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Manchester United go for Ancelotti (who fishes for Arsenal and Chelsea)
CAROLO Ancelotti is vying with Pep Guardiola for the Manchester United job. The Sun leads with “CARLO SEES RED – I’d love to be boss of United.”
The Sun shows Ancelotti looking huge and vibrant, massive, hulking presence over Louis Van Gaal, the current Man United manager, who appears tiny, looking down and rubbing his nose.
This scoop is based on what Ancelotti told the Independent:
“I will continue to wait. If I don’t find a club with a good project, I can wait. What will I do? Watching games, fishing, all these things. But let us see next summer. I will not take a job in mid-season, but I would like to work again next summer.”
The Sun suggests Man United.
“Of course, for every manager, they would all think of managing Manchester United.”
Ancelotti has been on the media rounds. He’s looking for a top job, letting everyone know he’s available. Just get a load of these stories in the Daily Mail:
Ancelotti to Arsenal would be perfect. Why have the wheels not already been set in motion?!’ – Daily Mail, March 2015.
‘Liverpool make contact with Carlo Ancelotti as pressure mounts on Brendan Rodgers’ – Daily Mail, September 2015.
‘Chelsea plan for Jose Mourinho exit with Carlo Ancelotti waiting in the wings’ – Daily Mail, October 2015.
‘Carlo Ancelotti has now set his sights on his next coaching role. He wants the Bayern Munich job if Pep Guardiola decides to leave’ – Daily Mail, December 2015.
Via: MediaWatch
Posted: 8th, December 2015 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Rare meat can kill
“RARE MEAT COULD KILL.” So declares the Sun via its front page. How rare? This rare?
The Sun says “deadly superbugs” might be alive in your meaty dinner. These bugs are “drug-resistant superbugs”, maybe. But worry ye not. They can be killed by… cooking!
The Sun helpfully explains what cooking is to its slack-jawed readers. Tips include:
- Use a pan
- Use a hot grill
- Cook
But mostly vitally: ensure animal is dead. Those things can really kick.
Manchester United: Ferguson fears Liverpool boss Klopp and forgets himself
Sir Alex Ferguson says he’s worried at the impact Jurgen Klopp will have at Liverpool. The former Manchester United manager says of Klopp:
“I’m worried about him because the one thing United don’t want is Liverpool to get above us. He’s a fantastic personality, with those big white teeth always showing…”
And then Ferguson spoke about working with the media:
“You have to win twice on a Saturday. You have to win the game and you have to win the press conference. Some managers fail, simply because they lack experience or they’re emotional. You have to gather yourself. I used to wash my face before a press conference…. You have to give a message to your fans because they’re watching. They want to see their manager come out with a positive attitude and not a beaten man… You’ve got to handle the press. It’s a very difficult part of it.”
That would be the Alex Ferguson who for seven years refused to speak to the BBC after they dissed his son.
Posted: 7th, December 2015 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Chelsea lose to Bournemouth in Russian billionaire battle
Yesterday Bournemouth beat Chelsea 0-1 at Stamford Bridge. It was cracking result for the south coast club playing for the first time in the Premier League.
But in the Times, Rory Smith has a word to the wise:
Bah, humbug!
Posted: 7th, December 2015 | In: Back pages, Broadsheets, Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Muhaydin Mire: knife jihad in London, cowards and proper Muslims with mobile phones
Muhaydin Mire waves a long-bladed box cutter in Leytonstone Tube Station, London, allegedly. Reports say he’s yelling “This is for Syria”, although which part of that benighted country is unclear.
Mire, 29, of Sansom Road, east London, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He’s been charged with attempted murder.
His alleged attack left a 56-year-old man was left with “serious” stab wounds and another person injured.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 7th, December 2015 | In: Reviews, Tabloids | Comment (1)
Chelsea balls: Jose Mourinho sacked by Leicester (maybe)
More Jose Mourinho sacking news now. The Times leads with a story that the Chelsea boss is “in last chance” to save his job.
Matt Hughes says José Mourinho has been told that “he must guide Chelsea into the knockout stages of the Champions League this week to safeguard his position as manager”.
Win a single point against Porto on Wednesday and Chelsea qualify for the round of 16 – “Defeat, though, could bring the end of Mourinho’s second spell as manager at Stamford Bridge.”
From a headline stating Mourinho has one chance, to a story beneath it that the Portuguese could be given more last chances. The Times has no idea.
And neither does the Daily Mirror, which reports that Chelsea “could sack manager Jose Mourinho whether or not they beat Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday”.
