Mike Sheahan

[Neil Appleby]

I've been thinking of posting this for some months but haven't got around to it; maybe the prospect of hate-mail has something to do with it?
Anyway, I'm tired of reading insulting articles about Mike Sheahan on this BB.
I'm no relation to Mike and he doesn't need me to speak for him but I thought I'd make a few observations.
Mike was with The Age for many years and was universally recognised as the best football writer bar none at the time.
He went to work for the AFL as the media consultant in the 80's
and it remains to this day the only time you could even half believe anything eminating from Jolimont.
He crossed to The H/S in the late 80's(?) and continues to be their chief writer.
He is the most awarded football writer of his generation.
I think Patrick Smith is catching up...but as he writes for a paper that no-body reads he's shot himself in the foot it seems.
(Just how much money did The Australian wave under his nose??)
Investigative journalists are often unpopular because of the messages they deliver. Patrick Smith and Mike have both criticised other clubs as well as Collingwood over the years and rightly so. Their analysis is one of the reasons Eddie got such a sweet rise to the top at Collingwood; all the journos in the land knew it would be good for Collingwood.
Conversely, Mike and every other writer criticised MM for bagging the AFL last week.....rightly so. The coach of a footy club should not express those sorts of opinions, at least not publicly. The fact that we all secretly or not so secretly applauded, is beside the point.
I'm sure M Sheahan or P Smith for that matter, holds no special grievances or hatreds for our club.....these guys are paid to express their opinions. I sometimes disagree with them. I'm often interested by them.
Mike Sheahan wrote and edited a story in late Sept 1990.
It was accompanied by a photo of a huge proud magpie.
The heading read, " Behold The Mighty Magpie"
It was Mike's tip for the premiership. This was an entire page
of marvellous black and white; it was stuck to the window of my car for 3 glorious weeks......it remains one of my prized pages in my scrap book of that year.
Mike doesn't hate Collingwood, or if he does, he doesn't show it.
Actually, to be perfectly frank, I think he's been pretty light on us. There has been a lot to be negative about over the past 10 years....just ask Alf.
The sun began peeping over the horizon 3 weeks ago after having disappeared for about 10 years. Collingwood has begun its real journey out of the cellar and the future is looking rosy.
Can't we just forget about Mike Sheahan.......PLEASE?????

[Spidergirl]

exactly, exactly, exactly !!!

I have said all this before.

He doesnt hate any team he is just doing his job and reporting the truth. All the other clubs think Mike is against them as well.

With all these credentials Mike is hardly a reject.

#8 RoCkS
Go RiCkY!

[Joel]

Neil just like you are allowed to express your opinions on the way Mike's articles come across, so are others! I don't care if Mike is a "good writer", he is still a toss. Simple as that!

[NT - Pie]

Sheehan is a toss could not agree more. We may be a little sensitive about his comments sometimes, but he talks a lot of crap in general. His analyses of players are as bad as Dermies. Thats gotta be the worst combo Dunstall, Dermie and Dipper commmentating Hawthorn games. Please stick to that crappy "The Game". Maybe Sheehan can join that show.

[AlfAndrews]

Mike Sheahan ... an "investigative journalist" ... ??!!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Actually Neil, I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence.

Let's forget all about Mike Sheahan. The football season is over. And Mike Sheahan can rot in hell.

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**floreat pica**

[Sly]

Some times, Mike Sheahan does tend to be a very good journalist. On 3AW, he questioned the integrity of Mark Muppet Doran's supposedly "insightful" interview with Adam Heuskes on The Game.

On Talking Footy he often pushes hard topics, but unfortunately - either out of mateship, deference, respect, apprehension of a confrontation, or simply out of a lack of capacity to land the killer-blow - he's satisfied with inadequate answers.

When he's doing that stuff, he's fine, (although I wish he'd nail people when he's on that prosecutorial track).

My problem is that often, Mike Sheahan gets into sensationalist-journalism, particularly with Collingwood in using our name or anything related to us to attract readers, sell papers, and put himself - exalt himself - into the spotlight.

Don't forget earlier this year he publicly lambasted the Eddie McGuire Administration for selling-off of properties Al McAlister had bought through the 90's, claiming they'd be worth millions now while ignoring the fact of how much we were losing in holding them.

The Emperor (Eddie) statistically refuted the comments, but it's just another example of Collingwood selling papers and journalists raping Collingwood to draw readers. This is something I think Sheahan's guilty of often with us.

It's not always negative publicity. After we lost to Essendon in Round #7, he announced we'd "arrived", stating we were missing Prestigiacomo, Mal Michael and Anthony Rocca, while Essendon were at full-strength. He quickly turned that view around.

When articles are written on merit, I have no problem with them. But when it comes down to gross sensationalism - whether it be positive or negative - then it upsets me, and obvioulsy upsets others.

In this regard, Mike Sheahan's one of the culprits, although there's a vast array of twits - Leo Who? Schlink, Mark Robinson and a vast array of others amongst the guilty.

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Sly LeKoupa.
The Last Remaining Bad Guy.
The Collingwood Rant.
Don't believe the Facts until you've read the Rants!
The Unofficial AFL Ranting Board.

[This message has been edited by Sly (edited 07 August 2000).]

[Spidergirl]

I agree with that Sly about how on Talking Footy Mike always pushes some fairly thoughfull and never takes the argument right to the end. Seems that stupid Blighty always wants to start up disagreements with most things Mike says on that show. 2night on Talking Footy they are announcing the all-australian team so the show should be a little less boring 2night.


NT Pie i agree that Dermie talks pure shit much like that fat old arrogant tosser Dipper! How he got a spot on the Sunday footy panel amazes me.

#8 RoCkS
Go RiCkY!

[rash]

I lost respect for Mike Sheahan (not as though I ever had any) when a few years back we played in an Ansett cup game. We got pumped. I read the article in the newspaper which was written by none other than Mike. The headlines were "Magpie forward woes evident again". The thing that pissed me off was that not one of our regular forwards played in that game. As usual we played the kids and played a few players in the forward line that don't usually play there.

He is a complete and utter tosser.