DAILY RECORD DEBUNKED YET AGAIN: DAIZEN MAEDA BRENTFORD STORY IS NONSENSE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Jun 28
- 3 min read
I suppose it must especially rough being a Rangers supporter right now, especially one that works at the Daily Record.
Just a couple of weeks since they started their latest round of “We’re coming!” patter, reality has set in. There is no massive transfer war chest, their best players can’t command anywhere near the money Celtic’s could, and then David Murray goes and reminds them all yet again that they died in 2012.
The Daily Record has, as usual, done its level best to soothe the pain of the Ibrox masses (now there’s two words I never thought I’d get to use together in a sentence!).
First Hamza Igamane, Now Daizen Maeda, The Nonsensical Daily Record Hits Just Keep Coming
However, within mere hours of my own debunking of the Hamza Igamane 20 million nonsense they ran the other day, Lille came out and reiterated almost exactly what I said, albeit in French.
French media reported that sources within the club basically said: “20 million for a guy that cost 1.7 million a year ago and has won nothing since? Are you at the wind up?”
Or however you say that in French!
In response the Daily Record quickly threw together a “roundtable” of their sports desk team, each repeating the party line that Rangers could and should get more than 10 or 15 million for Igamane.
Meanwhile, QPR decided to get in on the Rangers rage-baiting action. Proudly proclaiming on Twitter that their latest acquisition, one-time Ibrox target Kwame Poku, has signed for “THE” Rangers!
Twitter might be an utter cesspit these days, but moments like that reminded me why I used to enjoy going on there every day at the genesis of the banter years.
Anyway, with ridicule overflowing, and rage rising, The Daily Record had no choice but to break the glass and hit the proverbial emergency button:
Brentford is the latest hive of mid-table mediocrity to apparently be “interested” in acquiring Maeda’s services.
This comes despite more than half a dozen interviews at this point, both in Japan and elsewhere since the end of last season where Maeda has said every time: “I’m happy at Celtic and I’m looking forward to playing in the Champions League again next season.”
The fact is, the dismissive arrogance with which most English clubs and fans regard Scottish football means that Brentford would probably never be able to justify paying the kind of fee Celtic would demand for their star striker.
Anything less than 30 million shouldn’t even warrant a discussion.
I should say, in Brentford’s defense, no one from the club has said anything about this. No journalist of any note with connections to Brentford has said anything about this.
The “source” is the Japanese site Sportiva. Though, of course, the Daily Record doesn’t bother to actually provide any link to the original article. God forbid they would ever actually show integrity and acknowledge when they’ve taken another journalist’s work and used it as their own.
I did a bit of digging and I found the article that they seem to have taken this “story” from.
I won’t translate the whole thing because, frankly, I can’t be bothered. But even if you run it through google translate yourself, you’ll see what I mean when I quote the opening paragraph directly:
The writer, Hideki Kasuya, (Unlike the Record, I’ll credit my sources), opens by saying: “The transfer market is a confusing puzzle. You have to be vary careful to consider whether a story is real, heavily embellished or 100% fake.
After citing the recent example of Sporting Lisbon’s Victor Gyokeres being linked with numerous clubs, only to discover the stories were all invented by the player’s agent to drum up interest, he advises readers to treat “rumors about Celtic’s Daizen Maeda with a similar degree of caution and skepticism”.
He then mentions that Brentford are alleged to be interested, but then clarifies that there is no concrete source from the club or elsewhere in England to back this up.
This is how proper journalism should be done. Mr. Kasuya presented the rumor, cited a similar example which turned out to be total nonsense, and then advised readers to treat the Maeda story with the same level of suspicion.
In other words, in his own extremely polite, uniquely Japanese way, Mr. Kasuya is basically saying: “It’s most likely a load of pish!”
Given the Daily Record’s recent track record for not fact-checking stories before running them, I suspect he’s probably right.
