Sky Sports under fire for "anti Liverpool FC bias"

[Joe King]

About half of them on there arent clueless enough to deny his brilliance.

The other half?

[Craig_H]

The other half?

They're just mentalists.

[Joe King]

They're just mentalists.

Or blind? Or ****s?

[Craig_H]

You can attach many labels if you so wish.

[Neil Young]

this has got to be a wind-up - The Fiver (The Guardian's teatime footie email) has been doing a running joke based on Liverpool fans' accusations of a "London-centric media anti-Liverpool bias" for ages..

The Manchester Guardian?

[Johnny]

My opinion on The Andy Gray story is......I don`t want to tune in to Sky Sports to listen to a bitter cunt trying to pick holes in the manager and team every single game.I`d rather someone else did the analysis.

[PR350]

Catching up with this, I sent this to the Sports Editor at SS after the Inter game:-

Dear Sir,

As a subscriber to Sky Sports I have in the past watched with some amusement the bias shown by the Sky Sports football commentators and "pundits" against Liverpool Football Club. Even though at heart this has irritated me, I have refused to allow myself to get overtly angry.

I appreciate that the presenters and pundits are from specific backgrounds which means they will often favour one team over another and this shows, although I would suggest it is implied in their role to have a semblance of impartiality. However, in particular the comments from Andy Gray, Richard Keys and more recently Matt Le Tissier have become increasingly hateful and spiteful towards Liverpool. I would include Paul Merson in this group, but frankly I don't think he has the capacity to understand what he is doing or saying, a person less suited to his role I cannot think of and I can only assume he is there for comedy value.

On the other hand a good example of balance is usually shown by Jeff Stelling, even though it is well known he is an avid supporter of Hartlepool United, his comments and enthusiasm for all aspects of football shows and he is one of the only reasons to watch Soccer Saturday (when did we bow to so many Americanisms, another debate perhaps).

However, last night whilst watching the match between Inter Milan and Liverpool I was frankly aghast at some of the comments that Mr Gray made during the match. Even though Liverpool had some luck, they also played very well and achieved a very good result against arguably the leading team in Europe at the moment. Yet Mr Gray's comments appeared almost hateful at times.

I note that it appears such comments are almost exclusively targeted against Liverpool, whereas it seems that Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal are immune to it.

You may find the actions of your commentators and pundits entertaining but I for one do not and I would implore you to instil a sense of balance and request that your staff tone down the obvious hatred and bitterness towards Liverpool Football Club.

Many thanks

I hoped it was well balanced and not sounding as if it was from some ranting LFC supporter - which I usually am to be fair

[MattB]

Catching up with this, I sent this to the Sports Editor at SS after the Inter game:-

Dear Sir,

As a subscriber to Sky Sports I have in the past watched with some amusement the bias shown by the Sky Sports football commentators and "pundits" against Liverpool Football Club. Even though at heart this has irritated me, I have refused to allow myself to get overtly angry.

I appreciate that the presenters and pundits are from specific backgrounds which means they will often favour one team over another and this shows, although I would suggest it is implied in their role to have a semblance of impartiality. However, in particular the comments from Andy Gray, Richard Keys and more recently Matt Le Tissier have become increasingly hateful and spiteful towards Liverpool. I would include Paul Merson in this group, but frankly I don't think he has the capacity to understand what he is doing or saying, a person less suited to his role I cannot think of and I can only assume he is there for comedy value.

On the other hand a good example of balance is usually shown by Jeff Stelling, even though it is well known he is an avid supporter of Hartlepool United, his comments and enthusiasm for all aspects of football shows and he is one of the only reasons to watch Soccer Saturday (when did we bow to so many Americanisms, another debate perhaps).

However, last night whilst watching the match between Inter Milan and Liverpool I was frankly aghast at some of the comments that Mr Gray made during the match. Even though Liverpool had some luck, they also played very well and achieved a very good result against arguably the leading team in Europe at the moment. Yet Mr Gray's comments appeared almost hateful at times.

I note that it appears such comments are almost exclusively targeted against Liverpool, whereas it seems that Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal are immune to it.

You may find the actions of your commentators and pundits entertaining but I for one do not and I would implore you to instil a sense of balance and request that your staff tone down the obvious hatred and bitterness towards Liverpool Football Club.

Many thanks

I hoped it was well balanced and not sounding as if it was from some ranting LFC supporter - which I usually am to be fair

Fair play - I sent something similar (lost in another thread now, but it was a little angrier than yours...). I don't understand some of the comments on here saying that people shouldn't complain about Sky's coverage 'because it's embarrassing'.

