UNTOLD MEDIA: The Daily Mirror’s Arsenal Hypocrisy: A preliminary analysis

Posted on by Tony Attwood

The Daily Mirror’s Arsenal Hypocrisy: A preliminary analysis

By: Anne and Bobby Pliers

I’d like to begin this article by taking a look at the overall performances of EPL clubs in the Champions League thus far, taking into account the overall difficulty of the groups into which EPL clubs have been drawn. We’ll start with the best (Arsenal and Chelsea), and work our way down to the most disappointing so far (ManU and ManC).

Group F:

  • 1.      Marseille – 6
  • 2.      Arsenal – 4
  • 3.      Dortmund – 1
  • 4.      Olympiacos – 0

Arsenal was drawn into group F, a difficult group including Bundesliga Champions Dortmund, League 1 runners up Marseille, and Greek Champions Olympiacos. Following an away draw against German champions Dortmund and a home victory over Olympiacos, Arsenal’s  4 points currently have them in second place in the group.

Group E

  • 1.      Chelsea – 4
  • 2.      Leverkusen – 3
  • 3.      Valencia – 2
  • 4.      Genk – 1

Chelsea was drawn into Group E, which includes German runners up Leverkusen, La Liga 3rd place finishers Valencia, and Belgian champions Genk. Despite receiving what is arguably a slightly easier draw than Arsenal, Chelsea has still earned the same number of points: 4, following a home win over Leverkusen and an away draw against Valencia.

But now, moving on to the more disappointing performers: Manchester City and Manchester United.

Group A

  • 1.      Bayern Munich – 6
  • 2.      Napoli – 4
  • 3.      Man City – 1
  • 4.      Villarreal – 0

Manchester City was drawn into Group A, against German powerhouse (and 3rd place finishers) Bayern Munich, Serie A 3rd place Napoli, and La Liga 4th place Villarreal. Although Man City’s draw is comparable to Arsenal’s in terms of difficulty, Manchester City has not fared nearly as well. They are currently in 3rd place in the group, with only one point (following a home draw against Napoli and an away loss against Bayern Munich).

Group C

  • 1.      Basel – 4
  • 2.      Benfica – 4
  • 3.      Manchester United – 2
  • 4.      Otelul Galati – 0

Finally, ManU was drawn into Group C, against Swiss Champions Basel, Portuguese runners up Benfica, and  Romanian champions Otelul Galati. Despite having what is clearly the easiest draw of any EPL club, ManU is still only in 3rd place with 2 points, following an away draw against Benfica and a home draw against Basel.

So, how has the press treated Arsenal’s superior performance in the Champions League up to this point? Just using the Mirror as an example, it appears that ManU is still getting a lot more credit, despite their inferior performance.  For example, here is how Mirror reporter David McDonnell reported on ManU’s recent draw against Basel:

Manchester United 3-3 Basle: Late Young equaliser spares Red Devils’ blushes

“Basle boss Thorsten Fink must hate the sight of Manchester United.

A member of the Bayern Munich side that lost the 1999 Champions League final to United in the blink of an eye by conceding two goals in added-time, Fink suffered fresh misery at the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson’s side last night.

Having stunned United to come from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 by plundering three second-half goals, all of them fully deserved, Fink’s enterprising Basel side were on the brink of causing a major upset and a remarkable victory at Old Trafford.

But from bitter personal experience, Fink knows more than anyone that giving up is simply not in United’s DNA. Ashley Young’s 90th-minute equaliser, 25 seconds from the end of normal time, was a savagely cruel reminder of that…

Alexander Frei stepped up to convert the penalty with a flourish, to leave United staring at an unthinkable defeat. But, as Fink will testify, United can never be written off, Young nodding in Nani’s cross at the far post to rescue Ferguson’s side from what would have been a humiliating and chastening defeat.”

