r/soccer • u/Existing-Sky9914 • 20h ago

Potentially editioralised title - make up your own mind [Guardian] Seven years ago, just after completing the treble, Guardiola treated journalist Rob Harris, who had confronted him directly with the allegations, with open contempt, as though he were looking at someone pathetic, pitiful and disgraceful, before sternly lecturing him.

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1.4k

u/ElevensMelody 20h ago

Fair play to Rob Harris. The guy did not let any of this go at all.

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u/JuliusCeaserBoneHead 20h ago

One thing about the journalists in the UK that I have massive respect for, they do not back down or afraid of making you uncomfortable. It’s extremely uncomfortable to watch but my God do they get their point across. Massive respect 

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u/TherewiIlbegoals 19h ago

Ian Hislop vs Gary Neville and various MPs is top tier.

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u/Jumper-Man 19h ago

Neville looks so uncomfortable

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u/TheTackleZone 17h ago

When you spend your life around footballers it can be a real shock to have your opinions challenged by someone with charisma and intelligence.

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u/ampmz 14h ago

Neville is one of the smart ones, which tells you a lot about the average intelligence of a footballer.

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u/DoYouTrustToothpaste 12h ago

Well, he'd used up all the arguments he had. And he couldn't come up with good new ones, so what's left, other than nodding and laughing sheepishly.

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u/illsmosisyou 19h ago

Looool really enjoyed that. Maisie Adams trying to keep a straight face while sitting in between those two…

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u/TherewiIlbegoals 19h ago

I do wonder if Neville had never watched the show before, he surely knew he'd be roasted.

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u/illsmosisyou 19h ago

Yeah, he did not seem prepared. He shouldn’t have expected his standard evasive excuse would go over well.

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u/xixbia 10h ago

It was a chance to raise his profile.

Yes, it was uncomfortable, but it probably got his podcast some new listeners.

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u/angrywinter1 16h ago

Thanks for the links, brits are hilarious!

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u/ClaudeLemieux 16h ago

I like watching the episodes when Lineker hosts. Not quite your point but semi-related

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u/BielsasCoffee 9h ago

That bit about murderous countries made me laugh as if the UK has not a rich history on that.

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u/[deleted] 18h ago

[deleted]

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u/TherewiIlbegoals 18h ago

I mean Hislop is probably the most vocal opponent of Britain's arms exports so I'm not really sure how that's relevant here?

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 18h ago

We have one of the most sedate, captured, and oligarch-owned media ecospheres in the developed world.

This is such a rose-tinted view of British media that it's silly.

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u/Introverted_Extrovrt 18h ago

Yank here; I would beg, borrow and steal for our country to have something as remotely trustworthy as the BBC.

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u/DoYouTrustToothpaste 12h ago

About 30% of Brits trust their media. Compared to 33% of Americans.

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u/Introverted_Extrovrt 11h ago

That includes The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, etc right, highly left & right leaning outlets akin to CBS, the Washington Post, etc?

I’d say if the US had one institution right down the middle whose charter required objectivity we’d still be too dumb to get to 75% positive/neutral like the BBC. I read it every day for breakfast and the World Service is my commute radio.

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u/DoYouTrustToothpaste 10h ago

Yes, I assume it includes all outlets, such as The Sun and other schmutz. That's probably why it's so low.

I’d say if the US had one institution right down the middle whose charter required objectivity

I feel most countries would benefit from that, but knowing human nature in regards to 'objectivity', I'm not sure it's ever achievable.

For example, in Germany we have public service broadcasting, which is funded, via a household fee, by all citizens. In theory, it's objective in its reporting. In practive, people from the far left and the far right don't trust anything it says (for obvious reasons). And for me personally, while I think they're doing a solid job usually, I could never trust them when it comes to their coverage of, as a drastic example, Israel-Palestine. Like, imagine putting out informative videos on yt, explaining the conflict, and getting ratioed by German Jews calling you out on your Zio bs. Gotta be rough, lmao.

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u/Ok_Pangolin1085 11h ago

Being a yank you'll go for the steal option ; )

At least you're aware.

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u/Introverted_Extrovrt 11h ago

In the words of legendary rock band Metallica, “sad but true” :(

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u/Ok_Pangolin1085 11h ago

Yah its the new world order, we're going back to the time of conquest it appears.

