Leicester Mercury Howlers

Too many Joshes

2018-04-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 11 April 2018 - page 55

Not content with one error today, the Mercury went on to produce another gem. In a review of LCFC's Under 23s 2-0 victory over Wolves they included a photo of Josh Gordon with the caption "Solid: City's Josh Eppiah".

Near enough for the Mercury - at least they didn't use a photo' of the Cleveland Browns' wide receiver!

(thanks to our correspondent Bobby George for spotting today's howlers}

Have Dutch club moved to the Midlands?

2018-04-12T06:52:00.003-07:00

Wednesday, 11 April 2018 - page 55

News that City player Darnell Johnson is being monitored by both Ajax and the mysterious NEC Breda. Although this would be handy for Midlands based fans of Dutch football, the Mercury probably mean NAC Breda

Are Stoke City really Aston Villa in disguise?

2015-09-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday 19 September 2015, page 66

The Leicester Mercury's cut & paste department excelled in this issue by managing to list Aston Villa's recent results under Stoke City and Stoke City's under Leicester City.

The Stoke / Villa results were not even their last six as Villa had lost 3-2 at Leicester the previous week.

Brilliant work!

Thanks to our regular sports section contributor Bobby George for sending in this latest gaff.

Meet the new paper - same as the old paper.

2015-01-28T04:15:00.002-08:00

Monday, 12 January 2015 page 58

It is pleasing to note that the new look, more expensive Leicester Mercury still retains some of it's old features. In Rob Tanner's CITY VERDICT on Monday we were treated to a large photograph of Paul Konchesky firing home City's winner against Aston Villa. This was accompanied with the description "It's the winner Paul Konchesky scores his first goal since 2009 to give City a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa"

Given Mr Tanner's role, it is surprising that he is unaware of Paul's scoring record. Remember Blackpool last season anyone? Indeed, he tends to score at least one goal per season.

Could it be that the Mercury are simply parroting the comment made by Danny Murphy on Match of the Day?

Does anyone research or proof read articles anymore?

City players in both goals !

2015-01-28T03:49:00.002-08:00

No wonder City won at Tottenham on Saturday as according to the experts at the Mercury they intended to field both goalkeepers!

Luckily for City, Pochettino noticed and replaced Ben Hamer with his own 'keeper, the hapless Vorm.

How did the photographer find the pub?

2014-05-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 1 May 2014

An article on the opening of a refurbished pub managed to move it to the other side of the M1.

A quick search of Whatpub.com will find The Old Inn sitting in The Square, Littlethorpe, NOT in Countesthorpe. It's a wonder the Mercury's photographer found the place.

Shock as City seats change colour!

2014-05-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

The caption accompanying the following photograph reads " Team-mates celebrate with Danny Drinkwater after his goal against Barnsley at the King Power Stadium".

Now, the observant reader may have noticed that the seats in the background are red not blue.
Keen City fans will know that Drinkwater scored at Barnsley and not in the home fixture.

Once again a sloppy piece of Mercury cut and past work!

Wind Turbines - The gift that keeps on giving

2013-12-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

Monday, 2 December 2013, page 23

The completion of the Wind Turbine on Severn Trent's Wanlip site prompted the following article from the Mercury:

Not only has the journalist, Adrian Troughton, repeated the error from the 23 June 2011 edition with " Structure is tallest in county" but has a closing paragraph that would have baffled Albert Einstein!

Let us consider this tallest structure, which the Mercury say will to rise to 426 feet. Clearly, the Mercury's "cut and paste" department do not research beyond the city boundaries as if they did they would find that the television mast at Waltham-on-the-Wolds, completed in 1968, is 1033 feet tall.

This is a proper puzzle! Especially as St.George's Tower is stated to be 269 feet tall ( 82m) and the London Eye is 443 feet (135m).

Could do better - but it wouldn't be as funny!

Incidentally, the tallest building in the city at 276 feet (84m) is the Cardinal Telephone Exchange tower on Humberstone Gate.

