Mails: Savage is paid to be a ‘gobby clown’

Mails: Savage is paid to be a ‘gobby clown’

Only five days until Premier League football is back. Help us get there with some lovely mails. Send them to theeditor@football365.com

Journalism = marketing
I’ve been wanting to write this for a while and a few mails have come in recently that really struck a chord with me, particularly those of my East Sussex counterpart & Monty, MUFC.

Then Savage went and opened his mouth. Buckle up, this is going to be a long mail!

Now then. I love Mediawatch, but it’s a love/despair relationship. While I thoroughly enjoy the snide mocking of the garbage that the red tops put out there in the name of journalism, this content wouldn’t be out there for F365 to belittle if there wasn’t such a market for it, you write for your readers after all. Besides, who cares if it’s quality when its profitable?

I work in marketing myself and I see so many marketing techniques in modern football journalism that sadly I’ve come to the conclusion that it is actually more about marketing than it is about the written word. The internet is a very busy and competitive place and getting noticed is becoming increasingly difficult, everything is written with SEO in mind and in fairness I take no particular umbrage in that as it’s absolutely necessary to stand out. What’s called ‘long tail SEO’ is inserted into all articles, from The Sun to The BBC to Football365, you’ll see it in less than necessary sentences or words added to an article in order to show up in Google search and garner clicks, it’s unfortunately essential to continuity. Detrimental to quality but a necessary evil in order to actually be read. Here’s an example verbatim taken from the first thing I Googled, the England v Malta report on the BBC:

‘There was a touch of conservatism about Southgate’s own selection as he ignored the claims of Manchester United’s precocious teenager Marcus Rashford to go with Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge and Rashford’s Old Trafford team-mate Lingard in attack.’

Look at all those lovely key words. Editors being replaced by SEO Experts. It’s easy to forget when you mostly only talk football with your mates and visit fantastic corners of the internet such as this one, but the majority of football fans are fairly idiotic, or are children who are forgivable in their naivety. As a result the enticement of a highly clickable headline on social media is far more profitable than a well written, insightful piece – after all, the real money comes from the pay-per-view/pay-per-click adverts surrounding said piece. In my field of B2B marketing at least what’s behind the headline actually has to be interesting and/or valuable to the clicker, or understandably you won’t sell anything, but with red top football news once you’ve opened the page they’ve already made their advertising money. The copy text on ‘Which Manchester United star is set to leave Old Trafford in January?’ is fairly irrelevant by that point. This is why SunSport et al. and their search engine optimisation and social media teams make far more money than F365 and is as good as evidence as you’ll need that football journalism is broken. As an aside, why any self-respecting football fan would go near The Sun, regardless of allegiances, is beyond me. But that’s another mail for another fan to write.

It’s also the interests of the average fan as to why punditry spots and newspaper columns are given to ex-pros rather than those with some genuine, shrewd insight to offer. They’re already warned about managers of this ilk by their experts, so who’s this ‘boffin’ or ‘laptop pundit’? He’s never actually played the game at this level, what could he know? It’s only with the rare cases such as Dixon or Neville that something actually worthwhile gets said while mutually appeasing the status quo.

While I’m definitely in no position to comment on his journalistic abilities good or bad, it’s most likely this public demand combined with the old boys club mentality are the main barriers as to why Joe, AFC, East Sussex found it so difficult to secure a position he felt worthwhile in sports journalism, although sadly I feel he may have dodged a bullet. I’m totally open to being corrected on this one, but If you do get lucky and manage to break into the field it seems you can fall into one of five types of football journalist:

– One of the very lucky few that makes it to the position of working for a decent organisation that gives you the freedom to pen your own perspective regardless of the article’s likely popularity, with the emphasis on the actual quality of the work.

– Someone who writes for the red tops and believes everything they write to be true, intelligent and insightful…which surely, hopefully? Must be, as rare as those that sit in the above type??

– The online journalist that measures their success in opens, clicks, likes and shares (ie, a marketeer) rather than the quality of his or her written articles.

– The idealistic journo, that wanted to write the good article but found themselves working in a poisonous atmosphere, suffocated by their superiors, writing for the commercials not the purity.

