A Matter of Opinion
New Contributors Week powers on like Northampton Town at Anfield now, with a debut guest post from Greg Theoharis. Interviews and press conferences in the modern game. Who needs them? Greg is here to ponder that very question…
In the pre-match interview, just before the teams took to the field in the Carling Cup North London derby, Arsene Wenger was asked the reason as to why he had elected to serve his one match touchline ban for misconduct for this tie rather than at the weekend. His silence clearly betrayed how he views the competition and the evidence was there for all to see as both he and Harry Redknapp selected teams which were more akin to a reserves match rather than a statement of intent against bitter local rivals.
Everybody knew this. But his reticence to offer a definitive dismissal of what he has always regarded as an inferior competition is symptomatic of a game in England in which individuals refrain from making their true opinion known in case it offends the sponsors, authorities and fans alike. How refreshing it would have been if Wenger had been more bullish about his decision.
Contrast this with the forthrightness of Diego Maradona who regardless of what detrimental effect it might have to his career has always let his mouth go where it would take him. In a rally protesting against George Bush’s visit to his homeland in 2005, he openly denounced the former President as ‘human garbage’. On the late Pope John Paul II he remarked: ‘I’ve been to the Vatican and seen the gold ceilings. And then I hear the Pope saying the Church was concerned about poor kids. So? Sell the ceilings, mate! Do something!’ Whatever one’s opinion about the diminutive genius might be, it can never be doubted that his soundbites have always provided the football world and the culture beyond that with much amusement. His press conferences during this summer’s World Cup were testament to the fact that he continues to captivate the interest of the watching masses.
The post-match interview, instead of shining any kind of light upon the ramifications of what has gone on on the pitch, has increasingly become a turgid trudge through a series of clichés and eulogies to victorious or vanquished opponents. All fans are presented with is merely a pantomime of furrowed brows. The lips move but nobody’s really saying anything. Of course, the players and clubs themselves have a lot to lose if they were to display open hostility towards fellow professionals but when there is an absence of even the slightest degree of wit, we really are plummeting into an era of mediocrity.
Has anybody truly enjoyed reading the dirge that is the Matchday Programme that offers little more than a public relations exercise for the home team? A thrashing will always be labelled ‘a defeat’ instead of ‘an embarrassing shambles’. Thankfully, the dawn of the fanzine culture offered a more honest and critical discourse to how a club’s fortunes are discussed but ultimately the propensity to err on the side of caution remains, especially now that there are lucrative endorsements to protect and tabloids to keep on side.
Running alongside their prodigious talents, the likes of Johan Cruyff (‘I am no longer a footballer. I am an industry’), Franz Beckenbauer (‘[England] have gone backwards into the bad old days of kick and rush’) and Jose Mourinho (‘If you ask me if I jump with happiness when I know Mr Poll is our referee? No.’) are all much revered because whether you agree with their opinions or not, they have always had the courage to offer their own unique takes on the game.
If the game thrives on personalities, we are currently devoid because if whatever you say might be taken out of context, then understandably you’re going to be a lot more bland in your responses. When people do seek to use the fame they have acquired to highlight a cause or issue they hold in high regard they are invariably dismissed as being smug, sanctimonious or bloated on their own pomposity. Bono and Lady Gaga are victims of this and continue to divide opinion. However, this inevitably encourages discourse that should in the end be celebrated rather than vilified.
Of course, I am in no way endorsing anything that could be deemed outwardly offensive but Brian Clough and Bill Shankly are rightly celebrated for their refusal to toe any kind of party line. In Clough’s case, this was perhaps detrimental when it came to his abortive attempt to become England manager but it is no accident that his life and career are still examined and discussed with much fondness, when Ron Greenwood’s time as manager is little more than an afterthought.
Perhaps the only place where true football opinions can be voiced is within the throng of the football stands around the country. A football crowd within its chants is more than willing to be both praising and critical of the players inhabiting the shirts of its club. With that comes hilarity, spontaneity and sometimes a little crudeness and in most cases, it is a part of football culture which should be preserved and treasured.
