06/06/2015 09:59, Report by Mark Froggatt
BLOG: WHY MANCHESTER UNITED FANS SHOULD BEWARE THE SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW
ManUtd.com’s Mark Froggatt takes a personal look at the summer transfer window, how its coverage has evolved and how his fellow United fans can digest the constant rumours surrounding new signings...
Sources close to Cristiano Ronaldo claim the World Player of the Year is determined to rejoin Manchester United from Real Madrid, and has already started house hunting in Alderley Edge.
Sorry reader... that was a blatant lie, fashioned by me for an attention-grabbing intro. But it worked, didn't it? Therein lies the problem of the summer transfer window - also sometimes known as the silly season. Football-starved fans are so desperate for news of new arrivals, they will pounce on any nugget of information, no matter whether it is fact or faction.
Don't worry if you were duped by my intro - many of us have fallen for similar falsehoods. I'm repeatedly drawn in by eye-catching headlines regarding United's latest ‘target’ who has supposedly declared his love for the club, handed in a transfer request or agreed personal terms with the Reds. In the last seven days alone I’ve read about Morgan Schneiderlin, Karim Benzema and Raheem Sterling all “closing in” on big-money moves to Old Trafford.
The trouble is that transfer stories are sometimes made up with the sole aim of pulling readers into a certain website, app or Twitter account. The modern world of journalism has recognised fans’ hunger for transfer market updates and monetised that appetite by spreading seemingly endless rumours and writing pieces of so-called BREAKING NEWS. Those two words should always be capped up, by the way - it’s the first rule when writing about transfers.
Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely journalists who have many well-placed sources in different camps to help them write genuinely insightful, informative stories. I’ve met many of these respectable writers on the circuit of covering United matches and events over the years, and they retain my respect and contact-book envy. But for each one of those, there are perhaps 100 others who rehash, regurgitate and exaggerate for short-term gains.
For years, sales figures of UK newspapers have been on the decline and, as a result, the industry now relies on the internet for financial sustainability. Website traffic is of paramount importance - and nothing demands more attention than a juicy transfer 'exclusive'.
Unfortunately for United fans, our club is a behemoth that continually dominates the sporting agenda on a daily basis and, during this time of transition at Old Trafford, with players coming and going each summer, we have to accept our place in the eye of the media storm. It is inevitable.
So how do we decipher the truth from the lies throughout this summer's increasingly opaque transfer window? Unfortunately it's almost impossible to do so and that’s why certain media outlets will continue to publish rumours like the one I opened this article with.
All we can do is assess the story ourselves, question the source and make our own conclusion. Or, like in the good old days, we can step off the transfer treadmill and simply wait for the official club statements to be published on ManUtd.com, just as they were last summer for Daley Blind, Angel Di Maria, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera and Radamel Falcao. It's hard for us as fans to ignore the speculation but maybe that is the solution?
Anyway, I’ve got to go now. I’ve just read on Twitter that Ronaldo has actually been sighted in Wilmslow, eyeing up a six-bedroom mansion with a walk-in trophy cabinet...
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be considered as representative of Manchester United Football Club.
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发表于 8-6-2015 01:34 PM
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