The Sun hedges its bets, giving Mourinho two games to save his job. It sticks a wet finger in the air and discovers that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich “may act if the Blues lose to Porto and then against leaders Leicester in the Premier League next weekend”.
Or else, he may not.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 7th, December 2015 | In: Broadsheets, Chelsea, Reviews, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
ITV fail: broadcaster confuses Ainsley Harriott with Lenny Henry
This week we learnt that TV chef Ainsley Harriott is also Lenny Henry. Who knew? ITV did. As Henry received his knighthood from Her Majesty, the broadcaster showed footage of the one-man double-act’s career:
@itvnews Can I ask why you used footage of Ainsley Harriot in you segment about Sir Lenny Henry being knighted? pic.twitter.com/tgYene7dBo
— Dean (@dean6345) December 4, 2015
Of course, the two men are not the same man.
RT MoneerElfwick: ‘itvnews: Lenny Henry, emotional after receiving his knighthood.’ pic.twitter.com/K1TAMR0m8R
— Richard Davidson (@RichardDavid_1) December 4, 2015
Congratulations @LennyHenry on your Knighthood. You look younger too! @itvnews pic.twitter.com/vCtpKnx4LQ
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) December 4, 2015
Whoops! A spokesperson for ITV News went on the record:
“ITV News apologises for the error broadcast in the lunchtime news package today regarding Sir Lenny Henry’s knighthood at the palace. This was the result of an error in the production process in a piece intended to celebrate Sir Lenny’s significant achievements in British entertainment.”
Before praising he man’s cooking and big smile.
Posted: 6th, December 2015 | In: Celebrities, Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment (1)
After San Bernardino: victim Nicholas Thalasinos was asking for it
Linda Stasi has news on the massacre at a social services center in San Bernardino, California. She shines a narrow beam of light on one of the 13 people murdered: Nicholas Thalasinos.
They were two hate-filled, bigoted municipal employees interacting in one department. Now 13 innocent people are dead in unspeakable carnage. One man spent his free time writing frightening, NRA-loving, hate-filled screeds on Facebook about the other’s religion.
The other man quietly stewed and brewed his bigotry, collecting the kind of arsenal that the Facebook poster would have envied.
To recap: one man wrote things on Facebook. One man murdered 13 people. Keep in mind these intrinsic differences as you read on:
What they didn’t realize is that except for their different religions they were in many ways similar men who even had the same job.
To recap that recap: one murdered 13 people; one wrote things. To Stasi’s adipose mind each of those actions – murdering 13 people and writing on your Facebook page – defines the man.
When anyone is murdered in the US – an unarmed man or woman at a do, say – you should withhold sympathy until you’ve seen their Facebook posts, trawled through their tweets and bon mots for signs of gurning stupidity, gayness, fascism, carbon neutrality, football team affiliation, weirdness and so on. This is why mawkish Channel 4 news presenters always emphasise children as the true victims of war – it locates a victim viewers of every prejudice can surely agree as unequivocally deserving of our tears.
(Of course, we who know what utter swine some kids are remain unconvinced by the ploy. Did you hear what spiteful Julie whispered about Zed the bed wetter? Better to sob for Billy, who was good at football and came top in spelling.)
Stasi continues:
One man, the Muslim, was a loser who had to travel all the way to Pakistan to get himself an email bride. (I refuse to add to their fame by using the killer and his murderous wife’s names.)
That wife radicalized him and fueled his hatred. The FBI is investigating her ties to Al Qaeda and ISIS. Go to the Middle East, meet your new wife, meet some terror leaders, begin your wedded bliss back in the USA.
Cherchez la femme, eh.
The other man, the victim, Nicholas Thalasinos, was a radical Born Again Christian/Messianic Jew, who also connected with his future wife online and had traveled across the country to meet her.
The killer, however, became half of an Islamic Bonnie & Clyde, while the other died as the male equivalent of Pamela Geller.
And on Stasi goes. As for being Bonnie & Clyde, mass murderers Syed Raheel Farook and Tashfeen Malik were not driven by any greed for filthy lucre. Nothing so noble. They sought only death.
Stasi then adds:
The killers deserve every disgusting adjective thrown at them. And more. But…
But?
…the victim is also inaccurately being eulogized as a kind and loving religious man.
What d’yer know about the corpse, Linda?
Make no mistake, as disgusting and deservedly dead as the hate-filled fanatical Muslim killers were, Thalasinos was also a hate-filled bigot. Death can’t change that. But in the U.S., we don’t die for speaking our minds. Or we’re not supposed to anyway.
