Mediawatch: Keane snubs Ferguson… again

Daniel Storey

Roy Keane refused to even help raise money for charity due to his feud with Fergie… ish

 

Fight! Fight! Fight!
‘Keane snubs Fergie reunion at Old Trafford despite plea from David Beckham,’ reads the headline on MailOnline.

‘David Beckham has tried to act as peacemaker in the long-standing row between Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane,’ the piece begins. ‘The Manchester United and England legend wanted his former team-mate to star alongside him in a charity match for a Great Britain and Ireland team to be managed by their former Old Trafford boss.’

But to no avail. Instead we are reminded that ‘Roy Keane and Ferguson fell out in 2005’ and told how Beckham ‘tried to offer an olive branch’. What a silly mess.

That did seem a little off to Mediawatch, given that the event in question was a UNICEF charity match. Is Keane really so petty? Well… no.

“We have asked Roy but obviously he is on international duty,” Beckham said. “That is part of the problem with some of the other players weanted to play. We have asked Roy but unfortunately he is tied up.”

Attending Ireland’s crucial Euro 2016 qualifier in his capacity as assistant manager? The b*stard snubber.

 

Come one, come all
West Ham’s move to the Olympic Stadium leaves the club needing to fill an awful lot of seats, but co-chairman David Gold has the answer. He just needs to jump into his purple, plastic time machine and head back to the 1950s first.

Speaking regarding the ‘new breed’ of football supporter that the stadium move could attract, Gold spoke eloquently on the subject of female supporters.

“Particularly as we go to the new stadium we are expecting our female fan base to increase,” Gold said. “In years gone by it was young males coming having spent a couple of hours in a local pub. We are right on the edge of a shopping centre so we are very hopeful that that’s going to increase the female fanbase.”

How thoughtful, David. But won’t it be annoying when they all insist on going to the toilet in groups and struggle to park outside the stadium?

 

Paranoia, will destroy ya
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan is holding up his hands, shrugging his shoulders and mouthing ‘Who, me? Who, us?’ about comments from Poland striker Robert Lewandowski.

Lewandowski recently claimed that Scotland targeted him in the reverse fixture, and wouldn’t be surprised if they did so again. That prompted the Daily Record to mock up the Pole as a baby in a bonnet, suggesting that the Bayern Munich striker had ‘spat out his dummy’ and ‘gone running to his mammy’. Excellent.

“I had a feeling it might become a bit of a theme in the press conference,” Strachan said. “This sort of stuff was maybe valid about Scotland teams 30 years ago, because back then anything went. But the game has been sanitised since then.”

So just where did Lewandowski get all these ideas about physicality from?

I mean it might have been this tackle from Gordon Greer in the return game, which broke his shinpad into two pieces.

Or it might have been Grant Hanley telling the Scotsman: “No, I’d probably say that’s right a wee bit [he would look to target Lewandowski early in the game] That’s maybe part of my game. It’s not just about going out there, trying to run after them and kick them. You have to be clever. A lot of thought has to go into what you are doing.”

Or it might even have been Russell Martin speaking about Greer’s challenge: “It was a great tackle. It wasn’t even a free-kick and if someone gets the chance to do it again then I am sure we will take it.”

The big paranoid baby.

 

Ask a simple question
‘Wales, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland – who will qualify for Euro 2016?’ – SkySports.com.

We’re not sure yet. But the next few days will tell us.

 

Stadium Of Alight
Said Niall Quinn on Sky Sports News HQ on Sunderland’s search for a new manager: “I’d love to see someone come in and really set the place alight…”

To be honest, it is getting to that stage.

 

Keep your Peker up
“Falcao is coming to play 90 minutes after a lot of time at Chelsea having few opportunities, 15 or 20 minutes, in games that are in development; and that’s cost him not having continuity. We have hope he recovers his best form and we can take it into account. We always have the hope that he rediscovers his confidence” – Colombia coach Jose Pekerman.

Because of course Falcao’s confidence was sky-high at Manchester United last season. Rather than joining games part-way through being the issue, Mediawatch would kindly suggest that what has “cost” Falcao is a chronic lack of form after a debilitating knee injury.

 

Managing expectations
‘Gus Poyet believes Sunderland’s problems run deeper than the performances of their managers,’ writes Adrian Kajumba in the Daily Mirror.

Well Gus Poyet would think that, wouldn’t he?

 

Optimism
Only the Metro could sell free agent Marco Amelia potentially joining Chelsea as ‘Chelsea to complete signing of Arsenal target’. Because what Wenger needs is another goalkeeper.

Shout out too to the Metro for some more brazen naughtiness. The fourth thing down on their transfer news page is a ‘Ronaldo to United’ story from September 22, presumably left there for the clicks. You almost have to admire them.

 

C-c-called a U-turn
‘The Football Association is to look at introducing rules to stop managers interfering with medical staff in the wake of the Eva Carneiro case.’ – The Guardian.

‘The Eva Carneiro saga has forced the Football Association to consider sanctioning managers who meddle in medical matters.’ – Daily Telegraph.

‘Managers could face sanctions if they follow Jose Mourinho in trying to prevent physios from treating players during matches.’ – Daily Mirror.

‘The FA has cleared Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho of making discriminatory comments towards club doctor Eva Carneiro.’ – Skysports.com, October 1.

 

Enjoyable 90s reference of the day
‘To put it in Harry Enfield terms: Jurgen The German joining The Scousers promises much fun and joy, but to keep the show a long-term ratings-winner they’re going to have to bring in Loadsamoney’ – Brian Reade, Daily Mirror.

 

Tweet of the day
‘Hi Ronnie, tweet to be put up tonight; Massive test for us tomorrow night, how do you think we’ll do? @BulmersIreland #BulmersOffTheBall’ – Former Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan struggles with the art of the PR tweet by leaving in the instructions.

 

Headline of the day

Independent Ethics Committee bans several football officials   FIFA.com
“Just some ‘officials’. Nothing to worry about.”

 

Worst headline of the day
‘Its All or nothing’ – The Sun struggle with the phonetics of Sam Allardyce’s surname.

 

Recommended reading of the day
Raphael Honigstein on Jurgen Klopp’s rise to prominence. 

Amy Lawrence on Lassana Diarra’s redemption, potentially ending in Euro 2016 selection. 

James Montague on Ismail Morina, the man who flew the Serbia vs Albania drone. 

 

Football story of the day
‘Former Premier League defender Gael Givet has revealed he left Ligue 2 outfit Evian after just one game as the club ‘took him for a jihadist’ due to his lengthy beard.

‘Givet, 33, joined Evian in September 2014 after a short stint at boyhood side Arles-Avignon following the end of his four-year spell at Blackburn. However he decided to seal a return to Arles-Avignon after being left ‘completely disgusted’ by Evian’s president due to a comment over his facial hair.

‘Givet, speaking to 20minutes.fr, said: ‘Three days before my first game [against Marseille], I was called into the office of president for something that seemed crazy and that had nothing to do with football.

‘“I was completely disgusted. The problem was that I let my beard grow! In Evian, they wanted to force me to shave because it was too long. At 33, you cannot treat me this way. They took me for a jihadist, while I haven’t even converted to Islam”’ – MailOnline.

 

Thanks to none of you.  If you see anything that belongs on this page, mail us at theeditor@football365.com putting ‘Mediawatch’ in the subject field.