Who will be the next Man Utd manager? It could be Simone Inzaghi, it shouldn’t be Ruud van Nistelrooy and there is a case for Gareth Southgate, made by a Liverpool fan. Inz the know Mediawatch loves a good old-fashioned back-page exclusive, and the near-monopoly of tabloid newspapers by Reach means that the Daily Star ‘s Jeremy Cross is given the back pages of the Star, Express and Mirror for his massive exclusive about Simone Inzaghi being a ‘serious contender’ for the Manchester United job. Inzaghi must have had a premonition about this September 30 exclusive from Cross because as early as March, the Inter manager was calling links with United “enormously pleasing”.
He was then strongly linked again in Tuttosport in April, with the rumours gathering pace again last week when they emerged on InterLive . But of course we could not believe a word until the Daily Star’s own Jeremy Cross broke the story in the wake of Manchester United’s defeat to Tottenham. And he has the inside track from Manchester United, where the ‘power-brokers have been impressed with the job Inzaghi has done’ at Inter Milan.
It takes real talent to spot the manager who has recently won Serie A after taking Inter Milan to the Champions League final; and we thought these jokers knew f*** all about football. The Daily Mirror splash this story as their back-page exclusive despite knowing full well it’s not an exclusive; the clue is that they had published a ‘Simone Inzaghi and his dad.