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22nd August 2016
12:31pm BST

And it is cyclical too. You bet your arse it is.
The Guardian.
The Telegraph went for a more reasoned approach.
The Sun went for a more Sun approach.
Even Joey bloody Barton weighed in.
And so forth.
So what the hell should footballers learn from the Olympics?
Ticket touting? Feigning armed robberies? Doping?
What are the best elements we can take and translate to football? The judges who ignore objectivity? The associations who ignore responsibility?
https://twitter.com/TonyBarretTimes/status/767631743633465344
It seems that, for some, footballers' biggest crime is that they earn a lot of money. And then they spend a lot of money. That's where words like 'cultural problems' come up because there's nothing else actually specific there to have a proper go at. Especially for no reason - especially when we're supposed to be reporting on a completely different sport altogether.
What's worse is that, for some, Olympians' biggest achievement is that they don't earn as much money or they don't spend as much money or they don't spend as much time in the spotlight.
Neither could be further off the mark.
It doesn't matter though. It's a narrative and it's an agenda. Football is the bad guy, its fans are the worst and any time any other sporting event catches attention for a week or two, English newspapers go to town on their national sport.
They don't need a reason. They don't even need an Olympics to be proud of.

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