How Arsenal got into this mess, and the one thing they must now do.

By Tony Attwood Slowly, very slowly, there are a few people in the media who are starting to consider the wider issue of the Kroenkes influence on Arsenal in recent years.  The issue that is slowly, very slowly, being raised is, is the downturn in Arsenal’s fortunes of late due to poor management by Wenger, …

Another Arsenal put down: why do journalists hate us so much?

By Tony Attwood The journalists don’t exactly say that we are a lower form of life, but there is constantly something within the way in which they describe fans that suggests that we are, as a group, of low intelligence, limited attention span, and lacking in any ability to understand, discuss, debate, consider… We are …

Swiss prosecutors demand prison for beIN & PSG president and ex-Fifa No 2.

By Tony Attwood The Swiss prosecution service has called for prison sentences against the president of beIN and the ex-number 2 of Fifa, Jérôme Valcke.   You might recall that Untold, alone among UK publishers has been following these various stories, while the UK media utterly refuses to acknowledge that these cases are even happening. The …

Yesterday was great fun, but the scores alone don’t tell us much

by Tony Attwood In football reporting, every incident becomes a crisis, because every day needs a story.  And yesterday we got two, with the defeats of Liverpool and Manchester United. Such things have happened all the way through football history.   There are famous tales told of Arsenal losing 7-0 away to Newcastle in 1925 just …

63 players tipped for Arsenal! Pre-window transfers reach an all time record

By Sir Hardly Anyone I think I am right in saying that never before in the history of never before, have so many players been tipped by so few to go to the Arsenal before the window swings open. There are 42 days before the window swings open (do remember if writing about transfers the …

Following Uefa’s ruling, Arsenal, not Tottenham enter the Europa League

by Tony Attwood The key point to note from the latest Uefa rulings on what happens next in relation to football, is first that national leagues will not be banned from European competition if they don’t finish their seasons.  That ruling has been overturned. But more importantly from Arsenal’s point of view is that this …

At least this time, the media can’t attack Arsenal

By Tony Attwood I have several times raised the point that the media hates the question “why?”  And so it seems today as none of the main news outlets in the UK are asking why the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care said that he wanted footballers to take pay cuts and thus …

I object to some of my tax payments being used to pay staff at Liverpool FC

By Tony Attwood “Why should players take a pay cut?” That’s an interesting question, but because that question begins with “why?” you can be sure that it doesn’t get much coverage in the media.   For the British media is notorious for ignoring the “why?” in any debate. What they do is skate over issues, and …

The day Arsenal broke the Premier League: the view from overseas

By Christophe Jost I must be transparent. I do not live in the UK, I am of German and Swiss descent, work in France and Switzerland, and have lived in quite a few countries so far in my life. Some of the countries are rich, some are poor. So my vision may be a galaxy …

New football competition sets Spain alight. England will follow.

by Tony Attwood According to a report in the Guardian, the president of La Liga has announced that he is certain that Spanish League can be completed by 30 June. It is an issue of course because if it is not completed then the question arises of who gets the places in the next European …

The media should be “held accountable for the way they harass and vilify people”.

Untold Videos Our videos explore some of these issues in depth – do take a look   by Tony Attwood A petition signed by over three-quarters of a million people which calls for curbs on the British media has been handed into the government.  And while the motivation behind the petition has nothing to do …

How Arteta can restore Arsenal to greatness

By Bulldog Drummond Pundits presenting themselves as people who know, getting it wrong, offering no apology, and then doing it again is what football journalism is made of.  Like the wholesale prediction for yesterday’s game that Saka would start the match.  Totally wrong prediction; no one seems to have apologised. Which is why Untold likes …

The total failure of VAR, yellow cards and the team: Arsenal v Everton

By Bulldog Drummond One of the key factors of the weekend is the issue of yellow cards, in the Chelsea 2 Tottenham 1 game.   The BBC website says, “Giovani lo Celso should have been sent off for a dreadful second-half challenge on Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta. The video assistant referee decided against punishment, although officials …

Few journalists ever criticise the state of football… so why is it starting now?

By Tony Attwood I am shocked, amazed, stunned, bemused. For 12 years we have been plodding away, writing up the notion that the reporting of football is warped by the media to suit their own needs and ends, and those of their powerful allies. Among the many examples found are those suggesting that key stories …

Deluded Arsenal fans shamelessly exploited by misleading publisher

By Tony Attwood Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos – do take a look   There seems to be no end of ways in which websites, newspapers and broadcasters can mislead – but seizing hold of comments by two or three supporters which are simply untrue, and then republishing them as if they …

Daily Telegraph presents completely false data to try and bolster FA’s case

By Tony Attwood Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos – do take a look   Of course no one has a monopoly on stories in football, but it always nice to be a little ahead of the game.   It is even better to find that in order to argue against my point, one …

Arguing with Zombies: how football fans allow the media to control the debate

by Tony Attwood “Arguing with Zombies” is a book by Paul Krugman in which he points out that many aspects of contemporary debates within the worlds of politics and economics are just based on fallacies. I thought of this because two events in my world coincided.  I heard Mr Krugman being interviewed on the radio …

In football journalism there is no race to the bottom, we’ve always been there

by Tony Attwood There is an article in The Atlantic in which a reporter tells how she created a new identity on Facebook, clicked “like” on the official Donald Trump page, and waited to see what happen. Now before you rush away because I’ve posted an article on Untold which should be on some fanatical …

The 8 key questions that football journalists simply won’t ever ask

Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos – do take a look   For advertising enquiries contact Snack Media at 0207 272 7582 or email Tom@Snack-media.com For all other issues please contact Untold Arsenal at Tony@schools.co.uk =============== By Tony Attwood One of the many odd consequences of the way in which football journalism works in England …

Why football journalists should learn from their political colleagues and start asking questions

by Tony Attwood Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos – do take a look   It is rare for journalists to be banned by football clubs. It has happened in a few cases in the old days when local newspapers held sway in provincial towns, and could often have sports sections that were …

Burnley’s tackling is three times as dirty as Leicester’s! Really???

by Tony Attwood Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos – do take a look   Over the weekend I used some of the findings we had on the relationship between fouls and yellow cards; you may recall the data that shows some clubs have to commit many, many more fouls than others to …

Is Burnley v Arsenal fixed even before kick off? Here’s the evidence.

by Bulldog Drummond If you want a game that highlights everything that is wrong with English refereeing in the Premier League, and indeed everything that is wrong with the PL and its referees,  here you have it. Burnley have committed 270 fouls this season, Arsenal 259.  Not that much in it.  Burnley the slightly dirtier …

The games football fans play in an attempt to put their point across

The latest video: A radical new direction for Arsenal   The Athletic, the troll, the errors, the comments: the story so far by Tony Attwood I’ve been critical of The Athletic for the way it has presented itself as being “The New Home of Football Writing”.  “New home” seems to imply a centrality and superiority, …

Football: With reporting like this no wonder corruption is rife

By Tony Attwood How will Brexit affect the Premier League?  See the video When it comes down to it, there are a lot of things wrong with football. There’s the big debate on gambling (and yes I am neither blind to the problems that gambling causes nor to the fact that in order to keep …

Arsenal ready to sign dangerous Mexican amidst airport chaos.

by Sir Hardly Anyone Of all the dubious headlines on offer “Arsenal need new recruits – perhaps more so than any other traditional Big Six side” is the most misleading, given that the top six spenders of last summer are all doing worse (or very occasionally a little better) with their new recruits this season …