I wish English journalists were like this

[therockbox]

Alberto de Silva, Bola

Alberto de Silva: Ricardo, the nations still depressed (re: Euro 2008)

Quaresma: Yes, I am aware, but these things happen in football, we must just look at the issues and put them right for the world cup.

Alberto de Silva: Was it anything in particular, anything you could have changed if you were on the pitch?

Quaresma: No, I don’t think so. I think this year had allotted of very strong teams and this perhaps took us back.

Alberto de Silva: You weren't prepared?

Quaresma: No, I didn't say that, I just think this was a particularly tough tournament with some very exciting teams

Alberto de Silva: Was it anything to do with Scolari already stating he was going? Or perhaps your friend Ronaldo's choice of club?

Quaresma: No, I wouldn't say either effected us in any real way, we heard things, and we knew things were happening but neither could be the reason why we failed.

Alberto de Silva: Did Christiano ever talk to you about his future? Did he put pressure on players to help him out at all?

Quaresma: He did talk to me, we spoke about many things but his business is his business and we view our profession in a slightly different light.

Alberto de Silva: Ronaldo is seen as the more enthusiastic, your more into designer gear and partying aren't you?

Quaresma: Not at all, I don’t understand why you and half the world seem to see me in this light, I very rarely go out 'clubbing' or 'partying' I just like to have a good time as I have worked hard my whole life to afford this lifestyle.

Alberto de Silva: But whilst your friend is out there winning the Premier League title and the European cup, you have done very little to move, you seem happy to play in Portugal and not test yourself, you seem determined not to venture. Look at your time in Barca, you were pushed out very quickly there because you simply weren't interested were you?

Quaresma: Look (with very miserable expression) I am tired, I am tired of Christiano being some kind of benchmark for me, I am tired of people saying I’m not ambitious. I did try very hard at Barca but it didn't work out, simple really, sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just can’t win.

Alberto de Silva: So why is it three months ago you said you were leaving, why is it you made it publicly clear that you were gone, but somehow you still sit here, on your own with your feet up watching cartoons?

Quaresma: I only stayed in to have this discussion with you. I am here because the right offer has not come up.

Alberto de Silva: Not enough money?

Quaresma: Your very good at twisting my words. Not about money, it's about making the right choice; I don’t want to end up in the situation I was in before (Re: Barcelona)

Alberto de Silva: You had some very big clubs after you last season, why not of moved then?

Quaresma: I wanted to say good-bye properly. I wanted to make people happy.

Alberto de Silva: You could've made people happy moving last year, you are a very exciting talent who could've made a name for himself, like Christiano, Instead your price tag has dropped and your desirability has fallen, maybe due to the bad attention you get for perhaps 'play acting'

Quaresma: You seem very interested in Christiano, I think you feel I am jealous of him

Alberto de Silva: You are though aren’t you?

Quaresma: No, that is why I am still here, because I don’t need to prove myself, as you said, last summer I had huge clubs after me, two in particular but I wanted to help FC Porto.

Alberto de Silva: I heard an English club had discussions with you, before rejecting you.

Quaresma: You must be talking about Liverpool? Well yes their representative came to me, and we spoke. They did not reject me, I believe they wanted to kind of change my role; they wanted me to be less expressive on the pitch and be more aggressive.

Alberto de Silva: What is wrong with that, after all most clubs would want to see you doing less of the tricks and more of the work. Scolari didn't like it that is why you upset him in Switzerland.

Quaresma: I didn't upset him, I just tried something different and it didn't work. If Liverpool had come to me and said they wanted me to be me, I would've moved, they are doing something special and their fans are incredible, I know of no other team with fans who care so much. I remember Fernando Torres scoring against us and the noise was defening. They were incredible.

Alberto de Silva: So have they approached this summer, perhaps with different views?

Quaresma: I cannot comment, many clubs have spoken to my agent and me.

Alberto de Silva: Not Chelsea though, Scolari doesn’t believe in you.

Quaresma: Perhaps not, but I believe in myself and many clubs do. I like the Premier League to watch, very fast paced and games change quickly.

Alberto de Silva: Would be great for you to actually summon up the effort to take that league on then.

Quaresma: Perhaps. We will see.

Nicked from RAWK who took it from somewhere else.

It's a shame we don't have any journalists like this in England, instead we get the generic, run of the mill bollocks that every footballer is asked (What's [new player] like/Do you get on with the manager/What did you have for lunch etc) before the journalist tries to twist and manipulate whatever the player has said.

