Monday, September 17th, 2012 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. 800,000 visits last month

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Making the Arsenal

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Untold Media: Robin van Persie still didn’t say that (and neither did his agent). But I’ll tell you who did.

By: Anne

Back in July, when Untold published my article All the things that Robin Van Persie did not say (PS, you’ve been conned) , it seemed that I was the only person in the world who was willing to suggest that the “statement” recently attributed to Robin Van Persie on his supposed “official website” was not actually made by Robin Van Persie. However, in light of certain subsequent events, I’ve decided that the time has come to revisit this topic and provide a few updates.

Once I’ve finished my follow-up analysis on the van Persie “statement,” I will turn to Bacary Sagna’s recently reported comments, which I find to be suspiciously similar to van Persie’s; both in terms of the content of the “statements” themselves, and the way that they fit into the overall media narrative that surrounds them.

My first update is that I am no longer the only person to have alleged that this van Persie “statement” was fabricated. And assuming that the following quote itself wasn’t fabricated, the person who backed me up has a certain amount of credibility on the subject:

Arsene Wenger has “highlighted his doubts that Van Persie was behind the statement issued on the Dutchman’s official website, that claimed he would refuse any offer of a new deal with the club.

He noted: ‘I wouldn’t like to comment too much on that situation because you’re not always sure that it’s Van Persie’s statement, you know.’”

So, with this update, the public record of opinion supporting the belief that this RVP “statement” was fabricated now reads as follows:

Untold Media:

“There is absolutely no way in hell that this ‘Update for the Fans’ that appeared on some random website was actually written by Robin Van Persie.”

Arsene Wenger:

“You’re not always sure that it’s van Persie’s statement, you know.”

The way that the media has reported this quote from Arsene Wenger is extremely strange. First of all, all of the other articles that cite this quote present it as an attack by Arsene Wenger on Robin Van Persie’s agent, Kees Vos, and give the impression that Arsene was accusing Vos of being the real author of the “statement.” However, there is nothing in the language of the quote itself that leads me to believe that Arsene was pointing the finger at Kees Vos here.

Secondly,  the quote was reported extremely sparsely. This should have been a huge news story, given the significance that has been attributed to this “statement,” in terms of Robin’s supposed “decision” to leave Arsenal. And yet, hardly anyone picked it up at all, and none of the major English papers even touched it. Except for the Sun (which is never a good sign, in any respect).

The following is essentially the entire media response to this quote, starting with the Sun, and moving on from there. Note the suspiciously repetitive nature of the way that the quote was reported:

The Sun:

“Wenger …took a swipe at Van Persie’s agent, Kees Vos, after the player issued a statement that he would not be signing a new deal with Arsenal.

He said: ‘I wouldn’t like to comment too much on that situation because you’re not always sure that it’s Van Persie’s statement, you know.’”

Tribal Football:

Arsenal boss Wenger takes aim at Van Persie agent

“Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has made it clear who he believes is to blame for the Robin van Persie drama.

Wenger took a swipe at Van Persie’s agent, Kees Vos, after the player issued a statement that he would not be signing a new deal with Arsenal.

He said: ‘I wouldn’t like to comment too much on that situation because you’re not always sure that it’s Van Persie’s statement, you know.’”

Inewsgh (which is Ghanaian, apparently):

“Wenger also took a swipe at Van Persie’s agent, Kees Vos, after the player issued a statement that he would not be signing a new deal with Arsenal.

He said: ‘I wouldn’t like to comment too much on that situation because you’re not always sure that it’s Van Persie’s statement, you know.’”

ESPN:

“Wenger…also hit out at Van Persie’s agent, Kees Vos, after the striker issued a statement earlier in the summer that said he would not be signing a new deal with the Gunners.

‘I wouldn’t like to comment too much on that situation because you’re not always sure that it’s Van Persie’s statement, you know,’ he said.”

So, what to make of this quote? The first thing we have to consider is the possibility that the quote was fabricated. I haven’t been able to corroborate it on Arsenal player, and the manner in which it was reported certainly raises questions about its credibility. However, I can’t figure out why on earth the media would fabricate a quote from Arsene Wenger (of all people), which appears to support my argument that the media fabricated the Robin van Persie “transfer saga” from whole cloth.

Clearly, the intent in most of the above reporting was to present the idea that if the van Persie “statement” was, in fact, fabricated, it was van Persie’s agent Kees Vos who did it (and definitely not the media). But if that’s the case, then why not fabricate an actual quote from Arsene where he says that Kees Vos wrote the “statement,” as opposed to a quote that makes it look like Arsene Wenger said something else, and the media is trying to misrepresent it?

I don’t know exactly what to make of this one, but for now, I’ve decided to take this quote at face value. Unless something else turns up that would lead me to explain it differently.  So, as of now, it’s me and Arsene against the world. And we’re both saying that Robin van Persie was not the author of that “statement.” Also as of now, Arsene Wenger has not expressed an opinion as to the identity of the likely fabricator, although media reports have tried to give the impression that he was blaming Robin van Persie’s agent, Kees Vos.

However, I have a rather different opinion of who the likely fabricators of the “statement” were. And since it’s been left to me, I’ll go ahead and explain to you who did it and how (in my personal opinion, of course). Although I actually don’t know their specific identity. It’s just that I, like all Arsenal fans, have had the opportunity to become extremely familiar with their “work” by now.

But I will continue in the next episode.