By Tony Attwood
Of course it is not always easy to determine what is fake news and what is not. For example just five of the 122 transfer rumours associated with players coming to Arsenal this summer were real, and I suspect most of us would have been able to spot 90 or 100 of the 122 as being fake the moment they were first printed.
But some tales are harder. Like the story in the Telegraph that “Tottenham Hotspur are struggling to sell the naming rights for their new stadium because potential sponsors are balking at Daniel Levy’s £200 million asking price, industry insiders claimed on Thursday night.” Ah! Insiders!! Claimed!!! (Really good fake news words).
According to the report in Campaign (the advertising industry newspaper) at the time, in October 2004, Arsenal sold their naming rights to the new stadium in September 2004 for £100m. The stadium opened in the summer of 2006 – in a very difficult financial climate.
So the fact that we are only a short time away from the stadium opening and there is no sponsor is supportive of this claim that there are no bids. And that is what one has to do with fake news – to wonder if the information we are being offered is possible and likely. That doesn’t mean it is true, but it is just a basic starting point.
According to the report in Campaign (the advertising industry newspaper), Carsten Thode, chief strategy officer at sports marketing agency Synergy is quoted as saying, “There is a mismatch between what the market thinks it is worth and what Daniel Levy wants for it.”
He added, “Shirts and stadiums provide a lot of exposure, but they don’t provide targeted measured actions, so you don’t know who is seeing them, you don’t know if the person is old or young, and you can’t tell a story.” In short, it’s not digital, so hard to measure the value.
Manchester City famously got £400 million from Etihad but that was a complicated deal involving arrangements between the airline and Manchester airport, and the airline’s promise to make Manchester a hub in its operations. Given that the Manchester City feed off Abu Dhabi that deal was understandable, but it was not setting a norm.
It is also noticeable that The London Legacy Development Corporation has still not got a deal for the Tax Payers’ Stadium which WHU occupy. It might be a little cruel to say that there is no deal BECAUSE WHU are there, but the thought has crossed what passes for my mind. But that’s a thought, not news.
So all things told, the Tottenham stadium story could be true but one can’t be certain.
Meanwhile Mr Emery has firmly denied that Mesut Ozil left the training ground in a huff. “It isn’t true, that information,” he said. “I don’t know who started telling you or telling us this information. He was sick on Friday. He spoke to the doctor and with me and decided not to play. He left training because he was going home because he was sick.
“I said come [to see the WHU match] if you feel better and he felt better. Before the match he was with the team and with me. There is no problem with the player. This isn’t true this information. Ask the doctor, he can explain better. It’s very simple.”
All the suggestions are that Ozil was ill and has recovered, and the storming out story was fake news. Also it seems he took a full part in training yesterday.
There are also suggestions in the always highly reliable newspapers (that’s sarcasm) that both Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could play in the team in Cardiff, with Aubameyang, as last season operating on the left with Laca in the centre.
Also that Lucas Torreira is now ready to start with Matteo Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka as the midfield.
Now that seems fairly logical and possible. Not a dead cert, but possible even though the source is extremely dubious (ie a newspaper).
Even more probably true is the list of who Arsenal can get in the draw today for the Europa. As always one from each pot in the group. Burnley as you may have seen got knocked out in the prelims. That leaves four British teams, Arsenal and Chelsea in pot 1, Celtic in pot 2, and Rangers in pot 4.
Pot 1
- Sevilla (ESP)
- Arsenal (ENG)
- Chelsea (ENG)
- Zenit (RUS)
- Leverkusen (GER)
- Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
- Beşiktaş (TUR)
- Salzburg (AUT)
- Olympiacos (GRE)
- Villarreal (ESP)
- Anderlecht (BEL)
- Lazio (ITA)
Pot 2
- Sporting CP (POR)
- Ludogorets (BUL)
- København (DEN)
- Marseille (FRA)
- Celtic (SCO)
- PAOK (GRE)
- Milan (ITA)
- Genk (BEL)
- Fenerbahçe (TUR)
- Krasnodar (RUS)
- Astana (KAZ)
- Rapid Wien (AUT)
Pot 3
- Betis (ESP)
- BATE (BLR)
- Qarabağ (AZE)
- Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
- Leipzig (GER)
- Frankfurt (GER)
- Malmö (SWE)
- Spartak Moskva (RUS)
- Standard Liège (BEL)
- Zürich (SUI)
- Bordeaux (FRA)
- Rennes (FRA)
Pot 4
- Apollon (CYP)
- Rosenborg (NOR)
- Vorskla (UKR)
- Slavia Praha (CZE)
- Akhisar (TUR)
- Jablonec (CZE)
- AEK Larnaca (CYP)
- Vidi (HUN)
- Rangers (SCO)
- Dudelange (LUX)
- Spartak Trnava (SVK)
- Sarpsborg (NOR)
Talking of fake news Bellerin has called a spade a spade and told Daily Mail to ‘stop telling lies’ about him.
https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/hector-bellerin-daily-mail-197503
The Daily Nazi Mail is a shit rag. Head Sports Writer Jeff Powell is a life long Spud fan. Wouldn’t wipe my arse on it.
Arghhhhh! Hmmm. It’s that Brentford team again. But this time around to the Ems they cometh and not to London Colney again to engage Arsenal in the Carabao Cup last 16 match encounter. The last time they were at London Colney training to engage Arsenal in a closed door training match, they beat Arsenal 1-2 to my disbelieve and dislike. But can they repeat this feast in the open Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium that will be filled with thousands of thousands Arsenal fans? I doubt if they can.
As for the Europa League Cup draw in Monaco today, let me make a guess of which team Arsenal will get for their 1st leg match in the 1st round of the last 16. Arsenal vs Anderlecht? We’ll see.
Portugal, Azerbaijan and Ukraine – Sporting, Qarabag and Vorskla respectively. Long trips.
Aubameyang and Lacazette have both struggled for Arsenal this season in the Premier League scoring no goals in the 3 matches they’ve played in for Arsenal.
But will Emery buy in into the idea being tailored around in some quarters to see him start Auba’ and Laca’ at the same time away to Cardiff City in the PL on Sunday? He may and may not as no Gooner knows what on his mind regarding this idea. But nonetheless, I don’t see him starting these duo Arsenal strikers together against Cardiff but only one of the pair with the other one coming on from the bench for the match in the 2nd half. While we may see a repeat of Welbeck coming on from the bench for the match to replace which of Auba’ and Laca’ that started the match. But I think Auba’ will start and Laca’ will come on from the bench to replace Iwobi or Ramsey depending who of the two is performing below per in the match. And it will be interesting to see Torreira, Guendouzi and Xhaka starting at the same time against Cardiff to give a very strong protection to Arsenal back three. Because if the trio DMs start, it means Arsenal will deploy a back three defense-line for the match to mostly play Bellerin and Monreal as wingbacks in the game. Which if Emery adopted, it will result in Arsenal using a 3-3-3-1 playing style formation for the first time ever? to play the match. Ever heard of this kind of playing style formation before now? Well, that is m, the playing style formation Guru. It’s newly discovered and it work wonders if used. I believe if Arsenal adopt it and play it against Cardiff, it will unequivocally dismantled them and kill them off totally in the match.