Media Vomit and Its Potential Toxic Effects

Hello, KICK CAREER fans. A few days have passed since I published my last post, and there's a reason for that. I want to provide valuable content on the topic of talent development, and not take part in wild speculation that paints a reality-detached, sensation-hungry, and profit-driven picture with no regard for the consequences.

In Bavaria we'd say "of all things" - meaning "coincidentally" - this very media landscape happens to be today's topic.

Like superspreaders, many platforms - even those of established providers - operate in the world of sport. In my view, the "kicker" is the only pleasant exception. Many other providers give commerce priority and aren't ashamed to publish the same claims under a variety of headlines.

It's annoying and infuriating when a headline promises new, interesting content, but already the second paragraph regurgitates a repeat of another article under a different sensationalist headline. One explanation for this could be that these posts are potentially generated by artificial intelligence. But if human authors are actually behind them, one can only call it media vomitus. Not only is the content superficially researched, but it's the manner of publication itself that I want to explicitly criticize. If you also factor in the different formats - short written pieces on electronic platforms published via browser or via dedicated apps, or contributions in the form of podcasts - you can, quite literally, speak of a media gastroenteritis, or a bout of vomiting and diarrhea.

The more often these posts are clicked, the more letters and clips get vomited at us through our electronic devices.

Against this backdrop, the protagonists of the football business should act with the utmost sensitivity. An incautious remark or an ambiguous half-sentence is processed the very next moment in the digestive tract of the news trade and regurgitated in a gush across every channel.

You are therefore well advised not to succumb, in front of running cameras and microphones, to the temptation of making statements even distantly related to confidential matters - because even the mere mention of a noun in some vague context will be interpreted in a way that has nothing to do with its actual meaning.

One should handle commenting on matters outside one's own area of responsibility with similar sensitivity, even though the consequences here can be of a different kind: under certain circumstances, you can put those directly responsible in a difficult position. So the people involved are likewise called upon not to succumb to the temptation of letting themselves be infected by the media and, in turn, regurgitating content themselves.

The more exposed the position of the person being interviewed, the more thoroughly they should look after their "immune system." There's nothing wrong with seeking advice from media professionals and, in a sense, getting vaccinated in advance.

Yes, I can already hear the critics who wish for authentic contributions from characters of the kind we rarely still experience in professional football these days - but one mustn't lose sight of the effects of the countless, often unspeakable publications either.

For the football fan, this is certainly uncritical, and the same holds true, broadly speaking, for most of the people involved. It can, however, become extremely dangerous for the people who are especially close to my heart: the talents and young professionals.

Once they've already come into the media spotlight, they've reached a stage in their career where the next steps toward becoming a professional footballer - or further steps in their career - are coming up.

If the young player is confronted, unaccompanied or inadequately accompanied, with numerous pieces from the commercial media landscape, this can have a negative effect on his self-confidence or, in the worst case, manifest itself in depression.

Often it's player agents or someone from the family circle who then become the contact people the young talent turns to for advice. In individual cases, that can indeed be very helpful.

As a rule, however, the agent tends to present the situation based on his own interests, and in many cases the parents, too, are not the right advisors, precisely because of how close they are.

Professional guidance protects many young players from a career setback, the end of a career, or even a serious personal crisis.

I therefore wish for these young hopefuls that they know understanding, trustworthy, and honest contacts in their immediate environment.

You are, of course, also welcome to reach out to me. I've outlined a first impression of how I interpret my role as a systemic coach in my previous posts.