- Feb 1, 2005
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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/473881-beware-sensationalist-football-stories-by-the-daily-star
Extraordinary stuff. They could get into serious shit for this. Their sport has always been ropey but this is scandalous.
some chap called James Goyder for The Bleacher Report said:A Twitter campaign is underway to highlight the number of football stories being broken by the Daily Star Sunday newspaper in England. All the articles in question share certain characteristics which have attracted the suspicion of a number of online commentators.
They all contain quotes from elite footballers from European leagues. None of the players in question speak English as a first language and many of them barely speak English at all. None of them habitually give interviews to the media either.
Yet the Daily Star Sunday has somehow managed to overcome this series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles to gain unprecedented access to these players.
You can see a selection of some of the contentious stories here. All of them are either written or co-written by Ben Fairthorne:
MEZUT OZIL: I DREAM OF PLAYING FOR MANCHESTER UNITED
DAVID SILVA LIKES THE LOOK OF CHELSEA
JOE HART SHOULD PLAY FOR MANCHESTER UNITED SAYS CASILLAS
TORRES V VIDIC: NOW IT’S PERSONAL
TORRES FEELS LET DOWN BY LIVERPOOL
INIESTA: TORRES LOVES SKIPPER GERRARD
LIONEL MESSI: HODGSON WRONGED MASCHERANO IN TRANSFER SAGA
FABIO CAPELLO TOLD HE WAS WRONG TO END BECKHAM'S CAREER
GIGI BUFFON EXPOSES MANCHESTER CITY'S BACK FOUR FLAW
WORLD CUP 2010: WESLEY SNEIJDER IS EVEN BETTER THAN LIONEL MESSI
LIONEL MESSI: GUTIERREZ IS AS GOOD AS ROONEY AND FABREGAS!
JOSE MOURINHO TO SUCCEED ALEX FERGUSON IS A ‘DONE DEAL’
NOU CAMP PLAN £100M SUMMER SWOOP FOR CESC FABREGAS AND FERNANDO TORRES
XAVI: BARCA WILL TAKE FABREGAS IF ARSENAL DON'T START WINNING
IGOR AKINFEEV WANTS TO JOIN ANDREY ARSHAVIN AT ARSENAL
GERARD PIQUE: WAYNE ROONEY WILL WIN IT FOR MAN UTD NEXT SEASON
ARJEN ROBBEN: RAFAEL VAN DER VAART WILL BE SPURS' GEM
Do Fairthorne and his fellow Daily Star Sunday football writers genuinely enjoy unique access to the likes of Mezut Ozil, David Silva, Iker Casilla, David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Buffon, Wesley Sneijder, Igor Akinfeev, Xavi, Gerard Pique, Arjen Robben and Andreas Pirlo?
A lot of football fans, including some well respected pundits, clearly feel that the answer is no. You can see some of the scrutiny which Fairthorne has been subjected to this week here: Twitter.
This morning's Daily Star Sunday carried a grand total of three stories featuring quotes from high profile European based players. Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan, Gerard Pique of Barcelona and Lucio of Inter Milan were 'interviewed' in the following articles, WESLEY SNEIJDER: "I'D ONLY PLAY IN ENGLAND FOR MANCHESTER UTD", GERARD PIQUE: FERNANDO TORRES WILL BE ASHAMED OF EUROPA LEAGUE and, last but not least: MANCHESTER UNITED'S DIMITAR BERBATOV TIPPED FOR BALLON D'OR.
Interestingly enough, in the immediate aftermath of the Twitter allegations surrounding Fairthorne, his byline was not attached to any of these dubious Daily Star on Sunday football pieces. Despite having already interviewed both Sneijder and Pique and his 'proven' track record of getting quotes from famous European footballers Fairthorne was surprisingly not given any of this week's assignments.
In fact the depressingly familiar ,name of Ben Fairthorne was nowhere to be seen. All three of today's stories were instead written by David Hyde, who doesn't appear to have any sort of previous experience of writing sports stories for the Daily Star Sunday.
Why has Fairthorne been taken off the case? Could it have something to do with the simmerings on Twitter? The good news for the Daily Star Sunday is that they seem to have found a more than capable replacement in Hyde.
He has been able to carry on where Fairthorne left off by getting quotes from some of the best known players in La Liga and Serie A. Incidentally, a few journalists in Spain have expressed surprise that Pique should have referred to Torres as "Nando" in one of Hyde's articles. Apparently this particular abbreviation is never normally used by any of the Spanish striker's team mates.
There is a voracious appetite amongst fans for reading about football and in particular speculation pertaining to the transfer market. Unfortunately it seems that certain unscrupulous elements within the media are willing to publish the occasional football related fabrication in order to exploit this growing demand.
When it comes to sensationalist football stories, particularly those emanating from the sports pages of the Daily Star Sunday, it is well worth remembering the old adage, "don't believe everything you read."
Extraordinary stuff. They could get into serious shit for this. Their sport has always been ropey but this is scandalous.