After Fulham, what Arsène did not say: an Untold apology « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

Follow us on Twitter @Untold Arsenal

—————–

After Fulham, what Arsène did not say: an Untold apology

By: Anne

In my previous Untold Media article, “After Fulham. All the things the press reported but which Arsène did not say,”  I made the insinuation that a certain quote by Arsène Wenger had likely been fabricated by the media. Specifically, I said that:

“For some reason, nearly every major newspaper in England appears to have published the same fabricated quote from Arsène Wenger…That is, unless I’m going temporarily deaf during the same portion of the post-match press conference over and over again…[I]t seems that any journalist who actually attended or watched the press conference would simply have to be aware that, during the conference, Arsène did not say [anything about the referee being ‘naive.’]”

I followed this comment with a list of quotes attributed to Arsène in various publications in which he called referee Lee Probert “naive,” along with the names of the journalists who published these quotes.

Immediately afterwards, I included the following qualification:

“I have watched the post-match press conference four times in a row, and…I cannot make out the word ‘naive’ anywhere. If anyone else can, please let me know, so that I can offer a full and public apology to the above journalists.”

Well, I have to give credit to Untold commenter Chad for taking me up on the above challenge, and drawing my attention to this BBC interview  where Arsene did, in fact, call referee Probert “naive,” exactly as was reported (Arsene’s “naive” comment can be found at the 50 second mark):

So, in accordance with my promise in the original article, I would now like to offer a “full and public apology” to the following journalists:

• Laura Williamson of the Daily Mail
• Neil McLeman of the Mirror
• The BBC (author unattributed)
• David Hytner of the Guardian
• Antony Kastrinkis of the Sun

As the video link above clearly shows, I was completely and utterly incorrect to insinuate in my previous article that any of these journalists had published a fabricated quote from Arsene Wenger about the referee being “naive.” The truth is that Arsene did, in fact, make this statement to the BBC, and was quoted accurately. So, I’m sorry to all concerned, and I retract* the above-referenced portion of my previous article.

I also hope that any and all of these same journalists will comport themselves in a similar manner with regard to any future inaccuracies about Arsenal that might appear in their own reporting.

So, to wrap up, I once again offer my full and sincere apology to all of the above journalists. And my thanks to Chad as well, who pointed out my mistake in the comments.

*With regard to David Hytner of the Guardian and Antony Kastrinakis of the Sun, I would like to clarify that Untold Media stands by all of our other previous coverage of these journalists, aside from the specific incident referenced above.

————————————

Arsenal’s 125 year celebrations

At the 125 year celebrations at the House of Commons, the existence of a previously unknown archive of historic Arsenal material was announced

————————————————————

Referees and Corruption

Suspicious ref decisions: when errors don’t balance out and become bias.  Part 2 of our new enquiry

Fifa says Premier League is not exempt from corruption, and appoints ex-Interpol man to investigate

Many refs make one wrong call every 10 minutes. Part 1 of our new enquiry.

Latest Ref Reviews:    Sunderland 1 Man City 0        Fulham 0 Man U 5

——————————————————

The 10 iconic moments that defined Arsenal’s history

Part 1: Opening the club to all comers

Part 2: The Great Conspiracy – when they tried to shut Arsenal down

Part 3: Death and rebirth in 1910

Part 4: 100 years since moving to Highbury is our next anniversary, and our fourth iconic moment