Tea, Toast & Transfers

A fascinating insight, courtesy of the East London Guardian series of publications, on how multi-million pound premiership transfers are conducted these days. According to said publication, West Ham are to make a bid for Fulham’s Jimmy Bullard having apparently been alerted to his availability by a rather hopeful little paragraph in the Sunday People. The same paper that earlier in the year insisted that John Collins was to about to take over from Roy Hodgson.

I’m sure we can picture all picture Mr. Alan Curbishley propped up in bed, perusing the Sunday papers over breakfast, “AC” emblazoned proudly on his claret and blue jim-jams, spotting the offending piece and immediately reaching over to the bedside table for his phone (careful not to disturb Mrs. C), and speed-dialling Roy Hodgson’s number.

Fit To Hold The Shirt?

So, Mark Hughes joins Manchester City as manager. Predictably, he is photographed holding up a City shirt bearing his name. It’s a fairly typical sight for a fresh signatory, but Hughes hasn’t been employed as a player-manager, so will never actually wear one of his team’s shirts.

Indulging the conceit that there are people who don’t know his identity, wouldn’t it would have been more accurate to photograph him holding up a small oblong of polycarbonate bearing his name in Arial Rounded MT Bold, prior to it being affixed (with non-permanent adhesive, presumably) to the door of his new office?

These news reporting clichés are clearly tenacious specimens. Just like the faux-natural ‘walk past’, the ‘nodding shots’ (filmed after the interviewee has gone home), and the grieving parents flicking tearfully through photo albums.

Stock shots are understandable when time is tight, but you’d think that the photographer or cameraman might want to engage their artistic muse now and again, wouldn’t you?

Or perhaps Sparky failed to see the funny side of being asked to pose beneath the ‘Emergency Exit’ sign.