– Finally, the worst of all. The journalist that knows what they’re writing is garbage, which I’ve heard for myself on (for my shame of listening, pre Murdoch takeover at least) ShoutSport’s late-night back-page phone in where editors have blatantly known there was no real truth behind their headline stories, yet passively admitted as such in their snarky tone when rebuffing probes for credible sources. This is the journo that knows the intelligence of their readership, and thrives off making a living from it… After all, we need sensationalism.

Now on to Robbie Savage, as much as I don’t want to give anyone any less reason to resent the man, he will have given the opinion for the basis of THAT article he most likely didn’t physically write it. I happened to recently learn from my aunt that a colleague of hers was previously sacked as his ghost writer; I can only assume because he accidentally wrote something resembling intelligence. The man has far more profitable places to showcase his talent as a blundering cretin than sat in front of a notepad for a Daily Mirror column – These are written for him, for the readership, which in the most recent case fits and highlights the rhetoric for xenophobia and Britain first stupidity that a far too high percentage of our country agree with. If it works for the front pages, why not put it on the back pages too?

All of this is part of the reason we come to F365, because it offers the alternative, and gives the everyman a chance to voice their wide ranging personal opinions and tell stories about the game we love in the always excellent mailbox. I can’t remember when exactly a few years ago that I did stumble on this site, but my riveted interest in football certainly wouldn’t be the same without it. Not only this, but in recent weeks it’s shown through a shared passion a rare but strong sense of community in the support of people going through hard times which has been moving to say the least, noticeably transcending the tribalism and coming from fans of even the most rivalrous teams – because let’s be honest, what matters more?

To turn a long mail short, I love the site, it’s a rare gem. Long may it continue.
Joe, AFC, Manchester

Why is Giggs entitled to anything?
Terrific Mediawatch on Saturday dissecting Robbie Savage’s advocacy of Giggs for the Swansea job, or any top job really.

Quite why Giggs (and his endless band of ex pro supporters) seem to think he should just waltz into a Premier League manager’s role is hard to fathom. Hell, he was put out because he didn’t get the United gig. This is a man who sat mute (and deaf?) alongside both Moyes and Van Gaal for the best part of three years and as John Nicholson put it at the time you are either partially responsible or totally irrelevant – neither of which would be bullet pointed in anyone’s CV.

Giggs did indeed have a long and illustrious career (though as Keano put it – a great career isn’t the same thing as a great player) but having had smoke blown up his arse throughout the past 20 years he appears to be carrying the same sense of self entitlement into the next stage of his career – the punditry gig can’t have long to go surely?

Ps – Mediawatch is much better when you focus on stuff like this instead of getting excited when one journalist in a paper says someone ‘played well’ yet a different guy on the same paper only gives him a ‘5’. That lads, is what you call two people having a different opinion.
Richard, Manchester

A suggestion for ex-player punditry
Thanks for your efforts to try and fact check the various ex-player pundits and improve the analysis around football. Having recently moved to the US, the difference in the quality of comment surrounding their major sports – and the time committed to it – and football in the UK is striking. There are many reasons for this, but one thing does occur to me, and I wondered what other 365ers think.

Some analysis shows here have a mini-pitch in the studio where the analysts (generally ex-players) are able to recreate key events in the game and show what did or should have happened. Part of me thinks it could be interesting for, say, Alan Shearer to show how he shielded the ball with his back to goal or Martin Keown showing how he defended at corners – and then contrast this with what happened in games over the weekend. It wouldn’t necessarily be right for a highlights show like Match of the Day, but it could be an interesting feature on something like MoTD2. Part of me also thinks it could be a bit ‘tactics truck’. But if done well it would allow these ex-players to at least talk about something they know a lot about (playing football) rather than talking about something they seem to know very little about (everything else about the game).
Alastair (Fort Lauderdale Baggie)

Weekend thoughts from Ed
* Watching The Goal Rush, it appears Bolton are struggling for goals. Imagine my surprise to discover they have a Crystal Palace striker (Keshi Anderson) on loan.

* That said, the Eagles sent Freddie Ladapo on loan to Oldham Athletic, and he scored a very good goal against Gillingham. The ball came to him on the edge of the penalty area and he used his strength to roll the defender, creating enough space to advance on the keeper and fire past him.

* Big thanks to F365 for publishing a Saturday Mediawatch. I was at Drayton Manor for my son’s birthday outing, so I had plenty of time to read it while queueing.

