Football Coverage in The Telegraph and Preferential Treatment Given to LFC
The Telegraph, along with the Times, the Sun, the Guardian and the Observer, stopped sharing print data In December 2019. The Telegraph`s circulation was then 317,817, down from 1.4m in 1980. It has since focused on its subscriber and on-line strategy.
The Telegraph has grown its number of paying subscribers, reporting 586,867 digital subscriptions in December 2022 out of a total of 733,731 subscriptions across print and digital.
The all things LFC football writer, Chris Bascombe, therefore has potentially a wide and significant reach.
It is reasonable to ask how has he gained this privileged position ? And, who pays him - The Telegraph or LFC or a contribution from both ?
He has been allocated a special, focussed role, to generally write positively about Liverpool, negatively about Everton, weave in sleights about City and, when all is not sweetness and light at LFC, sympathetically explain why and how it will soon be better.
Yesterday Bascombe produced a long article on LFC`s cash injection. In essence, FSG and their advisors did not undertake a "search" for investors but talked to a couple of their rich American friends / contacts who then formed a new company in late 2022 which they named, `Dynasty` (yes, some of you may well recall Joan Collins).
The new `Dynasty` came into existence with FSG`s Vice-President as a senior Advisor. to the little company. It has now pumped in up to £164m to clear LFC`s debts for the new Anfield Road extension and their training facility. `Dynasty` has only made one `investment` - yes, just LFC !
What has LFC chumming up with fellow Americans who just love soccer, got to do with City? The answer is nothing. Yet, this journalist weaved in the following :-
"Questions are bound to be asked if the Dynasty injection is enough in a world of £115 million defensive midfielders and where the wait goes on to see if Manchester City face a reckoning for the 115 charges against them after alleged overspending to gain a competitive advantage. City deny wrongdoing.
There may be an existential question for Liverpool to ponder later if the Premier League becomes awash with state-owned clubs who circumnavigate what increasingly appear to be no more than ceremonial regulations."
This is deliberate and calculated. Is he being paid extra to write this?
He has mentioned £115m for defensive midfielders, presumably Caicedo, without mentioning that Chelsea bought him after Liverpool`s offer of £111m, which Carragher was so excited about, was rejected. However he purposely places City in the same sentence and then goes on to bring up charges and follows on with state-owned clubs.
This is not isolated. Almost every other day there is an article from him which skews the real position and drip feeds an unbalanced and biased opinion into the public consciousness.
It has been much debated previously. Is there anything that can be done about the innuendo, twisting, lies and utter bull shit ?