Soccerball News: 2 Prem Stars

All together; 'Why should this even be news, it's 2015, who cares?' etc etc.

DM me for their non-existent names.

Reemember Max Clifford claiming he was handling 'two high-profile gay Premier League footballers' in 2009?

Or maybe you recall The news Of The World's 2006 story 'Gay Footie Stars Named On The Net' - and their subsequent grovelling apology to Ashley Cole?

Or the 2008 claim that 12 Premiership footballers were gay?

Zzzz...

PS Those other laeding sportsmen who've come out in full, Mirror.

Max Clifford: Biter Bit

I am going to resist the opportunity to kick Max Clifford now that he is down, having been found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault.

I first met him in 1981 when I became assistant editor of The Sun and my memories of my dealings with him are certainly mixed.

He knew the right buttons to push: "If you don't want it, then I suppose I'll have to go to the News of the World or Sunday Mirror."

When stories didn't work out as planned - a not uncommon occurrence - one could be certain that the calmest person in the media storm would be Max himself. He had a way of extricating himself, and his clients, from tight spots.

When a young man boasted in a typical Sun "exclusive" of his sexual frolics with a then well-known soap star, her lawyers threatened legal action on the grounds that he was gay.

Max, summoned to MacKenzie's office and confronted with the legal threat, exhibited no sign of panic. After a brief conversation with his client, he simply said: "Some days he's gay, some days he's straight. This happened on straight day." I think we settled out of court...

Roy Greenslade's Guardian Media Blog.

Moral: Don't tell lies for a living.

PS Email if you want to hear my amusing anecdote about Roy Greenslade. He used to live round the corner from me. And, yes, it involves the IRA.

Max Clifford: Gay Voice

Setting out his case for the defence, barrister Richard Horwell QC cast doubt on evidence given so far, saying "details" had "caught out" the prosecution witnesses.

In particular, he said they had given "contradictory" evidence relating to the size of Mr Clifford's penis.

He said evidence from the seven accusers about its size ranged from "freakishly small" to "enormous" and, as such, none could be relied upon.

"None of these four witnesses is correct," said Mr Horwell. "That's because Mr Clifford has an average-sized penis. That will be his evidence."

Asked about its size, Mr Clifford said it was "average".

...

During his evidence, Mr Clifford also denied claims he had impersonated Hollywood directors and producers such as Michael Winner, Cubby Broccoli and Charles Bronson on the phone.

He said he sometimes used fake identities because it was a way of "checking people out and getting to the truth".

But he said he could only do a "gay voice".

Several of his accusers have said they received calls from a man with an effeminate voice urging them to contact Max Clifford.

But he has denied making those calls or using the names given by the male caller to the witnesses.

BBC News.

Letter Of The Day: The Independent

The Independent.

Max Clifford: Nemesis

This is like a Greek tragedy.
Or is it a comedy?
Man makes fortune by selling stories about celebrity sex scandals to the tabloids.
Man is just as keen in turning himself into a celebrity.
Celebrity publicist gets caught up in a sex scandal on the front page of the tabloids.
And we all lived unhappily ever after...

Marcus Collins: Newsflash

 

Well whoopie-doo!
You should get Max Clifford to push even more inane stories about you.
I guess the placing of this one is unrelated to the rumour Collins is about to be dropped by his record label?

Football: Crazy

The broadsheets and articles about "gay men and sport", they go together like a horse and dog food.
Today, it's The Independent On Sunday's turn.
'Gay Footballers Should Feel Free To Come Out, Say Fans'
Which is most generous of them, I'm sure you'll agree.
This is another one extrapolated from some ongoing research conducted at the University of Staffordshire.
Its bulletpoint finding - "More than 90 per cent of fans would approve of a gay player and say there is no place for homophobia in football" - was released last year.
(Fagburn doesn't want to trivialise this, but if you conduct a self-selecting online survey asking how fans feel about homophobia in football, you might just possibly get a pro-gay bias...)
Professor Ellis Cashmore has now written up a more detailed analysis for the Journal of Sport & Social Issues.
Tradition dictates I now reduce these to bulletpoints.

• The taboo surrounding gay players in football is a myth.

• Despite overwhelming support for homosexual [sic] players, many fans said they viewed homophobic abuse – frequently cited as a major reason dissuading players from coming out – as good-humoured banter.

• While football itself is ready to accept gay players, anyone coming out would face media intrusion of "titanic proportions", warned Clarke Carlisle, chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association.

• Clubs and agents are cited as the main obstacles to players coming out by more than 40 per cent of fans. "Brand damage" was how one fan put it.

No, I can't quite square all these circles, either.
But at least the IoS didn't include the near obligatory quote from Max Clifford... this time.
He told the IoS two years ago; "It would take a very courageous Premier League footballer to come out because fans are so vociferous in football in a way they aren't in any other sport. There are also barriers to a player coming out from some clubs, firstly because the players are commercial assets and the clubs don't want those assets damaged, and secondly because a player coming out would cause disruption."
Which doesn't sound too wide of the goalmouth to be honest.
Though I do get the feeling here, that everyone seems to be blaming everyone else.

The X Factor: Harry's Game

"X FACTOR singer Marcus Collins has been exchanging flirty texts with The Only Way Is Essex star Harry Derbidge.

"Former hairdresser Marcus, a front-runner to win the show, has asked Harry to meet him for a drink to "get to know each other".

"Marcus began following Harry on Twitter and eventually the pair swapped numbers.

"Messages Marcus has sent him include: "Let's have a drink and get to know each other" and "Fancy hooking up? You crack me up on TOWIE."

"But Scouse singer Marcus has a long-term boyfriend — and brushed off the texts as "just having a laugh" with Harry..."

This gripping story is in The Sun so I guess it must be true.
It's an interesting sign of the times how the once hysterically homophobic Sun can report a story like this so matter-of-factly.
But as with this story in The Sun last month about how X Factor's Craig Colton and danyl Johnson "going out" (later denied) Fagburn can't help thinking they seem like PR stunts of the Max Clifford variety.
Ah well, at least gay stars don't have to "go out" with beards these days...

PS Can someone explain the speech ballon in The Sun's photomontage? Thanks.

Update: Much surprise on Twitter that Marcus sang 'My Girl' on The X Factor Motown special. Surely shome mistake?

The X Factor: Two Gayers May Be Going Out

X Factor’s Craig Colton is dating Danyl Johnson
Two singers are 'an item'

The Sun.
It's good to see how matter of factly The Sun reports this "story", but Fagburn suspects they may have been "introduced" by Max Clifford...

Update: Or then again they might not be. WHODATHUNKIT!!!?

Max Clifford: How The PR Industry Works

'He thought it ironic that he'd become famous for associations with scandals, as he had spent decades keeping stories out of the papers.
"For example, for the man who doesn't want it known he's gay, I create a false identity – scenarios with a woman who's gay herself or just wanting publicity."

Max Clifford in a rather short article in The Observer.
I wonder who he can be talking about?
Sadly this list of his clients seems somewhat incomplete.