* On the subject of who is the worst pundit, I was firmly in the Glenn Hoddle camp, though I would have put Robbie Savage second. The common ground between them is their idiotic musings; the difference is that Robbie Savage is supposed to sound stupid, whereas Glenn Hoddle isn’t.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, Savage is there to inject some b#nter into proceedings, and to intentionally wind people up. Everything he’s said and ‘written’ about Bob Bradley and Ryan Giggs, for example, was like a milder, footballing version of Katie Hopkins, in that it seemed to have been done in order to annoy as intensely as possible the sort of people who get annoyed by things like this: basically, people like us, who like to think that we know a little bit about football, and don’t like people expressing idiotic opinions backed up solely by the fact they’ve ‘played the game’. As such, the stupider Savage sounds, and the more people he infuriates, the more effective at his job he is.

Glenn Hoddle, on the other hand, is different. Leaving aside his creative use of the English language, because talking naturally in front of the cameras doesn’t come easily to everyone, the main problem with him is the message behind the new words. John Nicholson is fond of referring to Hoddle, in relation to being the cleverest man in a room of idiots, as ‘in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’. This is the big issue with Hoddle. Whereas Savage is largely there to be a gobby clown, a role accepted by him and his colleagues, Hoddle is hailed as a genius, a tactical guru and a wise old head. This premise only endures if you watch football with the sound off. Listening to Hoddle is like listening to someone who has never seen a match before, rather than someone who was an incredibly intelligent player.

Basically, Savage the pundit is exactly the same as Savage the player, whereas Hoddle the pundit is a world away from Hoddle the pundit, albeit that he and all his colleagues don’t see this difference.

* Steve Bruce is the favourite for the Aston Villa manager’s job. Let’s hope his done his PowerPoint presentation and passed his human resources online module.
Ed Quoththeraven

Varied international thoughts
* It was nice to see Nacho Monreal in a Spain game after a considerable time in the international wilderness. Spain played a 3-4-3 with neither a dedicated right-sided defender or forward. Ramos covered that right general area defensively while Monreal did the same on the left but it was interesting seeing a team set up with no actual fullback or wing-back.

* Despite being called up, Ander Herrera was not given a single minute during the two games. His wait for a first Spain cap still continues. Incredible that a player of his quality can’t get even just a minute’s cameo while England continues to persevere with only slightly above average midfielders.

* Speaking of England midfielders, Jordan Henderson is putting in good performances quite regularly. I still watch games expecting him to f**k up but he’s really upped his game this season.

* I realize most F365 readers do not watch or follow African football but It has been a great weekend for those of us who do. Uganda claimed a precious point away to Ghana. Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast and DR Congo all got important wins to kick-start their World Cup 2018 qualification campaign. It shows the improved level of competition in African football that Kenya (without Wanyama) can beat a full strength DR Congo side who then go on to claim a 4-0 win in the final round of the qualification campaign just days later.

* Algeria, Nigeria, Zambia and Cameroon in one group with only one team qualifying for the World Cup. Good luck predicting the results in that group.

* I was watching the Ivory Coast-Mali game and something really struck me as odd about Serge Aurier. A Mali attack broke down and the ball went out for a goalkick. For some reason, Aurier saw it fit to square up to the keeper and started admonishing him right to his face presumably for not keeping the ball in play or something. His side were 3-1 up. I just don’t get why Aurier is prone to such moments of utterly unnecessary stupidity. PSG should cut their losses on him while they still can.

* Cheikhou Kouyate and Idrissa Gueye form quite the midfield partnership for Senegal. With Koulibaly proving a defensive wall at the back, and Sadio Mane and Lazio’s Keita Balde on the wings terrorizing the opposing defenders, I’m going with Senegal as my adopted team for this qualifying campaign and the coming World Cup should they make it.
Greg Tric, Nairobi

A good case made for Koscielny
In reading the perfect Premier League XI, I felt there was an omission. I don’t want to nitpick as inevitably there will be differences of opinion, but it just didn’t compute to me that the best two centre-backs in the league were missing, so I decided to investigate. Though it wasn’t clear exactly how the criteria for the 11 were weighed, it seemed statistics was a big component. So I looked up some stats to see if maybe that was the issue.