Which makes you wonder what the point of Stasi’s story is? She doesn’t like what the murdered man wrote on Facebook. He didn’t deserve to die for what he thought, she graciously concedes. But now that he is dead, we should spare the pity because his politics were not within the Stasi-acceptable part of the mainstream.
Thalasinos was an anti-government, anti-Islam, pro-NRA, rabidly anti-Planned Parenthood kinda guy, who posted that it would be “Freaking Awesome” if hateful Ann Coulter was named head of Homeland Security.
He was murdered. He was shot dead at a party.
He asked, “IS 1. EVERY POLITICIAN IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR? 2. EVERY POLITICIAN IS A MORON? 3. EVERY POLITICIAN IS RACIST AGAINST JEWS?” He also posted screeds like, “You can stick your Muslim Million Man march up your asses,” and how “Hashem” should blow up Iran.
His Facebook page warns that “Without HEALTHY PREGNANT WOMAN (Democrats) would have NO SOURCE of BABIES to SACRIFICE and SELL!”
He was asking for it? He was asking to be murdered? Shed no tears for him. He said things Stasi – and how about that name for nominative determinism, folks – does not agree with.
Stasi then nails her bigotry:
We have freedom of speech but…
No buts, Linda. But them no more. Freedom of speech – the right to speak your mind and debate your point of view – has no buts.
Posted: 6th, December 2015 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)
‘On the brink’ at Chelsea: Jose Mourinho sacked by teatime
When does ‘the brink’ become ‘the fall’? The Telegraph says Jose Mourinho is “on the brink” of leaving Chelsea following the Blues’ 0-1 defeat to the mighty Bournemouth.
Mourinho may well scoff at the report. After all, he has been ‘on the brink’ of getting the sack for much of this season.
After defeat at Stoke City, Eurosport wrote: “Chelsea slump to Stoke defeat as Arnautovic puts Mourinho on the brink”
The Express agreed:
ITV said Mourinho was ‘on the brink’ after defeat to Liverpool.
After defeat to West Ham United, the Mail said Jose was “on the brink”:
The Mirror agreed.
According to the Press, Mourinho has been a dead man walking for weeks:
To which Jose says:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 6th, December 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
How Neville Neville got his name (and what it means for Gary)
In a very good article on former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville’s move to a top coaching role at Valencia, David Walsh shares an anecdote that shines a light on the former player’s stubborn will.
His late dad went by the name Neville Neville. You will have wondered at some point, “How could anyone do this?” Just after Neville was born the midwife walked into the room where mum and baby were bonding, picked up the chart and said, “Neville, that’s a nice name for a boy.” A great aunt of Gary’s was visiting and she immediately corrected the midwife’s mistake. “Oh, no, it’s not Neville. That’s his surname. Neville Neville? We can’t be having that.” But her niece, Gary’s grandmother, was affronted at the unintended slight. “Why not Neville Neville? I’ll call him what I want.” And so there you had it, Neville Neville.
Can Gary Neville’s defy the odds and succeed at Valenia? If he fails, you know it won’t be for want of effort…
Manchester United transfers: Harry Kane for £50m, Neymar and Guardiola
Manchester United transfer balls time.
The Sunday Times leads with news that Louis Van Gaal will remain in charge at Old Trafford even if United crash out of the Champions’ League.
But the paper’s Jonathan Northcroft adds that the club are looking for Van Gaal’s successor – and Pep Guardiola wants the job. Northcroft says Pep is “likely” to leave Bayern Munich when his contract expires next summer, and would prefer a move to Manchester United over Manchester City.
The Guardian says United are not interested in Pep. They will “leave the way open for Manchester City to pursue the 44-year-old former Barcelona coach”.
So Van Gaal stays for a while longer. And next summer he’ll get another £200m to splurge on players, says the Sun.
The Sunday Mirror says United will opt for one of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Neymar. Whether one of them will opt for United is a moot point.
The Metro (yes, we know) says United will bid £50m to lure Harry Kane from Tottenham. There he can link up with former Spurs stars Bale and Michael Carrick, causing Spurs fans and their club’s manager Mauricio Roberto Pochettino to question their clubs ambitions.
Pochettino to United, anyone?
Posted: 6th, December 2015 | In: manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: Joel Campbell has a huge hissy fit, slams doors and hates everyone
We love a good goal celebration. But we’re a tad worried for Joel Campbell, Arsenal’s Costa Rican striker.
Having scored for Arsenal against Sunderland in yesterday’s Premier Leaaue match, Campbell retrieved a baby’s dummy from somewhere inside his shorts and sucked it.
