Andrew Drummond

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 From ANDREW DRUMMOND

Link to News of the World

Not many of you may have noticed if you are in Thailand, from where I base this blog, but recently a couple in Hua Hin became the source of a spate of stories on Scotland’s former football team captain – Colin ‘Braveheart’ Hendry,  who despite earning millions, at one time £38,000 per week, is now being forced to file for bankruptcy.
And it was during the course of this story that a few of the classic Fleet Street ‘reverse ferrets’ came into play. 
For those few of you , like me, whose eyes glaze over when the subject of football comes up, there is no need to leave now. This story has little to do with football.

Hector and Williamina MacFarlane

Hector and Williamina MacFarlane were neighbours and close friends of Colin Hendry and his wife in Lytham St.Annes, Lancashire. They also have a holiday home in Hua Hin where they spend several months a year.
(And yes they were ripped off on a property deal. They bought a property with a private road to a major golf club there only a mile away.  The road never got built so the real distance is 14 miles).
Colin Hendry and his children were struck with grief after Colin’s wife Denise died from complications arising out of a lipo-suction operation. Hector and Williamina were also devastated,  and so I guess was a part of every Scot.
When Colin asked for a loan of £80,000 Hector and Williamina extended a welcoming hand with the cash.  But the day it was due to be paid came and went.  And when Hector called on Hendry to make sure he had secured the loan on his property as agreed, Braveheart hit the roof.
The friendship evaporated, as well it would under the circumstances, and all requests for payment were ignored.  Then along came the gossip.  Hendry was a compulsive gambler.  He spent all night in his basement office drinking beer and gambling on the internet.  He would bet on anything…which team got the next corner etc.
Then the gossip became fact. The MacFarlanes found  that there were several other major creditors, including Spreadex, the internet gambling company, and of course the taxman. A large part of their retirement money had gone up in smoke.

Double reverse ferret in the Sun and Daily Record to straightforward ferret in the News of the World

It was at this stage, angered at being betrayed, and perhaps hoping he could recoup a little of his losses, Hector went to the courts and then the press.  At first it was the Scottish Daily Record.  They jumped enthusiastically at the story and my colleague Andy went down to take pictures. (I later met up with these nice people in Bangkok  at ‘Cheap Charlies’ - it was Andy’s call but it ain’t that cheap anymore - and the Pickled Liver)
Then days passed by. Nothing.  Hector made the call.  The Daily Record then said they were no longer interested.  The next day this story appeared as an exclusive spread.

 “I became really strong when I lost my mum, says Colin Hendry’s daughter Rheagan”.

Now if anyone in the trade were to call the Glasgow newsdesk of the Record and ask ‘Why?’,  the answer, which would not come as a surprise, would of course be: “Och, Reverse ferret, Jimmy!”.
In this instance the ‘reverse ferret’ happened at the news conference before publication. That is the newspaper’s stance was reversed. A possible attack on a national hero was cancelled or rather in this case substituted.
Further the newspaper had successfully avoided paying out for a potentially expensive exclusive and instead obtained a free exclusive spread, albeit fairly dull reading unless you want to know that 20-yr-old Rheagan is launching herself on a singing career and entering the Miss Scotland contest.
Hector was a little taken aback and came back to me, so I put the story instead to the Scottish Sun, now outselling the Record with Page 3 girls in mini-kilts and tartan bikinis. They splashed on it and ran it as a spread inside.  But wait a minute.

“SOCCER hero Colin Hendry was last night said to be “gutted” that an old pal is suing him over an £85,000 debt”.

That did not sound too complimentary to the MacFarlane’s in Hua Hin. Read on.

“And last night one mate of the star said Hendry was livid that Hector, who was a pallbearer at Denise’s funeral, has dragged him through the courts as he and his kids try to live without her.
The pal said: “Colin’s pretty disappointed it has come to this.
“What makes it worse is that Colin regarded Hector as a good friend. He even let him carry Denise’s coffin so he feels let down and pretty gutted.
“He was asking about the money not long after Colin had buried his wife - you can imagine how that must’ve felt.
“He’s just trying to do as best he can for him and his kids. It’s only a few months since Denise died and they’re still trying to come to terms with it all.
“The kids have just had their first Mother’s Day without her - that must’ve been a terrible ordeal.”

Who got let down here?

Now any person in the know, who asked, would also not be surprised to get this answer from the SUN newsdesk.
“Reverse ferret mate!”  Again this ‘reverse ferret’ happened at the editorial conference.
The newspaper had turned around allegations made against a national hero and rounded on the MacFarlanes.

Who was the pal?  Well my money is on Colin Hendry himself,  even though, or perhaps escpecially because,  the SUN pointed out at the end of the story that he declined to comment.  Though I’m not a gambling man I would consider that a very safe bet, and it would of course be part of the ‘ reverse ferret’ agreement.
Of course there’s no limit to how many ‘reverse ferrets’ which can be put into play. Within a couple of days the SUN had done another ‘reverse ferret’ and was leading the charge against Henrdry with information it held back from its first publication.

Sun March 20th ‘Bookies chase Hendry over gambling debts’
Sunday Mail March 21: ‘Former Scotland Captain Colin Hendry’s desperate cash pleas’
News of the World March 21: ‘Colin Hendry blew a fortune on all night gambling sessions’
Scotsman March 20: ‘ Debts could force widowed Colin Hendry to lose his home.’

The ‘reverse ferret’ was of course an expression allegedly first coined by Kelvin McKenzie of ‘The SUN’ who used it whenever a SUN story flew in the face of public opinion and had to do a major u-turn. He would apparently storm up to the back bench in the news room and ball out: ‘Reverse ferret!’ in such cases.  I don’t think he dared use it after the Sun’s infamous reporting of the Hillborough disaster though.

Actually I never heard Kelvin say it myself. I think the expression was first used by Mike Parker  resident wit at the News of the World and overheard by McKenzie during a drinking session at the Wine Press in Fleet Street.

My apologies today for those afficionados of real news. But the McHendry story pretty much made every newspaper in the UK, even in what McKenzie used to term ‘the unpopulars’.