Linekar: the perfect font of media drivel, but he shouldn’t expect us to believe any of it.

By Tony Attwood

There’s an article by Ed Aarons, Guardian Sport’s deputy news editor, in which he says that “Even Lineker, who describes himself as “a proper boyhood fan” who went home and away to watch his hometown team from the age of seven, could not have dreamed what has happened to Leicester over the last few months.”

Of course Lineker might have REM sleep deficiency (which would cause a lack of dreaming) or he might just be rather unimaginative in his dreaming, as he appears to be in his speaking, but either way, since Lineker is obviously able to make up a lot of other stuff, we would expect him to be able to do it asleep as well as when awake.   After all Leicester are hardly the first club suddenly to bounce up the league all in a flurry.

The problem is however that the mystique presented by the media (Lineker very much included) is that Leicester this season is a unique phenomenon.  The mystique is presented by one media outlet, replicated by others, repeated and repeated and it becomes true.  Leicester are a one-off.

A bit like saying, “Arsenal have more injuries than anyone else, and it is all Wenger’s fault.”  Such an argument falls to bits when we find out that Arsenal don’t get more injuries that anyone else.  But say it enough, and it becomes true.   Or, “Arsenal have more red cards than any other team,” which was said over and over some ten years ago.  Quite untrue.  But say it enough…

Of course if you know your football history you’ll know it is all a collection of cauliflowers.  Indeed one could pick any date to prove it – but since I am currently writing the history of Arsenal in the 1970s on the Arsenal History Society site, I’ll start with 1977/8.  Nottingham Forest had come third in the 2nd division the year before, and won the 1st division that season by seven points.

But that was a one off wasn’t it?  Well no as in 1981 Aston Villa won the league after being a mid-table club after winning promotion in 1975 and then becoming a mid-table 1st division club.  The following year they won the European Cup.

Or Ipswich who just avoided relegation in 1978 and came second in 1982.  Or Watford, promoted in 1982 and came second in the 1st division in 1983.  Or perennial mid-tablers Southampton reaching second in 1984.

OK you say, that’s the 70s and 80s, what about more recent timings?   Well, Crystal Palace came third out of nowhere in 1991.  Sheffield Wednesday ditto in 1992.  Norwich City 1993.

All right, you scream, metaphorically of course.  What about the Premier League era?

Here we have Blackburn, 6th in the second tier in 1992 winning the Premier League in 1995.  Leeds, 4th in the Premier in 1999, and third in 2000, having won it in 1992 and missed relegation by two points in 1993.

And then there is Newcastle who after years in the lower part of the table, missing relegation by a few points suddenly coming 3rd in 2003.   I know they are historically called a “big club” but in reality had been getting nowhere much for quite a while.

Or Everton missing relegation by one place in 2004 getting a top four finish in 2005.  It happens.

And do remember that although there is a lot of simplistic media chatter about there being a “big four” in terms of clubs, there actually isn’t.  Since Blackburn won the league, the only teams to do this have been Man City, Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal.  But Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle and Leeds have all also managed a top four finish this century.

Yes, we can say there is a Big Four plus Tottenham and Liverpool, but that does not preclude interlopers.

However it suits G Lineker and his agenda for Leicester to be seen as the great, amazing, incredible gate-crashers to the big boys’ party, but it simply doesn’t fit the historic facts.  Think of Ipswich who spent three dizzy years in the top three before falling back towards their natural habitat.  It happens.

It suits, because it is part of the Linekerian narrative of sniggering at Arsenal.   And he was at it again this week.

The story was not something that would normally make the news: Leicester scout Ben Wrigglesworth has accepted a new post as a video scout at Arsenal.

Lineker said “I love how Arsenal nicked the wrong scout” after not taking Steve Walsh from Leicester.  After all this time we expect Lineker to be sarcastic and rude about Arsenal – he generally is – but to knock a man like Ben Wrigglesworth who has been a valued employee at Leicester, by suggesting he’s such a lesser person than his colleague and that Arsenal “nicked” the wrong man is just insulting to Leicester, Ben Wrigglesworth, and Arsenal.   And that is before we even consider the suggestion that Arsenal might not have done their homework properly.

It is rather like that somewhat off beam fellow who comes onto Untold occasionally and who said that Wenger was so stupid he had bought Mo Elneny without scouting him, played him for 30 minutes realised how bad he was and then dropped him in favour of the useless Flamini, ignorant of the fact that as part of the signing deal Elneny had been guaranteed time with his wife who was about to give birth.

I suppose what is particularly insulting – and this is what Linekar does all the time – is the way he simplifies the real world and expects us to accept that this childish reality he sets forth is what the world is like.  Consider this outburst:

“Steve Walsh is the guy who found these players and bought them in,” he added. “I know when he found Mahrez he was sent to watch someone else and came back with Mahrez.”

Does he really expect us to believe that a scout goes looking for players like I go shopping for wine in Tesco?  “I went to get some Chilean Merlot, but they were out of stock some I came back with some Australian Cabinet Sauvignon instead.”  Is that how football works in the Linekerian world of makebelieve fantasy?  I guess so.

For goodness sake, we have Danny Karbassiyoon writing on Untold telling us just how often he goes to see players, and the Linekar manifestation thinks we will take this gibberish about going to get one player and coming back with another????

