Tonight, The Daily Record has succeeded in getting an “interest in Dembele” story out of absolutely nothing at all.
It’s not a major achievement. It’s low-order stuff. It’s the kind of thing that if you did it at journalism school you’d have been kicked out of the class; apparently doing it whilst carrying a press card carries no consequences whatsoever.
The “interest” in Dembele was expressed by the Brighton manager. and the headline in the story read this; “Chris Hughton praises Celtic’s Moussa Dembele as he admits he would want to sign him”.
Sounds pretty definitive right? If the headline is correct anyway. But what Hughton said was both far more nuanced and far more respectful of Celtic and Moussa himself than the hack who wrote this – and it is a named piece for once; Darren Johnstone, come on down – was able to be.
The article itself does not roll back on the headline claim. It starts with this;
“Brighton boss Chris Hughton has described Celtic star Moussa Dembele as a “very good player” and admits he would love to sign him.”
Yeah but did he really?
Well, as it turns out yes … and no. This is less a transfer story than a rambling walk through the Brighton bosses biggest football fantasies, as he makes plain.
““He’s a very good player and has had a very good season but he’s not our player … “ Hughton said, with a nod in the direction of respecting Celtic. “He’s one of probably 100 names you could mention that if I had an opportunity to want them, then you probably would. But he’s not our player, like anyone else you could throw into the mix. We’ll work as hard as we can in this period of time leading into January. If anything happens in January, it will happen because it is right and the processes leading into it would be right.”
Processes like actually talking to clubs first, to get some kind of negotiations underway. Not, as is the custom in Scotland apparently, briefing the media on your targets six weeks before making an offer only to be rebuffed and publicly humiliated.
I could draw up a fantasy football wish-list for Celtic, it doesn’t make any of it realistic. And Moussa Dembele going to Brighton whilst Celtic accept a paltry £20 million for a striker who’s been linked with half the top teams in the EPL is simply off the radar ridiculous.
These kinds of stories were once designed to destabilise our club. But we have no need, or wish, to sell Moussa in this window or, I suspect, in the next and as long as he’s happy to be here we will have him at the club.
Nowadays all these stories accomplish is to remind the world of how ludicrous our media is, and how desperate they are for stories. It’s an embarrassment. Their profession used to be a noble one, one that produced something more than wind.