Tabloid Trash

Last updated : 26 August 2007 By Jim Bonner
They say that there's only one entity more powerful in the UK than the Government and that is the media. Why? Because they have the power to influence the opinions and decisions of the general public. They can make up all sorts of lies and the gullible citizens of our country will believe every word.

One of the easiest groups of people the media prey on are the football fans. They could invent almost any far-fetched story and at least a few fools will believe it.

Take last week for example.

David Nugent is dropped for the game against Bolton for Kanu in a tactical switch. Instant media bedlam follows and they immediately begin to print the "Out of favour Nugent is being sold" stories, and to my disbelief there are a fair number of Pompey fans who believe it to be true!

Now let's just take a step back here and apply some logic.

We paid an initial £4.7 million for Nugent after chasing him for a long time and waiting patiently for him to put pen to paper. He starts the first two games and doesn't play too badly for a striker who is new to the Premier League and gives 110% whilst on the pitch.

He's then dropped for Kanu (who is by no means an inferior player and just happened to be our top scorer last season) for tactical/squad rotation reasons but Nugent is kept on the bench to change the game if needed. So I ask the question...

Why would we want to sell a highly rated striker who we've been chasing for a long time and have paid more money than we've paid for any other striker?

Most tabloid BS can be rubbished by pure logic, and those silly rumours that do turn out to be true are the exception, not the rule. (Like the initial rumour that a rich benefactor was coming to buy us when we were fighting relegation was laughed off by many of our fans.)

Refusing to acknowledge logic is one thing, but the media also seem to specialise in inventing stories about our players to unsettle them or even worse, put a spin on a story to make it seem like a player wants to leave when they haven't said any such thing.

Sol Campbell has been the latest victim of this when he said something to the effect of "I don't see myself ending my career at Portsmouth" which the media translated to "Sol Campbell wants to go to Villareal" despite no quotes coming from anyone within Villareal (and if there were, then I apologise now!)

If there's a point to this rant then it's simply: "Don't believe everything you read in the trashy tabloids such as the Daily Star, The Sun, The News Of The World etc."

In fact, unless it's printed in various tabloids then don't believe anything they write! If there is some sort of substance to the rumours then it won't be long before a credible source confirms it (or even better, the club confirm it themselves).

I know it might seem blindingly obvious to most people that these rumours are utter garbage but it still amazes me how many people read too much into what the papers want you to believe. The fans get in uproar over nothing and so and managers constantly having to reassure fans that the player is "going nowhere".

Still, the transfer window shuts in five days so there's not too much more tabloid trash to endure! Although I'm sure it won't be long before the speculation about the January transfer window begins...

Rant over!