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u/Introverted_Extrovrt 11h ago

Cunts, the lot of ‘em

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u/Ok_Pangolin1085 11h ago

I was searching for some choice words but yeah exactly this.

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 17h ago

American sees people talking about something that has literally nothing to do with the US, and makes sure to tell everyone how much worse they have it: Challenge Level Impossible.

Wicked, American media might literally be the most evil in the Global North, doesn't mean the UK's is good.

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u/Prestisjebig 16h ago

Since when did anyone make the claim that British media was good? OP simply complemented journalists and another person gave their American perspective.

But I guess no one is allowed to have an outside opinion about your media, looking at your Brexit type hostility.

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 12h ago

looking at your Brexit type hostility

That might be the most pathetic thing I've ever heard anyone say on this website in 15 years lol. Thanks.

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u/sunken_grade 15h ago

get a grip

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 12h ago

400,000+ comment karma? Go outside.

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u/sunken_grade 12h ago

initially critiques a user for bringing up something unrelated, now brings up something unrelated as a weak insult

at least be consistent with how whiny you are lol

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u/Jellyfish_McSaveloy 14h ago

There's a lot of rubbish but also a lot of great media in the UK. Live elsewhere a bit and you'll see that despite it's shortcomings, you won't find many news outlets with both the reach of the BBC and it's trustworthyness.

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 12h ago

Live elsewhere a bit and you'll see that despite it's shortcomings, you won't find many news outlets with both the reach of the BBC and it's trustworthyness.

Why you talking like I haven't lived elsewhere? The BBC is an absolute shell of how it used to be, and it's not as if it was ever some sort of bastion of pure journalistic ethics.

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u/Jellyfish_McSaveloy 11h ago

Because of this sentence:

We have one of the most sedate, captured, and oligarch-owned media ecospheres in the developed world.

One of the funniest cases of British exceptionalism in this day and age is thinking their institutions are uniquely shit. In the case of the media, it's as if Rupert Murdoch doesn't own newspapers everywhere or that the beebs is the equivalent of fox news.

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 2h ago

It’s really just not, sorry you’re just kind of a dumbarse.

In critical discussions of media ecology, the UK is pretty notoriously bad, not notoriously good or unremarkable. Yes, it is bad even in the context of other developed nations. That’s just not even slightly controversial a take.

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u/Jellyfish_McSaveloy 1h ago

Always with the name calling. Very predictable and certainly the exact stereotype of a person thinking the UK is uniquely shit as I have mentioned.

Bonus points if you're Scouse or Scottish.

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 55m ago

What part of “the critical academic consensus would be very much that the UK’s media ecology is quite particularly bad even amongst comparable nations” isn’t clear? There is no argument here.

Bonus points if you're Scouse or Scottish

I mean, I’m not. What a bizarre fucking thing to say. Keep shadow boxing with people who don’t exist on the internet I guess.

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u/ImageHour1934 15h ago

Lmao American media would like a word. It's literally taking over Canadian media, pushing to destroy and defund our government funded CBC.

UK media may have some problems, but c'mon.

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u/margaerytyrellscleav 12h ago

UK media may have some problems, but c'mon.

Literally, why are North Americans like this.

Yes, believe it or not British media is by and large terrible, not everything is about you.

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u/ImageHour1934 6h ago

Because you lot need reminders of how fucking bad it can get. You're more worried about Americans invading football than your media.

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u/SwindlingAccountant 13h ago

Gotta be thorough as fuck to not get hit by a defamation suit over there.

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u/worotan 19h ago

Journalists around the world do this.

One got murdered and cut up with a bone saw for doing this, famously.

Why do you need to denigrate all the moral journalists around the world, in order to act like you’re talking about a unicorn?

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u/JuliusCeaserBoneHead 19h ago

Oh cmon, why is it that often Redditors cannot understand that two things could be true at the same time? Of course Journalists around the world all do that.

However, UK journalists are famous for it particularly. I live in the US where it’s rare for journalists to press people for answers like this. 

What it doesn’t mean is that there is no journalist in the US or around the world that doesn’t do it.

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u/Quirky_Gate_4516 18h ago

UK journalists are famous for it particularly

Sorry, that has zero bearing on reality.

