Money, Media and Football: A vicious and unrelenting cycle

Some newspapers are fit only to line the bottom of bird cages - Spiro Agnew

Agnew may be considered the worst Vice-President in U.S history, but his words were true then and it continues to be so now too, at least metaphorically, because, in the digital age, news agencies are not competing to get the story printed first but published online first! And sports fit perfectly into this world of so called journalism, where sensationalism and exclusives have become a norm.

Football is a perfect example of this complex web, where exaggerated stories, twisted truths and fictitious stories are spewed out at as fast as possible. And the worst thing is, because we’re so used to this by now, most of us are unperturbed by it all. In football, this world mostly takes form in the transfer sections, which are an ideal breeding ground for journalists and reporters who love to show that even they have a Sidney Sheldon inside them as they compete with one-another to come out on top, in the process creating an exotic 5-course meal from nothing more than breadcrumbs.

As much as I’d love to blame the reporters and the media for all this, the unfortunate truth is that all of what is written about above is driven by clubs, players, agents and other intermediaries involved in transfers, public relations and contract negotiations. Why? Because, in the present world, where money is thrown about without care, these people are ready to do anything to gain an advantage that could, in the end, help them gain those extra hundred thousands or maybe even millions!

And with the competition so tough among the media giants, reporters are like hungry strays, grateful for any measly morsel that is thrown their way and ever ready to gulp it down gleefully, without giving it a second look. A perfect example of this is when we see reports on how the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc are “chasing” a certain player, who coincidentally ends up signing a new contract just a few weeks later.

Just look back to last December, when all the “journalists” and “reporters” were certain that Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was refusing to sign a new contract with his club so that he could to push through a move to Arsenal or Liverpool (depending on which paper you read). As the January transfer window drew closer and the anticipation of a transfer built, Schalke announced that Huntelaar had signed a two-year contract extension. What happened? If I were to hazard a guess, then it would be that the transfer tales were nothing more than hearsay spread by a smart agent or someone else involved in helping “The Hunter” get the best contract offer possible from Schalke.

It’s a disease that is widespread, and with the secrecy that clubs like to maintain around their players and finances, it is no surprise that even a whisper from a nobody is so often construed into a whole lot of hullabaloo because, as we know, it’s usually the empty vessels making the most noise. And in the rush to get the exclusive out there, they forget to check whether the story holds true or not.

One doesn’t even have to go that far back for more failed instances of the media’s innate ability to predict the future. Just a month back, after being dropped against Real Madrid, the papers were awash with stories on how Sir Alex & Wayne Rooney had fallen out and were no longer on talking terms, with some papers going so far as to claim that Sir Alex had already listed him for sale and that a transfer was just a matter of time. But that story fizzled out after Sir Alex banned two papers, that initially reported the “exclusive story”, from his press conferences and revealed the reason why he had left Rooney on the bench.

Take the latest rumor doing the rounds on how Radamel Falcao, who apparently was all set for a transfer to Chelsea a few days ago, is now a sure-shot to join Old Trafford after United allegedly swept in and put a “down-payment” on the player. This story was initially reported by Madrid based tabloid, Marca – not exactly a gospel of truth when it comes to transfers, and then reported in England by all news agencies. But that was not the end of it; the Daily Mail took it one step further, insisting that United were not going to pay £43 million as claimed by Marca and its “sources”, but were instead ready to offer Javier Hernandez and about £25 million to get Falcao!

Need I explain why this story is also going to be another one that we will all forget about? Because, like the million other stories before, it is full of nothing but nonsense and the whole story is surely nothing more than a play by either Atletico Madrid or Falcao’s agent to get interested clubs to up their offer for the player.

Even a paper like The Times fell prey to this epidemic. This is a paper that presents itself like the rich snob who is full of integrity and morality and associates itself with only the best. But yet, in the rush to push out an exclusive, they were caught with their pants down. If you don’t know what happened here, the gist of it is that they published an exclusive story claiming that Qatari authorities were planning to launch a Dream Football League that would feature the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City, with each of them being paid a whopping £175 million to take part in the competition. The story was written by their chief football correspondent, Oliver Kay, who claimed to have a trusted “source” that revealed this secret project to him.

The twist in the plot came soon enough as a French satirical website claimed that the whole story was a hoax that they had concocted a few weeks earlier, and put out a statement that claimed that the story “came entirely from our imagination.” Eventually, the chief sports editor of the The Times, Tony Evans, came out and apologized on behalf of the paper for their gaffe, in a column admitting that they failed to sufficiently vet the story in their rush to get it published.

This is nothing new; pretty much almost 90% of the transfer tales, rumors and exclusives out in the press is faked, with the sources being none other than parties with vested interests. And getting some media buzz around the story usually provides them with sufficient leverage to broker deals in their favor.

With the amount of money involved in the game right now, the media has unfortunately become nothing more than a tool or a weapon of sorts for agents and intermediaries to create confusion and promote their cause. And while in an ideal world one would like to think that the media is an unwitting partner in this vicious cycle, the truth is the exact opposite, because, without these sensational stories in their roster, the tabloids run the risk of losing out on thousands of readers, and hence, they don’t mind pushing the boundaries of ethics and morality to get their story out first!

So, the next time you read about multi-million dollar transfer deals, ratified by “sources” close to the player or the club, I suggest you take what you read with a pinch of salt, because it is very likely that the same paper or tabloid will be singing a different tune on the very same player a few weeks later, again backed by solid sources and reports because the message that needs to be sent out is different this time.

Unfortunately, in the end, we are all victims of a never ending cycle of sensationalism and lies fueled by competition, in what is rapidly becoming a cut-throat business!