might save Moyes, and that the Ferguson book’s arrival affected Rooney’s performance, either as
inspiration or rejoinder (or both). Indeed, references to Ferguson’s book abounded, to the extent
that The Sun’s match rating for the Manchester United match was framed as ‘Were United on the
right page?’ with a photo of Ferguson’s book hovering above it, despite the ratings actually making
no reference to Ferguson’s judgements at all, except using little icons of the book’s cover for the
marking out of five system. A rating system employed for the Manchester City game was laid out
exactly the same, but just titled ‘City Watch’ and with no out-of-five marks. The cult of personality
and the attempt to tie in recent controversy to anything if at all possible is the stand out feature of
tabloid sports writing. The Daily Mirror even found room to defend the overtly racist ‘Evil Kagawa’
Twitter account as “comic genius”, symptomatic not just of personality focussed pieces but a
shamefully reductive parochialism which should have no place in writing anywhere. In light of that
piece, their back-page splash ‘Shut Them Down’, referring to the racist abuse suffered by Yaya Toure
in Moscow seems ironic at best, and hideously two-faced at worst.
Broadsheet writing, by contrast, was more varied in subject. It featured more genuine sports news,
such as a piece on grassroots funding, and a more varied appreciation of the previous night’s results
and the upcoming ties in the Europa League: the Manchester City game was accorded the same
space as a Sid Lowe piece on Real Madrid against Juventus in The Guardian, and both The Times and
The Guardian featured considered previews of the Europa League ties featuring British teams. This is
in stark contrast to the Anglo-centric parochialism of the tabloids, which might give a sidebar at best
to games not involving British teams, or merely lift copy from news agencies. The broadsheets were
also much less interested in individual players and more in team narratives or straight reporting of
the qualities of a game.
The style of writing differs too. If one considers the pieces written about Ian Holloway’s resignation
from Crystal Palace, there are subtle but significant variations in tone between the tabloids and the
broadsheets. The Guardian writes: “In the end, Ian Holloway was a broken man. He sat, ashen-faced,
in a cinema theatre in the basement of the Soho hotel and all that fizz and exuberance…had drained
away”. The Times puts it thus: “Crystal Palace are expected to speak to Tony Pulis about their vacant
managerial position after Ian Holloway stepped down last night, saying he had run out of energy to
perform the job”. The Independent’s comment box says: “The end of most managerial reigns are a
study in passing the blame, but in the unlikely setting of the Soho Hotel off Dean Street…” There is a
mixture here of an almost novelistic tone from The Guardian, replete with description, pathos, and
long words, to the strictly business news tone of The Times, stating a likelihood but with due
deference to possibility, to a knowing in-joke from The Independent about Soho and its suitability for
managerial press conferences. Contrast that with the same story in the tabloids. The Daily Star states
that “Crystal Palace will turn to Tony Pulis”, fact without the possibility of being wrong, strident and
assertive and sound bite-y. The Daily Mirror’s headline states: “All My Fault: Worn-out Ollie admits
bringing in too many new players destroyed Eagles’ fighting spirit”. This mix of immediate focus on
personality, the use of nicknames and first names showing proximity to the subject of the piece, and
the martial metaphor beloved of English sports-writers is typical of tabloid writing. The Sun’s
headline is similar: “Hol Lot of Tiredness: Palace job wore me out says Ian”. It, like The Daily Mirror,
uses ‘Ian Holloway’ as the first two words of its piece, again focussing immediately on personality
rather than narrative or context, and the headlines puns rather poorly on his surname. The
difference in style and treatment of subject is clear, the tabloid s going for emotive immediacy and
the implication of a familiarity with Ian Holloway designed to allow their readers to feel the same.
The broadsheets instead paint a picture using more complex writing and, if trying to at all, suggest
familiarity rather with the circumstances of a managerial resignation than the manager himself; the
context is broader and less focussed on personality rather than a wider narrative.