Standards
The standard of football journalism has got so low, fuelled by the inane need to pump out stories for online ad revenue (one Friday, MOMS counted the Birmingham Mail putting out 25 separate Villa stories), that it would be like shooting fish in a barrel for the Media Muppets column. It could easily be a daily column.
While it’s been almost impossible to keep up with all the media muppetry, it’s been a while since the column had an outing, so with the ‘news’ of Villa wanting to sell Mile Jedinak, it was time to address that. Expect Media Muppets to be more frequent, hence forth.
As well as the Jedinak news, below are a couple of prime examples of muppetry this year.
Who:
Alan Nixon @ The Sun
Headline:
ASTON VILLA will try to move out Mile Jedinak at the end of the season as part of a major overhaul.
Spiel
Boss Steve Bruce is looking to sign several new faces but some big hitters and top earners will have to leave.
The Australian midfielder came on Premier League money, but like Ross McCormack and others he will be culled if Villa can find a club to take them.
Evaluation
- Jedinak has been celebrated as one of the key influencers of Villa’s improved results, so Villa better get rid. Nonsense!
2. Come on, Mr Nixon, what’s your logic? While Tony Xia’s spending cannot continue indefinitely, there’s no way Villa would have signed the likes of Jedinak, Jodjia, Hogan, Chester, Hourihane and McCormack etc on Premier League wages, if they could only afford it for one season.
If Villa failed to gain promotion after a second season in the Championship, then such an argument would perhaps be viable, but at the moment, it makes no sense at all.
3. Even if the player wanted a move out (maybe he only expected one season in the Championship), he’ll be 33 come the start of next season and will find it hard to join a Premier League club. There would be no point in moving to another Championship club. Would he have his wages matched overseas? Unlikely.
4. In Nixon’s defence, this wasn’t a headlined story, but a short single news item in a news wrap-type article, but the usual suspects – Football Insider and HITC – have poured paraffin onto the fire, with numerous stories off the back of it just for the clicks. They are more annoying than the initial story itself.
Media Muppet Score: 8/10
A Couple of Classic Media Muppet Stories This Year…
Who:
Konstantinos Lianos @
Headline:
Fans fear Scott Hogan will torpedo Aston Villa move after Brentford hammering
Spiel:
FANS have taken to Twitter wondering if Scott Hogan will change his mind over an imminent transfer to Aston Villa.
Villa are struggling against his current team Brentford who have scored three goals against Steve Bruce’s side at Griffin Park.
Aston Villa fans fear the 24-year-old striker is watching the game and is having second thoughts about a possible move.
Evaluation:
1. Ah, the old lazy clickbait classic. A couple of sentences (yes, the above is the entire article) and then a gallery of several screen grabbed pictures of fan tweets. The article is basically just the headline. You click it, it succeeds. Ad revenue. Then you click through the 12 pictures of fan tweets to earn them even more ad revenue.
2. The “fans have taken to Twitter” opening line, now actually makes me want to vomit. Did journalists really waste years of their life going to university or studying journalism qualifications just to write such worthless content?
3. As if a footballer who’s just sorted himself out a deal that will probably triple/quadruple his wages will turn his back on his bumper contract due to one result.
4. Do some journalists really think supporters are that dumb? Well, obviously some seem to be, since they click through. Worse though is the lack of respect for their readers to dupe them with such headlines and stories content.
Don’t click people. Don’t click!
Media Muppet Score: 7/10
Who:
Headline:
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce risks upsetting fans as he considers re-signing Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph
Spiel:
Aston Villa want to re-sign Fabian Delph – the man branded a “snake” by the club’s fans – on loan until the end of the season.
Steve Bruce, the Villa manager, is keen to reshape his midfield this month and is hoping to sign at least two of his four main targets: Delph, Henri Lansbury, who the club have made a £3 million bid for, Tom Cleverley and Matty James.
It is the name of Delph that will cause most debate among the Villa faithful, following the 27-year-old’s controversial move to Manchester City in the summer of 2015.
Guardiola has suggested that Delph’s future will be decided in the summer, but Villa will face plenty of competition if City do agree to loan him out this month.
Evaluation
1.This is obviously clickbait gold and probably worth risking your reputation on in terms of clicks and ad revenue for your employer. People’s memories are like goldfishes nowadays any way, nobody will remember it a week later.
2. If social media didn’t exist would this have even been trotted out as a story?
3. The club denied it straight away
4. The chances of Fabian Delph wanting to play Championship football at this stage of his career? Zero.
5. The next step in Delph’s career is to try and get more game time with City and failing making any squad impact, try to get a move to a Premier League club in the summer.
6. Delph is so injury prone, it would be a gamble anyway to stake trying get promotion on him. Even if they got City to pay most of his wages.
7. It was never going to happen. Fake news.
Media Muppet Score: 9/10
I’m so sick to death of Birmingham Mail’s clickbait headlines now regarding Villa I’ve just blocked them from my news aggregators. I’m completely with you on the Twitter nonsense too. An individual can travel to a dangerous country, interview front line soldiers and risk death and be called a journalist. Another can wake up, turn on twitter, put 4 links in a page, post it and go back to bed and they’re also a journalist. But it doesn’t matter as long as people click. Clicking is the currency of the internet. Not truth or integrity. Just bloody clicks. Keep up the good work.
Seems like the media are struggling to find something to write about so they are spouting fake news about our club, Jedi leaving not a cats chance, Kodjia leaving not a cats chance, we are no longer a selling club, were told that we won’t stand in his way if Chelsea come calling, but although a great player for us in the Championship he has never played in the premiership and for the price he would command no premiership club will take the chance, Don’t listen to this media rubbish just go with common sense, a great signing for us for next season would be Tammy Abrahams currently on loan at Bristol City from Chelsea, he and Kodjia would be lethal.