But he is with the BBC, so the story is put out – this is amazing, this has never happened before, they are top of the league, the world has not seen anything like this ever, and their scout goes to see one player and comes back with another, and Arsenal are worried and so say, “quick let’s nick the Leicester scout whose put them top of the league” and they get the wrong man because they don’t even bother to check.

Oh really.

The football media has indeed degenerated into making up stories which are palpably untrue, but for Linekar to think we actually fall for all this garbage is a step too far.   We expect him to spout tripe, but to think that anyone believes him is just lunatic.

Recent posts

Anniversaries

  • 10 February 2001: Arsenal 1 Ipswich 0.  (Henry).  Arsenal were five points ahead of Liverpool despite Arsenal having sold Anelka, Overmars and Petit for £55m, but lost the next game 6-1 to Man U.
  • 10 February 2002: Everton 0 Arsenal 1 (Wiltord) at the start of 13 a match winning streak, and as part of a 22 match unbeaten run.  League match 26 of the 3rd Double season.

 

 

47 Replies to “Linekar: the perfect font of media drivel, but he shouldn’t expect us to believe any of it.”

  1. Steve Walsh maybe their top scout (the boss) but we’ve already got one of those (he’s called Steve Rowley I think). What we obviously needed was someone with different knowledge and contacts to advise our existing set-up. That’s what we got. Lineker – who felt so strongly about his boyhood club that he left at the first opportunity to get more money somewhere else (like Ben Wrigglesworth probably) – seems to forget that people move around and move on to better themselves. Funny that!

  2. mate go on the gooner tonight a number of bloggers are slaughtering wenger and arsenal over this very issue.
    i tried to have reasoned debate with one jeff wright but all you get is ridiculing of wenger the club and anyone who thinks wenger is anything other than an incompetent moneygrabber is an akb.

  3. Had just read about lineker in the DM, glad to come on here and see him
    pit firmly in his place, any chance of someone doing a piece on the so called journalist Martin Samuel who has a little bit on Flamini today calling him a thug for his “horrendous” tackle on Gosling, and then to back up his serial offender stance goes all the way back to a supposedly career threatening tackle on Corluka, recent then…

  4. ‘Does he really expect us to believe that a scout goes looking for players like I go shopping for wine in Tesco? “I went to get some Chilean Merlot, but they were out of stock some I came back with some Australian Cabinet Sauvignon instead.” Is that how football works in the Linekerian world of makebelieve fantasy? I guess so.’

    My copy of the history of Arsenal has myths in it as in the ‘energy tablets’ supposedly taken by players for a game against wet spam. So I have to be careful what I believe.

    With reference to this point of yours. My book says Herbert Chapman went to look at a certain player in the home team and came back with a player from the away team. Bastin by name who later was tagged ‘boy wonder’ having won a league champions medal and FA Cup before he was 21

    Whilst I agree with you that Linekar speaks with his brain at the end of tongue. Or may be his brain is in head it is just there is no link (despite his name) between brain and tongue.

    I would think that many a football scout has gone to a game to check or recheck on a player and found a better player hither to not known to him or the club.

    As to choosing wine. I know what I like but have been tempted to try other wines. You illustration breaks down. Because you can see a player’s performance before you buy it. The shops wont let you try before you buy so you don’t buy it but with a player as I have said you can check before you buy.

  5. Let’s consider this issue of the possible wrongful signing of Ben Wriggesworth by Arsenal on it’s merit and not on any prejudice or bias grounds.

    If”Arsenal might have not done their homework properly” before signing Ben Wrigglesworth who is the purported wrong video scout Arsenal have unknowingly signed instead of to have signed the right video scout Steve Walsh according to Gary Lineker. will be most unpardonable blunders committed by Arsenal if it turned out to be true as the story continues to unfold.

    The Boss should for sure clarify any ambiguity that could be surrounding the signing of Ben Wrigglesworth as video scout for Arsenal in his press conference on Friday to assure the Arsenal fans, Arsenal have not committed a blunder signing of any opportunist video scout. We are waiting to hear from Arsenal.

  6. Some reports say we are after Steve Walsh as well….but just reports.
    Leicester are certainly Linekers agenda….I just worry this weekend, we may find out they are others agenda as well if the team are not careful

  7. @Tony
    It was a tweet from Lineker. I just thought it was sour grapes in the first instance and in the second instance how would he know what Arsenal’s requirements or motives were in hiring for that position?

  8. @Mark

    Ever heard of wine tasting?!

    Yes I have heard of wine tasting. I have also heard of going to the supermarket thinking to buy a wine I know and like and coming away with one I have never tasted before.

    When you buy wine that is not available in a wine tasting context like a supermarket you are not normally allowed to ‘try before you buy’. You buy with out knowing what you are going to get.

    A pig in a poke situation, if ever there was one.

  9. Mmmm…so, if I understand Mr. Lineker, we make capricious, hasty and uninformed personnel decisions because of our inept manager.

    Yet, others say we dither too much and take too long to sign people and end up getting ‘gazumped’ by teams that have a quicker decision making model all because of our inept manager.

    We can see the link between these comments and it certainly isn’t a consistency of logic but rather an abiding antipathy towards Mr. Wenger.

