Actually that's incorrect. In fact, in our recent history they get it right on the big stories more often than not, and well before the events finally come to pass. Then again, those of you who believe the papers influence events at the club will never be convinced, so look away now. The point of this is far too many people dismiss as out of hand any story appearing in the press, especially in the red tops, as conjecture or speculation. These papers, The Sun in particular, have been correct on the major issues more often than not in our recent history. I'm not saying we have to believe everything they say as gospel truths, but equally, it can't be dismissed quite as easily as some on here would like to pretend.

DEFINITIONS:

Correct = Event came to pass either months, weeks, or days after the story broke

Incorrect = Event has not come to pass and has been refuted by the club or players. Event showing no outward signs of transpiring.

CORRECT:

Ranieri being Sacked

Sven Sought as Ranners Replacement

Mourinho courted

Mourinho Signed

Drogba Arrival

Frink Rikjaard Enters Frisk Dressing Room

Mourinho Communicating through Ear Piece

Ashley Cole Tap Up Row

Gallas Wanting Out

Arrival of Ashley Cole

Arrival of Sheva

Arrival of Ballack

Mourinho Abramovich Rows

Roman Refuses To Buy Players (Jan 07)

Chelsea Court Klinsmann

Robben Wanting Out

Mourinho Being Sacked

Player Unrest

WRONG:

Roman Lost Interest/Selling Club

Ronaldinho Arrivial in January (08)

Lampard Leaving in January (08)

I'm sure if I had the time I could think of a few more. Also, please, please, please save all of us the time and refrain from posting events that are not major club news (e.g., Chelsea Tap Up Leeds Youngsters - even though that was correct, too!)

i think a few papers have had to print appologies to a few players lately especially the mirror. sheva was one, not sure who the others were.

i think a few papers have had to print appologies to a few players lately especially the mirror. sheva was one, not sure who the others were.

You are correct. Especially when it came to JT regarding his influence in helping Jose out the door. But they might be correct about Sheva in that he's not been seen for donkeys and is probably off to whatever backwater league will take him. I honestly think he might move to the US if one fo the teams there came in for him - problem is, he wouldn't cut it there either. Let's add one to the got it wrong list...

WRONG:

Roman Lost Interest/Selling Club

Ronaldinho Arrivial in January (08)

Lampard Leaving in January (08)

JT Rowing with/Influencing Mourinho's Departure

.

I might be wrong but hadn't the papers written that José would be sacked several times before he actually was?

I mean, I can write that Ferguson will be sacked from ManU every week. Sooner or later I will be right.

And as for the big stories they got right, well some aren't exactly big news, are they? Gallas and Robben wanting out wasn't a big surprise.

And let's not forget that the media has got God knows how many "smaller" news incorrect. News that might be small but still significant.

Finally. How many players have they said we're going to sign and how many have we actually signed?

The papers might get a few stories right from time to time, but mostly it's just rumours and rubbish.

I might be wrong but hadn't the papers written that José would be sacked several times before he actually was?

I mean, I can write that Ferguson will be sacked from ManU every week. Sooner or later I will be right.

And as for the big stories they got right, well some aren't exactly big news, are they? Gallas and Robben wanting out wasn't a big surprise.

And let's not forget that the media has got God knows how many "smaller" news incorrect. News that might be small but still significant.

Finally. How many players have they said we're going to sign and how many have we actually signed?

The papers might get a few stories right from time to time, but mostly it's just rumours and rubbish.

Well said Moos.

Proof that if you write enough eventually you'll get something right.

i was once told something by an old school mate who was in the media for a while. he was only a junior in a national paper, but heard the rumour that all the sports writers had to submit at least 3 stories per day. normally that ended up as a couple of definately true stories (usually boring), a couple with a bit of truth to them, and a couple that were completely made up or were just rumours. then the chief sports editor would pick from them. dunno if its tue, but it would certainly make sense with some of the garbage printed.

