Can't quite believe I have become 'disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' but here was my contribution to the BBC Complaints Dept... I didn't have any green ink.
Full Complaint: I am moved to write this after the culmination of twelve month's or more increasingly virulent and, to be frank, sinister comment on Mario Balotelli by various BBC commentators/summarisers. His every move, his every glance, his every mistake is the subject of, at best, sarcastic gibes and, at worst, attitudes which border on sheer hatred. Messrs Hansen and Lawrenson seem especially harsh on Mr Balotelli and last night's comments by Hansen were disgraceful. Yes, Balotteli has been a less than model citizen on and off the pitch over the past couple of years but then so have many other very young Premiership footballers. However, many of them are British and/or white...and somehow they don't seem to come in for the same amount of criticism. Hansen in particular (note some of his pronouncements during the Suarez affair) could not hide his utter disgust and contempt for a player that excelled throughout Euro 2012. This was at best 'unprofessional'. I really don't recall him being quite so harsh about, say, Paul Gascoigne, Lee Bowyer, John Terry et al The commentator (Guy Mowbray?), and Mark Lawrenson were not a great deal better - all Balotteli had to do was lift a quizzical eyebrow and this unamusing double-act would make some barbed comment. Was he really the only player out there who questioned the referee's decision, for instance. On a wider point, Hansen and Lawrenson appear way out of touch, have an in-built pro-Anfield bias and, in short, are not very good.
