Haloes, Horns, Bias and Lazy Journalism

Why nothing is as it seems …

“WTF is he on about?” I can already hear you saying it. Well please bear with me, it is most definitely Toon related!

Years ago as part of my professional development, I went for interview training and learned about the halo and horn effect. Here’s a definition from Google to simplify things “The halo and horns effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to form judgments based on a single positive or negative trait.

It's a type of pre-judging that can be seen in everyday life, but can be especially problematic in the workplace. “

For workplace substitute following the Toon.

Are you with me now? Think Miggy Almirón, Sean Longstaff, Dan Burn, and Jacob Murphy. I see you nodding now.

Miggy had a hate club prior to his purple patch that arguably took us to the Champions League that went quiet while he was smashing them in but reared up again last season and earlier this season.

Sean Longstaff has long been the subject of fan abuse too. A Geordie lad who has given his all for his boyhood club and come up with some massive goals. Remember the two against Southampton that took us to Wembley last time?

No, of course not. “He’s shit” “not good enough”. Never mind he played through injury in that disastrous phase of last season when it was all going down the pan and scored more useful goals. Let’s just get rid of him and hope we don’t have another injury crisis.

I have to confess to not being a fan of Jacob Murphy until very recently even appending the nickname of Jigsaw because he went to pieces in the box. Mags of a certain age will remember fondly that was originally the monicker of Lee Clark until he scored the winner v a Blackburn team that included a certain Mr. Shearer in an FA Cup 3^rd round replay (remember them?) a mere 30 years ago. Cue Chronicle headline “Jigsaw No More”

Anyway I digress, his performances of late have been sensational and I and I’m sure lots of others have been convinced he is worthy of a place in our League Cup, FA Cup and UCL chase.

God it feels good to say that. So Eddie was right! Who’d have thought it? We really should know better.

More disturbing from a personal standpoint is the recent abuse aimed at Nick Pope. In my opinion he is the best shot stopper the Toon have had in many a long year. On a par with Shay Given as an all round keeper, albeit it’s a different job now, but he’s out on his own for stopping the ball hitting the net.

A reminder too that at one point Shay’s form dipped and he was replaced by Steve Harper by the way. Pope demonstrated his ability as recently as last Saturday when he made two outstanding saves at Birmingham. Would Dubs have saved them? We’ll never know. I definitely think he wouldn’t have got the second one which was courtesy of Pope’s extremely long right leg but that’s really not the point.

His weakness on the floor has gone from something we can tolerate because he’s literally saved us so many times we’ve let it slide (remember the UCL qualifying game against Leicester?) to “He’s shit”.

I defended him on Bluesky recently to be told he kicked it out 3 times in the first 10 minutes. Never one to back down from a challenge and having lots of time on my hands I re-watched the game up to our second goal.

He kicked it into touch twice in those twenty six minutes or so, the second of which was in their half and Willockinho would have got to if he had been paying attention.

To me it’s all about the “horn” effect. A combination of lazy journalism and fan chatter has made his relative weakness into the defining thing about his play. Footwork is important and he’s not in the elite class all round but his shot stopping is most definitely elite.

I know his last return from injury meant he wasn’t up to his normal standards but surely after all he’s done he’s got enough in the bank to give him a fair crack of the whip.

Regarding lazy journalism when was the last time you read a piece about him that didn’t include concerns about his footwork? These are the same people who refer to Callum Wilson as “the ex-Bournemouth star” after he’s been with us for four and a half years.

Some are good, others not so and they’re often too reliant on clichés.

On the other hand the halo effect was alive and well after the Arsenal 2^nd leg. Anthony Gordon, who we all love had a stinker of a first half, then missed a sitter early in the second but then scored. Fantastic. All of a sudden he was one of the candidates for POTM. Strange but true.

So a plea to all Toon fans from the heart.

Forget the horns and the bias. Get behind everyone in Black & White. We’re going to Wembley. Eddie has got us there. Trust him. If he thinks Sean, Dan, Jacob and Nick are good enough they are, end of.

That doesn’t mean we can’t debate it, God no or we’d never be able to have a pint but debate with respect. None of them are shit and if you think they are you shouldn’t call yourself a fan.

HOWAY THE LADS, WE’RE GOING TO WEMBLEY. GERRIN TO THEM.

Jack Dees