However, the point of a crowd is its promise of anonymity and surrendering of one’s individuality. What footballers, pop stars, politicians and all of us should be is more open to the idea of voicing our opinions in more idiosyncratic and erudite ways, devoid of the bland slogans we are forced to digest on a daily basis.
Wenger’s silence was perhaps far more revealing of his own personality than he would have liked us to see. I’d take a Gallic shrug and blank stare over another ‘at the end of the day’, ‘game of two halves’, ‘one game at a time’ yawnfest any day of the week.
Greg Theoharis runs the well-polished blog Dispatches From A Football Sofa. Have a peek.
(pic via gustavomuñoz on Flickr)
Arsene Wenger, Maradona, The MediaShare This Post!
About Greg Theoharis
As well as writing for Just Football, Greg also contributes to various other football blogs. A long suffering Spurs fan and self-proclaimed 'pessimistic optimist', you can read his weekly blog, Dispatches From A Football Sofa at http://dispatchesfromafootballsofa.com/
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Great post Gregg.
This is a timely piece too – I happen to think we’ve had a very topical reminder of the reason for modern day press conference banality just this last week. His name is Sam Allardyce.
Granted the man has a hint of arrogance that might grate, but his statements about managing Real Madrid/Inter were pounced on relentlessly and he was hammered by the blogosphere and wider football world for what, by his own admission, were actually pretty off-hand tongue in cheek comments.
Its all well and good us pouncing on any hint of interesting statements in a press conference (Ferguson says Torres ‘made a meal’ of O’Shea’s challenge last week –> papers run headlines accusing him of calling Torres a cheat), but the obvious result of this is inevitable: people doing the press conferences are going to withdraw into their shells more and more until we are left where we are today.
Good post Greg. I don’t think we can really blame the managers for banality in front of the camera. The media itself is to blame for creating a culture where managers and owners rarely appear on screen saying anything of interest.
The days of Jose calling Arsene a Peeping Tom and the consequential ramping up of the feud in the media might have bought much hilarity to the readers of the red tops but the clubs involved would have been hugely embarrassed of the behavior of their employees. Such behavior ultimately lead to Jose departure at a club where in bought unprecedented success.
The last press conference in this country which was truly memorable (before the Fat Sam joke) was when Rafa lost his cool and laid into Manchester United and in particular Alex Ferguson and Referees with his ‘Facts’ diatribe. Again Rafa lasted only a few months after the media finished ridiculing his outburst.
With the abundance of media channels and outlets its not surprising that public figures choose to play it safe with their press conferences and their comments knowing that a large percentage of the time their quotes will be taken out of context and edited to inflame scandal and gossip designed to increase sales of papers and impressions on websites.
I’m thinking that until the media choose to report facts and don’t pander to the intellect of the lowest denominator, then press conference will remain a borefest of bland media friendly soundbites censored by the clubs media departments.
With regards to Maradona and Jose, they walk their own lines, in these cases they are often bigger ‘brands’ than the teams that employee them and the clubs either accept this (like Inter) or don’t and fall out (like Chelsea).
Keep up the good work. Really enjoyed reading this post.
It’s a difficult one, this. As a member of the media myself, I hate the banal press conferences (and so do the editors). Your job as a reporter is to come away with the best story you can and in my experience the guys who say something interesting always get a better ride from the press than the guys who don’t. I think readers and viewers alike prefer someone with a bit of honesty and I don’t think these so-called controversial guys cause their club “embarrassment” too often. They simply elevate their headline status. Maybe the likes of Mourinho and Clough did over the years say things to the media that caused them to fall out with chairmen etc. However, these two guys are exceptions. What’s required here is a bit of honesty and the impression that a real person is speaking rather than one who is under the control of the PR robots. To be fair to managers, it’s much easier to be “human” during a one-on-one interview than it is in a press conference, when there are perhaps a dozen questioners who each have a slightly different agenda.
However I cannot agree with the claims that the banality exists because EVERY press conference or interview soundbite is spun out of context by the papers.
