the rumours did get a mention in The Times though

It's quite easy to be holier than thou if you work for The Times, given their reputation for reporting only the most solemn and reliable facts.

Oliver Kay writes in said august journal: 'You have probably heard the rumour. Shocking, isn't it? Shocking that so many people are happy to lap up a series of malevolent lies about one of England's leading footballers and to spread them like wildfire in the belief - and, far worse, the hope - that they must be true...

'Please let this be true? Please let this decent man see his family life ripped apart because he happens to be a footballer playing for a club other than your own? Is that how far we have sunk?'

Mediawatch suspects that this might have backfired slightly, given that many readers of The Times wouldn't be the sort who frequent the internet messageboards to which Mr Kay refers.

They do now though.

(from Mediawatch User Posted Link on Football365)

Posted By: Ralf Scrampton, Apr 26, 14:00:12