Beware Sensationalist Football Stories in The Daily Star Sunday
A Twitter campaign is underway to highlight the number of football stories being broken by the Daily Star Sunday newspaper in England. All the articles in question share certain characteristics which have attracted the suspicion of a number of online commentators.
They all contain quotes from elite footballers from European leagues. None of the players in question speak English as a first language and many of them barely speak English at all. None of them habitually give interviews to the media either.
Yet the Daily Star Sunday has somehow managed to overcome this series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles to gain unprecedented access to these players.
You can see a selection of some of the contentious stories here. All of them are either written or co-written by Ben Fairthorne:
MEZUT OZIL: I DREAM OF PLAYING FOR MANCHESTER UNITED
DAVID SILVA LIKES THE LOOK OF CHELSEA
JOE HART SHOULD PLAY FOR MANCHESTER UNITED SAYS CASILLAS
TORRES V VIDIC: NOW IT’S PERSONAL
INIESTA: TORRES LOVES SKIPPER GERRARD
LIONEL MESSI: HODGSON WRONGED MASCHERANO IN TRANSFER SAGA
FABIO CAPELLO TOLD HE WAS WRONG TO END BECKHAM'S CAREER
GIGI BUFFON EXPOSES MANCHESTER CITY'S BACK FOUR FLAW
WORLD CUP 2010: WESLEY SNEIJDER IS EVEN BETTER THAN LIONEL MESSI
LIONEL MESSI: GUTIERREZ IS AS GOOD AS ROONEY AND FABREGAS!
JOSE MOURINHO TO SUCCEED ALEX FERGUSON IS A ‘DONE DEAL’
Do Fairthorne and his fellow Daily Star Sunday football writers genuinely enjoy unique access to the likes of Mezut Ozil, David Silva, Iker Casilla, David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Buffon, Wesley Sneijder, and Andreas Pirlo?
A lot of football fans, including some well respected pundits, clearly feel that the answer is no. You can see some of the scrutiny which Fairthorne has been subjected to this week here: Twitter.
This morning's Daily Star Sunday carried a grand total of three stories featuring quotes from high profile European based players: WESLEY SNEIJDER: "I'D ONLY PLAY IN ENGLAND FOR MANCHESTER UTD", GERARD PIQUE: FERNANDO TORRES WILL BE ASHAMED OF EUROPA LEAGUE and, last but not least: MANCHESTER UNITED'S DIMITAR BERBATOV TIPPED FOR BALLON D'OR.