Since the dawn of newspapers for the masses, headlines and sub-heads have always served as a teaser to tempt the reader to buy the paper. This is obvious. Yes, the reports can be hammed up to succinctly cover the ’story’ in as exciting and as compact a manner as possible. But this is the way news (and especially tabloid news) works. When Ferguson said Torres “made a meal” of O’Shea’s challenge that effectively is saying he’s cheating isn’t it? The headline may say cheat and the story itself explains it. Fergie knew what he was saying, and Torres (if he saw the press conf) will know where the story came from.
Quite aside from the issue of newspapers taking things out of context, remember that live TV interviews are more difficult to take out of context. All the ‘best’ rants (Keegan, Mourinho, Rafa etc) have been filmed for all to see. In the case of Benitez, he wrote it all down on a piece of paper which he brought to the press conference in a pre-meditated attempt to ensure his “facts” wouldn’t be taken out of context. You can hardly blame the media for ridiculing him here. The timing was utterly bizarre. Liverpool were top of the league and he had already got one over Ferguson on the pitch. Fergie hadn’t laughed so much since Keegan’s “I’d love it” outburst.
I’m not sure we want to see a Rafa/Keegan style outburst every week (entertaining though they are). However, somewhere between that and the notoriously bland Steve Coppell would be about right. While managers should be wary of the press (not to mention their sponsors, executives etc etc) they must remember that the press conference is still their most sincere way of speaking to the most fundamental people of the game – the fans.
I think the major issue here is trust. Managers don’t trust the reporters to report accurately, the club PR departments don’t trust the managers to not cause controversy and that leaves the media searching for the ‘best stories’.
These ‘best stories’ include stories about their player’s behaviour off the field and the reporting of rumours and gossip which ultimately undermine his team’s stability and effectively his position. It isn’t any wonder modern manager’s play their cards close to their chests when dealing with the media in press conferences.
Whilst I’m not condoning a censorship of information, the broadsheets usually publish great in-depth interviews and features. If there is going to be any change of attitude and a more ‘human’ aspect to the managers relationship with the media then perhaps the media should stop drawing pictures of Fabio Capello with donkey ears etc. That way both parties can start to build a relationship based on facts, trust and respect, one which the fans should benefit from.
I agree with your post to an extent Steve but can’t help myself pointing out that nowhere has anyone said EVERY press conference is taken out of context but you choose to capitalise the word and make that your statement sentence. You most defiantly work in the media:-)
Interesting comments Steve and thanks for leaving your thoughts.
I appreciate that from a media point of view the focus is to draw in the reader’s attention with a bolshy headline. But the net result of that, as we are seeing, is the people whom these headlines are being spun about go into their shell more and more. Ferguson’s comment about Torres making the most of it is a throwaway comment in the middle of an interview.
“I have watched it again. Fernando Torres made a meal of it, an absolute meal of it,” he said. http://fourfourtwo.com/news/england/63740/default.aspx
While you can interpret it as calling someone a cheat if you want, lets be honest that is stretching the statement as far as you can take it. Obviously the fuss in the media the next day irked Ferguson enough to cancel his press conferences.
The TV interviews you mention like Rafa and Keegan are different – they actually warrant scrutiny because the interviewee lost their control and temper. It is not unexpected that the media should seize on it – they are direct quotes and so extraordinary they needn’t be spun in any way – the media can just present as they are.
But regarding the papers it is different. If you twist someone’s words week after week eventually they are going to get annoyed and change tack.
Interesting comments. I’m inclined to agree with those who say the media’s sensationalism is largely the reason why sportsmens and women now provide bland comment match after match. Case in point: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. When asked about his chances against Tiger, Rory said ‘I would love to face him. Unless his game rapidly improves… I think anyone in the European team would fancy their chances against him.’ Fair comment surely, given Tiger’s recent form. That this has portrayed by the media as a deep-seated ‘war on Tiger’ is simply ridiculous – it’s a fair answer to a fair question and the media should be encouraging that kind of comment and accurately reporting it – yes it’s feisty but god, it’s the Ryder Cup and don’t we weant to see a bit of banter and competitiveness – it’s what it’s all about. But it’s really no more than that. Instead now, he’s having to deny a rift with Tiger and all that rubbish, totally going against the spirit of the Ryder Cup. You can bet your life that next time Rory’s asked about Tiger he will respond with a bland soundbite – and who on earth can blame him.