http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ooled-world-transfer-rumours-LIVING-ROOM.html Football enthusiast, 17, with 25,000 Twitter followers fooled the world with transfer rumours he 'made up in his LIVING ROOM' Sam Gardiner, 17, posed as a football journalist and spread bogus rumours He 'gained credibility' when he predicted a managerial sacking by chance Some of his rumours were picked up by major news outlets But he was unmasked as a fake by professional journalists By Kieran Corcoran PUBLISHED: 17:54, 25 January 2014 | UPDATED: 18:03, 25 January 2014 A schoolboy has revealed how he fooled the world with football transfer rumours he invented, while posing as an established journalist on Twitter. Sam Gardiner, 17, set up an account using a stock photograph and the name Samuel Rhodes. He claimed to be a freelance writer for the Daily Telegraph and Financial Times, while posting football rumours designed to raise his profile among 'gullible' fans. His Twitter account was suspended last month after his ploy was uncovered by genuine journalists, but thanks to lucky guesses which seemed to confirm his insider status, he was able to rack up 25,000 followers on the site. Sam's plan initially involved pretending to be former football scout Dominic Jones, a reporter a Goal magazine, but was closed down after complaints from the title. He then switched to the Samuel Rhodes persona, and would pretend to be covering international matches on the ground, and would 'confirm' existing rumours. The told the Financial Times that he targeted fans of troubled clubs with his bogus revelations 'because they'd be the most vulnerable'. Sam said: 'At first I didnât know what I was doing â a couple of rumours, stats... Iâd take a picture of the Bernabéu [where Real Madrid play] and say "reporting live".' In late 2012 he claimed to know that Chelsea were set to sack their manager Roberto Di Matteo, and put the 'news' online one day before the club confirmed it. The fluke gave him 'a lot of credibility', and allowed him to get in touch with players from major teams via Twitter and actually discuss transfer rumours. A rumour he started about Mohamed Salah confirming a £9million transfer to Liverpool FC went viral in Egypt and was picked up by major news outlets despite being 'made up in my living room'. Sam has said that he never intended to make profit from the rumour-spreading, but just to get a bigger platform for his views, particularly about Arsenal. He says he feels 'a tiny bit' of guilt, but now wants to pursue journalism as a career in earnest. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ansfer-rumours-LIVING-ROOM.html#ixzz2rVGGFZn0 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Poor lad. So intent on living a life that he doesn't have. Perhaps if he put that much effort in to his own life he might be proud of the one he has rather than trying so hard to be someone else.
