We all know it's hard enough to be a goalkeeper for Man United or any English team. The press and fans savagely critique every performance, pick every nit. How many keepers have they gone thru at Man U since Schmeichel? Liverpool is even worse. That's all fair enough. But I did not realize how truly sick the English are until the rumored signing of Tim Howard by Man U. It's not bad enough that the British press focuses on his battle with Tourette's. They are already making sport of it. To wit (if you want to call it that), from a Scottish paper: "It's nice to know that hard man Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson doesn't just shout, swear and throw boots at his players. He has a softer side too. Socially aware even. Last week we heard that Ferguson wants to do his bit for employment of the disabled by signing American goalkeeper Tim Howard." Well fack off then: Howard is not unemployed anyway. MLS is far from the Premiership, but Howard (and at least three or four other USA keepers) is also far better than any of the rubbish vying for England's No. 1 shirt. (David James for the USA anyone!?) I'm not saying he shouldn't go, so don't jump on me. I'm sure Tim Howard knows what he faces and he can make it there. I just was disgusted at what sickos they are over there.
The media will continue to pile on, until they see how talented a keeper the guy really is, then they will grow to respect him and then hail Howard for putting up with their rubbish when he first arrived. It'll happen.
It might not be that bad. How many other premiership keepers have a laminated doctor's note excuse when they tell a reporter to got fuck themselves?
Timmy could really play it up an shout obscenities at the press when he first gets over there and blame the Tourette's.
Three ways to give people the finger Just tasteless British press. True, they made fun of Ferguson but even more so Howard. They drew Ferguson out to be this unstable and irrational guy that has lost his marbles that is going after a second rate yank goalie with a 'mental disorder'. IMO, the way for Howard to flip them the bird is to A: Sign and do well or B: Give them the bird and sign for another club and beat them. C: Flip them the bird and stay in MLS. Simple, really. It's all up to whatever he wants to do. If I'm him, and I see that I say "Okay. But that doensn't change the fact that they're willing to pay me a million to be an understudy and take over the keeper role. Obviously Ferguson has done something right". Otherwise, if I'm a US/Metro fan, I really don't care about what the British press think of Tim Howard, the keepr and care even less than that what they think of him, the person. What I care about is how he is with the US and his club team. Talk of going to England is little more than a distraction.
The Brits media are being themselves, they still "joking" about KK loosing balls sometimes during the games. This one was expected.
The press is a very small concern for a New York guy, and I hope he couldn't care less. Besides that, he's hardly alone in facing tabloid press. How different is this than what athletes in sports that the US cares about deal with every day? The whole point of a sportscenter is to inject humor ( poking fun) into a game story, a highlight, etc... The Brits are bit over when compared to the standard, mainstream press, say the WSJ or NYTimes. But Howard comes from New York, and Fleet Street has nothing (except for page three) on the NY Post and Daily News.
Having a medical condition is not the same as being disabled. Having Tourette's might be disabling to some (I don't know), but in the context of being a professional goalkeeper, it certainly is not to Tim Howard. Are all asthmatics and diabetics disabled?
These British newspapers are very extreme, but like someone else said, once they see him play they will stop.
No more calls please ,we have a winner..... I'm diabetic and I'm not disabled.I could become disabled if I did not manage my condition. M states:"Because he has a disability?" M,you need to recognize you're highly out of line here.Tourette's syndrome is not a disability,it's a medical condition.If Howard didn't have it under control,he couldn't play at this level. Defending the British tabloid press for their insulting attitude and total inaccuracy is mistaken in most cases and completely indefensible in this.
Re: Re: What Tim Howard faces Ignorant fool. Very little effort was needed to include a correct assessment of England's current #1.
To me, they are doing the opposite of what we do in America (concerning talented athletes/celebrities). They rake the guy over the coals until he does something great, then promote to hero status. Here, we hail the potentially great until they actually do something great, at which point we are ready to rake them over the coals.
I have to absolutely agree with you there. Although I would add that the Brit press does a fine job of raking their heroes over the coals when they f... up, a la Seaman after the Brazil game, poor Tim Henman whenever he loses at Wimbledon (sorry for the tennis corollary), the Spice girls (nuf said). I haven't yet seen Becks get that treatment, but it will come after he moves to some other country and f's up. By the way, this is a question for those with long term knowledge of the Premiership. What happens to the quality of reserve players. From reading BS posts recently and the press, it seems that Howard won't move into the starting role immediately and may be third choice behind Carrol and Ricardo. He then may not even start for the reserve team. What will happen to someone who does not get 1st team action? Will it, in the long term, be bad for his career and national team status, if not for the national team itself to lose his development? Granted, he may end up starting for Man U, which would be unbelievable for him, the national team, and for those of us who have Fox Sports World.