Brilliant Summary of Media Bias Against Us

bluecore

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From <a class="postlink" href="http://mancityblues.com/newsblog/index.php/2009/03/02/lets-kick-out-racism" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://mancityblues.com/newsblog/index. ... out-racism</a>. I hope it reads OK, if not visit the original page.


Lets Kick City Out Of Football

"Lets Kick Racism Out Of Football" is a great slogan and a great campaign. The press fell upon it eagerly when the FA unveiled it. Great stuff.

Mark Hughes, if you listen to recent interviews, has a theory that there are those in the media with an "agenda" against City. It is obvious they don't want City to succeed, we are becoming the "Great Satan", an evil empire that is a cancer at the heart of our great British game.

So cards on the table sports journalists, what is really getting up your collective proboscises? It's clear to all now that City are trying to strengthen the side, with only one outrageously expensive signing so far; and it's clear also that the "big four" have spent millions in recent years doing the same thing, so come on, what really IS wrong with Manchester City?

Examine these examples of the venom and B.S. that encrusts every article regarding "moneybags City" written since last September.

"Manchester City's fantasy football will harm England's prospects. When you next fill up with fuel, and pump more petro-dollars via Abu Dhabi into Manchester City, spare a thought for Daniel Sturridge.
By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent"


With an estimated trillion dollar fortune, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan still does not have enough to paper over the cracks at Manchester City. His vision of global football domination is crumbling . And from the opulent surroundings of his palace in Abu Dhabi the royal ruler now has big decisions to make. (David Harrison and Aidan Magee)

"Manchester City ’s UEFA Cup opponents last night accused them of destroying football and suggested they are not even a big club"

"According to sources close to City’s Arab owners in the Middle East, the Barclays Premier League club — who last night denied they had sounded out Bayern Munich’s Jurgen Klinsmann about becoming their next manager — will cut their losses on England’s best-paid player if they receive an acceptable offer."

Garry Cook can lose 'incompetent' tag if he stands by City manager Mark Hughes. Garry Cook wanted a word with me and the word was "incompetent". At Anfield last Sunday, Manchester City's executive chairman sidled up, seeking a discussion about venomous descriptions of him following his failed pursuit of Kaka. "Incompetent'' was probably one of the more flattering verdicts. By Henry Winter

"Kaka's £100m transfer to Manchester City collapsed and star striker Robinho walked out of the training camp in Spain as the club were facing a crisis last night.

Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour ... continues to throw millions of pounds at his struggling Barclays Premier League club."

"Sportsmail understands that his relationships with his Brazilian stars, the£34million Robinho and the temperamental Elano, are becoming increasingly difficult - a significant obstacle as he tries to impress City's owners in Abu Dhabi."


"Robinho ..... joined the City party on the plane to Denmark wearing white trainers with his club suit but no tie!!!!"

I threw that last one in as an example of what a bad person Robinho must be. Most of these examples these were written with or by Ian Ladyman. Just take a look and contrast these with his slurping adulation of anything connected with Manyoo, and it is plain to see where his affections lie. I can understand him and it's perfectly okay, but let's be clear the constant carping is designed to have no other end than to loosen the masonry in the hope that the walls will crack. We are not taking issue with a United fan such as Ian L, (although it might be better if he would come out and say so now and again, so that everyone knows where his loyalty lies, especially his editor) but with the Press in general. That serial bed-hopper Henry Winter tries to be positive about City in a long article, but the first paragraph, (above), was pure malice.

Just listen to Mr Bandwagon, that paragon of virtue, Stan Collymore on the mirror.co.uk site;
Code:
   [i] "This weekend, I witnessed quite possibly the single worst performance ever seen in the Premier League ... and that makes me fear for Mark Hughes.
    Playing for Brazil in midweek, Robinho was world class, unbelievable. But for Manchester City on Saturday, I swear he didn't move more than 10 yards all game.
    It was an utter disgrace, because City were playing with nine men.
    His Brazilian team-mate Elano wasn't much better, again after a world-class performance against Italy at the Emirates.
    I don't care what excuses they both make, you simply cannot go from the sublime to something so ridiculous without there being an underlying reason.
    Both players weren't interested in playing for their team, and for me, they are putting intense pressure on Hughes to get him sacked. I don't know if it will be at the end of the season, two months or two weeks down the line, but I can only see that outcome now."
    And it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest either, to see Phil Scolari rock up at Eastlands when Hughes inevitably departs. There have been rumours already, and its no secret that both Brazilians are close to the former Chelsea manager.[/i]

Robinho was particularly poor in that game, and has continued a bad run of form, but to turn it into a crisis is again purely designed to destabilise and demoralise fans and players alike. Chipping away at the bedrock, like a medieval siege. Here's more;

timesonline.co.uk
A distortion of the market, a price tag beyond justification and a ludicrous salary.

