What is it with the media and Liverpool FC?

[Bootle Buck]

It's been 15+ years since we have been a dominant force in English and European football. However, the media still seems to have one big chip on it's shoulder for Liverpool FC. From commentators to pundits from newspaper to radio the daggers always seem to be ready to stab us in the back. Is it that they all have long-term memories and still can't stand us for our success in the 60's, 70's and 80's or is it just a favourite pastime for them.

 

Even though I live in the States I always get to see the vast majority of our games on TV. It is madening to get settled down ready for a game only to hear some no-nothing commentator or pundit rabble on for the first 15 minutes or so about Rafa's selection, Stevie G's position without even watching what's going on in the game.

 

Arsene Wenger who is rated by the media as some form of tactical genius has never really come under the microscope considering his star studded team finished a very distant 4th last season and had another trophy-less season. It was looked at as a transitional period. Rafa on the other hand wins the CL and the FA Cup as well as beating the Chavs in two semi finals to get there yet is subject to abuse and second guessings from ex-player pundits and commentators who at best were very average in their playing days and certainly not wanted as managers. The muppets who we had to listen to at the Bordeaux game absolutely did my head in.

 

Man Utd who were dominant in the 90's are not disliked by the media for past success, rather they are put on a pedestal as the greatest thing to ever happen in English Football. Funny how that differs from us. I won't even start about the nouveua riche chavs.

 

What gets under my skin more is the fact that they justify a lot of this by always saying Liverpool fans EXPECT to win the league with their past traditions. Obviously said with tongue in cheek to fan the flames. I don't know any of us who expect that our club should win the league season in season out but the media seem to think we do.

 

I'm not sure what the reason is for this attitude towards our club but I get sick and tired of listening to the same old s****.

 

I guess their is only one solution............................ Turn down the sound and stop reading the same old bollix.

 

Rant Over

[honourablegeorge]

It's yer London-based London Club-supporting media, basically.

 

Plus the fact that they're afraid to criticise Ferguson, because he stops talking to them.

[Cobs]

If you haven't read criticism of Ferguson, Wenger or Mourinho over the past few years you really must be blind

[Ostrich Man]

its your paranoia pure and simple....

[Cobs]

its your paranoia pure and simple....

yep

[anny road]

yep

 

 

except it isnt

 

I wa shavign a chat to Ms Rudd about this the other week, and she was saying that there is an obsession with Liverpool that stretches back to the 70's and that it is worse with the broadsheets...Alot of the hierarchy now in place at nationals were reporters when we were the top dogs.

[Benitez]

dunno bout you Bootle, but I read a heck of a lot less about teams I don't support than I do about Liverpool! There aren't enough hours in the day. So it may seem to me that some managers / teams get an easy ride, when maybe they don't.

 

I suspect some Arsenal fan somewhere has written the exact same kinda thing, but swapped Rafa's name for Wenger.

 

At the end of the day, the English gutter press / media love a witchhunt. I do tho think that Rafa gets it way too tough at times, cos he's an easy target, and that aint paranoia I just think he's too much of a nice guy and the press get away with s***.

Edited November 2, 2006 by Benitez

[anny road]

dunno bout you Bootle, but I read a heck of a lot less about teams I don't support than I do about Liverpool! There aren't enough hours in the day. So it may seem to me that some managers / teams get an easy ride, when maybe they don't.

 

I suspect some Arsenal fan somewhere has written the exact same kinda thing, but swapped Rafa's name for Wenger.

 

At the end of the day, the English gutter press / media love a witchhunt.

 

 

we take up more column inches than we should

[Cobs]

except it isnt

 

I wa shavign a chat to Ms Rudd about this the other week, and she was saying that there is an obsession with Liverpool that stretches back to the 70's and that it is worse with the broadsheets...Alot of the hierarchy now in place at nationals were reporters when we were the top dogs.

everyone at the top gets it when they aren't winning

 

 

the coverage we got on the 26th May 2005 and the days that followed it was amazing

 

 

we take up more column inches than we should

cos we have lots of fans and our name/stories about us sells papers?

[Lee W]

To be honest there are a host of journalists and commentators who don't support the club, but laud us (as a club) at any opportunity whether it's part of the job or not.

 

I actually find some of the nonsense (both written & spoken) quite entertaining from the likes of Charlie Nicholas, Martin Lipton, Darren Lewis et al...

 

Marwood and ESPN are the only ones that get the "Mute" treatment.

[anny road]

everyone at the top gets it when they aren't winning

the coverage we got on the 26th May 2005 and the days that followed it was amazing

cos we have lots of fans and our name/stories about us sells papers?

 

 

maybe but then you cant put it down to ur paranoia when people say we get more flack than most........

 

being off i have bought three papers today....and i cannot believe the lack of flack Ferguson has taken over resting players last night.....if it was us we would be slaughtered

[Bootle Buck]

The most sickening though is the commentary and pundits on our games. They are always looking for faults and spend the whole game regrdless of wether we are 3-0 up not, focusing on the negatives.`

[Gilps]

cos we have lots of fans and our name/stories about us sells papers?

 

Exactly. Given our history and our fanbase, it would be a bit odd if we weren't one of the most talked about clubs.

[Cobs]

maybe but then you cant put it down to ur paranoia when people say we get more flack than most........

 

i can when those people are ignoring the good stuff that gets written about us as a balance.

 

 

Fact is winning the League is our 'Holy Grail', we've won it more than any other club and until we win it again the Press (rightly or wrongly) are gonna criticise our failure to do so.

 

 

If United/Arsenal/Chelsea had made the start we have to the League this season do you think it would have been ignored by the media?

[anny road]

i can when those people are ignoring the good stuff that gets written about us as a balance.

