Rijnmond editor-in-chief Ruud van Os has admitted that the Dutch publication jumped the gun to report that Arne Slot’s move to Tottenham was a done deal even though it was not.
At one point in the summer, it seemed as if Slot was nailed on to become the next Tottenham head coach, with reports indicating that Feyenoord were resigned to losing their boss to the Premier League side (Football Insider).
(Photo by Pim Waslander/Soccrates/Getty Images)
However, the move never materialised, with some publications suggesting that it fell through as a result of the Lilywhites refusing to pay the £20m compensation that the Eredivisie club wanted (talkSPORT).
Other outlets postulated at the time that Slot may have never wanted the job in the first place and could have simply been using Spurs’ interest to secure a more lucrative contract at De Kuip (The Athletic).
We will perhaps never truly know the circumstances behind why the move fell through but things seem to have worked out quite well for Tottenham, who appear to have struck the jackpot with Ange Postecoglou.
Dutch publication went too early on Slot to Spurs
Van Os has now opened up on Rijnmond’s decision to publish the Slot to Spurs story, admitting it damaged their credibility.
He wrote in his recent column (as translated by Sport Witness): “We consider journalistic reliability enormously important, especially at a time when facts are under pressure.
“That is also why we are always cautious about bringing rumours. We do, of course, always want to bring important news as soon as possible.
“That is why we had a report ready in our editorial system about Slot’s departure. Through human error, it appeared.
“That was hugely disappointing, especially for our Feyenoord watchers, who had nothing to do with it. We immediately noticed that this damaged our credibility. It dented the relationship with Feyenoord and our audience.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The journalists who report on football transfer news are under constant pressure to be the first to break a story, given the click-based revenue system that outlets are dependent on these days.
The system thus constantly encourages reporters to put out stories before fully verifying them and doing their due diligence. However, having said that, there are still a lot of great journalists who do not put out information unless it is verified by multiple independent sources.
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