Media Stories, Rumours and Gossip

[Holymoly]

Interesting watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEDzn83BxFo

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Holymoly

[Blue Moon]

In today's Times - excuse long post, it's behind a paywall:

"Dele Alli has revealed that he was abused at the age of six and was dealing drugs by the time he was eight years old. In an emotional interview, the Everton midfielder fought back tears as he laid bare his difficult upbringing before he was adopted by the Hickford family. Alli also told Gary Neville in The Overlap, his YouTube channel and podcast in partnership with Sky Bet, that he has battled a sleeping pill addiction and only came out of rehab last month after facing struggles with his mental health. The 27-year-old, who was a key part of the England side that reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, laid bare the sickening abuse he received as a child, saying he was “molested” at the age of six. “I was sent to Africa to learn discipline, and then I was sent back,” he said. “At seven, I started smoking, [at] eight I started dealing drugs. An older person told me that they wouldn’t stop a kid on a bike, so I rode around with my football, and then underneath I’d have the drugs — that was eight. Eleven, I was hung off a bridge by a guy from the next estate, a man. Twelve, I was adopted. I was adopted by an amazing family, like I said, I couldn’t have asked for better people to do what they’d done for me. If God created people, it was them.”

Alli, who spent last season on loan at Besiktas in Turkey, also opened up on his addiction to sleeping pills, which led to a recent spell in rehab. “I definitely abused them too much,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d stop sometimes and go a few months without them but I was never really dealing with the problem. It got really bad at some points. I didn’t understand how bad it was. It’s been going on for a long time [the addiction], the things I was doing to numb the feelings I had. I didn’t realise it was for that purpose, whether it be drinking or whatever. When I came back from Turkey, I came in and I found out that I need an operation and I was in a bad place mentally. I decided to go to like a modern-day rehab facility for mental health. They deal with addiction, mental health, and trauma because it was something that I felt like it was time for. I think with things like that, you can’t be told to go there. You have to know, and you have to make the decision yourself, otherwise it’s not going to work. To be honest, I was caught in a bad cycle. I was relying on things that were doing me harm and, yeah, I think I was waking up every day and I was winning the fight, you know, going into training, smiling, showing that I was happy. But inside, I was definitely losing the battle and it was time for me to change it because when I got injured and they told me I needed surgery, I could feel the feelings I had when the cycle begins and I didn’t want it to happen any more. So, I went there [rehab], I went there for six weeks and Everton were amazing about it, you know. They supported me 100 per cent and I’ll be grateful to them for ever.”

Football’s relationship with sleeping tablets is not a new phenomenon (Charlotte Duncker writes). They have been used by club doctors to aid post-match insomnia for decades. Prescribed normally and taken as intended, the drugs are safe and can benefit a player’s recovery if they are struggling to switch off. However, in recent years some professionals have voiced concern that they are being misused. Lorazepam, Temazepam and Zopiclone are three types of tablets which can be prescribed to help people sleep. With such hectic schedules and stringent timeframes, alongside a lot of travel, it is normal for club doctors to administer such tablets to enable players to reset and recover. 

“They work,” Dele Alli said. “With our schedule you have to be up really early in the morning to train, you’ve got all the adrenaline and stuff, so when you sometimes have to take a sleeping tablet to sleep, that’s fine.”

But over the years the concern has been that players are starting to take more than they should and mixing them with alcohol to give them a buzz without breaking any drug-related rules. Paul Merson revealed how he and Paul Gascoigne would take them with red wine when they were flatmates in 1998 while playing for Middlesbrough as a game to see who could stay awake long enough. Recent investigations showed that players have been taking them at parties as legal highs. 

The Professional Footballers’ Association is aware of the rising problem of sleeping tablets within the game and an advice page on its website, which was written in 2014, says: “Avoid sleeping pills or alcohol – these may help you to feel more relaxed but will actually reduce your sleep quality.” The NHS website warns against taking any of the listed sleeping pills for longer than a four-week period, citing that people can become addicted to the drugs if taken for longer. 

The former defender Ryan Cresswell last year warned against the dangers of sleeping pills and painkillers, admitting that after becoming addicted it nearly killed him. “For me it started with one after every game, which was great and I think is an alright purpose to use them,” he said. “But then it went from one after games, to one a day to two a day and then I knew I was addicted to them. It was not me craving it, it was my body, I knew it wasn’t the right thing. It’s horrible.”

