Guardiola contract ignored as more digs at Rashford take back-page precedent

Editor F365 22 Nov 2024 11:53 AM

Daily Mirror and Daily Star on Marcus Rashford and Gary Neville

What new Pep Guardiola contract?

Pep Guardiola extending his Manchester City deal is a back-page splash on any day, never mind during a sleepy international break. But Marcus Rashford…

Put some Pep in your step
It is generally difficult to feel much sympathy for newspapers but if they are ever due a morsel of support it is during an international break.

These few days are particularly awkward, with England and that workshy fop Thomas Tuchel in the rear-view mirror while the Premier League is only just appearing on the horizon. Gary Cotterill has not even had the chance to make Ruben Amorim’s first press conference all about him yet so there is a clear news vacuum.

How useful it would be if, say, perhaps the greatest manager in the sport’s history ended intense speculation over his future by extending his contract with the defending Premier League champions while they are locked in a crisis of sorts. As a completely unrelated example, Manchester City announcing that Pep Guardiola had committed to them through to 2027 would be ideal, wouldn’t it? Imagine if they did it at 8pm and gave editors ample time to create a back-page splash. Ooft. Perfect.

The smallest of pats on the back then for The Sun, the Daily Mail, The Times and The Guardian for fairly understandably deeming it the biggest possible news story on an otherwise quiet Friday morning. That is not only the right but also really only possible thing to do. Nothing else comes close in terms of significance. It is the sort of open goal newspaper editors dream of.

But the Mirror, Star and Express fall under the Reach umbrella for a reason: their desperation to largely ignore that story and grasp at something more negative and Manchester United-flavoured is bizarre.

And at this point we must spare a thought for poor Gary Neville, who was “very calm” as he didn’t want a “‘Neville hammers Rashford'” headline situation, but has very much and entirely inevitably ended up with one now stretching over a couple of days.

That his quotes on Rashford were dealt with in Thursday’s Mediawatch says plenty. This is old news. Even in an era when recycled quotes underpins much of online churnalism it is weird to see a newspaper stoop to those levels when again, the actual Pep Guardiola signing a literal new contract with the genuine Manchester City is right sodding there.

It takes a couple of checks to see that story buried on the back page of three newspapers who should be ashamed to have leapt at the chance to instead keep that critical spotlight on Rashford while warping the more considered words of Neville.

And again, “unprofessional” was not among those words so if David McDonnell wishes to brand Rashford as such he should say it with his chest instead of hiding behind the voice of someone far louder.

But really the problem here lies with whoever made the decision to go to print with those back pages even when a far bigger story landed in their lap. How weird that Reach’s circulation numbers are collapsing.

MORE PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKEND BUILD-UP FROM F365
👉 Big Weekend: Man City v Tottenham, Ruben Amorim, Liverpool, Cole Palmer, Napoli, Coventry
👉 Maresca, Arteta near bottom but can Amorim match Slot at 5) in ranking of Premier League manager starts?

You with the sad eyes
It is a wonder the Mirror didn’t use this story and headline for their back page, instead lumping it only on their website:

‘Kobbie Mainoo shows true colours with nine-word comment about Erik ten Hag’s last season’

The midfielder obviously said a great deal more than nine words during his interview with GQ but discussing the FA Cup win in May and adding “but it definitely didn’t make the season a success” apparently qualifies as ‘revealing one’s real character or intentions, especially when these are disreputable or dishonourable’.

Watch out
Neil Custis has written an extensive and broadly fine column in The Sun damning Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the new Manchester United owners for the mistakes they have already made since taking control of all footballing matters.

The Erik ten Hag situation was handled dreadfully in a variety of ways and recruitment is among the facets of business which Custis lays into. But he goes much deeper and even brings us this harrowing tale:

‘The most alarming story came when a staff member with 25 years at the club behind him was told he was being given a commemorative watch for his service.

‘He was then told to pick it up at main reception, where a security guard handed it to him in a polythene bag.

‘That’s a picture to show the grandkids in the future.’

It is a little thoughtless and inconsiderate but when Custis himself literally mentions the 250 redundancies made throughout the club’s non-playing staff, it doesn’t feel like the worst thing INEOS has ever done.

If only this long-serving employee had something else to show the grandkids instead. The commemorative watch itself, maybe? But definitely not that sickening polythene bag.

Sheikh it all about
Custis really does lay into the state of Manchester United behind the scenes, and how these issues ‘could have the new boss pining for Lisbon before he knows it’. Good luck, Ruben.

‘Those who championed new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival as having put a spring in everyone’s step have lost their bounce,’ he adds.

What about those who put all their eggs in Sheikh Jassim’s takeover basket? Are Manchester United still ‘convinced they will get a deal done by November to sell the club to the Qataris,’ like you wrote back in August? Time is running out. Check your commemorative watch.

Yor in
Elsewhere on The Sun website: