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BBC Sport anti Newcastle United bias and pro Manchester United is laughable

1 year ago
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It is a bit of a running joke now, as to how BBC Sport cover Newcastle United.

Some excellent articles on The Mag pointing this out and sadly the reality is, the ‘proper’ media are simply part of the problem as well. With the odd exception – one or two journalists who cover Newcastle United regularly.

Last weekend it was Guy Mowbray covering Newcastle’s hammering of Brentford for MOTD, he kicking that coverage off with a pre-prepared statement about the politics regarding the ownership of NUFC.

Then this weekend I saw an excellent piece from Greg McPeake on The Mag, exposing BBC Sport 5 Live, as they misrepresented what NUFC Sporting Director Dan Ashworth had said AND repeating the nonsense Jurgen Klopp had spouted, based on that misuse of the Newcastle man’s words.

Now we come to Sunday’s match at Old Trafford…

Simon Stone summarising Man U 0 Newcastle United 0 for BBC Sport:

‘The Portuguese striker, who had two second-half efforts disallowed, shook his head in irritation when he was replaced by Rashford 18 minutes from time.

He carried on chuntering to himself and shaking his head until he reached the dug-out, when he slumped down in simmering discontent.

The home side did get the ball in the net twice in as many minutes after half-time but in both instances, Ronaldo’s effort was ruled out.

The first was clearly offside. The second was more debatable.

Ronaldo and his team-mates argued Fabian Schar had rolled a free-kick back to Pope and therefore the ball was in play. Pope did not move as Ronaldo closed in, suggesting he thought the kick was still to be taken.

Referee Craig Pawson sided with the England keeper, so Ronaldo nipping in to get the ball and tap into an empty net only brought him a yellow card.

Evidently Ten Hag was not impressed with Pawson’s performances judging by the way the Dutchman marched towards the official at the final whistle.’

The thing is, what the media choose to talk about in the direct aftermath of a football match, then pretty much dictates what is debated in the following days / weeks. Bottom line, it doesn’t matter what else has happened in that game, it is what the media choose to focus on, which is then repeated by other media time after time and fed to the masses.

Simon Stone of BBC Sport included some other stuff post-match BUT the extracts above are the key points he is making.

So he is making the story of the match about two ‘goals’ disallowed for Ronaldo.

Well the first of those is embarrassing even including it in a conversation, the BBC Sport man seemingly wanting to make it more of a story by talking about two ‘goal’ incidents rather than one. In that first one, it was one of those where Ronaldo was a mile offside in the lead up to the ‘goal’ and everybody, including him, knew it was never going to stand. So much so that even he didn’t celebrate! One of those incidents where the linesman doesn’t flag even though miles offside, just in case of whatever…

When I say that first incident was embarrassing, well in truth, the second one was at least equally so.

Although the BBC Sport man says ‘The second was more debatable’…really???

Honestly, I was embarrassed for Ronaldo myself. It is the kind of thing a seven year old kid does, the opposition waiting for opposition player(s) to back off before taking a defensive free-kick, then the seven year old (or Ronaldo…) instead runs in and kicks the ball in the net claiming that the free-kick has been taken because Schar had kicked / moved the ball back to Nick Pope so he could take it from the correct position.

If this had been say Callum Wilson doing the same at the other end, never in a million years would it be talked about afterwards as a ‘goal’ that should have potentially stood. Instead he would be simply ridiculed for attempted childlike cheating. The referee wasn’t great overall but on this incident he played it exactly right, booking Ronaldo and treating what had happened with the contempt it deserved. Indeed, the only thing he did wrong was not to book the rest of the Man Utd players as they crowded and jostled him, trying to intimidate the ref into changing the decision.

The reality of yesterday was that Ronaldo wasn’t getting a kick against the excellent Botman and Schar, got so frustrated, so ends up descending into this kind of pathetic behaviour we are seeing more and more of, as age diminishes his effectiveness.

As for the BBC Sport bias…well, there are two parts to this AND this is the killer part of how they dictate the agenda of what is talked about…and not talked about, after a match.

In the entire summary of the match from Simon Stone for BBC Sport, there is not even a single mention of the Varane / Wilson penalty incident. Honestly, you couldn’t make it up.

I don’t know what is worse,  the fact that referee and VAR somehow didn’t give this clearest of penalties, or the fact that the BBC Sport man chooses to completely ignore it. Wilson knocked the ball past Varane in the box, runs past him but the Man Utd defender crystal clear takes him out with both arm across the chest and takes Wilson’s legs away.

So, the BBC Sport post-match debate is all about the two Ronaldo ‘goals’ and how the decisions affected the final result, whilst the massive error from the match officials is just simply not even mentioned. You only need to consider what would have been the case if the positions had been reversed, if Ronaldo had been taken out like Wilson was…well, for starters there is no way the penalty wouldn’t have been given, never mind what media would have said afterwards.

Chris Sutton gives the Ronaldo actions the contempt they deserve, even though he uses ‘cheeky’ instead of the more accurate ‘cheating’ in his description.

Chris Sutton talking to The Mail:

‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal on Sunday was disallowed…

He believed Fabian Schar tapping the ball back to Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope meant it was ‘live’. Referee Craig Pawson disagreed and so do I.

It was a cheeky attempt at scoring by Ronaldo, as desperate as he is to add to his 700 club goals, but Schar was clearly not taking the free-kick.

United can complain, and they certainly did, but it was right that the potential opener was ruled out.’

Stats from BBC Sport:

Manchester United 0 Newcastle United 0 – Sunday 16 October 2pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Man U:

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Man U 63% (62%) Newcastle 37% (38%)

Total shots were Man U 15 (6) Newcastle 9 (7)

Shots on target were Man U 2 (1) Newcastle 2 (2)

Corners were Man U 4 (3) Newcastle 4 (3)

Referee: Craig Pawson

Newcastle United:

Pope, Trippier, Schar (Lascelles 90+1), Botman, Burn (Targett 78), Longstaff, Bruno (Willock 78), Joelinton, Murphy (Fraser 59), Almiron, Wilson (Wood 78)

Unused Subs:

Karius, Shelvey, Lewis, Anderson

(Manchester United 0 Newcastle United 0 – The instant NUFC fan / writer reaction – Read HERE)

(Manchester United 0 Newcastle United 0 – The three big points that I’m taking from the match – Read HERE)

(Manchester United 0 Newcastle United 0 – A great point but Joelinton holding his head (twice!) and penalty on Wilson? – Read HERE)

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