Are you a journalist yourself? How are you meeting these folks?
Yeah, was a journalist for 13-years...only left last year. Worked in Dublin for most of that, writing about United, so getting to know the lads on the Manchester beat then I moved to London, but was still heavily involved with United. Been a United fan since I was a kid.
I've worked both tabloid and broadsheet.
Can tell you, hand on heart, that football journalists have zero influence anymore. I think I posted about it on here before. Clubs/managers/players no longer need journalists as middle men. Media (which means 'middle') has evolved so much, that newspapers have become almost obsolete. All of these guys thinking they have 'insiders' and writing bollocks about transfers are taking daily guesses. I've taken guesses myself. It's how modern newspaper journalism goes.
I stand back and look at the tweets of people like Miguel Delaney, Neil Custis, Ducker..De Brun etc and just cringe for them. I know for certain they are all guessing.
What's always interesting is that nobody ever brings anything new to the table. Marca confirm United's interest in Morata and then - and
only then - do all journalists on the Manchester beat suddenly know everything about what's going on. They didn;t know the story in the first place, but now that it looks likely to happen, they suddenly know every tiny detail...wages, fee, when he'll sign, where he'll fit into Jose's team etc...Absolute bullshitters. Last summer's falling about over Pogba was hilarious to read. It was really embarrassing for British journalists, they amount of guessing and fecking up they did was like a Laurel and Hardy movie. They got every detail of that transfer wrong all summer. British journalists don't get fed information. They have zero influence or power. They are now just a laughing stock. And take it from me; United don't leak a thing! They just don't. United are probably the most difficult football club on the planet to get any heads up from. They keep everything in-house. Football news has changed dramatically.
Years ago, if a football club wanted to inform fans of information, they would use what is called a middle man (media). They'd ring a journalist or put out a press release to sports editors and they would write a story, blah, blah, informing the fan. Now, clubs/players etc no longer need a 'middle man'...if they want news put out there to the millions of fans around the world, they can do it with the push of a button (social media, club's own website etc). A newspaper journalist is no longer needed. A newspaper journalist is obsolete. Hence, why I am now writing books and not lying to everyone else - and even myself - for a living.
Don't you all find it hilarious that nobody - not one journalist in the whole of the world - knew anything about Ronaldo yesterday morning. Then suddenly news breaks in Spain of his ambition to leave Real and suddenly EVERY journalist knows everything. Where he wants to go, how much he will cost, what he told his teammates, two hacks have even reported that Mourinho has already told people he doesn't want Ronaldo, even though Mourinho was on along-haul flight most of yesterday evening, these journalists now report that he held secret talks with PSG a month ago - yet didn't report it at the time. You couldn't make this shit up.....except they actually do! Football reporting is only one of two things these days; it's either embarrassing or funny It's nothing other than that. It can not be taking seriously.
Who would actually believe that