Dead right Moos (and it hurts to admit that!), one of my friends kept a log of the stories that appeared in the Sun and how many of those were right, we took into account the fact that there's an awful lot that will happen eventually the outcome was (roughly as it was about two years ago);

Correct 23%

Incorrect 48%

Predicted but based on the fact that anyone could guess at it and there were no real facts - 29%

This last pot was based on things where the outcome was right but there was no basis of the story, much like a rumour of "Shearer to quit international football, as he owns up to his KKK up bringing and decides instead to run for election for the BNP" - complete bollox but he did quit international football.

The complete findings were sent to the Sun though no reply was ever received, I've asked my friend if he's still got the stats and he hasn't.

I might be wrong but hadn't the papers written that José would be sacked several times before he actually was?

Short answer is no. They didn't start writing that he would be sacked until the rift with Roman appeared last Dec/Jan and was smugly dismissed as "it's just papers talking their usual rubbish".

I mean, I can write that Ferguson will be sacked from ManU every week. Sooner or later I will be right.

And if you had done that from the beginning of his tenure I think you would have been sacked a long time ago.

And as for the big stories they got right, well some aren't exactly big news, are they? Gallas and Robben wanting out wasn't a big surprise.

Actually it was a pretty big surprise as I remember everyone on here saying "it's just papers talking their usual rubbish". Not only that, we could certainly use their help right about now, that is unless you think Tal Ben Haim i a better CB than Gallas?

And let's not forget that the media has got God knows how many "smaller" news incorrect. News that might be small but still significant.

Hence the whole premise of my original post.

Finally. How many players have they said we're going to sign and how many have we actually signed?

Who cares? There are two players they said we'd sign well before anyone on here was willing to believe it, and only one of those players has turned up.

The papers might get a few stories right from time to time, but mostly it's just rumours and rubbish.

Moos, I've just made a list of all the big stories they got right and you've simply ignored and countered with "those aren't the big stories". The fact is, they are getting more right than wrong when it comes to the big stories surrounding Chelsea.

i think weve found a journalist.......

i think weve found a journalist.......

oh my, is it that transparent? I was hoping you lot would help with my next batch of stories...deadlines you know!

no problem mate. i heard theres a double decker bus on the moon, elvis is alive and playing for sc**thorpe reserves and gerrard is a moaning, self obsessed, average, overrated bag of sh*te....

I started a thread (and finished in the same post I think) about talksh*t admitting live on air that the media is biased against Chelsea in it's reporting. Any thoughts on that?

The point of asking that is that if I claim that Loz called you a useless overrated make-weight of a journalist, you might accept it when he tells you that I made it up. But when I tell you that Loz, Just, Coco, dkw, Val, etc etc all called you a useless make-weight of a journalist who they could not deal with any more and Gem called you a C*nt, it might eventually start to cause friction. That is why the press get things right, the make problems where there were none. In my opinion.

I feel as if we are forgetting how utterly wrong the media is most of the time regarding us (and everyone).

Lets just think back to recent times:

WRONG:

Hiddink to manage us after Jose

Capello to manage us after Jose

Lippi to manage us after Jose

Selling SWP

Selling Sidwell

Selling Paulo

David Villa to join

Eto'o to join

Daniel Alves to join

Terry wanting to leave

Micah Richards to join

Anderson to join

Sol Campbell to join

I could keep going...

MHedges

I thought the same way - seems to me that Peeking wanted to prove a point and to do so he thought he better select a few stories where they were wrong just to try and make it look like a balanced post. There are hundreds of stories linking us to players and managers which at the time the papers wrote them they claimed were as water tight as the ones Peeking now quotes as being correct.

If you speculate on everything based on the tiniest thread of evidence like the press do, then you are going to be right a fraction of the time and wrong many many times more often.

You could write a list of hundreds of players we have been linked with over the past few seasons, and you could probably list off at least 15 or so managers we have been linked with since Mourinho's departure (and for the previous 3 or 4 months before that).

i think i could be a sports writer. ive came up with a fool proof plan. take three pots. put footballers names in pot a. put football teams in pot b. put circumstances in pot c. take any 2 from pots a and b, and one from pot c. therefore,

pot a - david villa.

pot b - chelsea

pot c - transfer.

make a story.

carry on till you get one right sometime during the season.

