Sport without Spin
Unrelated: Nicolas Anelka and Joe Cole’s Chelsea futures
The Daily Mail led with a headline yesterday which hooked us in straightaway, essentially because the two strands of news bear no relevance to each other.
New deal for Nicolas Anelka spells the end of the road at Chelsea for Joe Cole
Chelsea have reopened negotiations with Nicolas Anelka over a contract extension which would see the [...]
A rivalry cut short
An unfortunate memory failure from the BBC’s Martin Brundle in anticipation of the upcoming Formula One season. As a colour commentator, he really does give some excellent analysis and insight during the races through the year, but perhaps nobody thought to double-check his recollections on a piece for the BBC website previewing the key battles [...]
Lost in translation? Wilson Palacios wants to go to Real Madrid
The Sun run an exclusive today detailing the wishes of Tottenham’s defensive midfielder Wilson Palacios. He’s got his heart set on bigger things, it appears, and he seems to have told a British newspaper that very thing:
WILSON PALACIOS has stunned Harry Redknapp by admitting he is using Spurs to get a move to Real Madrid.
The Honduran midfielder [...]
The Sun’s poll results duller than first feared, spice added
Who would you pick in England’s World Cup starting XI? That’s what the Sun asked its readers, and they answered. The only trouble is that the England team has for several years been very easy to pick, and there is rarely much dispute over the squad of 23, let alone the composition of the first [...]
Logic failures - why Fabio will be England boss until 2012 - golf
Fabio Capello will not quit England early… says Alan Nixon in the Mirror today, due to his love of golf. The bullshit detector started beeping furiously at that headline, and unfortunately it only got louder as we scanned through the article text (all 407 words of it):
Fabio Capello will stay on as England boss for the [...]
Weak exclusives: David Luiz wanted by clubs
“We’ve got an exclusive!” boast the Mirror! “It’s big, it’s exciting, and John Cross can tell us more! Aggghhhh!”
Chelsea tracking £10million-rated Brazilian central defender - exclusive
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is tracking Benfica’s Brazilian defender David Luiz.
The 22-year-old is regarded as one of his nation’s top prospects and has also attracted interest from Manchester United and Real Madrid. The [...]
Sports thoughts from the weekend
FA Cup Quarter-Finals
The fixtures this weekend were full of those cup narratives you’ve come to know and expect. We had the Premier League juggernauts rolling on relentlessly to Wembley to defend their title. We had the lower league side live the underdog’s dream for half a game, before sliding towards defeat to a better side. We [...]
Stan Collymore: The Man’s not for turning
So now we know. Wayne Bridge won’t shake John Terry’s hand, won’t share a dressing room with him, and as things stand, won’t go the the World Cup. Terry won’t be captain, will be in the team, and as things stand will go to the World Cup. Given the fragility of Rio Ferdinand’s back, the [...]
The Daily Mail SWSes itself
It’s a day for us to kick up our feet and let other people point out the ironies in sports reporting. The Daily Mail’s Martin Samuel takes the reins, with a brilliant observation on a not at all over the top article entitled John Terry is nice to kids, so they say… but so were [...]
Don’t worry, we’ve got the gist of it
Even when Ashley Cole gives the media a gem of a quote, it can still be misreported. Clearly he said something to indicate his despondency at the latest events, but as the Guardian astutely points out, who knows exactly what?
The England left-back lost his cool yesterday while relaxing on his balcony, launching a tirade of abuse [...]