course, they can’t write such things at the moment, as it is rather tough to find negatives when both the leagues Arsenal are playing in have figures as they currently do.  

 

	Competition	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Premier League	12	9	2	1	24	6	18	29
1	Champions League	5	5	0	0	14	1	13	15

 

And herein lies the problem, because there is a very big story rumbling on all the time in the background, and which is the eternal talk of many parents who have children who have been signed by football teams.  And that quite simply is the way that their children have been treated by the clubs.

Now let me say clearly from the outset that I don’t have dossiers on clubs treating children badly, but I do know the story is there, because I regularly hear it.  And yet when I turn to the broadcast and print media, there is not a mention, which seems very curious.  For surely, if parents and others are making this story up all the time, that in itself is a story.

Of course, the media do touch on this occasionally, as when another court case arises in which an ex-player makes plain how he was mistreated by a club as a child.  But mostly because a child is implicated, there is no reporting.   And so parents who have children working within a club tend not to speak out either because they think their child is just telling tales to excuse him not being picked, or because they think if they speak out, their child will never get another chance at another club.  In short, they fear the family being labelled as trouble makers, so they stay silent.   As does the media, where journalists fear that any negative suggestion about the activities of a club will lead to their outlet being blacklisted by the club.

But if you want to know which clubs have been involved in child abuse scandals, there is a good piece here. Mind you, it is around 12,000 words long, but it is packed with references back to the original cases and reports.   And yet from what I am told (but of course can’t prove, since I am a writer, not a private detective) it seems this is only a fraction of the allegations made against people who work with youngsters in football clubs.

But this was the issue that made me realise that if we just use broadcast media,  newspapers and blogs as a source of our information about football, we might be misled, or simply miss what is going on.  For the media don’t refer back to the multiple cases of child abuse that are already in the public domain, but they are very keen to report other misdemeanours. I do wonder why.

Certainly, a look at just one paper today (I chose the Telegraph, you can choose your own), showed they are currently running twelve negative football stories.  These all came from their site this morning… 

1. Liverpool power brokers ‘won the transfer window’ – now they must share the blame.
2. Why Sheffield United’s owners are the most calamitous in football.
3. Villa’s Europa League win marred by violent clashes between fans and police.
4. Arne Slot has a week to save his Liverpool job.
5. Club retain Earl’s Court stadium interest despite £10bn housing deal on site.
6. Newcastle accuse French police of ‘indiscriminately assaulting fans.’
7. Van Dijk’s worst performance reveals bigger problem.
8. After worst run in 72 years, Liverpool face an unimaginable Slot dilemma.
9. Ronaldo’s World Cup reprieve is an insult to football fans.
10. Brutal reality is that United are mid-table mediocrity in every sense.
11. Four reasons why title is Arsenal’s to lose.
12. Watch: Crystal Palace midfielder facing extended ban after putting opponent in headlock.
13. Man Utd’s lack of depth exposed in capitulation to arch rivals City.

Now there is every chance that you feel you are not influenced by the media, because research generally shows that people generally think they are less influenced by the media than others (see the alone-in-a-crowd-of-sheep effect if you want more on this topic of who believes what).   

There is also some more background on this in an article on the Psychology Today website: The Media Impacts Others Not Me. which is certainly worth reading if that is how you feel.