ToffeeWeb - Season 2008-09

The Mail Bag

MoTD Coverage

Just watched MoTD. Yes the 2 minutes we had.

What was more annoying was the coverage of the "trouble" at the City ground. I hate violence. However, I was at the Arsenal away game and the "trouble" that happened there was not shown on MoTD. Even though that went on for more than ten minutes during the game and then once the game was over!

Is this a North-South divide being exploited by MoTD. If North and North have a go at each other, let's report it. However, if it's the South against the North..... Oh well, That's Life. Or is that another programme!

No need for the trouble to be highlighted on TV ? I am sure both clubs will sort it out, and so they should.
Lynne Hill, Merseyside Posted 13/12/2008 at 20:57:50

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Anthony Dyer
1 Posted 14/12/2008 at 01:27:12

I agree that MotD and the BBC in particular have some sort of agenda but I don?t believe it's a North/South divide issue. Phil Brown on Final Score spoke about a penalty that he thought Hull should have been given ? was it mentioned or seen on MotD No!

Watching MotD tonite I was unaware that Tim had pushed Johnson or that Yobo had handled inside the box, but as always these incidents were harped on by the commentator. Rooney apparently did a pretty bad tackle for MU during the week and I?m sure it has been spoken about widely in the media. But did Ray Stubbs have to go on about it on MotD?

The BBC as a national broadcaster has a duty to provide fair and balanced views and not whore itself out to be pro a certain club and anti that club's rivals. But then again, with all that free beer at all those functions, it must be damn difficult to remain objective.

Karl Jones
2 Posted 14/12/2008 at 08:12:10

Every time a game is over nowadays whether on Sky or MOTD the first question is " Did you DESERVE that?" and the reply is all too predictable depending on which Manager/player they ask.

Commentators alongside so called experts waffling on about boring trivial statistics (listen to Alan Parry)..They’re all clones now. Theres no originality left in football coverage no matter what channel you watch.

I love going to watch football live, but lose interest very quickly watching the all too predictable television coverage.

Bring back Jimmy Hill!

Anthony Fitzpatrick
3 Posted 14/12/2008 at 09:03:52

I stopped watching MotD a long time ago. As for Sky, it does not take a genius to figure out that the top 4 is all that matters. The pundits don't want to fall foul of any of the clubs so they pussyfoot around all controversial decisions or shocking performances.

You should youtube an Irish programme called "The Premiership". It includes Johnny Giles, Liam Brady and Roy Keane?s autobiographer Eamon Dunphy. They tell it like it is and speak the way fans do on the terraces. Honestly, these guys don't hold back from anybody ? including the top 4!

Gavin Ramejkis
4 Posted 14/12/2008 at 09:45:17

MoTD is predictable shite, the pittance coverage as per usual didn't show the haul down of Osman by Michael Ball or the domination of the match as covered by the BBC sport homepage ITV sport homepage and even the Manchester Evening New?s coverage which spoke about Citeh?s expensive strike partnership being stifled so much both were replaced. Fuck them all; at the end of the day three points deserved and taken.

The "after match" scenes showed little other than stewards trying to keep fans away from each other and mentioned a small number of arrests. I don?t bother going to St James? anymore having been assaulted by stewards for nothing more than celebrating an Everton goal as have many others, but you?ll never see that in the media.

Amanda Huddleston
5 Posted 14/12/2008 at 10:12:36

We had 6 mins ? I timed it!

I agree it is annoying to be penultimate again ? it's tough being an ?unpopupular? side/ happy to skulk along to a Euro spot tho!

David Livermore
6 Posted 14/12/2008 at 10:43:23

Do me a favour! North/South divide?!!?!?!? I am a southern Evertonian and I think that you should get over your inferiority complex.

Wayne Francis
7 Posted 14/12/2008 at 11:06:05

Ha ha, David - irony in abundance there.....

David Alexander
8 Posted 14/12/2008 at 12:01:22

To be fair to the BBC once they decide to give a game 6 min then they have to cut a lot. They might have looked at the Osman incident and decided it was not a pen so not worth showing, I find it hard to belive that they "deliberately" didn't show a pen that wasn't given.

Anyway, I long ago gave up on getting a fair deal from referees, which bothers me a lot more than anything the press say or do.