But what about the implications of a “humiliating and chastening” draw against Basel at Old Trafford? Surely more was expected of the reigning EPL champions than that? And yet, McDonnell chose to spin the story as a stirring comeback, rather than the truth, which is that ManU has fallen well short of expectations in the CL thus far.

But moving on from that, let’s take a look at how the Mirror has covered one of the top performing EPL clubs in the CL thus far: Arsenal. This brings us around to the reporting of John Cross, a self-proclaimed “Gooner,” who wrote the Arsenal-Olympiacos match report, and who’s reporting Untold Media will be examining in much more detail later.

But in this instance, let’s just take a look at the spin that Cross put on Arsenal’s victory over Olympiacos:

Arsenal 2-1 Olympiacos: Oxlade-Chamberlain scores on Euro debut but Gunners defence at fault again

“Arsene Wenger would not have been good company in the posh seats last night.

Wenger, banished to the directors’ box as he completed his UEFA touchline ban, was up and down like a yo-yo as Arsenal gave him another torturous evening.

Thankfully, keeper Wojciech Szczesny played another blinder to ensure Arsenal were the only English team to win in the Champions League this week.
It puts Arsenal firmly on track to qualify from Group F which is a good achievement considering their long list of injuries….

It was a let-off for Arsenal but Wenger will also know that such goodwill and fortune is unlikely to be offered at White Hart Lane on Sunday.”

So, Arsenal only won against Olympiacos as a result of “goodwill and fortune?” Funny, I was watching the match myself, and I was under the impression that Arsenal put in a fairly dominant performance against Olympiacos.

Sure, Cross is correct when he says that Arsenal showed some defensive lapses. However, we should also remember that Arsenal’s back line of Sagna, Mertesacker, Song, and Santos had hardly ever played together before this particular match.

Also, while there are many articles, across various media outlets, mentioning Arsenal’s “defensive weaknesses” on the night, these articles almost uniformly fail to mention the fact that Arsenal was threatening Olympiacos’ goal throughout the match, and could easily (and probably should) have scored more than two goals.

So, is this type of double standard consistent with the Mirror’s previous reporting on Arsenal? For that, I turn things over to Untold Media contributor Bobby Pliers, and his excellent analysis of some of the Mirror’s previous reporting:

“If ever we needed an illustration of how differently teams are reported in the Daily Mirror, these two articles sum up the game that is being waged in some sections of the media currently.  Arsenal fans are often accused of being paranoid, and Arsenal accused of having a siege mentality. But there is something there, as these two articles prove.  The first article is by David Maddock, and is titled:

Why Liverpool’s defeat at Stoke convinced me the Reds are on the road back to greatness

In a nutshell, the article states that, despite the fact that Liverpool lost 1-0 at Stoke City, there is genuine hope because:

‘Liverpool dominated the game, created every single chance bar one, and should have won by a country mile.

They didn’t, not because they were scared of Stoke, but because their strikers took the afternoon off. Dubious penalty aside, they didn’t give the home side an opportunity worthy of the name. Basically, they didn’t give them a kick.

After watching Liverpool over the past decade or so play pragmatic, sometimes fearful football under three different managers, I can’t tell you how heartening this defeat was.

They lost, but on their own terms. They weren’t bullied by Stoke, cowed by them, or reduced to a shadow of a great club by simple tactics.’

However, how many times have Arsenal lost, having dominated a game, played our own way, etc, etc……….. When we lose, we are accused of being wasteful, playing tippy tappy football, or not changing our style to deal with the more robust teams in this league.  Wenger is accused of having no plan B, the strikers are accused of not being good enough…

The article then goes on to talk about the future, and the rebuilding process that Dalglish is currently undertaking:

‘History tells us, you can’t overhaul a 20-plus points gap to become Champions in a single season. That sort of chasm must be bridged steadily, over several years.

But to do it at all, Liverpool must be true to their history and identity, and adopt the playing style of a team that believes it can be Champions…which means making Stoke fearful of you, and not vice-versa.’

