Time(s) for a change

The two main stories which have excited football journalists recently appear to have been Tevez’s criticism of Gary Neville and John Terry’s extra-marital relationship, and both stories have served to emphasise once more the huge difference between professional journalists and second-rate hacks.

First of all, “tarao” does not mean “moron”, rather something similar to moving your forefinger round in a circle next to the side of your head – “crazy”, perhaps, or “off his head”. Of course, things like correct translations – or the truth – get in the way of selling newspapers, so the hacks had to change the translation, safe in the knowledge that even if somebody who speaks the language can gainsay them that person will never be able to put out the fire. If it says it in the papers, it must be true.

Of course Manchester football fans need no encouragement to continue their rivalry between red and blue, some in a good-natured way and others with coins and lighters, so in the end it hardly matters. However, the chief sports writer of a newspaper already well-known for its spelling mistakes and grammatical errors “crossed an important line” in an article about John Terry in yesterday’s edition. He wrote:

"And still, this case crosses an important line. Not by virtue of Terry’s marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Toni, and their two young children, because many men and women have affairs. There is no judgment on that basis. What matters here is that Terry has had a relationship with the partner of a teammate — a teammate who happened to be one of his closest friends."

In other words, cheating on your partner is neither here nor there, and neither is hurting your children, but never cheat on a teammate – never, ever do the dirty on somebody as important as a footballer.

If that is what the man believes, he is an idiot. In his defence, perhaps he expressed himself badly, although as a professional journalist supposedly good enough to be a “chief sports writer” at a major newspaper he should have a better grasp of language. The mediocrity of his article continues in the next paragraph:

"It is said that a number of England players believe their captain has behaved badly and that Bridge has no wish to play in the same team as his former friend."

“It is said” is almost as bad as the word “could” in the world of serious journalism – it is the drunken man’s lamppost, the floundering of the man who never learned how to swim.

Is it any wonder that the world of football appears to be losing its credibility when the players end up in prison, the fans throw coins at the players, and the people who are supposedly intelligent treat the fans like fools? Time for a change.