  10. Of course Lineker is talking his usual bollocks, but I think you’re being a little ungracious to Leicester. Whatever history suggests (regarding teams coming from nowhere and overachieving) they are having a terrific season. Who’d have thought that the only concern with this same fixture last season was the possibility of their manager assaulting one of our players. How have things changed so dramatically within basically the same team and over such a short period.

  11. Yes, Leicester haspve played well.
    But…strange,,they get rather a lot of penalties, almost twice as many as their nearest rivals, and almost five times as many as good old Arsenal this season.
    Shades of Liverpool a couple years ago, though I think they ended up with a massive 13 pens over the season….Suarez theatrics and that sort of thing,,as well as a massive media outcry when they were not awarded an alleged pen against us in the FA Cup
    http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Premier_League_Penalty_Statistics.html

    We see Arsenals games and what happens, why would Leicester have been given 9 penalties…..and Arsenal only two……assuming a level p,acing field of course?

  12. We can see that the Arsenal bashing takes place at many different levels, and every year they come up with new ways.

    Tony, Colario is right on that point though. I remember long ago going to meet a girl i had fleetingly spoken to at a party, and came back with her girlfriend instead. 🙂

  13. In any case, my understanding is that Wrigglesworth has joined the Data Analytics scouting team @Arsenal. He is not a scout a La Grimaldi or even Karbassiyoon. Its just lazy reporting by Lineker.

  14. Fact is that we as Arsenal supporters struggle to find any positive media coverage of our team – its nothing new.

    In fact we find the same negative treatment even on the field – obvious to most, but not those in denial.

    As as a club we have the usual motivating factors to be crowned Champions this year – but the thought of sticking it right up the Linekerets, Blogettas and PIGMOBs of this football world must surely be right in amongst them!

  15. @Mandy Dodd

    Yes very true…we will have to be very cautious to our approach on the game on Sunday.

    Atkinson will lead the line against us – anything else will be a shock!

  16. Linekar forgot to mention Wriggleworths age. Or may be its a good thing that he missed it all together.

    At the age of 24, which is very young and already a 3 year experience in the job makes him a good signing. It is a big step up for him though. Considering the size of operation at ARSENAL,….

  17. ob1977

    So Martin Samuel joined Graham Poll and Dermot Gallagher in going after Flamini?

    Think Samuel was one of the few people to strongly condemn Shawcross’s challenge, but I bet he stayed well away from calling him a thug or even using the word horrendous.

    I can just about accept it as a red now but I’m convinced his opponent wasn’t endangered at all, saw it coming all day long and there could only be a hint of danger if he-Gosling- decided to stick his foot where Flamini’s were clearly going, which he didn’t and which no player would.

    Big contrast with the fouls on Diaby, Eduardo, Ramsey, Sanchez and Wilshere- in each case they were hit by players who got nowhere near the ball, so late that there was no chance whatsoever to protect themselves, typically from an angle where they couldn’t even see the challenge coming. They had no chance; Gosling, as i said, was effectively safe.

    Sad that Flamini is vilified while those much worse challenges, which in four out of five cases caused terrible injuries, were not condemned in a similar manner. (McNair literally got away without any word of criticism.)

    Entirely predictable,though.

  18. @ARSENAL 13
    February 11, 2016 at 7:35 am

    I didn’t know Wriggleworths age…but to be honest; when I read Tony’s article my first thought was “how old is this guy?”. It makes a big difference in the bigger picture – something that Lineker will never be capable of doing (think).

  19. @Rich
    February 11, 2016 at 8:01 am

    ‘Big contrast with the fouls on Diaby, Eduardo, Ramsey, Sanchez and Wilshere’

    Of course a big contrast – we were called to not have bough “steel” that we can be won over if ‘get in their face’, that our style of football brings those kinds of tackles on to us…certainly never that our opponents were being thugs or God forbid our opponents were going into those leg breaking tacked with ‘intent’.

    HYPOCRITICAL,BIASED,Agenda-driven media!

  20. Samuel, if Arsene Wenger put right every ridiculous statement about Arsenal in the press, he would have no time to do his job.

    No doubt if he’s asked about it at the press conference he will deal with it in the appropriate way.

  21. If Samuel wants to see what a ‘Thug’ really looks like perhaps he should take a look at the following on Utube:

    Just type in the following. There’s hours of top level Northern entertainment.

    Steven Gerrard: Best Fouls.

    Paul Scholes: His Dark side.

    Wayne Rooney: Best Fouls.

    Roy Keane. Ends Halands Career. When you watch this it’s amazing it’s only one career he ended. Take a look at his assault on Reyes.

    And in case that lot isn’t enough to have you shaking your head in disbelief take a look at ‘game 50’ at OT. Simply one of the most shameful days in English football and SKY LOVED IT.

    Every one of these players are hailed as Heroes and legends of the game. Not one has been labelled a ‘Thug’ by Samuels or anyone else in the media as far as I’m aware. When it comes to these paragons of virtue it’s all about being ‘tough’ ‘hard’ ‘Take no shit’ Blah Blah Blah.

    SKY have been happy to allow G Neville to defend, nay praise, the actions of the likes of Keane, Rooney and Scholes as great examples. Something for our kids to aspire to.

