\n<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Mediawatch is a neat reflection of the kind of neither-nowt-nor-summat hinterland football currently finds itself in.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not quite out of this season yet, we\u2019re not quite into full World Cup madness yet, and nor has pure uncut transfer bullsh*t fully taken over the column inches.<\/p>\n
But we do have a little bit of all of those things here. So that\u2019s nice, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mediawatch is interested in this piece of Daily Express<\/strong> tish and fipsy primarily because it does tell us something about the headline decision-making process, a process that obviously fascinates and appals us in equal measure, and hints that while that bar may be almost on the floor, there is still at least a bar to clear. Which we guess is good news? Kind of?<\/p>\n The story itself is reheated Daily Mail guff about Marcus Rashford. He wants to stay at Barcelona\u2026 they want another loan\u2026 Anthony Gordon etc. All the stuff you already know<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Mail throw in the detail that\u2026<\/p>\n Aston Villa, Arsenal and Spurs are understood to have discussed Rashford but the 28-year-old\u2019s dream is to stay with Hansi Flick\u2019s team.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n All perfectly reasonable \u2013 weird if those clubs and others hadn\u2019t discussed him to be honest \u2013 until you get to the headline the Express choose to slap on their version. Or more accurately, headlines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n What it says now is:<\/p>\n Marcus Rashford \u2018holds talks with Arsenal\u2019 as Man Utd star makes transfer request<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Now that is a naughty headline that entirely misrepresents both Rashford\u2019s \u2018transfer request\u2019 (because that is \u2018I\u2019d quite like to stay with Barcelona tbh\u2019 rather than a formal \u2018transfer request\u2019 as it\u2019s widely understood, and in either case has nothing to do with Arsenal) as well as suggesting direct talks between Rashford and Arsenal.<\/p>\n That would require a very elastic reading of the Mail\u2019s throwaway line. But while it is still very naughty, it is less naughty than the headline that first appeared on the story.<\/p>\n Marcus Rashford \u2018in talks with Arsenal\u2019 as Man Utd star makes transfer request<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Mediawatch would genuinely love to sit in on discussions at Reach about just how much mistruth you can have in a headline before it just becomes a great big fat lie that needs revising.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n For perhaps the first time ever, Mediawatch finds itself unsure about a headline from The Sun<\/strong>. We know, if you can\u2019t even rely on those guys\u2026<\/p>\n Anyway, here it is:<\/p>\n England face humiliation with 50,000 TICKETS unsold for Three Lions\u2019 first game in America<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Now first point of order is that while this is quite rightly listed as a World Cup story, the key phrase you need to worry about is \u2018Three Lions\u2019 first game in America\u2019.<\/p>\n Because, yep, this story is about their warm-up game against the mighty New Zealand in Tampa. With tickets starting from \u00a354. In a 69,000-seat stadium. For what is, we cannot stress enough, a warm-up game. That headline is very careful not to directly mislead you into thinking it\u2019s an actual World Cup game with 50,000 unsold tickets. If that\u2019s where your head went, then that\u2019s on you.<\/p>\n What we really like, though, is that all the clever phrasing and subterfuge of the headline is just forgotten and abandoned by the intro.<\/p>\n HARRY KANE could have an audience of 50,000 empty seats as England take on their first World Cup match next week.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n No, he really could not.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at the actual numbers of tickets sold, though. For the New Zealand game where England face \u2018humiliation\u2019, \u2018just 13,000\u2019 tickets have been sold.<\/p>\n What about their second warm-up game against Costa Rica? How are things looking there?<\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel\u2019s second warm-up match will be against Costa Rica\u00a0in Orlando, four days later.<\/p>\n And with Costa Ricans accounting for around 16 per cent of the US population, they have already sold 12,000 tickets to the 25,500-seater Inter&Co Stadium on June 10.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n One man\u2019s \u2018just 13,000\u2019 is another man\u2019s \u2018already sold 12,000\u2019. We\u2019re not even going to start on that 16 per cent claim. Because that would mean there are 55 million Costa Ricans in the USA, 10 times more than the number of Costa Ricans in Costa Rica, and we honestly can\u2019t even begin to work where they\u2019ve gone wrong there or what they even meant.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Crystal Palace\u2019s Europa Conference League victory<\/strong> isn\u2019t all good news.<\/p>\n Beyond the obvious line of Adam Wharton looking every inch a player who should probably be in England\u2019s World Cup squad<\/strong>there is even graver trouble:<\/p>\n Crystal Palace\u2019s Europa Conference League win gives EFL Carabao Cup headache<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Far be it from us to suggest the Mirror<\/strong> are slightly overegging a very ropey pudding here, but by the intro things have got even more dramatic.<\/p>\n Crystal Palace\u2019s historic\u00a0Conference League success\u00a0has caused EFL chiefs a major\u00a0Carabao Cup\u00a0issue heading into next season.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s now a major issue. This must be really bad. We fear for the Carabao Cup, we really do. What precisely is this unsolvable disaster to befall everyone\u2019s favourite competition sponsored by the most foul-tasting of all the energy drinks?<\/p>\n Alongside the trophy, Palace have also sealed themselves a spot in the\u00a0Europa League\u00a0\u2013 the Eagles now one of nine\u00a0Premier League\u00a0teams set to play on the continent next season. And while the English top flight\u2019s representation in Europe will be healthy, it has left EFL bosses with some serious thinking to do.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Uh-oh. Serious thinking time, is it?<\/p>\n All clubs in Europe are due to enter the Carabao Cup at Round Three, but with that number being odd, the competition now needs to be levelled out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That is a massive problem. The presence of nine English teams in European competition next season presents the EFL with a problem they simply haven\u2019t had to solve since\u2026 12 months ago, when England also had nine teams in European competition.<\/p>\n Now we will grudgingly concede that the four lowest-ranked Carabao Cup teams forced into a preliminary round to square the numbers a year ago were more easily split into north (Accrington and Oldham) and south (Barnet and Newport) than this time, where Crawley are joined by the distinctly northern trio of Tranmere, Rochdale and York.<\/p>\n But we\u2019re not ready to accept one League Two team facing an awkwardly long away day in a theoretically regional qualifying round constitutes much of a headache or major issue for the tournament as a whole. It is simply one of those things.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s also not kid ourselves Barnet and Newport are local rivals, either; it was still a 300-mile round trip for Newport fans to see their side win on penalties at The Hive after blowing a 2-0 lead in injury time.<\/p>\n While we\u2019re in the realm of grudgingly conceding things, we did like the Mirror describing the situation as \u2018not totally unprecedented\u2019. Gracious of them, given it is, barring one geographical quirk, totally precedented.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
Ticket outs<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
Crystal clear<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n