Traveling journalists are often considered welcome familiar faces when they go on the road with the teams and the athletes they cover.
But that’s not always the case, especially for a team such as Manchester United in the middle of the transfer season.
In hot pursuit this summer of Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder, United manager Alex Ferguson was quoted this weekend in the [London] Daily Mail saying, “If he wants to come, he must accept our contract offer. If not, we have other options in mind. We’re done talking.”
However, it’s not clear those comments were meant to be on the record. Ferguson denied them after Saturday’s Manchester United-Barcelona match at FedEx Field, saying, “That’s nonsense. I’m done with this question.”
As he and his players passed by a sea of media en route to their bus, Ferguson then singled out one reporter to tell him he was through with his paper.
Just because it’s a familiar face, there’s no guarantee it’s a friendly one.
