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Sometimes you don't see how "news" gets slanted, but having been there on Wednesday and seen this little weasel Harry Peak's publicity stunt of invading the England training session at St George's Park, this really nails it how things get twisted round to suit agendas.
Here are the actual facts from a first hand witness, that was there on the day, also as a guest of Club Wembley.
My son and I were two of about 30 Club Wembley members invited to arrive at 3:35pm for drinks and something to eat in the Bobby Moore Boardroom at the training centre ahead of watching the England open training session starting at around 5pm, expected to last around an hour and a half.
The invitation email stated:
"Itinerary for the day:
3.35pm: Please arrive at the FA Reception where you will be met by a Club Wembley team member who will direct you to the Bobby Moore Boardroom. Refreshments will be served.
4.00pm: Lunch in the Bobby Moore Boardroom
4.55pm: England Training session begins* - The Training session is due to finish at 6.30pm
* Please note that signing is not always possible - players are requested and invited to sign autographs post training, however this is not guaranteed (dependent on the weather, management and player treatment). We request that guests bring with them only one item for signing (or one item per player) and not multiple items."
Having been signed in for the session,and given wristbands allowing us access, we were taken up to the room. We were told that after the session players would be invited to sign autographs and have pictures taken, and that this depended on other media commitments (it was a media open session) and treatment etc, as well as the weather.
The only person that turned up in England kit over the age of 10 years old was this guy, who I now know is Harry Peak, who looked totally out of place in a plush FA meeting room in the full home kit, right down to socks and astro boots, with an England training sweatshirt. TBH I wondered if he was maybe there as a treat on day release!
We were given coffee, soft drinks and food, and then escorted down to the stand by the training pitch to watch the session. After warm ups and a passing exercise the players stopped to to have drinks. At this point, Peak wanderered on to the pitch and over to the group of players and coaches.
He stood there a few seconds before he was spotted and Hodgson indicated he should get off. On the way off he kicked a couple of balls in the direction of the goal (and missed) and was then handed over to security who escorted him away, which was the last I saw of him.
The session then continued with a small sided match, that was very entertaining and at the end a few of the players came over to sign autographs while most sloped straight off to the changing rooms which was a shame. We were told that this was unusual and that the pitch invader had somewhat spoiled the mood.
The guys from Club Wembley, who had been great all day, were very apologetic after the session ended, and had obviously been given a lot of grief by the FA for their guest causing issues.
So the sob story about this guy being kept hanging round all day and being told there were no autographs in the BBC report below, is absolutely untrue. What has come out is that he has been working as a part time DJ on a local radiio station in the South West, Pirate FM. The incident was videoed by an accomplice and this video is up on the radiio station website, with the station saying that they have "suspended" Peak.
It was a total publicity stunt and staged. The guy has spoiled the day for the rest of the guests that behaved perfectly, and potentially caused similar events in the future to be more restricted.
What is more worrying is the way so many people have totally swallowed this version and are taking a pop at the spoiled players for ruining a young lads day out to meet his heroes, when actually the total opposite is true.
If you ever need a reminder to not take news reports at face value, this is hopefully it.
And thanks to Harry Kane for making my boy's day!
