I'm just reading the introduction, and the name "Delaney" was referenced in two separate sources. Nah, it can't be. This is a proper academic article. Yep, there are two references to Miguel Delaney's articles in the Independent.
In fact the opening paragraph of the introduction is a cracker. It contains one reference to an Amnesty International report (which is a legitimate academic source), two references to articles in the Independent, one Athletic article, and one Forbes piece. Elsewhere in the research, we have the Guardian and New York Times referenced, as well as Human Rights Watch, which is actually a Washington Post article. There is nothing wrong with using media citations in particular circumstances (e.g. if you're trying to demonstrate prevailing media trends), but they are citing them as if they're factual, academic sources. As someone who is currently undergoing a research methods module in advance of my master's dissertation, we have been repeatedly warned about what is and isn't a legitimate academic source. Hell, even in my undergraduate degree we were warned against using magazines and newspapers are sources, so how an academic, presumably teaching at a university can get away with citing newspaper opinion pieces to this extent is beyond me. Maybe education research has more rigorous standards than the sociology of sport.
Let's carry on:
"The club's financial dealings had previously been sanctioned by European football governing body, UEFA, but those charges were overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in July 2020 on the basis of a statute of limitations."
Not true. Some of those charges were overturned on the basis of the statute of limitations. The majority were overturned on the basis of the evidence presented. No citation given, and it's not like the judgement is hard to find. So far, not looking good.
"It is a strategy that has attracted criticism from several prominent human rights groups, who view it as a major cause for concern (see
Amnesty International, 2020;
Worden, 2022)."
'Several' claimed but only two cited - and neither are studies into the amount of criticism that human rights groups have given, they are just two examples of human rights groups that have criticised it. I don't really have much of a quibble with the claim itself, but it's just bad scholarship to make a claim and not back it up with proper academic sources.
"While sportswashing attracts scrutiny and criticism of such violations, its aim is that this negative attention will be ultimately outweighed by the positive associations accrued (Delaney, 2020)."
While you could forgive the use of limited non-academic sources in the introduction as just setting the scene, this appears in the literature review. Miguel Delaney, who has done no independent, peer reviewed research into the matter, is cited as if he has. Actually, I assume it's Miguel Delaney. It turns out that this citation (Delaney, 2020) doesn't actually appear in the references list, despite appearing again later in the article. Just to mention, this article has nine authors from three universities. How is this sort of thing not being caught?
"Notably, several sport journalists have attested to instances of fans of a sportswashed club aggressively defending their ownership regimes via social media and other online platforms (
Cohen, 2021)."
No context given, no comparison to 'non-sportswashed' clubs. Presented as if City are a special case. Are journalists not getting abuse from fans of Man Utd? Arsenal? Liverpool? Almost certainly. But again, a single source from a newspaper is given. The other source in the previous sentence makes no mention of sportswashing and gives a far more balanced view of the situation regarding online abuse, not singling out individual clubs.
By the start of the methodology stage, I'm not sure they demonstrate that Sheikh Mansour (who they don't actually mention themselves at any point) and the AUG are engaging in sportswashing rather than old-fashioned investment. It's not even a question they consider.
Their train of logic is:
UAE has a bad human rights record > City are owned by AUG > AUG are owned by UAE royalty > sportswashing exists as a concept > City are sportswashed
Essentially sportswashing is an accusation about their motivations, yet other possible motivations are never explored at any point, and sportswashing is just assumed. The idea that it's a legitimate business investment is never brought up. There have been multiple other theories for Sheikh Mansour's investment, even amongst those who have a problem with it. Firstly, that it's not a serious investment, and it's just a billionaire's plaything (he'll get bored any minute). And secondly, and more credibly, than owning Manchester City makes it easier for him to make various other property investments in the UK. And finally, the argument that owning a football club is a status symbol among the ultra rich that leads to various opportunities. Kinda like how billionaires will buy newspapers even if it costs them money, a lot will but sports teams because of the cultural capital it affords. None of these are explored, the motivation is just assumed. And this means the entire rest of the study is built entirely on a massive assumption that most City fans don't necessarily share.
