Manchester City were the Premier League’s best-performing club in the Champions League this season, but some fans aren’t happy with how their semi-final run was covered.
A number of supporters criticised broadcasters BT Sport for leaving Manuel Pellegrini’s team out of an advert for the competition’s final four, while other elements of the studio coverage also came in for criticism.
No bias from BT Sport?
Listen to this… "As hard as it is"
[@CityBoy65] #mcfc pic.twitter.com/D8xUjCw0z8
— mcfc lads (@mcfc_lads) April 13, 2016
BT’s coverage of City has come in for sustained criticism from supporters, though head of BT Sport Simon Green has listened to fans’ concerns on more than one occasion.
@mick_mcfc Read the piece. Thank you and will pass it over to our Head of Live Football… A life long City fan.
— Simon Green (@SimonGreenridge) April 15, 2016
@chic_charnley Yes. APOLOGIES. This was an agency piece of marketing that was wrong. Rest assured we want City to win the Champions League
— Simon Green (@SimonGreenridge) April 25, 2016
Despite Green’s responses, BT Sport remained on thin ice with some Sky Blues, who have been known to point to the predominance of former Manchester United players among the ex-footballers involved in the broadcasts (Steve McManaman and Owen Hargreaves probably aren’t regarded as ex-City, despite both playing for the club.
And that’s before the second flashpoint, as laid out by the Manchester Evening News.
BT Sport’s rundown of three decades’ worth of FA Cup final highlights missed out a certain game. You guessed it – City’s only win in the last 40 years.
Highlights of the 1-0 victory over Stoke were broadcast at a later date, but it didn’t help those who had already cried bias.
https://twitter.com/theobald55555/status/734011645547171840
@SimonGreenBT you have reinstated the 2011 cup final could you explain why it was omitted and your continuing agenda against man city
— katefitzpatrick 🇬🇧👑 (@kathy121255) May 21, 2016
@SimonGreenBT BT Sports shocking towards Man City. All FA highlights shown since 1980 recently except one City winning 1st cup in 33 yrs
— Fida Hussain (@Fidahussain01) May 21, 2016
The paper has published a statement from BT Sport in response to the allegations. It reads as follows:
“BT Sport take its responsibility as a broadcaster extremely seriously and aims to deliver top quality live sports coverage to its viewers. We always try to take a fair view of the teams and the competitions which we broadcast.
“Last week BT Sport showed a number of classic FA Cup Finals back to back in the run up to the Emirates FA Cup Final on Saturday evening. We apologise that Manchester City v Stoke City was not shown on Thursday, however it was shown on BT Sport on Saturday.”