This was a tribute to his 10-month-old daughter Brianna,
At the 2014 World Cup, he also hailed his child, scoring a goal against Uruguay and popping the ball up his shirt to mimic his pregnant girlfriend Maria Fernanda Cascante.
If every stage of young Brianna Campbell’s life is to be marked in one of dad’s goal celebrations, we expect to see Campbell pull a bowl of jelly and ice cream from his jock-strap, hold his ears and scowl (the recorder playing phase) and finally storm off the pitch, slamming every door as he leaves and screaming “I hate you!”
Crime: mother used Brillo pad to remove son’s ‘rock and roll’ make-up
Other Parent of the day is Coweta County’s Veridiana Pardo Meo Erbskorn, 47.
She’s been arrested after she allegedly scrubbed make-up from her 12-year-old son’s face with a steel-wool Brillo pad to help him pass rapidly though his “rock and roll stage.”
Erbskorn was taken to the Coweta County Jail on charges of child cruelty, reckless conduct and battery.
She wore no make-up.
Posted: 6th, December 2015 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Creepy Christmas songs: Angels of Love
An incredibly creepy Christian kids song for Christmas. Linda Blair is away:
Posted: 6th, December 2015 | In: Music, Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment
Injury balls: Sanchez and Cazorla defy the media experts and get well soon
The media loves to talk up an injury – and few places in football do injuries with more regularity than Arsenal. The Gunners’ midfielder Santi Cazorla is now injured. We have not been told how badly.
At his Friday press conference, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he didn’t know how long Cazorla will be out for. A journalist asks if he “could” be out til Mach. Wenger replies: “It is possible.”
In the Guardian that becomes: “Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla to miss at least three months with knee injury”
The paper fails to add “possibly”.
The Indy goes better: “… the Gunners now face up to life without Santi Cazorla until March while Alexis Sanchez could miss the rest of 2015.”
He could. But Wenger said: “Alexis is a hamstring [injury] but I don’t know how long it will take, it is usually a quick one to recover.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 5th, December 2015 | In: Arsenal, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Cavani ‘joins’ Manchester United for £13m less than Arsenal paid
How much is PSG’s Edinson Cavani worth?
According to L’Equipe,Manchester United “have been told” they can sign the Paris St-Germain forward for £32m.
This odd story also appears in the Metro. It’s the newspaper that said Cavani had agreed to play for Arsenal.
How much did Cavani join Arsenal for way back in September? The Daily Star knew:
The Metro‘s story of Cavani now being worth £13m less than he was just three months ago contains not a single named source. It’s just an apparent fact that Cavani is worth £32m.
And why didn’t Arsenal sign the Uruguayan? The Daily Mirror says the Gunners decided the 28-year-old has ‘no sell-on value’. They should have consulted that anonymous source – although Cavani’s value is falling faster than the Star and Metro’s credibility.
Posted: 5th, December 2015 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Reviews, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Man caught having sex with camper van towbar
Shaggin’ wagons were mostly meant for two. But in Cornwall a van enthusiast has been seen using the towbar of a campervan to pleasure himself.
Jackie Walker, from Newquay, tells the Plymouth Herald:
“We had an incident outside our house at 1.30am in the morning. My granddaughter was staying with us. She came in my room crying because she’d heard a noise, and said a man came running out [into the street] with something up his jumper. When we got to the upstairs window he was totally naked, trying to sit on the towbar of a campervan. It was disgusting. She’s 15.”
Police reportedly caught up with the tow jobbing pervert.
Posted: 5th, December 2015 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment (1)
Chelsea balls: Costa in London nightclub rage as Jose seethes in total silence
When is a riotous night out not a riotous night out? The Mail leads with news that “Chelsea stars Diego Costa, Ramires and Kenedy risked incurring the wrath of Jose Mourinho by partying into the early hours on Thursday morning at a London nightclub”.
The Chelsea hell raisers were “spotted leaving top London nightclub Libertine at 3.15am”. Ashley Clements has more on these rebels:
Chelsea boss Mourinho may not be best pleased to see Costa out until 3am after seeing his struggling striker throw a touchline tantrum last weekend. Mourinho’s golden rule for the first-team squad is that they are not allowed to drink alcohol or have late nights out in the 48 hours before Chelsea games – a rule the Blues trio were certainly testing by partying late into the night on Wednesday.
Jose must be doing his pieces. Those Brazilian-born party animals.
Here’s Darren Lewis in the Mirror:
Chelsea’s underachieving squad enjoyed a team-bonding evening out on Wednesday night – with full permission from Jose Mourinho.
