The era of Transfer Gurus and ITKs
Sport Journalism has evolved to a place where football fans have become currency for those wanting to show their reliability as journalists. So, the business of becoming an in the know ‘ITK or transfer gurus’, has become a popular but treacherous section of media.
Being reliable is an important part of any job. Playing with the emotions of football fans desperate for signings isn’t something that should be taken lightly. ‘
Football Twitter’ a term that describes the section of twitter dedicated to sharing both unpopular and popular opinions about current football events whether your favoured team are involved or not.
Naturally prior to the transfer window opening and during the window, fans voice their opinions about which players should stay/go and which players should be moved in for their respective teams.
One of the most popular and well-respected journalists now seen by many as a transfer guru is Fabrizio Romano. His large following and adoration by many in the football community results from his reliability.
Other infamous correspondents and journalists provide some comfort. The various existing fan blog pages are very careful about which information to put out in order to preserve their own integrity.
Often you would find that these fan pages ranking the reliability of the sources of information.
Nowadays everyone wants to become that reliable transfer source and amidst some high-profile transfer sagas. You would often witness different transfer fees, wages, length of contract and announcement dates circulating regarding one individual transfer
Essentially a mix of good sources with connections to the relevant agents, family members, Club officials etc. and those who are merely hazarding somewhat of an educated guess to gain a following.
It therefore becomes difficult when trying to get excited about transfer activity regarding your club. If the source is name you haven’t heard of you’d often have to wait until more recognised or your favoured source regurgitates the same information.
Very much so when your club is rumoured to be in for a young foreign player, who very much excites with their existing compilations.
Transfer Gurus
Transfer Guru is relatively an informal Gen-z phrase, really to champion the work put in by respected journalists. They can either produce both local or European transfer information that prove successful whether the clubs conclude business or not.
Wherever your club is based you would have some correspondent you suspect to have information directly from the club.
An example is Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News or Simon Stone of the BBC, are rumoured to have extremely strong links with Manchester United’s Press Office and Club officials.
Another one is David Ornstein of The Athletic, who Arsenal fans have certainly gravitated towards to reliable transfer news. Matt Law, the Daily Telegraph correspondent, potentially holding strong connections at Stamford Bridge.
These teams often shop at Europe’s best markets and so for these fans their primary sources are often originate abroad before getting any confirmation from their respective homebased journos.
So, publications like BILD, Gazzetta del o Sport, MARCA, Mundo Deportivo, etc will often create excitement with buzz words like ‘monitoring’, ‘shortlist’, ‘ a target for..’.
Then, the respected journalists like Romano, Di Marzio, Christian Falk, Mohamed Bouhafsi would explore their connections and post a tweet or an Instagram post, telling us what they know so far.
Often these guys provide clear and concise information careful not to misinterpret the information they have been given or to absolutely stoke any fire or completely put them out.
You can often see some of the names and more making regular appearances on traditional radio and sports broadcasters, giving their opinion and relaying information.
As well as, in more recent years collaborating with YouTube and Twitch content creators who follow various clubs. A much more intimate rapport with fans is achieved when appearing on these channels.
In the Knows ‘ITKs’
Often some pages would label themselves as ITK or would often stake any reputation by saying they are in the know.
Often these pages are without their own faces in the profile. Leading some to speculate whether club officials, agents, number crunchera and even former players could be behind the running of these accounts.
These accounts can be first to provide any transfer information in the same way they can easily spam out some information in the hopes of them landing it accurately.
Some of these accounts are speculating. Investing by matching tentative links between popular players and popular clubs so that in return they generate a much healthier following on their platform.
How to become an ITK/ Transfer Guru:
Football twitter has millions in its members. It’s the collective strength of thousands that can discredit or enhance how their pages are viewed.
To be honest anyone can gain access to a reliable source whether it be the relative of any decisive member of any transfer saga.
ITKs are more often than not faceless to protect their identities and by extension their sources, so be careful with this route because even if you have good sources, there will always be that persistent point that you remain faceless.
Most of these sources prefer to remain anonymous which is understandable given their places at work or any involvement in any deals are at risk.
If you have a reliable network of sources surrounding transfer news either locally or internationally you may be intrigued at the prospect of being a transfer guru or an ITK.
Almost all of the existing ones have some sort of career in media whether it be broadcasting, publications, radio, online content creations or otherwise.
This would provide some foundation as having a significant following lead to opportunities where your information is shared more frequently.
Then the impact of these fan blog pages is key. It’s important to not misquote sources before putting out an information but the impact of the responses to the fan pages’ sharing of your information becomes key.
It may sound odd but negative reactions to your news can be just as impactful as any positive reactions.
Being distrustful of you can seem negative but think of it as playing the long game. Transfer speculation doesn’t just appear and conclude in a single window.
So, if you don’t become a trusted source of information this window then doesn’t mean you won’t in the following ones to come.
It should be noted that these gurus and ITKs don’t just provide information on transfers, those pieces of information are just the most popular parts of this game.
Managerial candidates (hiring and firing), news about playing and non-playing staff as well as another news regarding a particular club, present opportunities to become a trusted source of information.
This form of work is like a hobby taking advantage of the network you have to build a following and present openings for you to work with the large media corporations sometime in the future.
It shouldn’t be seen as a career even if it can allow you to forge a good career if that makes any sense. This would take up large amounts of your time and you need to be able to maintain some turbulent opinions on your information.