Mediawatch

Please Please Me
Headline in The Sun: 'Owen: Let Me Save The 3 Lions.'

Intro in The Sun: 'MICHAEL OWEN has pleaded with England boss Fabio Capello: Don't write me off.'

Actual quotes from Michael Owen in The Sun: "I missed this tournament through injury and whether I'd have been selected or not is a different matter. But I've definitely not retired from international football. If ever I was called upon, I'd go."

Get up off your knees, Mickey, it's embarrassing.


Diddums
According to the one-man crusade against 'Sleaze Czar' Fabio Capello's methods, the poor England players can almost entirely blame inertia for their flop in South Africa.

Oliver Holt writes in the Daily Mirror: 'Many of them spent four or five hours at a time cooped up alone in their rooms, watching DVDs. Some of them complained to each other they had started getting muscle spasms because they were forced to be inert for so long, banned even from walking around the hotel.'

So they were forced to spend hours inside staring at a screen? Poor bastards. Heart bleeds.


Exclusively Yours
Hats off to The Sun's Rob Beasley (not for the first time) for his 'exclusive', which claims: 'FABIO CAPELLO is urging the FA to give him the chance to 'put things right' with England.

'The Three Lions boss is dismayed by his side's dismal showing at the World Cup but is desperate to keep his job.'

Beasley presumably believes he is the first to break this news. It's not like Capello said as much in his press conference four days ago. Or that the Daily Mail wrote two days ago:

'Capello was said to want 'revenge' for what has happened at this World Cup, and is 'more determined, more angry and more focused' than ever on putting it right.'

Wonder who's going to exclusively claim that Capello wants to 'put things right' tomorrow...


Bi-Polarisation
Sport magazine, July 2, Page 12: 'From last Sunday's team, Wayne Rooney gets a reprieve as something is clearly wrong with him - and James Milner has a future. Forget the rest. But will a manager be brave enough to sit down with John Terry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, and tell them that their race is run? It's hard to imagine, yet it surely has to happen.'

Sport magazine, July 2, Page 24: "Gerrard should be the only 'Golden Generation' to survive the cull.'


Party Like It's, Erm, 2012
Apologies from Mediawatch that we missed this yesterday but it seems our old friend Antony Kastrinakis of The Sun has his finger very much on the pulse in South Africa.

He writes: 'SPANISH ace David Silva sealed a megabucks move from the World Cup to the Premier League last night. And there's plenty more dosh to be sploshed on the stars of South Africa 2012 as the giants of European football wait to move in.'

But will they wait until 2012, Antony?


Michael 4 Woy
Mediawatch enjoyed Michael McCarthy's piece in The Independent about losing lovely Roy Hodgson to Liverpool in which he writes: 'How long do love affairs last, if they don't end up in permanent union? Two and a half years, does that seem about right? And the more intense and perfect it seemed at one moment, the more inevitable the split comes to seem, in the aftermath. That's what it feels like with Roy Hodgson, anyway, if you're a Fulham fan.'

Beautiful. But we can't help wondering if the lovestruck Michael and Roy had that honeymoon period when you just can't seem to get out of bed? Anyone got any bleach for our brain?


Woy Of The Wovers
Call us immature (mother does) but we spent a large portion of Wednesday afternoon saying the names of various Liverpool players in Woy style. Try it. Start with Pepe Reina. Go through Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. But make sure you end with Albert Riera.


Quote Of The Day
"Seeing the way Terry played against Germany, if I was Terry I wouldn't be able to go back to my country" - Argentina defender Martin 'Miaow' Demichelis.


Vuvuzela Of The Day
'A Russian businessman has paid almost £20,000 to have a £2 plastic Vuvuzela covered in expensive white gold and encrusted with precious stones. Linz-based jeweller Klemens Pointner who specialises in providing tailor-made items for Russian clients said he met the businessmen at a trade fair in Moscow.

"He asked me about the possibility of modifying one of the Vuvuzelas for a football mad business contact and I said it would be possible," he said. Pointner refused to reveal his customer's identity - but said the white gold-clad Vuvuzela also features a one-carat diamond' - Orange. Still annoying though.



Thanks to today's Mediawatch spotters Peter Hearn and Ruuan Uys. If you spot anything that belongs on this page, mail us at theeditor@football365.com, putting 'Mediawatch' in the subject field.