For me, there's a difference on the tv when it comes to pundit bias.
I can live with Gary Neville when he comes out with stuff like "Deciding who I want to win out of Liverpool and City for the title is like a choice of which bloke to nick your wife". He doesn't support either of us, he supports a club who are both teams' rivals. He came up with quite a funny line and I don't mind that.
I can't stand him when he starts talking about Fernandinho's "tactical fouls" in the weeks leading to derby matches though. I can't stand him getting on his soap box and telling club owners to do what he would never do with his own club.
I don't mind Gary Lineker saying that we upset him by winning the 1969 FA Cup final and he's never got over it. He's not slagging us off, just showing his support for Leicester.
BT sports have improved over the last few seasons but it was almost impossible not to. We've all seen Paul Scholes sat in their studio at the Etihad looking like he's in a strip club and his Dad has just arrived at his table wearing stockings and heels - if you don't want to be there, turn down the work. Ian Darke made a twat of himself that time when he listed the prices of our players one by one and you can sense McPointy and Darke would prefer our opponents to win at times whether that be Shakhtar Donetsk, Real Madrid or anyone.
Martin Tyler is a decrepit old **** who can't hide his love for the red shirts. He should've had the curtain pulled round a decade ago.
I'm so pleased I filmed this from my telly. It'll always be my go to "Exhibit A".
SKY asking City fans to pay to listen to Jamie Carragher join in with chants from the Kop after they score is quite frankly ludicrous. He's a nasty twat who hasn't got an ounce of professionalism.
I think some blues get mixed up sometimes and call out bias when there is none and it makes our fan base look paranoid and insecure.
That sounds like militant crank behaviour. Down with you and your unrealistic view.The only time I read something Sam Lee writes is on here & my response is always “he’s a twat!”
No disrespect to you, Danny, but this is one of the problems here. Our "radicals" think that that journalists are as partisan as they are but usually people who actually work in football aren't. If you're a sports journalist (in a shrinking market) you would be a moron to turn down a job because you didn't support that club.
Agree with all of this except the first couple of pars. I used to give Sam Lee the benefit of the doubt. I thought his embarrassing cverage of the FFP/CAS case was more about his incompetence than any malice.I don't mind Sam, when he's on podcasts he generally speaks well of City.
It's a tough position for him (and Mooney) as they aren't going to criticise their work colleagues/employer, certainly not publicly.
I think all City fans seem to agree that Crafton's article was a hit job on City. If it turns out that everything is above board then why bother writing the article?
A 5min google shows the below when looking into sponsorship dealings with other premier league clubs.
The company Red and White Holdings, which includes Iranian funds, bought up 29% of Arsenal for $250 million in 2007. Arsenal have been sponsored by Emirates since 2004 and recently have been sponsored by Visit Rwanda, which isn't very LGBTQ+ friendly. There was also very little mention of Usmanov when he was a shareholder.
A company from Bahrain purchased 100% of Leeds United back in 2012 for $84 million. GFH Capital established and manages the Middle East's first Sharia-compliant VC TMT fund.
We know who Liverpool are sponsored by and the silence surrounding their continuation with their main sponsor considering recent legal issues is surprising, lets for one moment think of the coverage had it been Etihad found guilty.
Also do not look too closely at the Russian owner of their sponsor InstaForex, we don't want to see a pattern emerging and of course there's been no outcry by the LGBTQ+ supporters in the football media concerning their sponsorship ties to Mauritius. Perhaps the New York Times once having a stake in FSG might have seen them get/and still receive favorable coverage, now remind me who the New York Times recently purchased.
Liverpool fans hate Abu Dhabi's oil money and human rights record so much. Yet the reporting of Henry's travel to the Middle East to build future relationships with businesses there was covered very positively and we haven't heard any condemnation when Liverpool opened a megastore in Abu Dhabi back in 2016.
United, sponsored by state entities from Saudi Arabia (at the time the biggest non shirt sponsorship deal), Russia and Turkey but not a peep about that being bad for football nor asking United fans to denounce their club nor that any trophies won during that time are tainted.
Last but by no means least our own FA and the sponsorship of FA Cup since 2014 by Emirates. Surely there was an outcry when this deal was signed? Human rights stories etc. bvHow could they taint the romanticism of the FA Cup. No doubt the fleet street hacks refuse to attend and report on games.
What!? Delaney turns up but just doesn't eat the halftime sausage rolls? Well that will show them. Wait till he finds out who owns the paper he works for.
Now imagine what an article from a real investigative journalist (without football bias) doing research into English clubs' ties with shady foreign investments might look lie.
To me there is nowt wrong with that. Its a Manchester paper after all.Ffs from the muen…..can’t bring myself to post the link.
Why Manchester United should be one of England's most loved clubs for all fans
We don't know that but it again makes you wonder, if it was the case, whether that's to do with the NYT purchase, and the risk of anything sensitive getting to the likes of Panja, and thereby to his sources.Might be wrong but it doesn't feel like the club are even briefing Lee anymore.
To me there is nowt wrong with that. Its a Manchester paper after all.
My gripe with them is we rarely get the same 'fawning' coverage.
Rabin seems a very good example of what happens if you don’t ‘toe the line’ with the more established media types these days Twitter especially, you get rounded on and hounded out, the less established who want to get on realise this.The weaponizing and bile spouted by some of the Media (especially on social media) has presumably led to City_Rabin (hopefully temporarily) quitting Twitter (account does not exist).
Rabin was brilliant at pointing out hypocrisy by digging up contradictory articles by the same person.
I wish him (I think) well, and hope he'll be back when his brain can handle the wolf media pack on his back again - if that was the reason.