The biases of City fans are addressed at length, but the biases of the journalists (not academics, remember) that they cite are not. Football journalists are football fans, usually of rival clubs. The best ones might try to be impartial, but they also have a clear financial incentive to be as sensationalist as possible. They have little to no oversight when it comes to the factual credibility of their claims. And that's why it's not a good idea to based a significant portion of an academic study on their work. I've genuinely never read an academic study that has so many citations from newspapers.
There's a basic irony in the methodology section, in that they use a legitimation framework to categorize the messages from City fans into how the legitimize the club's position, but they fail to seemingly apply the same scrutiny to their own views about our owners' actions. Ours is seen as 'legitimizing the status' of the club, whereas theirs, with no reflection whatsoever, is seen as an accurate appraisal of the facts. They also don't go into what each of the nine authors did, so I'm still not sure why it took nine people to write. They also don't go into a great deal of depth about how posts were chosen for inclusion in the study.
The findings contain absolutely no suggestion that City fans might be making legitimate points. As evidenced in the introduction, where they think that City got off at CAS because it was time-barred, they show little knowledge of the wider debates in football. In the context of City being cleared by an independent arbitration court, City fans are accused of trying to "absolve MCFC of allegations of financial impropriety." There is no consideration that such views are legitimate conclusions of fans who have seen their club accused and cleared before. Having presented sportswashing as the sole possibility for Sheikh Mansour's purchase of the club, they then go on to present the opinions of City fans on the forum as some sort of delusional groupthink that bears no relation to reality. The idea that buying City could be a legitimate business decision is dismissed without discussion, despite the off field success of the club being widely reported.
This phrase in particular is bollocks: "The club's vast wealth is tacitly framed as proof of, and reward for, its administrative and footballing excellence, rather than as an advantage which facilitates the achievement of this excellence."
Literally every City fan will tell you (on here) that success breeds money, which creates a virtuous circle. In fact, one of the biggest criticisms most City fans have is how all of the wealth is concentrated at the top of the game, making success a self-fulfilling prophecy, and harming the competitiveness of the game. That's been one of the main criticisms of FFP in the first place.
"The success and expertise of MCFC's hierarchy is based on the premise – implicit in some comments and explicitly discussed in others – of a meritocratic football economy, wherein the cream naturally rises to the top."
Again, absolutely bollocks, unless you're cherry-picking in the extreme. Every City fan recognises that money is necessary for success in football. But equally, it's undeniable that the hierarchy at City have done a good job, when you compare them to teams spending similar amounts. The idea that you could read significant numbers of posts from City fans and come to the conclusion that City fans think football is a meritocracy is hilarious. Every criticism of FFP is a criticism that it allows the already rich clubs to spend more than everyone else. City fans overwhelmingly believe this even though their club is now the main beneficiary of it. And when our club signed up for the European Super League, they were met with almost universal disgust from City fans.
"Elsewhere, users tacitly concede a degree of perilous escalation to the distorting effects of money within the game, but depict this as initiated by MCFC's competitors who are now reaping what they have sown in being overtaken within the ruthless world of modern football."
Absolutely, but is that not true? Again, it's presented as a delusion of City fans trying to justify the sportswashing of their evil owners, rather than a genuine opinion based on the facts.
Another issue not really addressed is how little of this has anything to do with sportswashing and the ownership. Attacking the FA, UEFA, and sports journalists? Do the same study on any fan forum in the country, and you'll likely see the same results. That's the nature of football fandom. It's openly tribal, and that's the point of it. Yet in our case, it's presented as an explicit defence of our owners in the full knowledge that they only own the club to launder their human rights abuses. This is never actually established in the article though, and so what you have is nine people spending an inordinate amount of time to show that football fans might be a bit biased.
I mean I know this will be characterised as another City fan aggressively attacking critics of the club as I 'rationalize the immoral,' but I've just spent the best part of this academic year being forced to critically evaluate shite academic articles, and this one makes so many basic errors that it's hard to take it seriously. I mean it doesn't even contain a 'limitations' section whatsoever, which is the most basic aspect of a reflective piece of work, and mirrors the lack of reflection and criticality throughout the rest of the article. It's a hit piece masquerading as an academic article.
There you go, Kearns et al. That can go in the 'delegitimization' section of your next journal article. Hopefully you include a few more academic sources and a few less newspaper sources in your next one.
