Al Jazeera backing off from Manning allegations

Al Jazeera has backpedalled on allegations made against quarterback Peyton Manning’s usage of growth hormone.

This is a huge mess. The allegations originally made by Al Jazeera focus on Peyton Manning’s recovery from injury in 2011. The report claimed that Manning used HGH during his recovery from injury, and has since been under great scrutiny.

The squeaky-clean Manning may not be so clean as first thought. However, after such serious allegations were made, the news company have since stated that Manning himself was not accused of taking the drugs, simply of shipping them to his house under the name of his wife.

Deborah Davies, the reporter primarily responsible for the allegations has since clarified their position, and it is not what we first thought. Speaking to NBC’s today, Davies stated that:

"“We have not said that in the program. The only allegation in the program from Charlie Sly is that growth hormone was sent repeatedly from the Guyer [Institute] to Ashley Manning in Florida. We’re not making the allegation against Peyton Manning.”"

This is clearly not was interpreted in from the public from the original report, and after Manning’s strong denial of such allegations, it looks as though Davies is beginning to backtrack on her own report.

Whether Manning has taken such drugs is yet to be determined, though he vehemently denies such apparent truth, and what the NFL would do if it were proven true is far from clear. However, it is looking less and less likely that the reports are true, and Manning could well be in the squeaky clean quarterback everyone believes him to be.