"STINGY KOP" cries the Sun in reporting that Liverpool have refused to donate their share of the gate money from tomorrow's third round FA Cup tie - around £200,000 - to "cash-strapped" opponents, Luton.
A classic piece of Sun dissemination, this. Firstly, there is no precedent for bigger clubs gifting gate money to less fortunate brethren - Luton are currently in administration - and certainly no precedent for one section of a football ground having the means, or opportunity, to do that.
If it had been Manchester United in Liverpool's boots would the headline have read: "STINGY STRETFORD END"?
The same Sun report informs us, as a sort of afterthought, that "the Anfield outfit are also facing financial troubles" which sounds like a reasonable justification for Liverpool hanging on to every penny.
Missing from this piece, too, was the information that Luton have been in administration three times in nine years. In the case of this club, there may be an argument against throwing good money after bad.
Why would one newspaper choose to view one football club, and one community, in such a prejudiced fashion?
For the answer we need to go back 18 years, to Hillsborough and the Sun's lurid and misguided coverage of that disaster. In the wake of that tragedy, the newspaper's sales on Merseyside went into meltdown, costing them over £50m in circulation over the next two decades.
Having long since given up the frail hope of recovering their decimated revenue The Sun reverted to its time-honoured modus operandi; anyone who won't be our friend, must be our enemy. Thus, the systematic scoffing at all things Scouse.
If Luton do go under, it will all be Liverpool's fault of course - at least in the eyes of the Sun.
About Me
- Gutter Snipe
- Scotland, United Kingdom
- Snarling, cynical sports writer charts the decline of the business he once loved.
3 comments:
I agree - The Sun's coverage of Liverpool Football Club is appalling. As is Murdoch's Sky Sports which regularly puts the boot in for no good reason.
bollocks to the scouse apologists. lfc fans DID turn up late at hillsborough and did attempt to gain entry to the ground pissed up and mob handed by charging the turnstyles. sad though it undoubtedly is, lfc fans brought it on themselves with their behaviour. Scouse Media Awareness Campaign (SMAC) in full force afterwards of course, 'no sir, we never did nothing, it woz chelsea'
Despite the gap in wealth between the Prem and Coke League, it is probably also partly due to an element of financial mismanagement on the part of the Luton board, that they find themselves in the position they are in. Had Liverpool given them £200,000, would Luton have not lost 5 players yesterday? I doubt it.
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