Media bias against City

[billymumphrey]

It was raining and the City fan scouser and rag, took shelter in a pig sty. After 5 minutes the City fan came out complaining about the smell. 2 minutes later the scouser did the same. 1 minute after that the pig came out.

Was Rooney in the sty as well?

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I do believe there is an agenda , but believe the vast majority of what is derogatory said or written is the viewpoint of opposition supporters. The other night a conversation developed between myself a City fan , a Liverpool fan and a Utd fan. Each of us honestly believed our team capable of winning the Premier League next season and more . As the conversation rambled on we debated our teams and we each thought our team had the best goalkeeper , defence , attack , squad , manager etc and we each built our players up whilst pulling down the opposition players. For example we each debated the pros and cons of our midfield arguing for and against Silva , Matta and Coutinho without any agreement . As such if all of us were to put our thoughts into print I am sure each of us would have felt the others words , silly , ill-informed or more likely totally biased . This is what I feel we suffer from a lot , just the often deluded words of another teams supporters , I know I have been guilty of the same. Football is such a passionate thing that football supporters are often blind to the reality of the team they follow and view their team through rose tinted glass and listen to there heart not the head. As for other agendas I think they can be explained in one word , business . We compete for revenue with other clubs be it locally for corporate hospitality or sponsorship or global marketing and any business will do what's necessary to gain advantage from building up a untrue promotion of their business to sneaking in half truths and even lies about competitor's . As we are now a threat to many more clubs not just locally but world wide I think that it is inevitable that we suffer the lies and half truths thrown our way. They fear us and worry for there financial future , winning less equals lower revenue, I don't like the false and silly stuff I read but it means we are a force for them to fear.

For me, the observations you've made about the capacity of a football supporter's mind to warp reality is actually one of the more annoying aspects of bias within the media, as there are a wide range of pundits, former players of united and Liverpool in particular, who are clearly incapable of any meaningful form of objective thought when commenting upon their former clubs and the clubs around them.

Take Phil Neville. Last season he predicted united would win the league on BBC Sport, at the licence payers' expense it should be said, just before the season started. This was a prediction so outlandish, so far fetched, so absurd it could only be formed in the clinically deluded mind of a football supporter. No club in the Premier League era has gone from 7th to win the league - and that is because the gap is too great. It is a prediction that was (and remains) completely without logic or foundation - and therefore the inane ramblings of a supporter. Yet that clown, and there are others like him (Yorke, Thompson), are allowed to spout their tendentious drivel without being kept in check. That they are allowed to continue to do so speaks volumes about how sports media operates in this country. Clowns who cannot be professional enough to take an objective view on a subject, yet we, and supporters of other clubs, are supposed to listen to it.

That a man as palpably stupid as Phil Neville has been interviewed and chosen by the BBC to talk about football, who then did so in such a cringeworthy, biased way, using licence payers' money to reward him for so doing, sums it up for me.

If Phil Neville had only played for Everton he wouldn't have even got an interview. It really is that simple.

When interviewing former players for such a role, surely the most important quality should be an ability to be professional enough to leave a decent proportion of their club loyalties at the door, when on air. This particular part of the job description doesn't seem to apply if you've played for united or Liverpool, however.

 

[Saddleworth2]

For me, the observations you've made about the capacity of a football supporter's mind to warp reality is actually one of the more annoying aspects of bias within the media, as there are a wide range of pundits, former players of united and Liverpool in particular, who are clearly incapable of any meaningful form of objective thought when commenting upon their former clubs and the clubs around them.

Take Phil Neville. Last season he predicted united would win the league on BBC Sport, at the licence payers' expense it should be said, just before the season started. This was a prediction so outlandish, so far fetched, so absurd it could only be formed in the clinically deluded mind of a football supporter. No club in the Premier League era has gone from 7th to win the league - and that is because the gap is too great. It is a prediction that was (and remains) completely without logic or foundation - and therefore the inane ramblings of a supporter. Yet that clown, and there are others like him (Yorke, Thompson), are allowed to spout their tendentious drivel without being kept in check. That they are allowed to continue to do so speaks volumes about how sports media operates in this country. Clowns who cannot be professional enough to take an objective view on a subject, yet we, and supporters of other clubs, are supposed to listen to it.