Might explain a few things.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Blue Moon

[Ham]

3 minutes ago, Blue Moon said:

In today's times:

"Dele Alli has revealed that he was abused at the age of six and was dealing drugs by the time he was eight years old. In an emotional interview, the Everton midfielder fought back tears as he laid bare his difficult upbringing before he was adopted by the Hickford family. Alli also told Gary Neville in The Overlap, his YouTube channel andAlli also told Gary Neville in The Overlap, his YouTube channel and podcast in partnership with Sky Bet, podcast in partnership with Sky Bet, that he has battled a sleeping pill addiction and only came out of rehab last month after facing struggles with his mental health. The 27-year-old, who was a key part of the England side that reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, laid bare the sickening abuse he received as a child, saying he was “molested” at the age of six. “I was sent to Africa to learn discipline, and then I was sent back,” he said. “At seven, I started smoking, [at] eight I started dealing drugs."

Might explain a few things.

All the very best to him but couldn't help but notice the bit where a discussion on drug addiction is being sponsored by SkyBet.  One addiction for another.

Reinforces my point about the futility of opposing betting sponsorship at £40m for one year whilst it's still allowed. 

None of the other clubs give a shit and neither do the media in reality.

 

 

 

[Blue Moon]

Point taken. Personally, never been a gambler in that way, brought up in a Quaker household so it was thrashed into me - I prefer to do my gambling in business, so you might say I'm a gambler, too - and I'd respond that at least I have some control over the outcome, whereas putting a fiver on Naughty Nell in the 4:15 at Doncaster represents greater risk. We can agree or disagree on that one, I don't give much of a damn either way. But to be honest, I've never seen the attraction of betting on a football match - there's enough excitement just watching, and putting a fiver on the outcome doesn't add to it.

[jasonb]

I read the Alli story  from the BBC, he says good things about Poch but did not get on so well under Mourinho.

Lets hope he gets his head straight and goes back to playing though might need to drop a level,

 

[paulw66]

9 minutes ago, jasonb said:

I read the Alli story  from the BBC, he says good things about Poch but did not get on so well under Mourinho.

 

 

Wasn't quite that simple. He was so close to Poch, that even he admitted that he was perhaps closed off to any new manager.

[Bob Singleton]

2 hours ago, Blue Moon said:

In today's Times - excuse long post, it's behind a paywall:

[SNIP]

Similar pieces in the Telegraph, Guardian and DM (probably elsewhere too)

[Mark Kelly]

I see SFL is saying that Mason Mount (who?) will "raise the bar" at Manchester United. 

Just as well considering most of his shots go over it. 

[chrisb]

http://www.skysports.com/share/12920373

SFL’s take on last season

[Sciatika]

7 hours ago, Holymoly said:

Interesting watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEDzn83BxFo

 

Sky just copying link that  @Holymoly said earlier.

[ROTG]

5 hours ago, paulw66 said:

Wasn't quite that simple. He was so close to Poch, that even he admitted that he was perhaps closed off to any new manager.

Could be the Chelsea wild card for the last day of the transfer window, unfortunately it will cost chelsea a kings ransom when  12 months ago Everton could not give him away. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by ROTG

[chara]

3 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Could be the Chelsea wild card for the last day of the transfer window, unfortunately it will cost chelsea a kings ransom when  12 months ago Everton could not give him away. 

Sorry  out of touch here and a straight forward question with no edge or agenda...why the "Kings Ransom"?

[paulw66]

5 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Could be the Chelsea wild card for the last day of the transfer window, unfortunately it will cost chelsea a kings ransom when  12 months ago Everton could not give him away. 

In what world would he cost a King's Ransom? Not that we are going to buy him. 

[thevelourfog]

11 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Could be the Chelsea wild card for the last day of the transfer window, unfortunately it will cost chelsea a kings ransom when  12 months ago Everton could not give him away. 

The rumoured deal with Spurs means he only has to play a few more PL games and they're due £10m. Anyone who wants Dele Alli gets him for nowt, imo. Everton are not in a position to play him. Although I suppose they aren't precisely because they've been so horrendously financially mismanaged ...

[ROTG]

11 hours ago, chara said:

Sorry  out of touch here and a straight forward question with no edge or agenda...why the "Kings Ransom"?

It was a bit tongue in cheek, however given how the club spent over the past couple of transfer windows, if Poch really wanted him, I am sure his price would be north of £10m, which for him and past few seasons would IMO be a kings ransom

Hopefully the club does not go down that road

[McCreadie]

I had the misfortune of passing through the Sky football coverage today. Never seen anything duller. No banter no excitement nothing. How anyone thinks this is going to be an improvement on Stelling & co baffles me.