So, Liverpool have time, and no mention that they have not won a trophy in 5 years (that’s right, just 1 behind ourselves – yet ours is a mantra repeated at every opportunity!)

We then move onto the Arsenal article, written by our good friend John Cross (who Untold Media will be examining more closely in the near future):

Fans finally voting with their feet.. Silent Stan nowhere to be seen.. Just what is going on at Arsenal?

Cross’ article is more doom-mongering, I’m afraid, repeating the “Arsenal in crisis” line that the media started on back in the summer. The article starts by stating that tickets for the Bolton home game are now on general sale, which means anyone can buy them.  This is new territory for Arsenal (according to Cross) and most worrying.  Fans are not convinced by what they are seeing on the pitch, and are deciding to do other things on match days.  Cross writes that:

‘But when you put prices up by 6.5 per cent, fans expect value for money and if you sell £60million worth of talent then shouldn’t you be bringing in a few more stellar names, too?’

The article then asks why Arsenal didn’t break the bank for Hazard or Goetze.  Cross then has a pop at Wenger’s policy for buying young players (as this takes time for potential to be realized), and then sows some doubts for the future:

‘But it’s a long time to wait for the finished articles and an even bigger gamble on finishing fourth. They should have backed up the youngsters with more established players.

For all of the transfer scramble in the summer, Arsenal also missed the chance to do the most important deals of all.

Van Persie, Theo Walcott and Alex Song all have two years left on their contracts and, come next summer, will be in the same position as Nasri was this year.

That will mean they will not be in a hurry to sign now as they hold all of the aces and that is an increasing worry, especially if next summer’s transfer saga revolves around van Persie.

These are difficult times for Arsenal, never illustrated more clearly than their next Premier League home match against Bolton not being a sell-out.’

If all this wasn’t enough, Cross then asks questions of Stan Kroenke’s leadership of the club, drawing comparisons with Liverpool’s John W Henry (that old Liverpool comparison again).

Cross says that Kroenke isn’t vocal enough, and is taking a very distant charge of Arsenal. The article draws comparisons also with Abramovich, but fails to understand that Kroenke is not the Arsenal owner. He is just the majority shareholder, and therefore is in an entirely different position to both Henry and Abramovich.

This campaign shows no signs of abating. It will be interesting to see how it continues, should Arsenal go on a run of victories and good results in the next few months.”

Thank you for this insight, Bobby. And hopefully Arsenal will, in fact, continue on their current run of “victories and good results in the next few months.” If this occurs, it will provide us with a true measuring stick to judge the overall fairness of the media’s reporting on Arsenal.

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal

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43 Replies to “UNTOLD MEDIA: The Daily Mirror’s Arsenal Hypocrisy: A preliminary analysis”

  1. amazing how the press keeps complaining that Arsenal didn’t bring in a marquee signing. But it was confirmed that they were working on signing Mata, M’villa, Goetze and Cahill (and Hazard?). As Wenger stated it was a terrible summer and nothing went their way. They did try to bring world class players into the Emirates and only went down the other route when time was running out.

    And apparently Wenger is still too tight and didn’t open his purse when it was also confirmed that we bid along 35 Millions for Goetze. Next summer should be more successful when players are more willing to move after the Euros.

  2. mIK, When you say

    And apparently Wenger is still too tight and didn’t open his purse

    the key word is “apparently” – that is based on the media’s vision. Certainly not what the club said. I was at the AISA meeting with Mr Gazidis, and he gave a very different perspective.

  3. Think that come next summer, if Wenger is right on his financial predictions, a number of Europes teams will be forces to offload top players, hopefully at value. So will clubs like Everton and Bolton who have the banks circling.
    Hope John Cliche Cross feels very silly after his comments on Stan, after his passionate take on everything Arsenal, and especially Wenger in the Telegraph this week, our owner has gone up in my estimation no end. There are many types of votes of confidence but recent comments by Ivan and Stan leave to world in no doubt Wenger is backed to the hilt.
    I think John Cross has been using Le Grove as a barometer of Gooner opinion

  4. AISA do not appear to have made any attempt to have made a report on that meeting with Mr Gazidis. Perhaps it was for members only?

