Gordon in the morning: Wringing hands

In the run-up to Amy Winehouse's gig in Belgrade, it looked very much like Gordon Smart was being fed stories from her management with thumbs very much up.

And today, it looks like things haven't changed, as Amy retires "for years" and Gordon runs a piece which clearly and carefully makes it clear that, you know, you can't blame management for this:

RAY COSBERT has always refused to tell her how to live her life - arguing it's not his place to do so.

But for the sake of her health he's stepped in and has retired her from performing "indefinitely".
[...]
But why does it keep happening? Why can't her family sort things out?

Ask any parent who has been through the horror of having a son or daughter with addiction issues - they will tell you how hard it is to intervene.

But it's time for extreme measures.

Ray has dedicated more than a decade of his life to making the hugely talented singer he calls "my girl" a success.

But he's not her dad or a sibling and how do you tell a millionaire how to live her personal life?

Perhaps Gordon is sockpuppeting a valid point - although surely the point last week where her team was telling the hotels not to serve her any alcohol was something of an indication they knew that Winehouse wasn't very firmly on the wagon. Shouldn't they have told the gig organisers she wasn't coming, rather than risk that somehow she'd not find some booze somewhere?

And when she wobbled up to go on stage, why didn't someone step in then? Yes, there would have been the minor hit of an Amy Cancels Again story, but that wouldn't have been as bad as what did happen.

Funnily enough, while Gordon considers the role of manager and family, he doesn't even seem to consider the effects on her of her every doing being picked up and amplified in the papers. We're all a bit complicit, aren't we?