The only thing that is embarrassing is that people had to go bleating to the local media about it.

[cannotmakeit]

Catching up with this, I sent this to the Sports Editor at SS after the Inter game:-

Dear Sir,

As a subscriber to Sky Sports I have in the past watched with some amusement the bias shown by the Sky Sports football commentators and "pundits" against Liverpool Football Club. Even though at heart this has irritated me, I have refused to allow myself to get overtly angry.

I appreciate that the presenters and pundits are from specific backgrounds which means they will often favour one team over another and this shows, although I would suggest it is implied in their role to have a semblance of impartiality. However, in particular the comments from Andy Gray, Richard Keys and more recently Matt Le Tissier have become increasingly hateful and spiteful towards Liverpool. I would include Paul Merson in this group, but frankly I don't think he has the capacity to understand what he is doing or saying, a person less suited to his role I cannot think of and I can only assume he is there for comedy value.
On the other hand a good example of balance is usually shown by Jeff Stelling, even though it is well known he is an avid supporter of Hartlepool United, his comments and enthusiasm for all aspects of football shows and he is one of the only reasons to watch Soccer Saturday (when did we bow to so many Americanisms, another debate perhaps).

However, last night whilst watching the match between Inter Milan and Liverpool I was frankly aghast at some of the comments that Mr Gray made during the match. Even though Liverpool had some luck, they also played very well and achieved a very good result against arguably the leading team in Europe at the moment. Yet Mr Gray's comments appeared almost hateful at times.

I note that it appears such comments are almost exclusively targeted against Liverpool, whereas it seems that Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal are immune to it.

You may find the actions of your commentators and pundits entertaining but I for one do not and I would implore you to instil a sense of balance and request that your staff tone down the obvious hatred and bitterness towards Liverpool Football Club.

Many thanks

I hoped it was well balanced and not sounding as if it was from some ranting LFC supporter - which I usually am to be fair

[PR350]

Fair play - I sent something similar (lost in another thread now, but it was a little angrier than yours...). I don't understand some of the comments on here saying that people shouldn't complain about Sky's coverage 'because it's embarrassing'.

The only thing that is embarrassing is that people had to go bleating to the local media about it.

I haven't had a reply. Not sure whether that is because they can't be ar5ed or just that they don't understand all of the big words

Probably the latter.

[Craig_H]

Catching up with this, I sent this to the Sports Editor at SS after the Inter game:-

Dear Sir,

As a subscriber to Sky Sports I have in the past watched with some amusement the bias shown by the Sky Sports football commentators and "pundits" against Liverpool Football Club. Even though at heart this has irritated me, I have refused to allow myself to get overtly angry.

I appreciate that the presenters and pundits are from specific backgrounds which means they will often favour one team over another and this shows, although I would suggest it is implied in their role to have a semblance of impartiality. However, in particular the comments from Andy Gray, Richard Keys and more recently Matt Le Tissier have become increasingly hateful and spiteful towards Liverpool. I would include Paul Merson in this group, but frankly I don't think he has the capacity to understand what he is doing or saying, a person less suited to his role I cannot think of and I can only assume he is there for comedy value.

On the other hand a good example of balance is usually shown by Jeff Stelling, even though it is well known he is an avid supporter of Hartlepool United, his comments and enthusiasm for all aspects of football shows and he is one of the only reasons to watch Soccer Saturday (when did we bow to so many Americanisms, another debate perhaps).

However, last night whilst watching the match between Inter Milan and Liverpool I was frankly aghast at some of the comments that Mr Gray made during the match. Even though Liverpool had some luck, they also played very well and achieved a very good result against arguably the leading team in Europe at the moment. Yet Mr Gray's comments appeared almost hateful at times.

I note that it appears such comments are almost exclusively targeted against Liverpool, whereas it seems that Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal are immune to it.

You may find the actions of your commentators and pundits entertaining but I for one do not and I would implore you to instil a sense of balance and request that your staff tone down the obvious hatred and bitterness towards Liverpool Football Club.

Many thanks

I hoped it was well balanced and not sounding as if it was from some ranting LFC supporter - which I usually am to be fair

Woe is us...we're so hard done by...

[Neil Young]

Syd, I think we know your position on this one by now.

[Pacman]

Woe is us...we're so hard done by...

FFS

[Johnny]

Woe is us...we're so hard done by...

Don`t be a ****.

[Craig_H]

I'm not the one crying at Sky for being so mean and nasty...