Now first things first, 7.9 clearances and 6.1 interceptions is just ridiculous, so it’s hard to argue with Curtis Davies inclusion on those stats. (Though it should be noted that teams who play more defense allow more opportunities to accrue stats, but still.) So that leaves Stones. Let’s compare (stats courtesy of whoscored.com):

Stones: Tackles 0.9; Interceptions 2; Clearances 4.6; Blocks 0.7; Pass % 88.7; Rating 6.93
Alderweireld: Tackles 0.9; Interceptions 1.6; Clearances 4.5; Blocks 1; Pass % 81.6; Rating 7.13
Koscielny: Tackles 1.2; Interceptions 2.1; Clearances 5.5; Block 1.2; Pass % 90.1; Rating 7.65

Alderweireld’s passing percentage looks to take him out of the running, so fair enough there. But what about Koscielny, who has started the season in impressive form? He looks to have better statistics in every category except for dribbles (0.2 vs 0.9), but shouldn’t Koscielny’s two goals offset that? Not to mention the eye test, which had us witness him shackle the Premier League form striker in Costa (rightfully included in the 11). Now the notes discuss ball playing abilities, but I don’t think Stones is necessarily any better than Koscielny in this regard, both are perfectly capable with the ball at their feet, so could each perform that role. Long story short, I feel Koscielny is playing too well to miss out.
Philip AFC Ajax (looking forward to Holland vs France tomorrow!)

Other countries have wealth of coaching talent
Do people genuinely dislike international week or is just trendy to diss it? Over this weekend I’ve watched Austria v Wales, Italy v Spain, Peru v Argentina, Ecuador v Chile, France v Bulgaria, Germany v Czech Republic and Mexico v New Zealand. You can’t argue with that.

Anyway, I was also thinking about the England manager situation and available candidates. It’s interesting to consider different countries and coaches of that nationality who haven’t yet overseen their national team – it’s a fun game to play. There’s definitely a gulf in class:

SPAIN
Pep Guardiola
Unai Emery
Rafa Benitez
Luis Enrique
Quique Sanchez Flores

GERMANY
Jurgen Klopp
Ottmar Hitzfeld
Jupp Heynckes
Thomas Tuchel

ITALY
Carlo Ancelotti
Luciano Spaletti
Claudio Ranieri
Roberto Mancini
Fabio Capello

FRANCE
Arsene Wenger
Rudi Garcia
Zinedine Zidane

PORTUGAL
Jose Mourinho
Andre Villas Boas
Jorge Jesus
Leonardo Jardim
Paolo Sousa

NETHERLANDS
Frank de Boer
Ronald Koeman
Phillip Cocu

SCOTLAND
Alex Ferguson (I know he was in charge at the 1986 World Cup but only as caretaker)
Kenny Dalglish
David Moyes
Paul Lambert

ARGENTINA
Diego Simeone
Jorge Sampaoli
Mauricio Pochettino

Even Sweden have Sven and Northern Ireland have Brendan. Is the cupboard bare or are we just undervaluing English managers? International football is a different beast and often coaches who have had a moderate amount of success at club level can cope with the demands that country v country brings. Maybe there’s a rough diamond out there who will find their niche with the Three Lions.

I guess what I’m saying is give the job to Merse.
Matthew Reid

A sad week for football fans in Hong Kong
First we have the passing away of Mr. Wong, a well-respected man in the football industry. He was the founder of two local football magazines in the 80s, one about local football and one about English football. The magazines were the windows to English football back then.

Then news broke out that at least five players (including the team captain) and staff (all from the same team) were involved in match-fixing for some matches in the reserves league.

Finally we have the government announcing the intention to take back a piece of land, which currently hosts a football training centre for youngsters. This centre, funded by one of the top teams in the Hong Kong league, has only opened for ONE year. Its construction was presumably based on an understanding with government being a long-term lease of land, however the government has now decided to take back the land for other purposes.

This is especially depressing considering that we have no other comparable training centres in terms of size, facilities, personnel and ambition. Well to be fair, this coming from a government who, in 2014 has openly stated that sports activities do not benefit the economy at all, really cannot be seen as a big surprise….
Sam, LFC, Hong Kong

A better week for football fans in Syria
I don’t care how you do it but F365 has to publish my mail about Syria beating China. A war-torn country beating one of the world’s superpowers is something that cannot be ignored. I didn’t even know they had a team.

All of us watch football for fun and optimism and a way to escape reality. Think of how those Syrians must be feeling. Even if the team provided them a minute’s respite from their horrible lives, what they have done is nothing short of extraordinary. They need to be celebrated.
Zaki LFC (This is what International football can do) India