Yes, it is Manchester City we are talking about, although not their thwarted £100 million raid for Kaká, but the club’s £14 million pounce for Craig Bellamy.

mirror.co.uk
Mark Hughes claims he is the man in the Manchester City driving seat.
In fact, he is simply riding shotgun on a runaway train that is thundering into insanity at a rate of knots. As the real Eastlands decision makers - from their palaces in the Abu Dhabi desert - were said by Milan to have offered to increase their world record bid for Kaka by millions, any pretence that Hughes was really in control had to be abandoned.


telegraph.co.uk
The Guardian claims that the Abu Dhabi-owned club are preparing to use their £32.5 million striker, who has only been at the club for seven months, as bait in a player-plus cash offer that would see Terry double his £135,000 weekly wages.

guardian.co.uk
"Information has also reached City (HUH??) that Robinho may be questioning his future in Manchester anyway. There have been persistent reports that he was keen to join Chelsea before Luiz Felipe Scolari's sacking as manager. Senior figures at City have heard likewise." Which senior figures, and from whom has the information reached City? Do they think we're stupid? Of course they do!

John Terry has made it perfectly clear on a number of occasions that his heart is with Chelsea FC and nowhere else, a loyal servant, hats off to him. Dredging up old rumours like this one is again purely designed to dig away at the foundations and .....Oh you know the rest by now.

If you haven't fallen asleep, thank you. I apologise for making you wade through that lot, but this is only a small portion of the tripe they have dished up lately, and I am sure that they never got on the backs of Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill quite so much, or Everton's Davy Moyes for threatening the top four, or anybody else with a desire to upset the premiership apple-cart by trying to become a force in the game. The very language they use is awash with negative words and phrases selected very carefully by the writers. Trained journos all.

So it leads us to the inescapable conclusion that there is in fact another agenda at work here. Okay Ian Ladyman is a Manchester United fan, and a Sir Alex Ferguson acolyte, fair enough. But why such vitriol from all angles aimed directly at City? Why not at Randy Lerner? Why not the Icelanders? Why not the Americans at the pool? Why not Mohammed Al-Fayed? too establishment now, is he? A national treasure?

Could it be because City are funded now by the petro-dollar? That a group of ABU DHABI businessmen are in control, rather than a group of Rich Texans? Are they concerned that there is a possibility that a rich and successful club could arise like a phoenix wearing a Bedouin Kuffiyya and an Agal? It makes you wonder dunnit?





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I know we all know this but it's quite startling when you see it all written down in one place
 
Re: Brililant Summary of Media Bias Against Us

There is a possibility that this is being driven by Scudamore and the premier league, who is still bitter that his mate frank had to sell the club. They make shead loads of money world wide from the rags alone and when the world realises there is actually another (true) Manchester club it eats into their profits.(another thing that fucks me off is how on internationally sold premier league programmes the shite are only referred to as "Manchester") The national media have to play along with this protection thus attacking City for everything with SKY having the most to lose; especially if ADUG lead the way with selling the individual rights to citys games either to the highest bidder or the creation of a MCFCTV channel.

The media scrutiny over the summer will be more intense than ever IMO and has fans we'll have to be very selective in what to believe in which paper,sports news outlet.
 
Re: Brililant Summary of Media Bias Against Us

Bigga said:
But, many of our own fans tell us we're "paranoid"!

So are we or not, then...?

Were all far too intelligent to be paranoid, I think were more cynical and skeptical.

:0)
 
Re: Brililant Summary of Media Bias Against Us

I was informed the commentator that Steven Ireland hadn't scored since boxing day and that Robinho is in terrible form having not scored this year yesterday. Also Parkers challenge "should have been no card, just a little late" Ireland's "was late and dangerous". I nearly threw my pint at the TV.
 
Re: Brililant Summary of Media Bias Against Us

I think it's more to do with the fact that we are richer than all of those billionaire owners all put together. That we bid double the world transfer record for the world's best player and Dr. Al-Fahim announced that we would sign Fabregas, Torres, Gerrard etc.

It's not an agenda against City, it's an agenda against change. Football culture is fundamentally very conservative when it comes to change, that's what's going on methinks.
 
bluecore - good post ( you must hav e a good job! - or maybe not! )
Anyway, fuck em all i say.
Everyone (or so they say) hate the rags and it aint done them any harm. Tired of being liked and pitied in a way by most other teams fans. If we wanna progress and start winning stuff we gotta be ruthless, not give a fuck for half arsed rag journo's and if that means being hated by fans and press alike then so what. It will only reinforce us and then tossers like David Pleat wont be able to refer to the red shite as 'Manchester'.

