vel wrote:How can a journalist be more qualified to pass judgement on a player than a fan? Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think that Tim Vickery has any sort of accreditation when it comes to football scouting or something along those lines.
For example, in an interview with the FWA, Vickery said that he worked as a paper boy, shop assistant, labourer, comedy writer, box office attendant, theatre manager, and an English teacher before he got involved in football journalism.
And according to his Wikipedia page (cannot confirm accuracy), this is how Vickery got into the calcio field:
As a result, in 1994 having trained as a TEFL teacher, he left the UK and travelled to Brazil to teach the English language, learn the local language and immerse himself in Brazilian football. Supporting himself through his TEFL income, he started writing a series of articles for various Brazilian football fanzines.
Obviously there are spastics who's opinions can't be trusted. I specify that clearly in the last sentence of my post you quoted.
What accreditation does the fan have? At least Tim Vickery is respected by fellow writers, readers, executives in the various media outlets he works at and professionals in the game. All that is based on him bullshitting? Are they all wrong in respecting his opinion?
Opinions in football are a dime a dozen. The best tend to rise to the top, if his opinions/articles were worthless then he wouldn't have been picked up all those years ago.
vel wrote: Keyser Söze wrote:I see you're still bitter about the Cavani debate
(joke)
I'm sure Tim Vickery watches Neymar regularly. If average Joes like us do, then I'm sure someone that is paid to watch football will. Why wouldn't they? You're 19(?) and have other life obligations and yet you attest to being some footballing expert that watches numerous teams and players so why wouldn't someone who's job it is?
I think your case here is that you disagree with some of what journalists say so it must mean their opinions are worthless or that you're on equal footing with them. Can you see the massive flaw in that argument?
Way to take my post the extreme.
Just like with fans, many journalists report biased and incorrect information often. Just look at what started this original debate: Sean said that South American journalists and experts were amazed that Rojo was now a Man Utd player (implying he is not good enough), SBSP said that he heard (from journalists most likely) that Rojo had a good season.
One of the journalists/experts are wrong in this case. I don't watch Sporting, but Rojo was great at the World Cup, Argentina's second best defender after Garay. It depends what the subject is about, really. You know very well that I like to lace my posts with healthy doses of hyperbole, but I don't think journalists should automatically be viewed as having a better insight than fans. Again, unless they are retarded.
They don't necessarily have to be wrong. It's just a difference of opinion, if he backs it up with reasoning then it's fair game.
Journalists aren't automatically correct. They aren't infallible, they just have opinions so it's not a matter of right or wrong, it's about how many people (intelligent) agree with you.
If a journalist that regularly watches and writes about the Primeira Liga writes a piece about Rojo and 3 or 4 other (respected ones) write articles with similar opinions then it it's probably within reason to assume that opinion is correct. if a journalist that regularly watches and writes about the Primeira Liga writes a piece about Rojo and you some how sift through the morons and bias and see that most Primeira Liga supporters agree then it it's probably within reason to assume that opinion is correct. If a journalist that regularly watches and writes about the Primeira Liga writes a piece about Rojo and you have a 50/50 split then it's just a difference of opinion.
Some journalists write articles to purely get a rise out of fans. Disagreement generates debate, debate generates more readers, more readers more money. But these types of journalists become known fairly quickly and no one really respects them.
In all honesty it's common sense. For popular leagues and players (BPL, La Liga ect...) unless you are a complete fucking spastic, you'll be able discern what opinion is right and what is wrong, there's enough content out their. For a little less popular leagues it takes some research but if you're willing to but the effort in you'll find the most widely accepted opinion.
Actually, after reading this back, I've used descriptors like "intelligent", "spastic" and "respected" which are all subjective
Ok, I agree with you in saying that some of these niche fan run articles are sometimes more informative than professional articles and that journalists are wrong sometimes. But more often than not the opinions of "respected" people within football are broadly correct, especially if multiple people agree.
I'd take a World Cup finalist over a player who did good for Southampton.
