Transfer Rumours: The End of Civilization as We Know It

Many years ago, there was a television series in Britain called “Rutland Weekend Television” which starred Eric Idol (of Monty Python fame).

The series was in the form of a spoof television channel. It contained a spoof program called “Expose” in which a mythical personality would be grilled by a “hard hitting” presenter.

Every episode would end with the presenter seizing upon the most innocuous admission by the “guest” and launching into a melodramatic tirade whereby a series of improbable and increasingly sensational events were linked until the ritual weekly conclusion “so this could be the end of civilization as we know it…goodnight and goodbye” was reached.

The real hilarity of Expose is the accurate depiction of the British media’s constant attempt to find ever-increasing levels of drama and controversy in everything it reports on, and its willingness to simply invent such drama and controversy when none exists.

Consider how the media treats the EPL; an “off the ball” incident that is caught on a Sky Sports camera, but was missed by match officials, inevitably becomes the focus of micro-analysis to the point where one feels that the 90 minutes of soccer has become secondary to the media witch- hunt that follows.

Similarly, the most innocuous post-match comment by a manager is twisted out of all context, in the constant hope that sufficient controversy will be stirred to create more news, hopefully spiraling out of all proportion to anything that ever existed at the outset of "the story."

But the area where the distinction between fiction and fact can be most  safely blurred by the media is in respect of “transfer rumours.” Indeed, the very use of the word “rumours,” particularly in the hands of the British media, should sound an extremely audible warning to those who choose to allow themselves to be influenced by them.

To a corrosive force, intent on stirring up discontent and resentment, transfer rumours afford the sports editor almost unlimited license to raise the hopes and expectations of EPL fans knowing that they will be dashed by their club.

From the sports editors' perspective, the beauty of this is that when those falsely raised hopes and expectations are not realized, the fans take out their frustrations on the clubs (usually the manager or the board) rather than on the source of the nonsense they paid for the privilege to read. The fans' frustration then becomes newsworthy and a spiral of discontent is kindled.

Consider how easy it is to whip up a near frenzy amongst fans, and let’s consider Arsenal fans in particular. The media knows full well, because it is a fact, that Arsenal (along with most EPL clubs) are unable to spend as much money on transfers and wages as Chelsea, the two Manchester clubs, Real Madrid and several others.

This is not the fault of Arsenal, it is simply a reflection of the wealth of those clubs. It is an unpleasant fact that Arsenal cannot afford to buy players in the £25 million plus bracket nor the wages that go with players in that price zone.

It is also increasingly difficult to persuade the best players to remain at Arsenal on wages substantially less than available to them elsewhere. These are professionals, not Sunday league players.

Exemplars of dull prudence and boring economic reality are, however, of no interest to the media; Where is the "end of civilization" angle in a story about dreary Arsenal watching its money and not spending what it does not have?

So the easy solution is to invent all sorts or rumours about wonderful players that Arsenal are “linked" with, or of teams interested in Arsenal star players. This builds up expectations or anxieties in the fans who are often only too willing to suspend their disbelief.

Players themselves, acting through their agents, are also frequently more than willing to allow, or even fuel, media speculation, as it suggests a bidding war and, of course, higher wages…

If Juan Mata and his agent were out to secure the best deal from Chelsea, were they going to object to media speculation that he was being pursued by Arsenal?

It is a win/win formula for the media; It  gets to invent news (always easier than finding the real thing) and then fulfill its false prophecies by suggesting that Wenger “missed out” on a key target as a result of his hesitation or misconceived, miserly approach.

Thus, Wenger finds himself criticized for failing to act in respect of a player he may well have had no serious intention of signing, but which the mass of expectant supporters, driven to near hysteria, were all hoodwinked into believing was on the verge of joining Arsenal. Easy money!

Arsenal is not immune from criticism here. By insisting that it conducts its transfer business in private, it perhaps goes too far the other way in not scotching some of the transfer nonsense, at an early stage, before ridiculous expectations have been built up.

In a sense, it allows the rabid editors to print what they like safe in the knowledge that Arsenal will not be drawn into a debate, as a matter of principle.

A possible solution is for the club to ramp up its media communications; For example, should Mr. Hill-Wood really be commenting on whether Wenger nearly signed Barton?

The EPL is a global force; the media’s obsession with finding some angle to everything that either represents, or might lead to, "the end of Arsenal Football Club as we know it" is going to be ever present.

The solution is to play the media at its own game and to control the agenda, rather than react to the destructive rubbish that it churns out on a daily basis. When it realizes that it is unable to do any damage, like all bullies, it will go and start on somebody else.