I agree, if you link us with enough players your bound to get one right eventually and the you can tell the world how they heard it there first. Heres a headline grabbing story for you:

THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!

Not for a couple of billion years,but its going to happen.

and once again today we see the outright hypocrisy in the media. were rumoured to be after seom 5/6 year old prodigy and are condemned by pretty much the entire media. everton sign a 7 year oldkeeper, and its a dream come true and wonderful to see, plus everton are a lovely club for giving him his break.

Observer apologises.

Observer apologises.

lol The Observer apologised for getting the info right? Grant was forced to wait for HIS team meeting as the PLAYERS meeting was still going on? Yup, sounds like they got it wrong

This bloke from vital Chelsea has a view on the Press which I wholeheartedly share,

http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... p?a=505302

Preamble: Girls with plastic chests, sleazy stories(Paul Jewel anyone), baseless sensationalism and of course those cheesy headlines. Welcome to the rampantly commercialized world of tabloids. Infamous names like The Sun(I feel for that heavenly celestial body), The Daily Mirror(talk about a bad hair day), The Daily Star(not!!),The People(spare them, please) and there is plenty more from where they came from, ruin our morning evryday.

And believe me its not just limited to the UK, Bild-Zeitung, the German version of the Sun, only bigger is as commercial as you get. But if there is one problem that is unique in the English tabloids is that they take themselves a bit too seriously.

But you know what subconsciously we all love them and want our clubs to be praised and appreciated in them. Why?

I do not know, but what I do know is that any sensible football follower will not take these newspapers (if we can call that) seriously on face value or for that matter any value. Look its the tabloids, they are the sub culture of a world with short memories and rampant commercialism. So ,when I rarely go through them, I know that the quality of journalism and analysis will be done to cater to a particular audience and that does not include sensible rational fans. So instead of writing about a particular column for each on of them{a waste of time and too much effort } I will just use 3 points on where I really think the problem lies. And its the not journalistic features but more of a question of morals and ethics.

THE 3 COMMANDMENTS

1. Money and Football: Now this something that irks me a lot about the media and even my fellow fans. Wages. Each footballer is a professional and his wage is a concern for himself and his agent.Who are the media and the fans to question how much a player is earning.Whether a John Terry earns 150,000 quids or 5 quids thats non of our business and do not give me that non sense about supporters paying for them through our support and tickets.

That logic is hypocritical, we all pay taxes in our respective countries (hopefully) but does that mean that every time wages are hiked, there is an outrage and protests. Music stars, actors and the whole entertainment industry earns far more than footballers (sports is an entertainment industry) but do we hate Tom Cruise or any performer because we think he does not deserve his 50 million. A thing called market forces determines such things. All clubs are corporate houses and have a sound business formula(yes, even Chelsea).

So, when I read about players being lambasted for their earnings I feel disgusted. What you earn as an employee of a company you compare it with your peers and not with other professions.If Ashley Cole felt disgusted after Arsenal denied him a 60,000 Pounds contract maybe it was because he felt unappreciated as compared to another player at that club.Bottom line is that judge a player on the basis of his transfer fees and his on pitch performances. Leave his wages alone, they are a very personal matter.Do footballers question your wages? And if they start doing that, how would you feel???

2. Morals: I find it the biggest irony in the world when I read in tabloids that Mr. A footballer is greedy, sleazy and overpaid. Gentlemen you are describing yourself. But I was having an argument with a Spud supporter on this very website and he kept telling me that Ashley is a nitwit and has a bad character. He is greedy and over hyped. I found this comments very disturbing and when I asked him the reasons for saying this.

This was his reply, ' he left his home club for money, he cheated on his wife and he does not respect the referee.` So automatically he becomes a bad a guy as he committed three of the most innocuous sins possible. Money (I have explained my stance earlier, I can understand Arsenal fans problem with him, he joined a rival club, but no other fans should question his motives), cheating on his wife( could not care less, not the first one and not the last) and respect for refs( yeah, really convenient, which player does?). Since you do not know the man personally do not question his character. Its hitting below the belt.

