If there’s one thing you don’t want to be asked about as a Manchester City player at this moment in time, it’s the charges. Even some people outside of City don’t want to talk about them.
But it seems some Manchester City players are looking to avoid them a little more stringently than others. Step forward Erling Haaland.
He already dodged questions about the Manchester City charges during the last international break.
For those that don’t know, Haaland was initially scheduled to meet the press at a press conference the day before the match against Portugal at Ullevaal.
He was then subsequently removed from the same press conference after reports about Manchester City’s guilty verdict went public. But his dodging of the press didn’t stop there.
Interview stipulations
VG report that Norwegian station TV 2 were subsequently offered a separate, exclusive interview with Haaland after he pulled out of those media duties.
However, they were given one condition – that questions regarding the Manchester City case were off the table. At that point, the fact City had been found guilty had not yet been officially confirmed.
“It would have been a journalistic sin of omission to bypass the obvious questions our viewers wanted answers to. We had a professional dialogue with the NFF regarding this, and we ultimately decided to pass,” said the TV 2 sports editor.
It’s not the only case of Manchester City trying to control the narrative either. Over the past weekend, Haaland and other high-profile players were interviewed by Viaplay.
But when the clips came out on social media, they were accompanied by the following text:
“Viaplay has not been given the opportunity to ask questions of Manchester City’s players, manager, or management regarding the ruling against the club,” said Kristian Oma, Head of Sports at Viaplay.
“The terms for the recent interviews with him were made clear in advance. And it was therefore a deliberate editorial decision to proceed with them nonetheless.”
The situation is leading to big questions being asked. VG have tried to clarify the situation with Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta. They point out that her team includes former Manchester City media officer Alex Rowen. But they’re yet to respond to VG’s request for a comment.
Norway offer excuses
So they instead turned to Morten Morisbak Skjønsberg, Norway’s media officer.
“Since Erling hadn’t spoken to the press, we discussed with his representative the possibility of granting TV 2 access, so they could create relevant content for their viewers and readers. He suggested arranging this for the day before the away match against Portugal.”
“Given that the context was the same as it had been during the press conference, the understanding was that the focus should remain on the national team and the upcoming match. And that questions regarding Manchester City should not be part of the interview.
“On that basis, TV 2 declined the interview. In this instance, TV 2 was offered an exclusive opportunity to speak with Erling about national team football during our Nations League training camp. TV 2 was free to accept or decline, and they chose not to conduct the interview.”
