Today’s reflection is on those occasions when a “news story” is presented in terms that are really the direct opposite of news. Monsieur Salut draws on hundreds of years of experience to discuss a classic example.
On Facebook yesterday, I wrote: “Forget the hysteria of Leveson and the Scotland Yard ‘burglars/muggers/killers’ delight’ investigation of reporters having pints or lunch with coppers. The Tyne-Wear derby, Newcastle v Sunderland, is on Sunday at noon. Elegant, witty, informative and impeccably fair tribalism is to be found at https://safc.blog/
We stuck to our guns and stayed patient. Then the official news came, from both the Manchester United and Sunderland club sites: John O’Shea had followed Wes Brown into the Stadium of Light and joined SAFC for another of those idiotic undisclosed fees.
This is how the announcement came from safc.com:
The 30 year-old Republic of Ireland international … has agreed a deal which will keep him at the Stadium of Light until summer 2015.
O’Shea, who becomes Sunderland’s eighth permanent senior signing of the summer transfer window, will link up with former Red Devils teammate Wes Brown, who also made the switch from Old Trafford.
Speaking following the completion of his move, O’Shea said: “Once I’d heard reports about the club and the people here, the ambitions and what the manager was all about it was the only place I was going to come to.”
No sooner had I said we would hold fire for official news than Sunderland AFC announce the signing of Wes Brown from Manchester United.
No immediate word on John O’Shea and/or Darron Gibson, also attracting our interest, but it is fair to assume there will be movement one way or the other on either or both of them before long.
Image: Andrea Sartorati
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