A lesson in how the tabloids work

David James reveals: “I received a phone call from an unknown number. I don’t usually answer those, but I was still drunk and so I picked it up. Much to my astonishment the man on the other end was Steve Coppell. He said, ‘All right Dave, I’m the Bristol City manager, and was wondering if you’d be interested in having a look at the club?’ If it had been anyone else, I would not have considered it, but such was my respect for Steve that Bristol City became a serious contender.”

So how does the Star report it? “David James admits he was drunk when he agreed deal with Bristol“.

Nowhere in that quote does he say anything about agreeing the deal with City when still under the influence – just that they became serious contenders (amongst a host of other clubs). Still, why let the facts get in the way of a good story, eh?

It wouldn’t be inaccurate to suggest that the former England ‘keeper and those in front of him have been playing like they’re drunk thus far this season – though perhaps Friday’s excellent draw at home to the league leaders will herald an upturn in fortunes.

Ben

Ben is a long-suffering Newcastle Utd supporter (is there any other kind?) who co-founded and co-wrote Black & White & Read All Over, a blog that, over the course of a decade, chronicled the ups, downs, chaos and calamity of the club he has the misfortune to follow. Since the blog hung up its boots in May 2014 (note: not as a mark of respect for Shola Ameobi leaving St James’ Park), he has contented himself with sporadic, splenetic Twitter outbursts and shamefully rare contributions to The Two Unfortunates. He is currently haunted by visions of Joe Kinnear returning to the club for a third spell and pondering whether he’ll live to see another victory over the Mackems, but at least has a cardboard coathanger with Robert Lee’s head on it for consolation.