Show Stoppers or Shop Stoppers ?

2013-07-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 9 July 2013 - Mercury Mailbox, page 15

Once again an example of what happens when there is no attention to detail. Spell checkers are no replacement for proof readers.

Question: When is Watford not Watford? .... Answer: When it's Leicester!

2013-07-05T14:47:00.001-07:00

Thursday 4 July 2013, page 55

Accompanying James Sharpe's column of "City News" is a photograph with the caption " THE END: Manager Nigel Pearson consoles Anthony Knockaert after City's play-off heartbreak at Watford"

The key phrase here is ... at Watford.

Let's look at the clues:
1. The Watford game was in daylight.- this photo' appears to have been taken at night and under floodlights.
2. The Vicarage Road seats are yellow and red - the ones in the background are blue.
3. Isn't that the start of a King Power advertisement next to Knockaert's shorts?

To think they've put the price of the paper up by 11% for this standard of work ...the inhabitants of Twycross Zoo could do a better job!

Grateful thanks to all correspondents who pointed out this howler.

Leicester Mercury or Leicester City - which one took their eye off the ball?

2013-05-14T07:43:00.003-07:00

Monday 13 May 2013 - page 61

Possibly still suffering from post traumatic stress, the Mercury went to town in their pages of reporting on the ~~Udinese~~ Watford v Leicester City play-off semi-final second leg.

Chris Wood suffers twice as he is called Woods in a photograph caption and in the players "scores" his squad number has changed from 39 to 29.

In another photograph, the Mercury have Andy King tackling Almen Abdi. Clearly, this is not Abdi (below) in the shot but the Scot, Ikechi Anya.

Thanks to Bobby George for spotting these errors.

King heads it to Pratley... or was it Davies?

2013-04-18T04:10:00.004-07:00

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

In the reports of City's game against Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday evening, the Mercury managed to have Andy King heading the ball to two people at the same time.

Rob Tanner's City News on the back page has "Andy King flicked a long throw back into his own box and Pratley gratefully accepted the gift to make it 2-2".

Page 55:
Match Stats gives King a score of 6 with " His poor defensive header gifted the equaliser to Davies..."

The minute by minute breakdown of the action has "71 min Goal (2-2) King's header from a long throw falls to Darren Pratley all all of City's hard work is undone."

It must be the excitement of a home win!

Martin O'Neill - The Missing Years

2012-08-17T15:58:00.002-07:00

Friday, 17 August 2012. Page 55 - Inside Football

In today's "Inside Football" article, Rob Tanner reviews former Leicester City manager Martin O'Neill's 25 years in football management.

However, according to Mr Tanner ," O'Neill moved on in 2005 to manage Celtic"... but most records indicate that he left Leicester City on 1st June 2000 to go to Celtic where he remained until the end of the 2004/05 season.

Was he only on loan at Celtic or has the Mercury's football expert got it wrong again? - You decide!

(Thanks to Sam for spotting this clanger.)

Barmby is Gerrard lookalike.

2012-08-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 8 August, 2012 - page 54

An article about Leicester City's failure to sign Anthony Gerrard, the accompanying photograph clearly shows a delighted Nick Barmby celebrating with Matt Fryatt.

Still they are both footballers so that's near enough for the Mercury!

Metallica at Download Festival

2012-06-12T04:23:00.002-07:00

Monday 11 June 2012 - page 5

Under a photo' of James Hetfield at the weekend's Download festival, the Mercury report that Metallica played "The Black Album" in reverse order.

They then attempted, unsuccessfully, to do the same with the band's name in the photo' caption
"Mteallica on stage"

Who is Red Helmut?

2012-05-01T15:00:00.007-07:00

Another caption clanger on Monday 30 April. This time with Speedway on page 41.

Presumably, Lasse Bjerre is known as "red helmut".

(Thanks to Bobby George for spotting this typo.)

