Which newspapers are ITK?
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 2:08PM Found this over on Glory Glory. If anyone knows the source of this information, please share so I can credit (and also confirm audit time frame).
Pretty certain other 'transfer' websites that fall outside the category of tabloids/broadsheets have equally low accuracy percentages. Not that we'd expect anyone to have high prediction rates. It's not a case of pointing out how wrong they are most of the time rather the quantity of articles and transfer stories produced for the sake of hype. If the media only published fact on potential transfers they'd never print anything. You have to accept a hit consisting of insider scoured gossip, agent talk and destabilising conjecture.
The below simply illustrates just how far certain publications will go and how little even our friends in the media know. Proving that in most cases, you only know of a transfer as it progresses through the stage of contract talks and medicals...because the club/agent/player has allowed said info to be released into the wild.
Average number of articles posted per day:
The top 10 most rumoured clubs for transfers (what a shocker):
1. Tottenham
2. Arsenal
3. Birmingham
4. Man Utd
5. West Ham
6. Udinese
7. Man City
8. Barcelona
9. Lille
10. Villa
Top of the league.
spooky
Found the source: FootballTransferLeague co.uk.
Interesting footnote:
Figures are based on all rumours we have that have been resolved (player has transfered or signed a new contract). FTL rumour data goes back to the start of summer 2006 transfer window.
Reader Comments (31)
It would be interesting to know the accuracy of other media outlets such as Sky Sports News & Talksport too,
Udinese?!?
No idea, hence why I want to find the original article that printed this.
Perhaps the top 10 sources all European media.
Since 2006 apparently.
not really relevant but... just came back from 4 nights in vegas.
if you havent been, go. words cannot do this place justice. amazing.
spotted this lot -
frank lampard playing blackjack solidly from 8pm til 5am
aaron lennon looking like a 15year old rude boy trying to chat up a girl who my mate ended up pulling instead. why do they all dress like such morons.
nicolas bendtner not being allowed into a club for wearing a t-shirt. so sweet.
kevin 'prince' boateng smoking away by the pool with his particularly hot missus.
gareth barry looking a lot lankier and skinnier than i would have imagined in his swim shorts.
also saw bobby zamora, adam johnson, steve sidwell and last but not least...
gary doherty, 'ginger pele' himself. rather unsurprisngly, his dress sense is as good as his football, basically dresses like my dad.
Udinese have a large number of young south american players. They have had a very good season with the south americans impressing in particular, hence the links.
DOHERTY TO SPURS
That would make sense fatfish. Stories linking their players with moves away as well as their influx of developing said South American talent.
goal.com would top that list ANY DAY
Kudos to the supergeek who gathered this info, confirming all our suspicions. (I must admit, it's an idea I've thought of myself. I'll get me anorak).
I found this interesting, particularly the 'league table'. On another page I commented,yesterday how many Spurs players have been rumoured to be transferred this year. By my accounting; Gomez, ABE, Keane, Bentley, O'Hara, Bale, Modric, Sandro, Kaboul, Pav, Defoe, Crouch, Woodgate---and I am sure I missed some--are all dying to go or being transferred. It appears Spurs are being systematically targeted by the media or am I paranoid. The current swirl of rumours over Modric is almost identical to the beginning of the conspiracy to force the transfer of Berbatov a couple of years back, and that is not a coincidence. While I suspect the Man U acolytes in the media as being part of this it is ironic that they have also brought Man City and Chelsea into the bidding game as well.
@Frontwheel: I think Udinese is up on the list simply because the youth talent they have is amazing... so I'm sure all the "ITKs" are linking them with other "bigger and better" clubs.
@Spooky: how the hell did we beat City???
Why is anyone surprised that we're top in relation to rumours, when we have a manager who can't keep his gob shut, loves the media and never shy for a qoute, as well as his boy working for SKY.
Added link to original sourced article above.
Spooky, loved the Las Vegas post even if nothing in it surprised me. Everyone else, ignore all the rumours, its the newspapers' silly season, grub street grubbing around for something to fill their pages and try to sell them. Modric is staying, so is Bale, and let's not forget all the other key players...Benoit, Sandro, VdV, Pav, King et all, they'll all be at the lane come August, and my tenner says we will be top 3 next season, if not better...and you can get good odds now ;-)
Clearly seems an inverse relationship between the more respectable papers higher hit rate and the number of stories posted, generally looks like it confirms the theory that the red tops will report any old guff and hope a story sticks so they can claim to have scooped it, whilst the Guardian/BBC etc tend to wait for their to be something more solid to report on.
30 odd percent may seem low for the best, but even if trying to be reputable I'd wager a fair few genuine links that get reported on never materialise into actual transfers, so there is a debatable element about the scoring method chosen.
That's a valid point, but let's not give the red tops too much wiggle room ;)
Yippee!! We've finished on top of the Arse at last.
