MY, how I chuckled last Monday. I had Sky Sports’ head of PR on the phone from HQ in west London. I wish it had been a Skype call because I’ve never seen someone go properly purple with indignation and the poor lad sounded like he was on the verge of a thrombo.
It was quite flattering, in a backhanded way, to be compared unfavourably with the Daily Mail and its much derided Sports Agenda diarist Charles Sale.
Nosey Parker’s gossip column raises eyebrows on a weekly basis. Occasionally Dave is a mile wide of the mark – there’s a bit of a clue having the word ‘gossip columnist’ in his job description – but if they wanted to do a tally of the calls he gets right, sometimes months in advance, then the knockers would soon shut up.
All I can say about Nosey’s story on Brian Noble being the replacement for Stevo when the great man retires at the end of this campaign, is that it came from an absolutely solid and usually trustworthy source.
The Sky people struggled to even come to terms with the fact that Stevo packing up was common knowledge, even though Mike’s been arranging his farewells for months. He said as much in TV coverage just last week.
But anyway, the word from the horse’s ar… sorry, horse’s mouth, is that Sky will not be replacing Stevo on a like for like basis – which let’s face it would be pretty nigh impossible – and under no circumstances known to man, God or even Sky deities head of RL Neville Smith and supreme leader Barney Francis, would it be Brian Noble.
Poor old Nobby. What has he ever done wrong to anyone? He’s part of a generally strong BBC team along with Dave Woods and John Kear especially, even if he falls a bit in love with his over-rehearsed ‘ad libs’ at times.
Apparently Nosey’s bit of goss caused great upset and distress amongst the regular League pundits at Sky.
Yes, I can imagine. Barrie and Terry, Phil Clarke, Brian Carney and Jon Wells have always struck me as a bunch of timid little wallflowers whose feelings are easily hurt. Aww bless. Do you think I should send them a get well soon card?
Anyway, seems you were wrong on that one Nosey so on behalf of everyone here at League Weekly, can I offer bent knee, beseeching apologies to all the millionaires and billionaires in their ivory Sky towers?
Nosey, old pal – try not to cry yourself to sleep tonight.
ON a more serious note and to add to my merriment over the Nobby-for-Stevo piece, the frantic Sky PR chap – a nice enough young feller if truth’s told, once I calmed him down – was thunderstruck that Nosey hadn’t rung him to ask if it was true.
Long gone are the days when it was worth a journalist’s time calling the PR functionary of any organisation from the police force, local authority and even Home Office, to the even more secretive halls of a sports club or (you can laugh out loud here) a media organisation like the BBC or Sky, to have an exclusive like that Verified.
Here’s why. The PR person is not there to assist the media, whatever their job description reads. As well meaning as he/she may be, they are there to act as a buffer between the great unwashed and the people in possession of information they don’t want anyone to share until they are good and ready to stage-manage it to their specific benefit.
My Sky man was virtually outraged that I wouldn’t take his word as his oath. I’m sure it would be. But not his boss’s oath. Maybe they just think we’re all thick oop t’north.
PS: Hey, if you like your gossip on the really wild side, this one was doing the rounds in West Yorkshire last week…
Despite the resurgence in the Rhinos’ form, Brian McDermott is ‘definitely’ standing down at the end of the season, and Daryl Powell has turned down the opportunity to return to Headingley.
I’m stone cold certain that info is gospel… and Princess Di’s car crashed when the driver swerved to avoid Lord Lucan galloping Shergar down that tunnel in Paris.
Somehow, I don’t think I’ll bother putting a call into Gary Hetherington asking him to confirm or deny. l’d have more luck ringing his wife Kath and asking her to partner me on Strictly Come Dancing.
Do you ever wonder where some of the phrases we writers use bubble up from? Me too. Re-reading that last sentence has troubled me somewhat. I’m sure a shrink would have a field day.
For what it’s worth Kath is great company, with a sense of humour drier than a Saharan summer. And having seen her shaking a leg with Steve a couple of Wembleys back, I’m not sure I could keep up on the dance floor anyway.