  5. Furthermore, when reporting on Arsenal and the other EPL teams in CL this week, no one mentioned that ManU conceded 3 times as many goals as the makeshift defence of Arsenal. neither did any report on the fantastic squad ManC have assembled still have problems when 1 player (maybe) decides not to play.

  7. What really grinds my gears is the number of gooners that suck up so much to John Moron Cross like he’s one of us.

    He’s not one of us and his articles are always wind ups. This is the idiot that tweeted “brilliant atmosphere” at sh*te heart lane while their fans were singing that vile song to Wenger.

    I’m glad a respectable blog has finally picked up on what a moron he actually is.

  8. Another person at the Mirror to watch is Darren Lewis. He talks about how we sung that song about Adebayor’s mum and dad… failed to mention once in his article that it was the scum fans who made that song up!!

  9. Forget all the doom and gloom bringers, they hate AFC and nothing changes that, not even if we won all four cups, they would still find something to complain about.
    \\
    I am much more relaxed watching AFC now, we (this team) is growing stronger day by day, starting to learn from their mistakes(unlike previous seasons), and the fact that so many are injured means that the players who are fit are getting games, and are blending together and slowly becoming dependable. New stars are being born and, as i am sure that in Jan we are getting additions, this team will surprise us this season.
    What is happening is that the team is now starting from zero, learning to play with one another, realising they are not “invincible” (yet) and really having to WORK which is good for AFC.
    Last few seasons i hated watching AFC play, knowing that they will charge at the other team like the “hare” and in the end the “tortoise” finishes the game off, now AFC are starting to play each game individually, adapting to the game as it proceeds.
    Sure, they will be some mistakes and everything will not always go our way, but i see a mentally stronger AFC team emerging this season, as the new CORE is built.
    So gooners, get behind the team, you all want to be a part of this team, which is going on to become even better than the invincible team, for sure.

  10. @ Anne and the Untold Media team, great work to all.

    I used to like reading sports news in all the papers but these days its all too predictable. Any story about the Arsenal is sure to mention 1. Lack of throphies is X amount of years. 2. Poor defence. 3. Stingy manager. So these days I only read a select number of blogs were the info is current and objective just like Untold. One story that almost sent me over the edge was after RvP score his 100th goal for the club and the next day which was a Sunday the media was already telling us he was leaving and will not sign a new contract. Gosh just making up sensational story about Arsenal seems to be the new sport for these whorenalists. Journalism is dead, long live whorenalists.

  11. Good article, clearly demonstrating the farcical media-campaign which continues to go on and on, regardless of how the actual results are panning out.

    I just wanted to point out one more thing about the “report” from our CL game against Olympiakos by our dear “Gooner” Friend, Mr. John Cross. This was part of the report that he had put up straight after the game…
    Arsenal’s defending was so poor that he could easily see Tottenham running up a cricket score against Arsenal over the weekend. (Unless I am completely mistaken, we conceded 1 poor goal and worked very well to deny them too much else through the entire 2nd half… how that means that the Sp*rs are going to run up a cricket score against us, I just don’t get!!!)
    He later on chose to make a “comparision” of the (rock-solid) Tottenham defense and the (pathetic) Arsenal defense by ignoring the first 2 THFC games of the season, where they conceded something like 8 goals, and then saying Arsenal in comparision has one of the worst defensive record, conceding 14 in PL so far.
    Great comparision I guess when you compare 3 PL games played by Tottenham against 6 games played by Arsenal – and choose to intentionally leave out their 2 worst performances (defensively or otherwise.)