Dont you just wanna jump into the tv and punch that bastardo's ugly mush in when he says that.
 
Re: Brililant Summary of Media Bias Against Us

Bigga said:
But, many of our own fans tell us we're "paranoid"!

So are we or not, then...?
who is ? hey.. what was that!who said we are,hey... hey.stay away from me.
 
lol sad rag bastards, reading the paper before, and in our review against west ham all our players were rated 3-4 (robby got 3? i thought he was good yesterday) whilst they all got 6-8s its a fucking laughable joke and on the back page *MAN UNITED ARE GREAT LETS ALL LICK THEIR ARSE* or a similar headline of the like and in the back *foster should be englands number one after one performance in 5 years...* god its a joke anti city scum
 
joe salford said:
bluecore - good post ( you must hav e a good job! - or maybe not! )
Anyway, fuck em all i say.
Everyone (or so they say) hate the rags and it aint done them any harm. Tired of being liked and pitied in a way by most other teams fans. If we wanna progress and start winning stuff we gotta be ruthless, not give a fuck for half arsed rag journo's and if that means being hated by fans and press alike then so what. It will only reinforce us and then tossers like David Pleat wont be able to refer to the red shite as 'Manchester'.

Dont you just wanna jump into the tv and punch that bastardo's ugly mush in when he says that.

More of the 'not' these days :(

One of those things you see on Newsnow, I thought it was a good summary of the tripe the reptiles spout when they can't be bothered to actually think for themselves or do some research.

I agree I'd prefer to be winners and hated than 'nice but no threat'.

I also liked it as he agrees with me about that twat Ladyman and his snide sniping.
 
I have been sky blue too long to be paranoid. But I tell you what, envy is a terrible thing. You can smell the journo agendas a mile off, and it is quite clear where they are coming from. I wonder if they have retainers from the top four and would see this slice of income vanish if one of them fell out into fifth or sixth place. It has also been alluded to, but I would repeat it again, I think there is an element of 'johnny foreigner' about it, and before you tell me that Glazer, Lerner, the people at WistHim are also blessed with birth on a faraway shore, there is the charactistic of 'mainstream' about them. Abdul Arab is another bridge to cross and it might not sit easily with some folk. They're being held over an oil barrel, aren't they, it's just not cricket. Glazer, for example, wouldn't rip us off, and the Abromovitch money is all good clean fiduciary issue! But old Omar Khayyuum, duplicitous, mendacious, dissembling, untrustworthy and the sooner they get back where they came from . . . . . . . We're not a million miles away from it, and the journos wrap it all up in a bout of let's bash MCFC, all good clean fun, easy target, liddle old Citeh. I can see right through it! The FA are no better - two or three separate and distinct approaches to the same problem but with different personnel - leads to variations in the way people are treated. Write an article, Henry, Simon et al, that denies it, and then explain your stance, justify if you can!
 
it also doesnt help when people like that french prick in the F.A openly slags us of, the media have the shotgun but its people like him giving them the shells
 
It's funny how fans of every single club bar ManUre and Chavski seem to feel the media have an agenda against them. To be honest, I just don't think they like anyone much really!
 
joe salford said:
bluecore - good post ( you must hav e a good job! - or maybe not! )
Anyway, fuck em all i say.
Everyone (or so they say) hate the rags and it aint done them any harm. Tired of being liked and pitied in a way by most other teams fans. If we wanna progress and start winning stuff we gotta be ruthless, not give a fuck for half arsed rag journo's and if that means being hated by fans and press alike then so what. It will only reinforce us and then tossers like David Pleat wont be able to refer to the red shite as 'Manchester'.

Dont you just wanna jump into the tv and punch that bastardo's ugly mush in when he says that.
the world and every one in it can fuck off (apart from us blues)
 
Re: Brililant Summary of Media Bias Against Us

mat said:
Bigga said:
But, many of our own fans tell us we're "paranoid"!

So are we or not, then...?

Were all far too intelligent to be paranoid, I think were more cynical and skeptical.

Whether or not to be paranoid is not a group decision. Some people are, some are not. Make up your own mind on this.

And we're not 'all far too intellegent to be paranoid'. If this were true, the question wouldn't have been asked in the first place.
 
Very good collection. I would be careful with stuff like that on here, as there are two or three journalists that will take offense. The sad part is this is a dying profession. Yet they still want to produce similar pieces, those with no journalistic integrity or professional work ethics, rely on hyperbole, and who feel they need sensationalism to keep their "profession" alive. I would say the majority of stories like this are from "journalists" who are too lazy to do any research and feel that their column is a place for a diatribe of their own personal beliefs (regardless of facts). It is a shame really.