    In an interview with Souness Neville was quite happy to concede Uniteds plan of action when facing Arsenal was to ‘Kick them off the par’.

    The 2 ‘chums’ found it hilarious that a tactic that included attempting to end fellow professionals careers was allowed to go un checked.

    You couldn’t make this shit up !!

    When you look at what Fallini did compared to the X rated material relating to these guys it really does highlight just how agenda driven the likes of Samuels are.

    The problem is, he sits, untouchable, in his office picking and choosing who he wants to abuse and who he wants to praise, on nothing more than a whim.

    Samuels was the one backing Mourhino to the hilt when he was whinging about not getting penalties a couple of years ago.

    That was another case of selective journalism. Yes, Chelsea had a 6 Month period when there penalty ratio dropped. But to highlight that whilst ignoring the previous 10 years or so when Chelseas penalty rate was the highest in the Country was selective at best, but in truth was just plain deliberately misleading.

    Samuels, like 90% of the media are entirely agenda driven, and like the rest, is an embarrassment to his profession, if it can even be called that now.

    We know these people read this blog. I would guess Samuel or one of his minions does.

    My final word to you Samuel is, watch those videos and then hang your biased, agenda driven, brainless little head in shame.

  22. Jambug, decent insight into what we’ve faced from The Secret Footballer’s latest offering.

    ‘In reality, it hastened the onset of counterattacking football, because at the end of the day most teams are incapable of playing Arsenal at their own game; they need an antidote.
    But one manager who I played under came up with a second antidote. It wasn’t pretty, it didn’t change the game as we know it, and we had plenty of critics, but ultimately it worked. In short, the manager decided that we should kick the fuck out of them.
    In the games that followed, Arsenal were beaten before they arrived, they were beaten again when they lined up next to us in the tunnel, and they were beaten again by our fans when they walked out on to the pitch. This was true for Arsenal at a handful of grounds, but with us they were beaten the moment the first tackle went in. As players we all get away with the first tackle – maybe the first two tackles on a good day – but it has to be the right tackle: you can’t stamp, punch and kick, but you can turn a 50–50 into a 70–30 against an Arsenal player because the Arsenal players will invariably stay on their feet, which means that, as you slide through the ball, you will slide right through the player. I once heard Aaron Ramsey moaning to the ref about the tackling. The ref replied, ‘Well, why don’t you try tackling too?’
    Good answer, ref.
    People often asked me if we practised how to rough up the opposition. The answer was no. As footballers we know what roughing up means and how to do it legally. We’d be waiting for the moment our manager gave us the nod in training during the week. He was subtle in how he’d get the message across. We’d be practising set pieces, usually a corner, when he’d say, ‘Right, let’s get right into these on Saturday, lads. We’ve got to go after them from the off.’ That would be it, that’s all it was. Then when the corner came in he would tell the two centre-halves to run towards the near post and the middle of the goal, and tell a striker to run to the back post. He’d say, ‘If the ball misses you then at the very least you make sure that you take somebody into the goal with you.’ Then he’d say to the second centre-half, ‘If you miss it, you do the goalkeeper.’
    That ‘philosophy’ became the mantra for the game. Arsenal hated it and lost, regularly.

    I hated it too. It was hard for me to play football like that because I’m a bit of a purist at heart and, well, even if I am a Spurs fan, if Arsène Wenger ever writes a book, I’ll be the first in the queue to buy a copy. I made eye contact with Wenger many times while these games were going on and, maybe I’m imagining it (though I’m sure that I’m not), but his seemed a look that said, ‘I didn’t think that you of all players would stoop this low. I hope your parents are proud of you.’

  23. Rich where did you get that secret footballers bit? Must admit didn’t notice you write secret footballer at first and waited resolutely until the end to find out who it was… ?

  24. Not totally unrelated to this article as is media related, have read a BBC piece today leaning towards the criticism of Kroenke spending his own money on land, if they want to go all out for him I’m pretty sure they can find a source somewhere telling that he brought groceries this month… What about our signings!!!!!

  25. ob1977

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/3roh0d/the_secret_footballer_on_arsenal_from_his_latest/

    At times, the secret Dave Kitson goes a long way to winning me over. Disappointing though that in the bit from above he doesn’t acknowledge lenient refereeing is key, nor address why teams don’t try what works on Arsenal in every last game they play- if it was legitimate, and doesn’t reply on shit refs, they’d be utter fools not to do it every time,surely.

  26. I think Wenger is sending a consistent message, and has been for a long time. If you are quality (in football), you are valuable and will find something.

    We see evidence with the young players. Bellerin and Coquelin are fine examples, but I think Afobe is as well. Afobe wasn’t fitting in here, but he now looks to to have found his path.

    The best place to look at the young players, is at goaltender. It is reasonably common to see a young outfield player burst into the first team. It is unusual to see a goaltender do so. Goaltender’s usually don’t become regular in any first team until a considerably longer period of training has taken place. And yet, look at the young goaltending talent around the club.

    Danny (who has written for Untold), was a young player who became a scout. And it appears that he was another good choice by Wenger et al.

    And this article: Wrigglesworth. Another young person in football.

    It takes a team to run a team, and Wenger is building up the players and the support. And Piers Linekar can go to hell.