    I later had tweeted him (when the “cricket score” line and the “comparision” had gone missing) and the response was the original article had got super-seeded later on with another edition, as that’s how the newspaper industry works and was also quickly reminded about being paranoid for questioning him – as he thought he was more critical of THFC… Seriously? That was worth a laugh.

    Anyways, your efforts have always been impressive and I am happy that someone is putting in the hard work to expose the shameless and incessant Arsenal-bashing going on all across media.

    Keep up the good work!
    COYG,
    Jay.

  12. John ‘double’ Cross often comments on Talkshite and to hear him you would never guess he is supposedly an Arsenal supporter. When people hear so called Arsenal fans such as Cross and Stewert Robson slagging off the club and manager it does more damage than non Arsenal people doing the same thing and reinforces all this negativity. With friends like him who needs enemies.

  13. I will never in my life read “Le Moan”( Le Grove) again. They absolutely hate the club, players n mostly AW, it’s unbelievable at times. The minute I read that AW didn’t develope Cesc n Wilshere was developed by Owen Coyle(erm… in 6 mnths? really?), I told myself no more of this crap. 1 more thing whenever they learn the club’s generated profit they go nuts wanting us 2 spend all the money on transfers n our self sustainability is a propaganda?

  14. I am not a native speaker, so I am not sure if I expressed myself clearly Tony. But yes, that’s 100% the view the media gives of Wenger but certainly not mine. I can’t remember that I have even read one press article which gave Wenger credit for the type of players he tried to bring into the Emirates and about how much money he was willing to spend.

  15. @Mandy Dodd, All:

    Glad you mentioned LeGrove and Cross. I have more on that that I’m working to develop 🙂 Not sure when I’m going to be finished, so don’t expect it within the week, but as a work in progress, I’m definitely working along those lines.

  16. @T2T:

    I agree that the press coverage of all this has been quite hypocritical. That’s why I wanted to just give the straight breakdown of the CL results thus far. I think it’s self-evident 🙂 Thanks for commenting.

  17. @Franny:

    Glad that you noticed about Cross as well, and thanks for the tip off about Lewis. There are so many journalists out there that are worthy of further attention that we’re not going to be able to cover all of them, but Cross is one who you just can’t help noticing! Every week, something turns up about John Cross. So, I’m taking a closer look at him. Thanks for commenting.

  18. @Jay Desai:

    Thanks for pointing out that whole “cricket score” angle of the Cross article. I don’t think I ever read the version of the article that had that in it. Also

    @All:

    I just want to clarify, after looking back at the article again, that I wasn’t trying to accuse Arsenal of poor defending in the match. They had a few lapses, as you would expect from an inexperienced back line, but overall I found them to be pretty solid.

    I actually agree with para, just in the sense that I believe Arsenal has been groing stronger and stronger this season. I have my fingers crossed for a strong performance against Spurs tomorrow.

  19. @Da Yomster:

    I agree that this latest RVP spin is completely obnoxious (and ridiculous as well, considering the point we are at in the “negotiations”).

  20. @Mick:

    I agree COMPLETELY. If you hate Arsenal so much, at least have the cojones to admit that you’re not actually a fan 🙂

  21. @ Anne & Bobby Pliers

    This is an excellent review of Cross and his antics – he really is a disgrace, but unfortunately, not untypical.

  22. I said somewhere yesterday that it is time we do a thorough research on all anti-Arsenal blogs like le doom(grove), newspapers, magazines, writers, analysts, paundits, commentators, ex-players, coaches, tv and radio stations and blacklist and boycott them. I did that to a sports radio here in my country, Nigeria. I baned the radio station from airing in my house and stopped analysing for them. I boycott any negative headline about AFC these days. How I wish all true AFC fans will join me. What we own our team through thick and thin is support, not baseless predictions of doom, gloom, crisis and turning the fans against the players, manager and board. The most offensive fact is that our fans , ex-players and coaches are greatest sources of all the negative stories. The likes of Wright and mclint…can’t spell his name out of anger, make statements legends of other clubs would never say about their clubs. Fabregas shamed by saying he would never anything bad about AFC.

