If you are still wondering about the effects of Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV on football, all you need to do is tune into his channels today.
It’s transfer deadline day and from the way it’s presented, you’d be forgiven for thinking the day had been invented purely for Sky.
For those of you who are not interested in football, you will probably not have read this far anyway but the transfer deadline represents the end of one of two transfer ‘windows’ when clubs can buy and sell players. For the rest of the year, clubs cannot buy and sell players. I am assuming that this restriction to the free movement of labour has not yet been tested in the courts but maybe that’s because the main stakeholders (Sky, the Premier League, the stinking rich clubs of the Premier League) rather like it this way. If it ain’t broke, then let’s not risk messing it all up with a court case.
The evening of the final day of the window has made minor stardom of Jim White, a wildly enthusiastic and more than slightly camp Scottish presenter, who works himself up into a major orgasmic frenzy by each piece of non news. (“And we are hearing that Harry Redknapp is just leaving the club’s training ground, quite possibly going home for his tea.”)
Sky also positions reporters at the training grounds and stadiums in the hope of getting exclusive news and they are often surrounded by noisy, gurning supporters who have too much time on their hands. And in between each clip, each commercial for lager, cars and betting companies (the normal Sky audience), smiles our Jim.
On most transfer window nights, Jim is reduced to repeating what news has already been given and speculation about what may or may not happen, although ‘Sky sources’ (usually the players’ agents) occasionally get wind of some ‘breaking news.’ And we hear that Barnsley have signed Wayne Scoggis from Crawley for an undisclosed fee. Wow!
The evening must be made as dramatic as possible in order to keep the rest of us watching. Lower league clubs – that’s pretty well everyone below the Premier League – do very little ‘business’ on transfer deadline day because the money is in the top flight. We need presenters and reporters to shout at us, to keep us interested and, later on, awake.
It is fair to say that most of the transfers at the top clubs will not revolve around English players, other than selling them to more minor Premier League outfits. The big clubs prefer to bring in the top names from abroad rather than arsing around with home grown talent.
I’m afraid I do follow it even though it sounds slightly surreal to watch. The transfer window has been open for ages – why leave it all to the last minute?
Because it’s entertainment and that’s what Murdoch wants on his channels.