  27. Rich

    If the ‘Secret footballers latest offering’ you reproduced is genuine, and I don’t doubt it is, it just shows you what cowards these people are.

    How tough is it to kick a guy when he’s trying to stay on his feet and play football?

    For pities sake, if you feel guilty about it, which this guy obviously sounds like he is, then prove you are not a coward and own up to your actions.

    Look at any of those ‘tackles’ and tell me which one takes ‘courage’?

    Thuggary like that is the action of a coward.

    As I know from my playing days, it took far more courage for me to try and play football as a winger, when on the end of some of the ‘treatment’ I got from full backs and centre halves alike, compared to when I was going in to tackles as a full back, which was a piece of cake.

    Keane? Rooney? Gerrard? Scholes? Hard men? Do me a favour. Cowards and cheats more like.

    They may of had skill but as for bravery? Do me a favour.

    As for the ‘secret footballer’ What a cowardl.

    Put a name to it you pathetic piece of shit !!

  28. Walter /Usama – the Ozil goal v Bournmouth was accompanied by 2 players lunging 2 footed towards him. Please give me your view on this from a referees perspective.

    In the Chelsea v Arsenal match Costa had a go at Kos on 2 very seperate phases captured on TV (God knows how many were not broadcast). The review missed the first phase as the subliminal effect is the second phase seems the only occurance because of similarity. What I find alarming is the FA review of footage by the independant referees is not published, so what they see may not cover the whole set of incidents. That to me is where corruption begins. The whole set of footage of the incidents of Costa / Kos from all cameras should be made public or at least made available to the football clubs. The subsequent banning should be openly detailed so that transgressions are not repeated. How or why the charges against Gabriel were not dropped is astounding. How Dean has not been removed from the Officiating cartel confirms the corruption in the FA.

  29. Great piece Tony.

    Look, is anyone surprised whenever someone like Linekar opens their mouths?

    The anti-Arsenal aganda has always been there but it is getting a lot worse due to the saturated football coverage we now have.

    This is the great world of Fantasy Football, where everyone is an expert. Studios are filled with ex players who have never managed a Sunday side let alone a top Premiership club. They don’t actually have much more knowledge than the average fan. Ask yourelves some simple questions:

    1. Why are these ‘experts’ not working in the game?
    2. Why dont clubs head hunt from the TV or Radio studios?
    3. Why don’t ex players go into management
    4. Why do pundits who go into management fail to deliver what they preach?

    I have read so many aurobiographies in which former players tell how they had everything done for them. They did not have to do anything other than train.

    Harry Rednapp
    …telling a court he cannot read and write properly and laughing at the fact he opened a bank account for his dog to hide his allegedly ill gotten gains. The media love him.

    Gary Neville
    …he latest to prove that talk is cheap is Gary Neville. Everyone was raving about what a great pundit Neville was and how he knew his stuff. I am not saying he wont be a great manager but he has proved that there is a massive learning curve and their opinions and methods will evolve. He’s an apprentice, he’s not ready to take on Managers like Wenger.

    Stanley Collymore
    ….next we have a woman beater, Stan Colymore, preaching morality to all who will listen. Not happy with beating Ulrika up, he visits country lanes to fiddle with himself while watching people making out in their cars. What the hell is going on here! This is the BBC, our state broadcaster that likes to pretend its on the side of morality yet they employ this deviant. Meanwhile, Richard Keyes and Andy Gray make fun of a female linesman/person/woman and have never worked again. You cant laugh at a female linesman and get a job on a football station but you can give one a good hiding and leave strangers cars looking like a plasterers radio – and preach morality.

    Its like dumb and dumber with thsi bunch.

    Journalists/hacks/liars/ignoramouses
    …these guys are fans, nothing more. They are paid to write ‘stories’, evading the truth is a celebrated skill set. Its a competitive world. Martin Samuel of the Mail is a West Ham fan. He loathes Wenger, he claims he gave up on our Manager 10 years ago. So why would he write something positive? Watch that Sunday Supplement show and you soon realise these guys are pretty clueless, smug and folowing agendas. They are mates, who sit together having a laugh and a joke and then write football reports that near little resemblance to the match the rest of us watched. They prefer to find someone to dig out.

    None of those listed above are fit to lace wengers boots but they have decided they dont really like him, so they disresoect him whenever the oportunity presents itself.

    Linekar is a Leicester spud. Alan Brazil is an ex spud forever on our case (remember when we beat Barcelona and he spent the morning slagging our perfromance off before being forced to admit he went home at half time?). Martin Lipton, Spud. Neil Ashton is Crystal Palace. Commentators are ex Liverpool Man Utd with BT & the BBC dominated by the North West. Adrian Durham is a Northern Rugby League man, who has made himself immensely popular by trolling Arsenal fans every day of the week on the radio. The aaa hang on his every word, they love the negativity.

    Celebrity fans
    …like Piers Morgan, with a reputation for disliking Wenger so they invite him to co present football shows. He’s done the Adrian Durham drivetime show and the Breakfast show with Alan Brazil. Is it concidence they ask him to do a show with two anti-Wenger presenters?

    Fantasy Fans
    …the fans for whom computer consoles and fantasy football competitions have combined to create the most delusional fan on the planet. Fans who scout players we must sign based on their stats on a computer simulation console and clips on youtube.