  23. Another great article from the Untold Media team. Keep it up I would say!

    I also read the “cricket score” quote. And I immediately was thinking: this is something for Untold. 😉

  24. Anne and Bobby P,

    Learning more about Cross John’s journey to the pinnacle has whet my appetite. Anyone know his trajectory from there to here. Was he always this Arsenal-phobic/toxic?

    Loved the way you’ve uncovered how dearest Liverpool have all the time in the world to return to their rightful place in top 4 glory after 5 trophyless seasons; whilst Arsenal are endlessly slated for going sans trophy in 6 seasons. It’s a great talking point to have surfaced; and so, a litmus test of the Arsenal=hating jorno.

    Speaking of which, it’s also remarkable how, as Anne predicted, that there’s been no detectable coverage on Arsene’s interchange last week with the anonymous (so far) jorno who, as Arsene noted was consistently for his removal, whilst the jorno denied he wanted Arsene removed. Given all the micro-coverage that Arsene gets, this open challenge to the media’s character-assassins goes unreported! This, to me is their collective circling of the wagons and, so, tacit admission that they indeed have had it in for him personally. He gets no press ink when he accuses his accusers; only when they can twist nearly everything he says into something negative. That silence is telling and, apart from Anne and a few stray comments since, there’s been no discernible pressure (articles, petititions, protest) brought on the media to admit that there’s been an Arsene-Out campaign; nor has anyone anywhere, so far, divulged the identity of the jorno with whom Arsene had that interchange. I think that Anne’s surfacing that tidbit should be continually followed up on; and perhaps those hereabouts who may have followed up on it could let us know if you’ve done so, and those who may not yet have followed up in any way could either protest this or try to find out who asked the question. This kind of media silence (which speaks volumes!) is ripe for our exposure; and for our being able to shed further light on the media’s herd behaviour and pack mentality when it’s time to twist most anything else that Arsene says.

    Tony, did anything about the media coverage – pro, con or in-between – come up at the member’s meeting with Gazidis?

  25. p.s. Is there anyone at AFC – such as a press officer – who can be queried on who Arsene slated for consistently wanting him out? Would someone lend any kind of helping hand to determine who that is? There was also some jorno about whom Arsene quipped (a bit sarcastically) had noticed had finally arrived at the press conference and who then asked a question of Arsene? It would be much more enlightening to media-watchers to have the jorno’s ask their questions on camera, or to state their name and media affiliation when they do ask their questions. This is common at many press conferences, even sports press conferences in the US, but I have no other point of reference in the UK than AFC press conferences, so perhaps this is standard practice and anonymity is simply preserved by design or by habit? If anyone could shed light on any of this it would be helpful to know for purposes of my more effective contributions to UM going forward. Cheers.

  26. Franny,
    Do you think that any song about anyone’s mom or dad are Ok, no matter who sang it or who made it up? Is singing such a song but not making it up really a higher standard of behavior than making it up in the first place? To me, it’s sad to see you make that distinction at all.

  27. The differential treatment of the media towards Liverpool is also being extended to how the referees are treating Liverpool apparently. Which makes me think of it as more than just a coincidence. Spending 100m might get you players like Carroll (by which I mean not very good) but it seems it will get you in the good books of the media and the referees.

    @bob
    I think you might be interpreting Wenger’s words to that journalist (whoever he was) slightly wrongly. I don’t think Wenger meant it to be aimed specifically at him. Rather at the media in general, with the focus on perhaps one or two in the room. (the annoying Scottish guy -I think he’s Scottish, based on his voice- who used to kick off the questions , and now follows the Arsenal TV editor, comes to mind)

    Also. You are right about the chant. Who comes up with it doesn’t matter. Except Tottenham have defended that chant as ‘not racist’ in the past and refused to take action, and have received no censure for it. Instead their manager maligns Arsenal fans for giving Adebayor ‘dog’s abuse’. Plus, from all I’ve read from Arsenal fans, the song that is sung about Adebayor by Gooners, is the same tune, but the words are 5 foot 4, We’ve got Arshavin, F*** Adebayor. That may or may not be completely true, but I’m inclined to believe the gooners rather than the media and Redknapp who accuse Arsenal fans of that, when they were silent about Tottenham supporters singing it.