[blueandproud]

On 05/08/2023 at 18:18, McCreadie said:

I had the misfortune of passing through the Sky football coverage today. Never seen anything duller. No banter no excitement nothing. How anyone thinks this is going to be an improvement on Stelling & co baffles me.

Yup.  Soccer Saturday will die on it's feet now that Stelling has gone, it was him who held the show together.  Simon Thomas has no personality whatsoever, but it's still better than BBC's Final Score or TNT's (formerly BT Sport's) lamentable Score programme.  And why do they insist on keeping the bloody awful Alan McInally?

[Ham]

10 minutes ago, blueandproud said:

Yup.  Soccer Saturday will die on it's feet now that Stelling has gone, it was him who held the show together.  Simon Thomas has no personality whatsoever, but it's still better than BBC's Final Score or TNT's (formerly BT Sport's) lamentable Score programme.  And why do they insist on keeping the bloody awful Alan McInally?

One of the Sky panellists has been stealing a living for the past 2 years.  He's on every game as a pundit.  Totally illiterate, tries unsuccessfully to be funny and has absolutely no technical know-how.

Anyone guess who it is? 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Ham

[Mark Kelly]

3 minutes ago, Ham said:

One of the Sky panellists has been stealing a living for the past 2 years.  He's on every game as a pundit.  Totally illiterate, tries unsuccessfully to be funny and has absolutely no technical know-how.

Anyone guess who it is? 

I don't know who you're referring to but as an aside I saw Anton Ferdinand on Sky the other day and he was so irredeemably thick that  watching him mangle the English language whilst also having absolutely no idea what was going on or what to say made me feel dirty for laughing incredulously. 

[Ham]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

I don't know who you're referring to but as an aside I saw Anton Ferdinand on Sky the other day and he was so irredeemably thick that  watching him mangle the English language whilst also having absolutely no idea what was going on or what to say made me feel dirty for laughing incredulously. 

Clinton Morrison.  The worst of the worst. 

He must have real dirt on one of the execs at Sky. No other explanation. 

[chrisb]

18 minutes ago, Ham said:

Clinton Morrison.  The worst of the worst. 

He must have real dirt on one of the execs at Sky. No other explanation. 

Yep, have to agree. He talks with some pathetic attempt at an American accent and is utterly useless. I’d rather see big nose Thompson back than have to suffer Morrison anymore and I couldn’t stand the scouse git.

[My Blood Is Blue]

11 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

I don't know who you're referring to but as an aside I saw Anton Ferdinand on Sky the other day and he was so irredeemably thick that  watching him mangle the English language whilst also having absolutely no idea what was going on or what to say made me feel dirty for laughing incredulously. 

I was saying the exact same thing to my mate the other day, how on Earth is this guy getting any kind of job as a pundit? 

[Chelsea_Matt]

2 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I was saying the exact same thing to my mate the other day, how on Earth is this guy getting any kind of job as a pundit? 

I think we know why. 

[Bert19]

I think there's a general theme around how pundits are used in general tbh. 

The main broadcasters seem to like

a) ex Liverpool and Man Utd players

b) those close to them

c) "big" names. 

d) people willing to peddle the latest narrative

Hence why BT seemed to think Paul Scholes and Michael Owen's complete lack of charisma or insight would be preferable to someone like Pat Nevin who can do reasonably complexed tactical and technical breakdowns, speaks eloquently and doesn't just follow what other people think. 

It's all just maintaining the dominant hegemonic structure. 

[Thiago97]

I always think pundits have a real opportunity to broaden the horizons of viewers and take them into the dressing room and build up on matchday. Yet, they rarely seem to tell you anything that the viewer does not already know.

I remember someone on this forum (Can't remember who- Maybe Ham?) said of Jamie Redknapp one day 'Talks plenty tells me nothing' which unfortunately does sum up the majority of pundits we have on TV.

Personally, I enjoy watching and listening to Roy Keane ahead of most pundits. Gary Neville can be very good and informative at times, but can end up going on crusades that his ego will not let him walk back from.

Special mention to a couple of female pundits who have stepped up their game in recent times. Personally, I think the likes of Alex Scott offer absolutely nothing to punditry, I don't get TV's fascination with her at all!  I think Rachel Yankey is very good when she gets a gig and Karen Carney has improved a lot in recent times. 

It's not a case of me wanting to single them out as females, but we have only really had female pundits on our screens for 4-5 years now, so that does kind of single them out compared to decades of male pundits.

The likes of Morrison, Sutton, Dawson, Sherwood as just dull as dishwater imo.  I was not a fan of Rio Ferdinand early on, but credit where it is due, he has improved a lot imo.

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Thiago97