Football has a gossip problem. You may be surprised to hear that the BBC Sport gossip column is the BBC’s most trafficked webpage. Millions arrive every day to read (British) football transfer rumors. The world’s most trusted site profiting from the least trusted content - the irony is not lost on me.
The problem with football gossip isn’t its pervasiveness but that it is misunderstood. Growing up we are all taught that gossip is rude and hurtful – to gossip is shameful; to be a Gossip is worse. Yet, in the world’s most popular sport, gossip is not only important but vital to its functioning.
Football laws require players to get written permission from their club before discussing any potential transfer. Imagine asking your boss for permission before applying for a job, or even a coffee chat. You simply wouldn’t. With not only a starting place but also fandom on the line, footballers cannot afford to job search legally.
Agents help solve this problem by wheeling and dealing behind the scenes. How else do agents justify their exorbitant fees if not to circumvent rules? The late super-agent Mino Raiola, with his round Mediterranean features, oversized shades and phone glued to ear, resembled a Mafia boss in more ways than one.
As the battle for football talent has become global and complex, agents use the media to broadcast information broadly and quickly. One transfer tip to the right journalist can reach every recruitment department from Buenos Aires to Brisbane by morning. While some transfers are meticulously planned and surgically executed, others require the ‘spray and pray’ approach. If your previous job searches look anything like mine, you can relate.
Agents aren’t the only ones who use this powerful tool. Clubs, players, and even their families use it to their advantage. Selling clubs want bidding wars to drive the price up for departing players, managers want their owners to stop dillydallying and pay the sticker price for their transfer targets, and parents want their children’s dreams fulfilled – which so frustratingly seems to always be Real Madrid or Barcelona. The anonymous megaphone of the media helps many achieve their goals.
Herein lies the misunderstanding of football gossip. Whereas traditional gossip is a form of disinformation, football gossip is often the opposite: it is truth masked as fiction. In response to draconian regulations, anonymous football rumors fuel this billion-dollar business. And the numbers back it up.
A 2016 BBC study found that 1 in 3 of their published football rumors happened. As a steadfast reader, I’d guess today the ratio is closer to 1 in 5, which would be equivalent to Messi’s career shots to goal ratio. The BBC gossip column effectively scores as often as the greatest footballer of all time. Not bad. And this is before including genuine rumors that don’t materialize.
I concede that an anonymous online forum can misinform and be harmful. While aggregators like the BBC gossip column and insider journalists like Fabrizio Romano curate their leads to reduce manufactured clickbait, it would be naïve to believe lies didn’t make their way through. However, I see misinformation as simply another tactic used by clubs and agents to get what they want. Deception is almost encouraged within this chaotic and imperfect system. Larger clubs have been known to ‘show interest’ in young promising players with the hope of torpedoing a team’s form.
The fun of reading the BBC Gossip Column is to try to understand these dynamics. Is a prospective United player trying to get a salary bump because there’s a rumor from his “camp” that he prefers Chelsea? Is United using fan reaction as a litmus test before investing in a talented and cheap yet unpopular target? Did Luis Diaz’s dad and agent have a slip of tongue when speaking of his son’s dreams to play for Barcelona? Did a club smell a deal happening for one of its players and wants to maximize its return? What on earth is Pogba’s agent doing?
As you can see, not only is football gossip vital for the transfer market but also for fan engagement. Dissecting these threads brings a joyous dimension to my otherwise painful experience as a Manchester United fan. With the football schedule reaching saturation, forward thinking clubs could lean into this gossip angle and more directly connect with fans around recruitment. Heck, maybe it is already a key strategy – I guess we’ll never know. In any case, keep the ‘leaks’ coming, please.
Thank you to Jack Coster and Maura Maycock for reviewing and helping me become a better writer.