ONE of the occupational hazards of a football writer is the inevitability of upsetting the people with whom you strive to have a productive working relationship.
It has seldom been revealed either as graphically or publicly as it was this week when the expletive-ridden rant of Newcastle United caretaker manager Joe Kinnear towards the reporters who cover the crisis club were printed in unexpurgated form by so
me newspapers.
Such confrontations between managers and the men who chronicle their fortunes on a daily basis are nothing new, although they usually occur on an off-the-record basis and seldom with such vitriol as expressed by Kinnear in voicing his disapproval at the coverage of his temporary appointment at St James' Park.
If Kinnear's use of language shocked many readers, it would have been more likely to bring a knowing smile to managers and reporters up and down the country who are familiar with such a scenario.
At Murray Park yesterday, for example, Rangers manager Walter Smith immediately indulged in good-natured banter with the assembled press men over Kinnear's outburst. Only the presence of a youngster accompanying one of the reporters on work experience prevented Smith jocularly directing some of Kinnear's choicest phrases in our direction.
Dealing with Smith is one of the more enjoyable parts of a Scottish football writer's job. Invariably insightful and co-operative, he has always had a keen awareness of the value of positive media relations.
While he is far too shrewd to involve himself in the kind of slanging match Kinnear instigated, however, Smith is never slow to confront those reporters he feels have been unfair in their coverage of him or his club. Most of us have been on the receiving end of the steely stare he reserves for such occasions and it is not a comfortable place to be.
It was a technique Martin O'Neill also perfected during his time at Celtic. When his spectacles slipped down the bridge of his nose and he glowered in the general direction of his inquisitors, you knew there was trouble ahead. Graeme Souness, the man who brought Smith to Ibrox, was far less subtle as he fell out on a regular basis with Scottish football journalism's finest during his combustible tenure as Rangers manager.
A man who could be the most charming and engaging company imaginable when he was so inclined, Souness made Joe Kinnear seem like a shrinking violet when an article had incensed him. Picking out his target at the next press conference, the air would regularly turn blue as Souness ordered the reporter concerned off the premises.
During his spell in charge of Celtic following the departure of John Barnes, Kenny Dalglish famously relocated media gatherings to the Celtic social club at Barrowfield or supporters' hotbed Bairds Bar in response to the negative press the club were inevitably receiving at the time. Other managers simply withdraw their co-operation completely. Tommy McLean, when in charge of Motherwell, would answer telephone calls from reporters who had incurred his wrath with a curt "nothing for the likes of yourself" before hanging up. His brother Jim, of course, infamously took more direct action when BBC reporter John Barnes asked him a question he had declared off-limits.
Happily, most disagreements between managers and reporters are far more trivial and patched up almost as quickly as they occur, both sides recognising the mutual value of their relationship.
And we hacks can at least console ourselves that we are not top of the list of those whom managers love to hate. As that man Joe Kinnear said when he was Wimbledon manager: "What do I think of agents? Dog, worms, vermin."
The full article contains 623 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
