Tittle tattle – the new summer sport

One rumour site makes up a story about our interest in a player. Another site (or three) run a story saying that a site has run a story. A third site reports the same story and runs a poll asking its readers whether the move would be good for those involved, a fourth website debunks everything due to a tweet from a journalist no-one’s ever heard of before but who is apparently an expert when it comes to this particular rumour, then a fifth website reports “massive blow for Spurs” as the player in question denies all knowledge or is transferred elsewhere. Frustration or relief looms depending on what your opinion is of the target you’d never heard of 48 hours ago but are now an expert on thanks to some slow-mo clips in a ‘Welcome to Tottenham’ piece on YouTube.

We all know the scenario.

If you feel that you’ve just been the mug in a scam designed to either boost click rates and web optimisation statistics or add a couple of years to the player’s existing contract (and a few bags of silver to his agent’s coffers) your best option is to change your Newsnow feed settings so that it only shows reports from ‘trusted sources’. It should just feed you the official line from Levy HQ as there’s no-one else you can trust, even the BBC reports the ridiculous rumours under the guise of Today’s Gossip.

But where’s the fun in that? Where would be the entertainment in checking the internet for transfer news to find only facts instead of made up stuff that raises an eyebrow, hopes or a chortle? You’re a fool if you believe what you read or you’re gullible enough to buy into any of the rumours or take part in the surveys, but at the same time you’re also missing out on some of the fun if you don’t indulge at least a couple of times a day in a bit of a surf.

You’ll feel pleased that you support a club astute enough to be in the running to pick up the ‘new Ronaldo/Drogba/Messi’ every time one emerges, but somehow never disappointed when they don’t put pen to paper. You’ll identify with your fellow fans who’ve tweeted their thumbs up or down on the latest rumour; you’ll picture the team in your mind’s eye with that new speedster (with the third highest number of assists in Belgium last year) supplying Kane from the flank whilst the central midfield is bolstered by a ‘European powerhouse’ also ‘in demand at several Premier League clubs’.

Take the rumours and the speculation seriously and you’re in for disappointment. Treat everything you read with a pinch of salt until you see the official picture with the shirt being held up and the headlines themselves become the entertainment.

We all need something to get us through a football free summer; just don’t be sad when we don’t buy everyone we’re linked with. After all, if we did, we’d end up with a squad larger than Liverpool’s!

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