Q How does a football website make up for being days late with a story?
A Run the story anyway but put a wholly misleading headline on it
Is that how caughtoffside.com decided to approach the comments made this week by Asamoah Gyan? What he said was that as a “big fan of Manchester United”, he would like to play for them if the chance came his way, but that for now he was with “another great club” and wanted to repay the faith placed in him by that club and its supporters.
Without a scrap of new information to what Ghanasoccernet.com, followed by Salut! Sunderland and others, reported earlier in the week, the site chose to omit the bit about Gyan’s obligations to Sunderland and stuck this headline on the story:
Manchester United Linked With Shock Move for £13m Sunderland Striker
I do not suppose it is really intended to be disruptive.
But is is mischievous, cynical and wrong. United have NOT been “linked” with any such move, “shock”-inducing or otherwise. The player has merely mentioned a footballing allegiance – players are often fans, too – and been honest enough to say he’d love to play at Old Trafford if asked.
Salut! Sunderland‘s posting – click here to see – dealt with the appropriate Sunderland response if ever there were an approach for him, but that is as far as the matter went or, for the foreseeable future, is likely to go.
Can anyone thing of an appropriate prize if we decided to designate suitable honours for most wildly inaccurate headlines of the year and started with an award to caughtoffside.com?
Monsieur Salut
I wonder how it would be reported if Wayne Rooney admitted to being a closet Sunderland fan and would like to play for us one day if the opportunity arose?
If an opposing manager were to come out with something along these lines (Harry, of course, excepted) he would be, quite rightly, slated.
How “journos” think that they can get away with it baffles me – except in this case it was not one, it was an aspiring nonentity on caughtoffside.com.
Enough said!