The Mail and The Mirror have been touting the worst of the 'Modric to Man U' bullshit so I'm pleased to see them lower on the list. Awful newspapers.
as mentioned elsewhere, the Sun laughably had "Mods to Utd for 15m" stories. 15m? I thought it was a typo but apparently they've used this figure more than once. unbelievable and smacks of Fergie playing games with his journo chums. p***ed me off actually even tho it's obviously complete cobblers even by the Sun's rock bottom standards. Bloomin transfer window does my brain in. I'll take this Internacional striker Dimaio he sounds pretty good. Parker i cant get my head around but i guess player of the year must mean he's a good chap. i like ohara but if we get good dosh for him, bentley, gio, jenas, keane, gomes (blimey its gonna be a busy few weeks) then we'll be fine to offer Mods 90k a week and hopefully get the brazil striker and a quality centre back.
According to sky sports Marin has no desire to leave Werder Bremen at this current time. This is based on the following quote reported by sky sports:
"I want to stay at Werder. I feel good at Bremen," Marin said.
"I have never had the urge to leave. I want to be successful here, and that is my only aim."
"If the club receives an offer and decides to sell me, that is another situation," he added.
"Until then I am happy here."
How are these comments from Marin any different from those that Modric made? Yet every newspaper and internet site claim that Modric wants to leave? From these comments, it can be suggested using the media's logic, that Marin is looking to leave his current club also!
I cracked up the other day and commented on the 'Daily Mail' to an article that Chelsea were willing to treble Modric's salary. I told them they were a bunch of Bankers and used some typical swear words beginning with F and C. Anyways I am banned from commenting on any 'Associated Newspapers Publication' permanently.
Funny when you point out how silly their articles are, they don't appreciate it.
Pete - was talking about this earlier today (about to see if anyone on twitter clocked onto the story). Amazes me how quotes are presented how in turn, perceived.
Spooky, I think there are a lot of people in high places in the media that are genuinely worried about the Spurs. I think we are on the verge of challenging for the title. We have got the best midfield in the country, our defence is solid and with the addition of Brad Friedel who has a lot of experience, will not be costing us the games that Gomes cost us last season. With 2-3 players, I believe that we will challenge next season. They don't want to see this happen and so are trying to destabilise the club.
Really need to get it right this summer. Consolidate and improve.
You forgot Harry hotspur. Sorry I forgot he is not a tabloid he justs copies everything from the daily mirror.
Not surprised we are top of the rumour league.
Bale, Modric, VDV would walk into any of the established top 3 teams. Liverpool and Man City would love them as well.
Plus we have a lot of talent not playing, as pointed out above we need to move a lot of players on.
Papers need to sell, websites need clicks, look at the amount of Fabregas and Nasri stories, Tevez, Balotelli. Berbatov, Rooney. All been linked with moves etc.
No need for paranoia, all clubs have it, we just have slightly more players who need to leave or are easy targets for the press.
One paper had Modric down as having 3 years left on his contract, sheer lazy journalism, if they haven't checked basic facts you know the story is BS.
Harry did more harm than good with his "as good as it gets" line as well. Saw that interview for the first time the other day. I really need to learn to take that man with a quarry of salt.
Really is no reason we cant keep Modric for another season. 22m is a joke offer, why bother?
But if he wants out it looks like we will see how good a negotiator Mr Levy is. 50m anyone?
They are living in a fantasy world.
Simply will not happen.
Got a feeling of deja-vu on this one Spooky.
Time will tell I suppose.
Ah, the DML Modric edition- I've been waiting for this one...
Try as I might, I just can't come to view Modric as irreplaceable. Beloved, yes. Valuable, certainly. Arguably even our best, or most important player. But ultimately, I am not a Modric Fan- I am for Spurs. My criteria for selling Modric is thus quite simple. Will it improve Spurs? So the question I have been asking myself, rather than "should we or shouldn't we" is "for how much and for what purpose?" Is it truly inconceivable to imagine a situation whereby Modric leaves and Spurs are actually more competitive? Here is one such scenario I have allowed myself to entertain by way of an example...
Spurs trade Modric to Barcelona for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Straight up. Barcelona receive a skilled midfield playmaker that would fit well into their team and style of play. This would cost them essentially nothing, as Ibra spent the whole of last season on loan, and it is likely that the wage bill would be reduced. This would also negate the need for a 40-50 million pound bid for Fabregas (I'll come back to that). Spurs would be obtaining a dominant, international-class striker capable of playing alone or with a partner. HE HAS WON NINE CONSECUTIVE DOMESTIC CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FIVE LEAGUES- that's got to count for something. The knock on Ibra is that he's perceived as underperforming in the Champions League, but we've got no CL football next year, and anyway we already have two strikers who seem to be especially suited to the CL (if not only the CL) in Crouch and Pav. Another (perceived) benefit to this scenario, would be that a clearly unsettled Fabregas STAYS at le Arse. I suspect that much of the blame for their struggles this year stems from the fact that he clearly wishes to be playing for the blaugrana, and I see no reason that will change if he is retained in North London for another year. To fill the Modric-sized hole in our midfield, we obtain a marko marin, eden hazard-type (young, skilled, yet to make the leap) player at whatever the market rate may be. Would this work? If not, please share your (realistic) ideas of how a potential Modric sale, at his true value, could be used to move Spurs forward.