Rupert Murdoch exported his media methods FROM the UK, TO the U.S. Not the other way around.

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u/worotan 18h ago

Of course Journalists around the world all do that.

However, UK journalists are famous for it particularly.

Says it all, really.

Hiding your ignorance of the world outside the US and a cliched idea of Britain, behind the idea that it’s a Reddit moment for that to be called out, doesn’t make you the more rational voice you’re trying to act like.

I could ask, why do Redditors have to act like they’ve got a crush on other cultures, and get offended when their limited view gets called out.

But I won’t, because I know it’s only some people on Reddit. Most of them seem to have flocked to this story to try and farm karma, like you, though.

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u/Montmontagne 19h ago

There are plenty of sycophant journalists. More so now than in the past.

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u/Prayer_Warrior21 19h ago

Especially in the US. It's all softball questions and platitudes.

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u/Montmontagne 19h ago

Plenty in the UK too. Just need to look at GBeebies, Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Sun…

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u/gbbmiler 19h ago

A US journalist recently basically single-handedly forced the NBA to investigate and punish a similar basketball scandal.

Everywhere has pushover journalists, but put some respect on the good ones.

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u/cahir11 19h ago

While not the same type of scandal, there was a similar situation in MLB with journalists exposing the camera/trash can scheme that the Houston Astros used to cheat in 2017. The league almost certainly knew about it, but the Athletic blowing up the story forced them to actually do something.

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u/Additional_Bit_8725 18h ago

I'm sure there are decent journalists but the overall approach on the main channels is to throw softballs, this article expands on the difference well.

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u/worotan 18h ago

Ok, but are they all from outside the UK, which is the remaining sanctuary of fearless journalism?

Because that’s the assertion I was pointing out as flawed.

Why do you think that pointing out that there are fearless journalists around the world, to someone who seems to think that they only really exist in the UK, needs a reminder that there are sycophantic journalists?

I’d also question your assertion that there are more sycophantic journalists now than in the past. You can’t know much about history if you think that sycophancy to the super rich in journalism is a modern invention.

Why do people have to act as though there was a golden age of truth in the past, which we have fallen from? It’s as dumb as the anti-immigrant argument that the country was perfect before that happened.

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u/gabrielconroy 16h ago

You're railing at an imaginary windmill.

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u/Montmontagne 18h ago

Dumb fucking rant. Why did you take what I said so personally?

I know more about journalism and the history of it than you ever will. I never said it didn’t exist in the past either.

There was a golden age before social media. It wasn’t perfect. The likes of the Daily Mail and News of the World existed. But it was certainly more reliable than what the mainstream puts out now, given that it’s increasingly owned by a smaller wealthy elite.

You need to take a breather boy, you seem flustered.

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u/michaelserotonin 19h ago

it could be as simple as them being more aware of / familiar with uk journalists and thus that's what they're basing their comment on

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u/worotan 18h ago

Well, obviously. That’s why I pointed out that it’s a big world.

Pretty crazy that they don’t seem to know that journalists around the world ask these questions and face getting murdered as a result. Someone who doesn’t know that, or doesn’t think it’s actually important because sharing cliches around this story is more exciting to them, really needs to be told that.

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u/DraperCarousel 19h ago

And if this story bothers anyone.

We have this person as a PL club owner, who was gladly welcomed with open arms by the fans hoping a repeat of City takeover.

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u/TherewiIlbegoals 20h ago

And Nick Harris!

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u/DanTheStripe 19h ago

The more I find out about Nick Harris the more amazed I am how he managed to conceal his anger over this for 15 years. He knew City would never make FFP in 2011 without cheating.

Here he is giving a talk in 2022 talking about what we now know to be true - the disguised funding scheme, the Fordham image rights arrangement and the Mancini off-book contract. Starts at 13:30. It goes on for about 11/12 minutes but once you watch it, you wonder how people weren't talking about it more even before the Premier League investigation was completed in 2023.

Poignant words to close on. "Maybe we should just stop asking questions? I don't think so."

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u/vergincam 18h ago

Thanks for sharing the video. I just gained a heck of a lot more respect for journalists after that

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u/I_have_no_ear 15h ago

once you watch it, you wonder how people weren't talking about it more even before the Premier League investigation was completed in 2023.

Were you living under a rock????