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Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

Greg

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Mr Logic

Mr Logic

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Posted

 

 

All human life is out there. The more ‘spthecial’ opinions usually get diluted amongst the relatively sensible majority. Unless you only take your litmus test from a small pond with an unusual number of LOFs (Loud Opinionated Fuckwits).

 

Thats the way it used to be, but social media has created a much bigger platform for the minority voice and the majority have never been very vocal anyway.

We need ever more responsible reporting at a time they seem to be getting less responsible.

 

And just to reiterate my own point, this from Wullie last week, regarding the thorough integrity of journalism.

 

Mediawatch apologises for coming across as particularly grumpy today, but some things really do make you stand back in awe at this race to the bottom.

 

At 11am on Wednesday, the top story on Mirror Football is headlined ‘Man United win the Premier League! The table according to Google searches (and City don’t even make top six)’.

 

To repeat, this is the top story. Not a silly little feature hidden away to garner some SEO traffic, but the big hitter.

 

The Mirror have a network of fine journalists who get stories and pass comment. On Wednesday alone, they have David Anderson and David McDonnell all over the Manchester clubs, David Maddock covering Jurgen Klopp, John Cross doing Arsenal and Simon Bird with the latest Rafael Benitez stuff. The budget is there. The stories are there.

 

So how do those people feel when the top story is designed purely to gain SEO traffic? Any pretence that that isn’t the case is removed when you look at the URL slug: ‘news/manchester-united-win-premier-league-’. Come on, guys.

 

‘Manchester City would not qualify for Europe if the Premier League table was determined by Google searches,’ the piece begins.

 

Lucky for City that it isn’t determined by sodding Google searches, then. It’s determined by the results of football matches. Football matches that you send a raft of journalists to cover. At least give them the respect of not pushing their work below this shite.

 

For those interested, the story second on their football homepage is that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is selling his car. Of course it bloody is.

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Wullie

Wullie

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Posted

Speaking of Mediawatch, Hairy Hands Keys thinks we should have an English coach instead (there's a surprise): https://www.richardajkeys.com/index.php/blog

 

Mediawatch response:

 

‘For some time now I’ve been banging the drum for British coaching. Despite the usual hysterical reactions, mostly from people who half read what I write and immediately jump on their keyboards, I have no intention of stopping,’ begins Richard Keys’ latest blog.

 

Mediawatch promises that it read the blog fully before jumping on its keyboard. We did stop to pull out our hair, too. Strap in:

 

‘Let me say it again – in my view British coaches are every bit as good as their foreign counter-parts (sic). Now let’s qualify that statement. Nothing about it is ‘anti’ foreign. Nothing at all.’

 

You really do have to keep repeating that last line by the time you reach paragraph eight of what definitely isn’t an anti-foreigner rant.

 

‘It’s when foreign coaches start filling jobs lower down the league that I have a problem. Why do Leicester and Southampton feel the need to go abroad for a coach? Why do Watford or Huddersfield?’

 

Mediawatch is (almost) sick of saying this, but the reason those clubs went abroad is because they could, and because they considered the foreign coaches they were able to appoint to be better than the British coaches they were able to attract.

 

David Wagner was the first non-British or Irish manager Huddersfield Town had ever appointed; it’s not like they hadn’t given Brits a go. But Wagner came in, transformed the club and took them to the Premier League for the first time.

 

Also, criticising Leicester for ‘going abroad’ is a little much two years after distinctly foreign Claudio Ranieri won the most surprising league title in the history of English football having replaced Englishman Nigel Pearson. Claude Puel has hardly started badly in the job, either. He is objectively a more suitable manager than Craig Shakespeare.

 

But the main question is this: If ‘nothing about this is anti foreign’, why do you ‘have a problem’ with any club appointing a foreigner? Surely clubs can appoint whoever they consider to be the best manager for the job? That’s if ‘nothing about this is anti foreign’, of course.

 

‘Here’s an inconvenient truth – the three Brits who’ve taken charge at Palace, West Ham and Everton have lifted those clubs 16 places since taking over. Not bad eh? Moyes is fast becoming a hero at West Ham, Allardyce has got Everton moving and Hodgson has got Palace off the bottom and out of trouble.’

 

Yes, they have indeed done well. In the same way that Puel has taken Leicester from 14th to eighth and Marco Silva has taken Watford from 17th to tenth. It’s almost as if clubs make (and should continue to make) decisions based on who they think will be best, not what their passport looks like. Only Keys (and his Doha disciples) are framing this as a battle between British and foreign.

 

‘I’ve said before – great credit to Benitez for the job he did getting Newcastle up. It was every bit as good as the job Chris Hughton did the last time they got promoted from the Championship. To get the job done Benitez spent £102m and took 17 players to St James’ Park. Hughton didn’t.’

 

Facts? Who needs them? We’re not quite sure where Keys gets his figure of £102m from, but Newcastle actually spent around £57m on new players during their Championship season. That’s after selling nine players for a combined £88m. Funny how ‘inconvenient truths’ have been abandoned by this juncture.

 

‘The run Newcastle are on is NOTHING to do with Mike Ashley and EVERYTHING to do with what’s happening ON the pitch – or rather isn’t happening on the pitch. No Rafa, this one is down to you.’

 

Indeed, who could make the connection between off-field uncertainty and on-field performance?