[stevev10]

I don't think its right to merely say we don't have any journalists who break away from the mould. What is true, is the fact that we sometimes try to highlight the main areas of the interview, often discarding other irrelevant points. I can't comment on what interviews you read, or what terms of media you use to find out about sport, but what is true, is that there are some very talented journalists, who do not use this generic formula of which you speak of. In my opinion this is a well thought out interview, with a straight point motion, and i commend the interviewer for it, however i'm sure anyone with this level of journalistic knowledge would be able to form an interview of this quality. Furthermore, I believe that yes, british journalism has slipped in recent years, because many people want large headlines, especially the newspapers, magazines as this is the main source of revenue. There's something for everybody and you prefer journalists from abroad then that's fine, I personally don't see anything wrong with the quality of journalism of which I read and produce.

[IAceI]

Thing is if a Premiership player was interviewed like that, they'd get all defensive and just "no comment" everything at one point. It's surprising Quaresma answered all of it, good for him. As soon as the question differs from "How do you like new manager/player" and the player gives the typical "I like them" response or "How did you find that match?" "It went well, we're happy to have won." Then people get defensive. An example is, as soon as the question "Does your future lie away from here?" or something of the nature comes up the player gets all defensive and not wanting to upset the manager, teammates or anyone else just says "No comment" or gives a vague response leaving the English media to have to twist and turn words into something more to create headlines.

[-A-]

This isn't even an interview, the journalist isn't trying to get information out of Quaresma he's putting across his own opinion and insulting his subject. Pundits are paid for opinions, interviewers are there to get quotes and information from players. This guy seems to feel like he can insult someone's personality just because he's a footballer:

But whilst your friend is out there winning the Premier League title and the European cup, you have done very little to move, you seem happy to play in Portugal and not test yourself, you seem determined not to venture.

So fucking what? Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Quaresma and an arrogant cunt to boot. If Quaresma's happy playing in his homeland for the rest of his life that's his decision to make. I wouldn't particularly want to move my family to another country and learn another language when I can earn millions a year to live somewhere I like. He had a shitty experience at Barca and might not want to move abroad, what business is that of anyone else? I don't look at an interview for editorialisation, if this guy is reputable enough that his opinion on football means anything to anyone then he can write an opinion piece and not harass a (perfectly polite IMO) professional with criticisms of his personality. The only worth this interview has is to people who want to see Quaresma, or footballers in general, insulted and barracked, it's not journalism.

We've got plenty of journalists in this country who get on their high horse at the slightest opportunity. Andy Gray has become a parody of himself - whereas before he had interesting points to make and was almost always correct, nowadays he just gets livid at referees or managers that dare to have a different opinion to him. If a referee gives a 50-50 offside decision the way Gray disagrees with he hyperbolises and says 'I can't understand how the referee's given that!'

[therockbox]

I think the aggressive style of interview is quite normal with Iberian journalists. I've seen a couple over the last few months that are like that with Torres, and an ex-Liverpool player as well whose name escapes me at the moment as well. It isn't so much the way in which he asks the questions that I like, as you said at times it seems like he's more interested in putting Quaresma down rather than actually getting an interview, but I do like that he's confronted the player with a number of accusations that have been levelled at him over his career. Namely that he's lazy, lacks ambition and puts his lifestlye ahead of football. There was none of the cosying up that you get with the BBC and Sky, who would never dare to take a similar line of questioning to that.

I think if all interviews were more like that then they'd be far more useful. It may be aggressive but it gives players a chance to defend himself against the accusations and criticisms levelled at him directly, and is then printed in full and in context.

[Zaz]

If Quaresma wants to stay in Portugal the rest of his life then good for him, not every decent footballer has to leave their country to play for the Man Utd's, Chelsea's, Barcelona's etc. The interviewer was just being a dick. There were many better ways he could've phrased the questions instead of just 'So, Ronaldo eh? :pervert:' and actually have it come off as a decent interview instead. But as people have mentioned, he clearly had his own agenda to push, which IMO, is not exactly a positive one for Portuguese football (if you're good enough you should bugger off overseas to play in a better league, like Ronaldo, eh?).

[METALMAN]

Quite surprising when in comparison to our media, especially seeing as the tabloids have done so much to further the myth that the British press is so much tougher and intrusive than that of other countries.

[-A-]

It's definitely just a cultural thing I suppose. If football journalists had tried this in this country 20 years ago they'd have probably got a drunken punch to the face from a bruising centre half.

[Grounded Wingman]

The interesting thing is that Quaresma comes out of the interview looking quite good. The way he dealt with the journalist's questions does him credit.

If anyone thought he was a whiny little bitch then they could read that interview and see that is not the case. He comes across as an opinionated guy but a polite one. I am also impressed that he had enough strength in his own convictions to turn down Liverpool because they wanted to change the way he played.

[King Ellis]

The BBC sports division has already lost enough people for potential interviews by means outside their control, they don't need to make the situation worse by having interviewers annoy people.