This is a
very late first post from me in here, but I've been distracted by the cricket this winter.
[rant]
The one and only reaction I've had to this entire sordid little debacle, is one of loathing against the tabloid press. First of all, everything I've seen indicates that J.T. and Whatsit McFrenchwoman had their fling
after she and Bridge broke up. This means that what she does and with whom has
nothing whatsoever to do with Wayne Bridge, so that element of the "news story" is about as relevant as the fact that I have a zit just under my mouth on the right hand side of my face.
Secondly, he's a footballer. That's all. Just a footballer. Where he sticks his dick is no business of the press, Wayne Bridge, the public, or anyone who isn't J.T. or his family. If he's shagging children, animals or people of either sex against their will, then it's a criminal matter and subject to reporting in the press. Since he's done none of these things, the matter is not newsworthy. It's just idle gossip and tittle-tattle bullshit. If he was a politician or a senior civil servant and his bit on the side was a member of a foreign and possibly hostile diplomatic corps, then by all means run the story. Otherwise, leave this kind of crap on the editorial cutting floor where it belongs.
As for this about him being a "role model for youngsters"... Really? Where does this hold any water? Children base their future conduct on what they learn from those around them, not what they see on T.V., in films or at the football stadium and certainly not on what they see on the front pages of papers they barely bother reading beyond the sports pages and cartoons. If they did, people of my generation would all be red brace wearing yuppies, with shiny red faces, Porches and jobs in the financial sector, miners on strike, Maggie Thatcher or starving to death in Ethiopia. That's all we ever seemed to see on the news when I was a kid. Striking miners, yuppies, Margaret Thatcher and Ethiopian famine. Since British people aged 30-35 show a marked lack of red braces, jobs in mines, resemblances to Thatcher or a tendency to starve to death in Africa, I think we can count that one out as bollocks. His only influence on youngsters is in his on-field conduct, which is no worse than the majority and he shows considerably more commitment than most, which is something to be applauded. This "news story" was a joke from the start and one which should never had run on for as long as it did.
[/rant]
There, rant over. Normal service (I.E. crap jokes and sarcasm) will be resumed shortly.