Steve Burns
9 Posted 14/12/2008 at 12:11:19

Anyone who says MotD etc isn?t biased is an idiot. Apart from the 6 minutes coverage we were shown after a nil-nil Man Utd game that was a late kick-off, how do they justify putting that match first? Then there was that respectless arsehole of a commentator at the end saying the game was boring ? he wouldn?t be saying that if it was the same game involving one of the "big 4" or Hawwy Wedknapp?s team. Everton are one of the best teams in the country (FACT) yet we are treated like the dreggs of the Premier League week-in, week-out.

Matt Kassell
10 Posted 14/12/2008 at 13:48:18

David Livermore - you cannot possibly understand unless you live in the north. The media in general has a massive southern bias, which exists in football coverage despite the north?s historical dominance. There is no inferiority complex here, in fact we?d be in our rights to feel quite the opposite!

Haha! No southern bias then? How do you want us to react?

Ray Burn
11 Posted 14/12/2008 at 14:33:37

"The media in general has a massive southern bias, which exists in football coverage despite the north?s historical dominance"

I just don’t see it myself.

The ’Southern Media’ seem more than happy to embed themselves in the rectums of Man Utd and Liverpool, which I’m lead to believe are Northern teams. Chelsea and Arsenal also get the treatment. So a ’big 4’ bias for sure, but any North/South divide is a work of fiction, I’ll bet Pompey, West Ham, Fulham fans etc all feel short changed about a perceived lack of coverage.

Steve Burns
12 Posted 14/12/2008 at 14:46:24

Liverpool and Man Utd are widely supported down south so actually it is still a southern bias because of all the fickle southerners that the press have to bum up to.

James Marshall
13 Posted 14/12/2008 at 14:49:33

Heres a thought - the BBC are relocating a large proportion of their operation to Manchester at a cost of around £600m. As part of the relocation, sport is going to be one of the main areas of programming/broadcasting thats moving - with this in mind, perhaps we’ll see a change in the way things like MOTD are presented.

Possibly not, but the likelihood is, that the North of England is going to be represented in a much better light once this move completes.

James Marshall
14 Posted 14/12/2008 at 14:54:26

Can I just add to that, that the North as a whole will undoubtedly be better represented once the BBC relocates - my last post was meant to reflect that, not just the sport/MOTD bit.

David Livermore
15 Posted 14/12/2008 at 15:23:11

There is a lot of affection for Northern clubs in the south for the likes of Everton, Newcastle, Villa (ok, not quite north!) & Man City. Not to mention the annoying number of Liverpool and Man United fans down here. We would all rather these clubs in the Premier League than the likes of Reading, Charlton & Portsmouth. Just wouldn?t make sense for programmes such as MOTD to have a northern bias. Not to mention last night Shearer ? Geordie and Dixon ? Mancunian. I just don?t see it.

Damian Scott
16 Posted 15/12/2008 at 11:37:56

@ Anthony Fitzpatrick

"You should youtube an Irish programme called "The Premiership". It includes Johnny Giles, Liam Brady and Roy Keane?s autobiographer Eamon Dunphy. They tell it like it is and speak the way fans do on the terraces. Honestly, these guys don?t hold back from anybody ? including the top 4!"

RTE?s coverage started out good a few years ago when they actually did say it how it is and to a certain extent they still do, but my god, their football knowledge in general is bad.

Johnny Giles, Ray Houghton, Eamonn Dunphy, Ronnie Whelan... I?ve never heard a bunch of more uninformed people talking about football in my life.

They harp on week after week about the same rubbish. Their Champions League coverage is the same. They know nothing outside of the English teams and their knowledge even then of the English teams is rubbish they read from the Star, the Sun etc. Tabloid armchair punditry.

In comparison, BBC is actually quite good, despite some people?s obvious gripe about a north/south England divide. I think any media outlet, be it BBC or Sky, always kiss ass to the teams that are doing well and the rest get the bare minimum of coverage. As an Everton fan, I think I?ve got over the fact that we get minimal coverage. To be honest, I couldn?t give a damn what Alan Shearer or Lee Dixon think about Everton...

Seamus Murphy
17 Posted 15/12/2008 at 16:44:20

Damian Scott ? can't agree with you there; Eamonn Dunphy makes the programmes worth watching!