    It comes down to ignorance. it’s that simple. These people are simpletons who have allowed 24/7 football coverage to interceot their brains and cause a delusional catastrophe. They criticse based on what they would do, without reconcilling the fact that they are studying media studies or working as a labourer.

    Evidence based research and reporting
    Untold may not be everyones cup of tea but at least the articles are usually based on an accumulation of evidence and a result based on that. Of course you can manipulate but at the end of the day using facts encourages sensible debate. Instead of calling someone a name because you dont like the article, go do the research. The internet is a source of a huge amount of information but that means work. Some people are just too lazy. Others refuse to accept anything that may prove they are wrong.

    The media and the ex players have an audience of millions. So they know they can spout as much BS as they like and it will be recycled. Fans too stupid to get their heads out their backsides and locked in a spare room somewhere, will recycle this BS and use it to support whatever agenda they are currently signing up to.

    Arsenal Football Club and our manager has endured some unfair abuse based on unfactual BS. From the wages story from Jeremy Wilson (he admitted he guessed) to the absolutely denial that the stadium move impacted on our ability to compete. Its all hogwash.

    So is anyone surprised Gary Linekar is next up to take pot shots.

    Just laugh at the ignorance and the gullable because this blog proves we arent all stupid.

  30. proudkev

    I broadly agree with what you say, but I don’t agree that it’s basis is in ignorance, which is why laughing at is is beyond me.

    These people do not say what they say through ignorance.

    Take Samuels attack on Flamini today. Is that ignorance?

    Do you believe for one second he hasn’t seen all those utube clips showing the atrocious assaults perpetrated by Rooney, Scholes, Gerrard and Keane? Yet he deems it prudent to castigate Flamini in a way he would never do to the aforementioned?

    When he decided to throw his not insubstantial weight behind Mourhinos rant about Penalties, do you believe for one moment he didn’t know about the preceding 10 years stats showing Chelsea to be more than fairly treated regarding penalty awards?

    These people know how referees treat us, yet they choose to ignore it.

    These people know how teams aim to kick us of the park, ex pros have admitted as much, yet they still refuse to condemn it, but instead choose to deride us as ‘soft’.

    These people know the reality of how we where impacted by the cost of the emirates, yet chose to ignore it.

    All these things, and more, THEY KNOW, and yet they chose to ignore them all.

    That is NOT ignorance, that is something else all together.

    That is bias. That is an agenda, and it is insidious, disgraceful and unacceptable.

    I refuse to ignore it. I refuse to laugh at it and I will call out the ignoramuses at every turn. It’s no matter to me that I know I am banging my head against a brick wall, because believe me I will keep banging until something breaks, be it my head or the wall, whatever comes first.

  31. And another reason I cant laugh at it all, is because ultimately it affects us on the pitch.

    Take this weekends match with Leicester City.

    Yes of course we have the ‘underdog’ factor. Of course the neutrals will want Leicester to win, that is understandable.

    But what else do we have approaching this match?

    You can bet your bottom dollar your average fan will sit down in front of the TV in no doubt what so ever that Arsenal are due there comeuppance.

    They are fully armed with the facts. Arsenal have been getting away with it big style.

    First off we had Le Coq getting away with murder at Palace, and now we have that ‘Thug’ Flamini getting away with it against Bournemouth.

    Do you think it might get a mention or 2 before the game starts? Maybe again after 5 minutes? Perhaps again after 10? You get the picture. So when Le Coq gets a yellow for his first foul again, and then his 2nd for a small tug on 55 minutes, it will all just be Karma.

    Add to that the fact that every time we are touched we whine like babies.

    And lets not forget how we dive around like Tom Daly on steroids, although of course they will be completely ignorant of exactly how little good it does us having won just a fraction of the penalties the honest, stay on there feet, Leicester City have won.

    I doubt that will get a mention, before, during or after the match.

    ‘Same old Arsenal always cheating’ I think is how it goes.

    This is why it is not a laughing matter. These lies. This misinformation seeps in to the consciousness of the public. It becomes a reality.

    It lays the foundations for a Referee such as Atkinson to do his worst, because he knows no matter how bad he is, no matter how much he stitches us up, he will not be criticised, because ‘we had it coming’. It’s all been there in black and white these last few weeks. Arsenal had it coming.

    And that is why I don’t laugh when I read Samuels talking shite.

    And that is why I don’t laugh when I read Linekar talking shite.

    Because it just isn’t funny.

  32. Jambug

    Sounds like you might be as wound up as i was last week when, after nearly losing it while reading Neville’s chapter on Arsenal in his book, for reasons unknown I went and looked up videos on youtube of game 50 and other games of that era.

    Scholes mowing down reyes in the cup semi, Viera sent off for kicking the air a foot away from Van Nistelrooy in the game with the penalty miss..all that crap

    Put me in an incredibly bad mood at the time and softened me up so that I reacted really badly to the Southampton draw.

    Still, didn’t stop me from slogging my way through John Cross’s book on Wenger this week. Drove me mad but I persisted because it provided better insight into Wenger vs journalists than I’ve ever seen before.

    I won’t go on about it now, but I’d like it if you and the others here took notice of one thing from it.