Fact is winning the League is our 'Holy Grail', we've won it more than any other club and until we win it again the Press (rightly or wrongly) are gonna criticise our failure to do so.

If United/Arsenal/Chelsea had made the start we have to the League this season do you think it would have been ignored by the media?

 

 

but it isnt about balance is it? Thats not how the press works......

 

If United has started the season like we have there would not have been the same amount of negative coverage imo

 

as I say...look at the press this morning

[Ostrich Man]

being off i have bought three papers today....and i cannot believe the lack of flack Ferguson has taken over resting players last night.....if it was us we would be slaughtered

to be honest i think alot of that would be down to the fact the media realise theres no real point in doing so, cause for the time being hes completely safe....over the last five years when things have gone badly wrong especially after last years effort in the CL Fergies been ripped to f***ing shreds, i honestly believe the media want to get managers the sack, they smell blood and start piling on the pressure...it sells the papers right, but he still retained his job and i think they feel he wont be touched till he retires.

 

whereas benitez is fresh meat, hence all that focusing on rotation balls weve had for the last while, who honestly gives a f*** if hes had a different team for 99 matches, but the media focused on this to a silly degree but say if liverpool do win the league or the CL theyll be applauding him for the policy.

 

 

its like someone on here calling the mirror the daily manc...jesus how far from the truth can you be....over the last five years theyve tried to crucify him more than any.

 

The most sickening though is the commentary and pundits on our games. They are always looking for faults and spend the whole game regrdless of wether we are 3-0 up not, focusing on the negatives.`

theyre usually ex liverpool players

[JRC]

We're a big name, a large fan base and, I suspect, a reasonable number of sympathetic non-supporters - but also a side lots of other fans want to see fail - so either way, LFC coverage pulls in punters. Blues**** fans think we always get an easy ride, Arsenal fans think they get harsh treatment at times etc. etc. There are some definite LFC sympathisers in the 4th Estate - Winter, Lawton etc.

 

What does bug me is the hypocrisy that sees the 'Living on past glories' criticism inverted into the 'A club of Liverpool's history shouldn't accept...' one, usually by the very same journalist.

 

I particularly despise those pundits and journalists who preface a (usually vapid, hackneyed and ill-considered) criticism with 'I grew up watching/admiring/following/playing for Liverpool in the 70's and 80's and it makes me sad to see them.. {enter current cliche here}.." - claiming to speak as some kind of supporter, when you just know they are not.

 

BUT - it's no different for MU, a***, Chavs etc. The only thing worse than being talked (written) about is NOT being talked about.

[pipnasty]

From somebody who has worked in newsrooms for both the BBC and ITV, the amount of hatred towards the city of Liverpool and Liverpool Football Club is staggering.

[beejay]

Wenger & Arsenal seem to attract less vitriol than us, ManU or Chelsea.

 

They were cr*p in the league last year yet were lauded for their Champions League run to the Final. We were lucky when we won it after being poor domestically.

 

The knives are always being sharpened for Ferguson and he has had some serious grief over the last 3 years about being past his sell-by date.

 

Chelsea get slaughtered for winning without style, boring football, diving, poaching etc (quite rightly!!)

 

We are getting it bigtime at the moment because of all the big 4, we are the ones who have under-achieved in the League so far. They will go quiet if we have a decent run and try to find fault with one of the others instead.

 

Bottom line is they love nothing more than a CLUB [TOP 4] IN CRISIS banner headline to sell their sh*tty papers or wheel their no-mark presenters onto radio & TV.

[Cobs]

but it isnt about balance is it? Thats not how the press works......

 

If United has started the season like we have there would not have been the same amount of negative coverage imo

 

as I say...look at the press this morning

it's about balance in the sense that they write good stuff and bad stuff about us

 

 

If you say that all they do is wait to stab us in the back whilst blindly ignoring the positive stuff that gets written then that's paranoia.

 

 

United had a shocking start to the season a few years back (5 or 6 defeats pre Christmas) and the press were all over Ferguson saying he should resign

[Gravy]

The paranoia when it comes to reds fans and the media is unbelievable. You really think no-one else ever gets bad press like us? Tell that to Ferguson, Cantona, Keane, Man U, Mourinho, Wenger

 

Don't be so precious. We still get it as we are England's most successful club. Live with it, but don't think it's just us coz it isn't.

[Herbie von Smalls]

From somebody who has worked in newsrooms for both the BBC and ITV, the amount of hatred towards the city of Liverpool and Liverpool Football Club is staggering.

does it goes as far as editorial policy, or just individuals' views?

[anny road]

it's about balance in the sense that they write good stuff and bad stuff about us

If you say that all they do is wait to stab us in the back whilst blindly ignoring the positive stuff that gets written then that's paranoia.

United had a shocking start to the season a few years back (5 or 6 defeats pre Christmas) and the press were all over Ferguson saying he should resign

 

 

i dotn deny that there is good stuff written about us, but I maintain that there is never ever any middle ground with us....everything is black and white......

 

I think United get far more slack on a day to day lever than we do......

[Gravy]

From somebody who has worked in newsrooms for both the BBC and ITV, the amount of hatred towards the city of Liverpool and Liverpool Football Club is staggering.

 

Hmm - MOTD - Hansen, Lawro and Lineker. All played for Liverpool clubs.

 

Ferguson once famously called the BBC the LFC fan club.

[anny road]

The paranoia when it comes to reds fans and the media is unbelievable. You really think no-one else ever gets bad press like us? Tell that to Ferguson, Cantona, Keane, Man U, Mourinho, Wenger

 

Don't be so precious. We still get it as we are England's most successful club. Live with it, but don't think it's just us coz it isn't.

 

 

Cantona? you are joking? He was amedia darling, an icon if any other player had done what he did they would have hounded him to oblivion.....he got away with it BIG time.......