Question: When does 4 = 44?

2012-05-01T14:51:00.002-07:00

Answer: When the Mercury write the captions.

Monday 30 April 2012, page 45.

In a photograph accompanying the report on Leicester City's win at Leeds United on Saturday, " Ben Marshall gets away from Alex Bruce " . However, the picture shows Leeds United's Ross McCormack who wears No.44. Bruce is No.4.

Near enough for the Mercury!

It doesn't add up!

2012-03-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

9 March 2012 - letters page.

In a letter from M G Freeman about the proposed Mansions Tax the figures he suggests are the same are, in fact, £99,000 apart.

Is this another case of "The Mercury" simply cutting and pasting text, not proof reading anything or simply not being capable of primary school mathematics? There could be another answer that in transcription they simply left out "00" from each set of savings which would have made the comparisons correct.

Answers on a postcard to the editor.

Where is Mott ?

2012-02-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

Monday 27 February 2012 - page 27

In an attempt to relocate local rivals Nottingham F****t the Mercury produced a league table featuring a team called Mott Forest. Assuming the same shortening of names has been applied then it must refer to Mottingham in Greater London.

Thanks to George for spotting this error.

Jack!... Jack!..... Why doesn't he answer?

2012-02-01T03:38:00.000-08:00

Friday 27 January 2012 - backpage "City News" by Rob Tanner.

Apparently City have been linked to "Hull City's Jack Chester" . This is interesting - he must be the unknown brother of Hull City's James Chester who was signed by Nigel Pearson for Hull City in January 2011.

See Hull City website for further details of James...
http://www.hullcityafc.net/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10338~46270,00.html

Electric trains and mothballs

2012-01-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

In the Mercury's "Business Monthly" supplement on 23 January, there was an article relating to the electrification of the Midland Mainline and the perceived benefits of bringing Leicester within an hour of London by train.

Inset within the article was a piece about the testing of Virgin's Pendolino tilting trains in the county. However, in true Mercury research style, this states that the last time electric trains were seen in Leicestershire was in 2005 and that the track was mothballed once the testing was completed.

Clearly, this is not true as the new London Underground stock being built by Bombardier in Derby is currently being tested on the test track. If I am not mistaken these are "electric trains" and a section of track has been electrified to replicate the London Underground system.

One of the new London Underground trains returning from the test track is seen above at Bagworth, Leicestershire on 11 January 2012. The train has two locomotives and a barrier wagon at each end.

Spellchecker out of order?

2011-12-16T06:19:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 14 December 2011 - Mailbox, page 15

When publishing a letter about the musical Grease, the Mercury's caption to the accompanying photograph described it as a msuical.

Clearly, the reliance on spellcheckers does not extend to captions.

Use a spellchecker? - Get a Brain!

2011-11-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

21 November - page 19. In an article, by David Sharman, about a girl being left penniless by a bus driver, the Mercury reported: " Her father, Brain Sansom, said..." .

Now, he might be called Brain or, more likely, Brian - you decide!

Badges ?

2011-11-18T04:37:00.000-08:00

On 18 November 2011, p.19 under the headline "Long-serving police officers recognised" the Mercury reported that the officers received special badges from the Lord Lieutenant. Surely they did not receive a mere badge but the Police Exemplary Service Medal, awarded to full time police officers for 20 years service.

In the photograph accompanying the article there is no sign of a "badge" only the above medal so presumably that is what they were awarded.

Front or back - it's yellow!

2011-08-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 24 August, p.50, the Mercury's football reporting included "Inside Football" by Steve Pumfrey in which refereeing was discussed. In particular, the first booking of City goalkeeper Kaspar Schmeichel on Saturday.

"...Schmeichel protested at the end of the match that he was unaware of the first yellow card he received for time wasting. Television evidence suggests Schmeichel had his back to goal when he was carded for the first time..."

Perhaps this should read "back to the referee"! If he had his back to the goal he would have seen the card!