That a man as palpably stupid as Phil Neville has been interviewed and chosen by the BBC to talk about football, who then did so in such a cringeworthy, biased way, using licence payers' money to reward him for so doing, sums it up for me.

If Phil Neville had only played for Everton he wouldn't have even got an interview. It really is that simple.

When interviewing former players for such a role, surely the most important quality should be an ability to be professional enough to leave a decent proportion of their club loyalties at the door, when on air. This particular part of the job description doesn't seem to apply if you've played for united or Liverpool, however.

I agree for the most part. Two exceptions being former City players who only seem to be chosen by the media because they have an axe to grind against the club. Also, I do think Gary Neville shows a level of objectivity in his assessments for the most part. Hated him as a player but think he is probably the best ex player pundit.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I agree for the most part. Two exceptions being former City players who only seem to be chosen by the media because they have an axe to grind against the club. Also, I do think Gary Neville shows a level of objectivity in his assessments for the most part. Hated him as a player but think he is probably the best ex player pundit.

Completely agree mate about Gary Neville, mate, and I've been pretty feebly taken to task in the past on here by one or two 'uber-blues' for defending him. He's obviously a united fan, but he is, to my mind at least, capable of placing that to one side when commenting on them - and other clubs. He clearly thinks about his football a great deal. It doesn't mean I agree with everything he says, (or that his mask doesn't occasionally slightly slip) but when he advances a point it's always well considered and isn't dripping with comical levels of bias, unlike his joker of a brother. I think he deserves great credit for that, as he is displaying respect to the wider viewing public by so doing.

What is particularly notable about the Neville brothers is the manifest gap in their intellectual capabilities. Gary is clearly a very clever man; Phil is sinfully stupid.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Completely agree mate about Gary Neville, mate, and I've been pretty feebly taken to task in the past on here by one or two 'uber-blues' for defending him. He's obviously a united fan, but he is, to my mind at least, capable of placing that to one side when commenting on them - and other clubs. He clearly thinks about his football a great deal. It doesn't mean I agree with everything he says, (or that his mask doesn't occasionally slightly slip) but when he advances a point it's always well considered and isn't dripping with comical levels of bias, unlike his joker of a brother. I think he deserves great credit for that, as he is displaying respect to the wider viewing public by so doing.

What is particularly notable about the Neville brothers is the manifest gap in their intellectual capabilities. Gary is clearly a very clever man; Phil is sinfully stupid.

Think Phil was dropped on his head when he was a baby.

 

[1961_vintage]

It's a simple formula. Employ a rag and or mickey "known face", then consistently espouse a tone or editorial that appeals to the vast numbers of rag and/or mickey people. Portraying City as a party-pooping premier league pantomime villain provides a common bond and a cause that unites them.

These are commercial entities and they have struck on a winning, licence-to-print money solution, which incidentally is not about providing objective analysis and insight. It's about being profitable. It's the only measure against which they are truly accountable.

It's only when we become the subject of their sycophancy as a result of our successes that I will struggle.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

It's a simple formula. Employ a rag and or mickey "known face", then consistently espouse a tone or editorial that appeals to the vast numbers of rag and/or mickey people. Portraying City as a party-pooping premier league pantomime villain provides a common bond and a cause that unites them.

These are commercial entities and they have struck on a winning, licence-to-print money solution, which incidentally is not about providing objective analysis and insight. It's about being profitable. It's the only measure against which they are truly accountable.

It's only when we become the subject of their sycophancy as a result of our successes that I will struggle.

I agree with your observations about the commercial considerations, which is what brings Phil Neville's employment by the publicly funded BBC into even sharper focus.

I also concur with your last sentence. I don't seek their approval, but I reserve the right to continue to point out their manifest bias.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Think Phil was dropped on his head when he was a baby.

It's the most unequal sibling rivalry since Albert Einstein's brother, Derek, decided he was going to prove he could mate an antelope with a parrot and create a master species that would rule the world for eternity.

 

[Dirty Harry]

It's the most unequal sibling rivalry since Albert Einstein's brother, Derek, decided he was going to prove he could mate an antelope with a parrot and create a master species that would rule the world for eternity.

I feel even more stupid than Phil now having googled Derek fuckin Einstein ;-)

 

[andyhinch]

I feel even more stupid than Phil now having googled Derek fuckin Einstein ;-)[/QUOTE
At least you didn't google the conjoining of an antelope and a parrot :)