Pearce and his crap articles were one of the reasons I binned the Athletic. Heard a bit of him on their podcast and he was talking about the Twitter reaction to something LFC related, which drives me mad. Journalists need to get out into the real world a bit more instead of obsessing about what dickheads on Twitter are saying.
The Athletic has quickly abandoned its early principles and is now all about clicks and sensationalism. I've always said, the likes of Pearce have the biggest need, because they have to keep coming up with articles to keep their paymasters happy, and when they get desperate they resort to sensationalism, or just play the "sources close to" card, and in doing so risk biting the hand that feeds.
On the one hand they have their contacts who provide their stories, on the other they have their bosses that pay their wages, and the need to sate the bosses will always win, even if it risks pissing off the sources.