 

We’ve reached the point where Keys’ words are capitalised for emphasis and his opinions (and questionable ones at that) are presented as fact, so it’s probably time to leave Keysey to his daily life of taking television jobs in a foreign country that surely locals could do equally as well: RIP Qatari broadcasting.

 

Or did they make those decisions on who was best for the job regardless of nationality, Richard?

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Mattoon

Mattoon

Posted
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Speaking of Mediawatch, Hairy Hands Keys thinks we should have an English coach instead (there's a surprise): https://www.richardajkeys.com/index.php/blog

 

Mediawatch response:

 

‘For some time now I’ve been banging the drum for British coaching. Despite the usual hysterical reactions, mostly from people who half read what I write and immediately jump on their keyboards, I have no intention of stopping,’ begins Richard Keys’ latest blog.

 

Mediawatch promises that it read the blog fully before jumping on its keyboard. We did stop to pull out our hair, too. Strap in:

 

‘Let me say it again – in my view British coaches are every bit as good as their foreign counter-parts (sic). Now let’s qualify that statement. Nothing about it is ‘anti’ foreign. Nothing at all.’

 

You really do have to keep repeating that last line by the time you reach paragraph eight of what definitely isn’t an anti-foreigner rant.

 

‘It’s when foreign coaches start filling jobs lower down the league that I have a problem. Why do Leicester and Southampton feel the need to go abroad for a coach? Why do Watford or Huddersfield?’

 

Mediawatch is (almost) sick of saying this, but the reason those clubs went abroad is because they could, and because they considered the foreign coaches they were able to appoint to be better than the British coaches they were able to attract.

 

David Wagner was the first non-British or Irish manager Huddersfield Town had ever appointed; it’s not like they hadn’t given Brits a go. But Wagner came in, transformed the club and took them to the Premier League for the first time.

 

Also, criticising Leicester for ‘going abroad’ is a little much two years after distinctly foreign Claudio Ranieri won the most surprising league title in the history of English football having replaced Englishman Nigel Pearson. Claude Puel has hardly started badly in the job, either. He is objectively a more suitable manager than Craig Shakespeare.

 

But the main question is this: If ‘nothing about this is anti foreign’, why do you ‘have a problem’ with any club appointing a foreigner? Surely clubs can appoint whoever they consider to be the best manager for the job? That’s if ‘nothing about this is anti foreign’, of course.

 

‘Here’s an inconvenient truth – the three Brits who’ve taken charge at Palace, West Ham and Everton have lifted those clubs 16 places since taking over. Not bad eh? Moyes is fast becoming a hero at West Ham, Allardyce has got Everton moving and Hodgson has got Palace off the bottom and out of trouble.’

 

Yes, they have indeed done well. In the same way that Puel has taken Leicester from 14th to eighth and Marco Silva has taken Watford from 17th to tenth. It’s almost as if clubs make (and should continue to make) decisions based on who they think will be best, not what their passport looks like. Only Keys (and his Doha disciples) are framing this as a battle between British and foreign.

 

‘I’ve said before – great credit to Benitez for the job he did getting Newcastle up. It was every bit as good as the job Chris Hughton did the last time they got promoted from the Championship. To get the job done Benitez spent £102m and took 17 players to St James’ Park. Hughton didn’t.’

 

Facts? Who needs them? We’re not quite sure where Keys gets his figure of £102m from, but Newcastle actually spent around £57m on new players during their Championship season. That’s after selling nine players for a combined £88m. Funny how ‘inconvenient truths’ have been abandoned by this juncture.

 

‘The run Newcastle are on is NOTHING to do with Mike Ashley and EVERYTHING to do with what’s happening ON the pitch – or rather isn’t happening on the pitch. No Rafa, this one is down to you.’

 

Indeed, who could make the connection between off-field uncertainty and on-field performance?

 

We’ve reached the point where Keys’ words are capitalised for emphasis and his opinions (and questionable ones at that) are presented as fact, so it’s probably time to leave Keysey to his daily life of taking television jobs in a foreign country that surely locals could do equally as well: RIP Qatari broadcasting.

 

Or did they make those decisions on who was best for the job regardless of nationality, Richard?

 

I wonder if my comment on Keys' website will make it through the moderators?

 

You are an unmitigated arsehole who presents flawed opinion as fact. Go and shave your knuckles and move forward a few stages in evolution with the rest of us. You can say "I'm not anti-foreign" as much as you like but in my opinion you are a closet racist, managers are hired for their skills and ability, not their passport.
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steve_69

steve_69

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I can see Keys lining up some Sports Defect after dinner speeches for the next stage of his tail-spinning career; suspect he’d fit right in.

 

Telling racist jokes and talking about women he's been 'hanging out the back of' lately.

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Minhosa

Minhosa

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There's 100% logic and agenda behind that '20th Jan' comment btw and it's related to the sale.

 

I'd say he's been asked to plant that on behalf of PCP to increase pressure on MA towards the end of the window to sell.

 

They all know that a leopard doesn't change it's spots and Ashley will not overpay on the many players needed. They also know he's got a history of breaking promises. Therefore, the unrest by the third week of Jan, will be palpable.

 

He struggles with volume.

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Sean

Sean

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Well it definitely seems strange to me that Rafa says he doesn't know his budget, or if players need to be sold beforehand, but at the same time is confident in Ashley to do whats needed...after the last 2 windows he'd have ZERO trust in Ashley surely?

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