    Cross suggests that the problems between Wenger and Ferguson escalated because Ferguson took the ‘everyone thinks they have the prettier wife’ quote literally.

    Yep, he apparently thought it was about Lady Cathy and was a grievous insult.

    I found it mind boggling : either Ferguson is capable of astonishing stupidity (or perhaps of pretending to be astonishingly stupid if it suits his purposes : hating and justifying the immoral actions borne of that fake hate, etc) , or the journalists who could put forward and believe that idea are.

    The giveaway is that this theory was put forward with total neutrality and zero comment about what it says about Ferguson if he is capable of that much alarming stupidity.

    This was the way of it throughout the entire book and in the journalists attitude to Wenger throughout : if something controversial in terms of Arsenal being wronged is mentioned, such as game 50, they’ll say something like ‘some felt’, or ‘Arsenal felt’, making clear that there was no substance to the claims;

    yet when there’s any opportunity to criticise us…presto, they can judge again, label things, talk of certainties; journalists suddenly become active people who can know what the truth is, as opposed to ghostly presences floating about, incapable of determining what is truth and lie.

    An old trick.

  33. Afternoon Jambug.

    You misunderstand me and I agree with you.

    The word ignorant has several meanings. It does not just mean unknowledgable – although that does descibe some of those in my list. My use of the word ignorant was to imply that some are unknowledgable and unintelligent but also to mean; ill-mannered, ungracious, discourteous, rude etc.

    The two ways that Ignorant can be applied describes these people perfectly. Some fit both descriptions of course.

  34. Jambug…

    Nice rant by the way, love the passion mate…….!!!! You are a man after my own heart.

    One day our great club will decide enough is enough and grow a pair of balls. I love the fact the club demonstrates so much class but I do think at times they have hung Wenger out to dry.

    I would love to see Gazidis come out and say something like this:

    “For years this fantastic football club, its employees and its wonderful supporters have been treated with huge disrespect from those involved in the media. Enough is enough.

    It is time for Arsenal Football Club to set the record straight and squash the lies written about us and our Manager regarding the move from Highbury to the Emirates. For those of you who can actually read or know how to remove your heads from your arses, the enclosed document contains the evidence needed regarding the financial impact the stadium move had on our manager and our club. This document will allow you to set the record straight and apologise for the lies you have been circulating. An apology to our Manager Arsene Wenger is expected. We are looking at you.

    All hacks and the media companies who wish to attend future news conferences or conduct interviews with representatives of the club, must apply for access – after submitting their own apology based on the evidence contained in the enclosed report.

    If you feel unable to show the class and humility required you can all f*ck off.

    You need us more than we need you, please remember that.

    Regards, Ivan”

  35. Rich

    I am angry when it comes to football.

    Angry at the way Wenger is treated. Angry at the way Arsenal are treated.

    As I suggested above, it is in no small way due to the fact that it feels like I’m banging my head against the wall.

    As for John Cross, the mans a ****.

    At the risk of repeating myself, it was about 2 or 3 years in to our baron run. (Back then I still used to buy both the Sun and the Mirror every day). Suffice to say we where getting stick from all sides, but 2 people in particular stick in my mind from that period.

    First off was Ian Wright.

    It seemed like every day he was slagging off Wenger. Bad enough yes, although if he had a personal issue with Wenger and he left it at that I think I could of lived with that, but he didn’t. He seemed hell bent on doing whatever he could to unsettle the entire Club. From slagging players off, to encouraging them to leave the Club. He did articles on Henry and Vieira encouraging them to leave.

    I thought it was treachery. I have hated him with a passion since then. His fake joy when Arsenal win a match makes me sick.

    And most of this treachery was played out in the back pages of the Sun or Mirror with the full accord of the likes of Cross, the 2nd guy I remember particularly from that period.

    I cant remember exactly what it was he said but Cross riled me so much it prompted me to write to the Mirror. The first time I had ever done such a thing.

    I did not receive a reply from Cross, but rather an off hand reply from his boss who found it hilarious because apparently, in his words, Cross was ‘one of the biggest Arsenal fans you could ever meet’.

    Yeah right.

    Not only does he slag us off at every opportunity but back before it ceased to be, Arsenals online TV show with Tom Watt used to have him on, on a regular basis.

    Talk about inviting the Devil to tea.

    Sometimes I think Arsenal FC really do shoot themselves in the foot.

    I would have neither Cross OR Wright anywhere near the emirates. They both hate us.

    NB: I hope you are like me. It is only football that gets my goat. As Mrs J says, if football is all you have to moan about then life must be pretty good, which is very true I suppose.

  36. Why take the bait?

    Spurs signed Rob Mackenzie, who was our new man’s predecessor at Leicester.

    Did Spurs sign the wrong man too?

  37. “Au revoir ,Monsiuer Linekar”
    Don’t forget to ring those jingo bells and ring them hard in your efforts to appeal to the lowest common denominator. You never know Esmerelda might hear.

  38. proudkev

    I know your views my friend. There are a few of us who constantly bang this drum and hopefully one day, but I do fear we are banging our heads against a brick wall, not least because as you said about the Club in general and I said regarding Arsenal TV, we don’t do ourselves any favours.

    It seems we are prepared to accept all the shit without a word.

  39. Ignorance and knowledge

    I don’t know that this applies to “Piers” Linekar or not.