Diego Costa and Ramires were among the Blues allowed to paint the town red and were spotted leaving a London nightclub in the early hours of Thursday morning with recent addition Kenedy.
They were joined by the entire first team squad ahead of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Bournemouth.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 4th, December 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Syed Farook and Tashfreen Malik were Muslims first and killers second
What part did religion play in Syed Farook and Tashfreen Malik’s joint decision to murder 14 people at a Christmas party in California?
No report of the horror says the husband and wife killer screaming ‘Aluu Wakbar’ as they slaughtered their victims, nor made any obvious reference to Islam.
The New York Post makes the killers’ religion a key factor in the massacre, changing its front-page “shooters” to “Muslim Killers”.
The Mirror says Farook was a “devout Muslim”. Was his wife? We’re not told. The paper makes no other mention of religion in the article.
But it does position the crime in the context of the wider war on terror.
The Daily Mail makes Islam central to the crime. The report says the couple were “radicalised Muslims”. Again we hear that Farook was a “devout Muslim” who met his Pakistani wife online. The Mail says he had been on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Express says the couple were on a “jihadi mission”. The killers are called a “jihadi couple”. But at no point in the article is that a proven fact. The paper is only source of the phrase ‘jihadi couple’.
The Sun says the gunman was “crazed”. A neighbour says she “believed” she had seen a black ISIS flag in the couple’s garage.”I’ve a feeling it was an IS flag,” says the source. This becomes the headline “KILLERS’ I.S. FLAG”.
Meanwhile detective are investigating…
Posted: 4th, December 2015 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Christmas TV repeats story repeats in tabloids
The Daily Mirror reports that 811 shows broadcast over the Christmas period on the four main TV channels have been broadcast before.
The Mirror, which, like the Express and Mail, has broadcast adaptations of this story for the last 20 years, is dismayed by the news.
Says one tabloid insider: “Every year we have to report the same story as news but with a new headline. This year it’s “‘Tis the season for repeats”, whereas last years we reported “The season for repeats”, before that it was “‘Twas the season for repeats” and next year we have already written “‘Twill be the season for repeats”. These TV bosses just shove out Mary Poppins. It’s not fair.”
Before adding: “See you next year.”
Posted: 4th, December 2015 | In: Reviews, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment
Jeremy Corbyn loses Oldham in the dead-tree Daily Mirror
In “Dark Night of the polls for Jeremy”, the Mirror’s Dan Bloom says Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is leading the party to disaster at the Oldham West and Royston by-election.
The paper repeats warnings that the party’s 14,000 majority at the last count could be slashed to just 1,000. Labour candidate Jim McMahon is in dire peril.
Such are the dangers of of being a left-wing newspaper at the time of a weak Labour leader reporting on a vote already decided and counted by breakfast time. As readers of Daily Mirror’s dead-tree organ study the predictions about Jezza the liability, the paper’s website reveals the result. Says Dan Bloom:
Jeremy Corbyn has defied his critics in spectacular fashion as Labour won a thumping victory in his first ballot box test.
Activists were jubilant as trucker’s son Jim McMahon romped home with an unexpected 10,722 majority in the Oldham West and Royton by-election.
Critics like, er, Dan Bloom.
Anyone still wondering why newspapers are dying?
Posted: 4th, December 2015 | In: Politicians, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer balls: Manchester United swoop for West Ham’s Reece Oxford
Transfer news: Manchester Untied are making a £8m bid for West ham United’s 16-year-old defender Reece Oxford.
The Times says Oxford is scheduled to sign a news contract at West Ham as early as this month, but only for two years – FA rules prevent any player under 18 from signing a longer deal.
The Times then adds that Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool are also keen on the player, but it’s Man United who are “likely” to make a move.
Posted: 4th, December 2015 | In: manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Paul Pogba Wings in to Manchester United
FACT! Paul Pogba is going to play for Manchester United or Manchester City. This we know because the Juventus and France midfielder has been spotted eating in Manchester with pals.
Do these pals live in Manchester, where Pogba lived for two years while waiting to be loved by United? Do he and his French and Italian pals salivate for Manchester food, jetting in for gastronomic delights?
As ever, the player was at the Wing’s Chinese restaurant, a place so attractive to footballers that the city’s lap-dancers and reality telly starlets have taken to smearing themselves in Peking duck.
“I love Manchester,” said the midfielder, reportedly, as he left the diner.
He loves Manchester on a drab December night. What do they out in that special sauce?
Posted: 3rd, December 2015 | In: manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