  29. @Abhiskek Kumar

    Good spot that. He’s not necessarily SAYING that. He’s being a sneaky ****. Basically he quotes some ‘reports’ of a certain number of injuries to 22 established first team players.

    The questions should be what reports, and what constitutes an established first team player.

    He does say that the reports may not be accurate. But he then brings up the Birmingham case of feigning injury to a player to cover a drug ban. Which should have no relation with Arsenal, and is an insinuation. “But given Birmingham covered up a drugs ban to Gary O’Connor with an alleged injury problem, it is hard to say whether they (Arsenal) would tell us” whether these reports are accurate.

    “From that, it is hard not to think that Arsenal have had a tough time of things and the pressure on key players in an insufficiently deep squad is as good an explanation as any.”

    So basically. After all that. The only two choices are that the reports are true and that Arsenal have ‘an insufficiently deep squad”, or the reports are false, and Arsenal won’t confirm this because well..you know..certain clubs cover their drugs bans by feigning injuries.

    So again. He’s not saying Arsenal players use drugs. He’s given you a choice as to whether you believe that, or you must admit Arsenal have insufficient squad depth. Whichever you prefer.

  30. I think the press are being harder on Arsenal than Man Utd at the moment because Man Utd are clearly a superior side. Just because they struggled against Basel doesn’t mean the press are going to forget the start they have made to this season’s campaign.
    Arsenal are struggling and thus all of their results must be viewed in the context of them being a waning force slipping further and further down the pecking order. There is no conspiracy – the press are merely reflecting the continuing evolution of (and shifts within) the game.

    When Van Persie exits at stage right who will be to blame? Referees? The Daily Mirror? Pull yourselves together and stop being such a bunch of wet blankets!

  31. Why does Wenger keep making media statements-offering opinions to people whose principle aim is misrepresentation? Why doesn’t the club speak to the media via Arsenal.com and stop doing interviews? Does the print media in England report anything fairly, ever?

  32. @bob:

    Thanks for responding, and very good points. I as well would prefer that these particular comments by Arsene didn’t fade away so quickly, and I’m not sure how to isolate a particular journalist. I think I’ll work on this, though. As I said, I’m looking into “Cross John” a bit 🙂

  34. @Walter:

    Thank you as well, and thanks for confirming the “cricket score” aspect of the article.

  36. @Shard:

    Good point about Liverpool and the refs. I don’tknow if it’s just me but I f****** hate Dalglish.

  39. I really don’t know what to make of this… but I do know that reading Untold over the past year has changed my view of the media for ever!

    http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/2011/10/mailonline-makes-up-events-quotes-from.html
    http://www.fivechinesecrackers.com/2011/10/tabloid-bullshit-of-month-award.html

    Really does make you wonder how much you can believe of what you read in the media!

    On a separate note, did anybody read the Anti-Arsenal hatchet job in the Evening Standard yesterday?

  40. Pete…. this is so totally… well your links leave me speechless…

    Maybe Tony could link to them on the site somewhere so we can always point at them to those who say : “well it ain’t all that bad you know”.

    If you look at those links not related to football at all… it is bad. Just imagine how things work in football journalism…

  42. i dont know if its only me but im really starting to think that people inside our club actually read this blog…have you noticed how we have been retaliating against the media? first wenger dropping the bombshell on the reporter,then arsenal.com owning the sun,wilshere calling them a joke and now sczsney just battered darren lewis of the mirror…lets continue this campaign and expose all these so called journalists

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