***To the journalists on bluemoon, I m not referring to you so please do not take offense!**

Here is a list of some of the garbage that has been printed in the last month, most commentary fueled by speculation which the "journalist" has taken as fact (without research):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ve-City-keepers-World-Cup-dream.html?ITO=1490
no source, no quotes and the first paragraph is not relevant to the rest of the "article"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...nderland-loan-clash-Man-City-boss-Hughes.html
reporter claims ben-haim talked to cooke. that info has not been released by the club or ben-haim, no quotes no sources.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...hester-City-star-Robinho-flogging-Drogba.html
- no source (aside from the NOTW), no quote (aside from a "quote" from Robinho saying he regrets his move to City)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...set-seal-15m-deal-Arsenal-defender-Toure.html
- no source (sportsmail), no quotes
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article2153685.ece
- quote "Robinho's friend" ??, states it was the last straw (pure conjecture)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ure-remaining-18-Premier-League-managers.html
- Clearly an opinion driven piece, but he is prone to exaggeration about City and makes false claim about Unt.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ar...watra-Youre-longer-welcome-club.html?ITO=1490
- speculation and sensationalizing the headline, no quotes, no source,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...k-to-stay-at-manchester-city-115875-21114212/
- No qoutes, no source, where did the number come from?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...eek--despite-scoring-just-goals.html?ITO=1490
- no quote, no source for the amount Sturridge asked for.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/84828/City-in-for-20m-Terry-
- No quotes, no source, sensational speculation
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...i-replace-Hughes-bid-lure-Kaka-Eastlands.html
- the only quote or source is TNTW
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...r-city-writes-stan-collymore-115875-21127462/
- Speculating that Brazilians did not play well to get Hughes out. No source, no quotes and says Robinho did not move 10 yards all game (look on the guardian chalkboard and you will see he did far more than 10 yards, just wanting a sensational number to make-up for his abysmal writing) He also says it is the worst performance he has ever seen. At least he is not prone to hyperbole. Robbies passed 30 times and completed 25 of them. Aweful. I am embarrassed for the pseudo-"Journalist"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...way-world-aim-emulate-Del-Piero.html?ITO=1490
- chalked full of opinion, but not much fact. The "journalist" also talks about a match that he clearly did not see. But what can you expect from a person too afraid to put his name on the by-line.

--> The sad part of all this is these articles are from the last month, since I was challenged to produce a list by a bluemooner. I would say there is an agenda.
 
The difficult thing, for me anyway, is all I read in the press is negativity - there is no escaping from it. If I want to find out what is happening at City, I have to trawl through paragraph after paragraph of bile and vitriol to get to the one sentence that says "...and by the way, Bellamy will be out for 4 weeks..." or whatever.

It's very disappointing that journalistic standards, in the main, have dipped considerably since the days of giants like Paul Foot.

It seems papers are simply obsessed with super, soaraway, sensationalist headlines and copy in order to sell papers/generate internet traffic. Then again, it's all about circulation and if that's the way they get it, they're not going to change.

For shame.

Oh, and by the way, as for not upsetting journalists on this site - so bloody what. They reap what they sew. I apologise if I am wrong, but I don't think/feel I've read a positive story about City, potentially since before the Thaksin take over.
 
Eddie said:
I apologise if I am wrong, but I don't think/feel I've read a positive story about City, potentially since before the Thaksin take over.

Can I expand on that to say that I dont think Ive read a "fair and balanced" story (to quote Fox) about City in the popular media since way before the Thaksin takeover.

There certainly seems to me to be an agenda underway and it is intended to undermine everyone at the club, be it Robinho, Hughes, Cook, the Sheikhs, everyone. The media used to work with a caricature City which they could collectively have a good laugh at. Now they make up the stories to keep the laughs coming. The "£14m" for Bellamy is a lie but it provides a platform to justify ridicule. Hughes said we paid "nothing like that" for him. Some of our fans dont help by swallowing all this guff.
I have no doubt the agenda is to unsettle players like Robinho so that they will be forced out of the club and its because "joke City" shouldnt have them. They belong at Chelsea/United/Arsenal and our ambition at signing them is misplaced. We should know our position in life. Likewise with Jo. We are ridiculed for having him. Hes a "flop" a "misfit" and according to our own fans "shite". Yet now we've packed him off to Everton, Moyes is prepared to pay £8m for him, and it will be a "bargain".

We dont need positive treatment from the media and the popular press, but I believe we should be demanding fair treatment from them, not lies and fiction.
To this end I would be overjoyed to see the club starting to challenge a few of the stories that have been put about recently, and taking legal action if necessary. Ian Ladyman may be an influential guy but I seriously doubt that he has "sources close to our owners" as he has claimed.
 
It's about time the club came out and fought the media. I'm sick to fuck of the media portraying us as a misfit club.
 

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