da cassino： There is just no need for commentators and pundits alike to be so overtly biased towards British teams in European competition. If I wanted to see say Arsenal – FC Partisan analysed by someone so clearly favouring Arsenal I would have asked a friend who’s an Arsenal fan. I do not want to hit by an overload of tired worn out phrases about how great Arsenal are. And I would also like to see a bit more honesty and impartiality in the actual commentary.
da brwin： Little phrases that try to alleviate any blame form players when they are representing British clubs have become far too common. ‘He had every right to go down there’ is currently the one that most annoys me. Supplying an excuse for when players dive by suggesting it was a foul anyway and the ref wouldn’t have noticed it had he not gone down. No! Not good enough in my mind, you should always try to stay on your feet. The only time you have a ‘right to go down’ is when it’s actually impossible to stay on your feet because they’ve been taken out from under you. ITV’s Live Champions League programme and particularly Andy Townsend is the worst for this, their highlights show punditry isn’t actually that annoying and at times even quite good.
I used to think this may be some form of jealously manifesting itself as I never got to see my own team, Spurs, talked about in this way as they were never on ITV in the Champions League. A couple of excursion into the UEFA cup never got the full ITV1 treatment of non-stop ass-kissing. Yet this season changed all that, Tottenham made it into the Champions League group stages and preceded to exceed expectations, winning the group and being joint top scorers on the way. I can now safely say it is not meagre jealously at having to sit through experts praise Arsenal and assess the game through such a warped prism.
This is because it is far more annoying when they are heaping praise on Spurs. The sheer volume of superlatives thrown in the direction of Gareth Bale, in the midst of his hat-trick in the San Siro was beyond infuriating. They have no right pretending to be so caring and excited by how well Tottenham are doing. Each empty word of praise for Spurs from Clive Tyldesley and the rest is like a dagger in my back as these are people who a week earlier were full of praise for Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea. And as a true Spurs fan I feel I can speak for the club when I say we don’t want your fake non-genuine support. To say ‘oh they just support the British clubs’ and want the most Premier League representation in the latter stages simply isn’t good enough! I don’t care if it’ll affect your ratings if there’s no English teams in the Semi finals or final. There’s no way you can justify to pretending to support Arsenal and then Tottenham in consecutive weeks!!
So in the future pundits, commentators and presenters of ITV, and to a lesser extent Sky, could you refrain from pretending you’re Tottenham fans because it isn’t desired and just call the game from a point of neutrality. With your overwhelming favouring of Spurs in games, you are taking something away from the true fans, somehow dampening the achievement by jumping on the band wagon. You have no right to bask in the celebration of beating the European Champions at White Hart Lane, calling it a glorious night. It was a glorious night for the club and us, the fans, not you who really don’t care for Tottenham when the cameras are away.
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