I mean stereotyping someone and hurting them personally is bang out of order.I seriously believe that one of the big reasons for England`s trouble on the pitch is the media pressure on their personal lives. The English media needs to realize that when they lambaste their players in their disgraceful pages they are doing it in front of the whole world. Players earn respect on by playing football and so if they lose respect, it has to be through their play on the pitch too. Maybe I am being an idealist, but this is a question of ethics and morals.

3. Liberal and refreshing: Now this is praise for the tabloids, as one thing they do is help in creating awareness. They can be damn irritating at times, but I think its crucial to realize that for tabloids catching attention is the main focus. Visuals, design and presentations are more important than content. Thus, the reason why tabloids has become a down market term. Reinvention is something all newspapers promise but few deliver. I wait for the day when I will see a tabloid coming up with consistent stories and meaningful content.

the media isn't perfect, but without them you'd be left with the bland quotes and stories circulated on official websites...chelsea spent all last season denying all the stories that there were problems between jose and roman and you had barnett on chelsea tv saying don't believe the rubbish in the papers etc...well what do you know it happened to be true...let's be honest, even if we think a story is bollox, we like talking about it if it has anything to do with cfc

...chelsea spent all last season denying all the stories that there were problems between jose and roman and you had barnett on chelsea tv saying don't believe the rubbish in the papers etc...well what do you know it happened to be true...

But that's not really important to Chelsea, Brit. What's most important is if the papers get it wrong on player X joining our club, or if John Terry spent £100,000 at the horses when it was actually only £8,000.

Cech's appearance tonight, on 14.4.08, prompts me to paste this Neil Ashton article from the Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... =1779&ct=5

Season is over for Cech after horrific facial injury

By NEIL ASHTON - More by this author » Last updated at 09:39am on 8th April 2008

Comments Comments

Petr Cech has been ruled out for the rest of the season after a horrific training-ground injury left him needing 50 stitches in a facial wound.

Sportsmail can reveal that the Chelsea goalkeeper, who would have returned to the team for this evening's Champions League quarter-final tie against Fenerbahce, suffered the injury in a collision with Tal Ben Haim during training on Sunday.

Chelsea also fear that they will be without Michael Essien at Stamford Bridge after he limped out of training on Monday night with a back injury. He will be assessed again on Tuesday afternoon.

Cech was wearing his skull cap at the time the incident happened but it offered no protection as the wound was on the part of his face which is not covered.

His stunned team-mates, who feared a repeat of the horrific head injury he suffered during a clash with Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt last season, immediately called for Chelsea doctor Bryan English.

Cech was taken to the Saint John-Saint Elizabeth Hospital in London for surgery on a laceration that a Chelsea source disclosed yesterday 'went right to the jaw bone'.

The Chelsea keeper had 30 stitches sewn in the deepest area of the wound that stretches from his bottom lip to his chin, a further 20 on the outside of his face and also required plastic surgery 'for aesthetic reasons'.

Although Chelsea coach Avram Grant claimed that he expected Cech to return to first-team action within two weeks, it is feared that he may even miss Euro 2008 with the Czech Republic.

Sportsmail understands that English is taking advice from boxing experts on the recovery time and the worst-case scenario for an injury this serious is six months on the treatment table.

Grant said: 'I don't feel good about it. Every injured player does not make me happy and he was more than a bit unlucky with injuries this year already.

'He was great in training on Sunday, but it was a tackle between two players. He was very unlucky to get the injury and we think he will be out for another two weeks.'

Cech, who played a huge part in their consecutive Premiership triumphs under Joe Mourinho, has already been on the sidelines for a large part of this season.

He missed five games in November and December with a hip complaint, four in December and January with a side strain and has been ruled out of the last six with an ankle problem.

Although he is currently at home recovering, he has been told not to rush back into action and is highly unlikely to play again this season.

So the Mail's 6 months turns out to be 6 days.....

hows this for a belter from the star. headlin - CECH- I FEAR WERE GONNA END UP POTLESS.

mentions of worries about finishing the season with no trophys: none.

typical quote from the article "We are not throwing in the towel yet" also "as long as we keep fightin we will have a chance and a hope".

how can they call themselves journalists.