    TheRegister had a blurb the other day, that Microsoft is now another company that is actively looking for autistic employees. The comments (to which I contributed) show varying degrees of ignorance (or lack of knowledge) towards autism.

    But, a point I brought up, is that “western” society has cobbled together a bunch of rules with the intent of stopping discrimination. I don’t think they stop discrimination, they just make it a little more difficult.

    But, one of the tenets is that the employer is to “remain ignorant” of the applicant. The employer should not need to know what the person looks like, feels like, smells like, tastes like or anything else at the time of application. And this is supposed to reduce discrimination.

    This idea works fine to a point, with most people but not all. Where it usually breaks down is the interview.

    Where I have seen action on this the most, is with orchestras. The interview is actually an audition, and it is the ability of the person to play which is important. Consequently, many orchestras now have the audition done behind a curtain, so that the conductor does not know what the applicant looks like.

    But, sight (and smell and touch) do come into interviews which are useful to this argument. The interviewer already has a process by which they conduct themselves, which supposedly helps in determining who the better applicants are.

    The next applicant is called, and the applicant walks to the doorway and has dark glasses on, might have a white cane they are tapping the floor in front of them with, or they have a dog at their side. And the entire interview process gets thrown out the window. The interviewer seldom expects a blind applicant, and obviously the interview has to change.

    The autistic applicant (probably) deserves as much change as the blind applicant does get, and typically gets none. The interviewer didn’t know the applicant was blind (because the applicant is supposed to be ignorant of this), or that the person had autism (same reason). But one gets consideration and the other doesn’t.

    Really, in order to not discriminate against either of those (and some others), the employer should know of the human condition before the interview. For autistics, the employer should know before doing any processing of the application, because autistics are not “normal”. To apply rules of normal to a non-normal person probably leads to discrimination.

    Smell/feel in the interview. Bad body odor covers the smell, but maybe the person lives on a chicken farm? Other things. Some people sweat a lot, or their skin feels clammy. Both tend to lead to revulsion in the interviewer, which sours the ability of the interviewer to be objective.

  40. Jambug

    Cheers. Not as fortunate as that at the minute but have been in the past and, crudely speaking, I reckon that’s enough to ensure (a) you’ll be the sort of person who, if you know of his work, admires Wenger and (b) that there’s a lot to be unhappy about where football’s concerned if you insist on following it seriously !

    I don’t entirely rule out hearing from a Wenger hater, or Mourinho/ Fergie lover,etc, who strikes me as decent, smart, honest and happy..but I’d have to start again on my whole view of the universe if one is discovered!

  41. apo Armani

    If we are my friend my Mum has some explaining to do 🙂

    Rich

    (b) that there’s a lot to be unhappy about where football’s concerned if you insist on following it seriously !

    To be fair that’s the problem. I think football is no different to every other sport, or anything else for that matter. If you’re passionate enough to look into anything as deeply as we look into football, you will have a completely different view on it compared to someone who gleans all there knowledge simply from what they pick up superficially from the popular media, through there mates, or even from just watching it.

    I would say there is hardly a subject, let alone a sport, that would fail to shock you should you look under the surface, at least if you dig to the depths that we do regarding football, and Arsenal in particular, here on Untold.

    Before I found Untold I had the ‘feeling’ we where being screwed. It was the bookings that where doing my head in. It seemed to me we only had to breath on someone to get a booking, whilst others where getting away with murder. Anyway, I did my own crude research using the Suns old ‘fair play’ table, and right enough we where getting a booking on around every 5 fouls, the average was about every 7.5, some where up at 11 or 12.

    On the run up to game 50 United where at the time getting a booking at a rate of around 1 every 15 fouls.

    It is a long time ago now, and as much as I am pretty sure of my figures I would love to find the statistics to back myself, because just saying it is never enough in my eyes, but I just cannot find statistics in depth enough.

    So, back to the point, it was that suspicion, backed by statistical evidence, that convinced me we WHERE being screwed. Finding Untold, and a bunch of like minded souls was a God send, but a God send with a catch, because the more you look, the deeper you dig, the worse it gets.

    To be honest, the level of bias, the cheating, the anti Arsenal agenda, is way beyond anything I could of imagined in my wildest Nightmares.

    It’s upsetting. It can get depressing. It can make me angry. But that’s the price you pay when you are as passionate about it as we are. I don’t mean passionate about Arsenal, I mean passionate about exposing all the other shit.

    I know people poo poo this sites findings, but in my eyes the sheer weight of evidence is irrefutable. And I know that because, despite repetitive accusations of Untolds own Bias and Paranoia I have not seen ONE, not ONE of them do a review of there own to disprove, or contradict in the slightest, any of the reviews.

    All they say is things like ‘I know what I saw’. Try taking that one into court !

    Yes I concede the odd conclusion can be debated. I, like yourself, and others probably, have over reacted to a specific incident at the time and allowed my judgement to be affected. But I like to think in the cold light of day I am honest enough to know when I think an Arsenal player has transgressed or got away with something. It does happen.

    But the sheer weight of numbers regarding the overall bias against us is irrefutable.

    But as per your statement above, when you take it as serious as we do, and look into as much as we do, it can get pretty bloody annoying.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *