- To ban or not to ban and for how long? The questions of what happens to Man C
- Practical implications of the Manchester City Decision
By Tony Attwood
The problem with the world today (compared with yesterday) is that in the past if you had something nasty to say about an organisation, the most you could do would be paint it on a wall. It hardly had much of an impact.
But then along came the internet and stories spread. So while, according to the Mail, “A host of [Manc] City sponsors have spoken out in support of the club, with the process ongoing,” we can look elsewhere and find there seems to be a growing movement against both ManC and their sponsors. (But then that’s the Mail – always one step behind).
And this situation was no thelped by the Daily Mail Sport reporting that “Etihad Airways have gone one step further and exploring legal action against the Premier League.” One step indeed – in very much the wrong direction.
Of course the Mancs might like that, but supporters of the other 19 clubs undoubtedly don’t. If you want something to bring Tottenham and Arsenal supporters together at the moment, talk to both about their feelings concerning ManC, their finances, their spending, their rule breaking….
I was hoping Infantino might support ManC efforts but even he knows when a bandwagon is not worth jumping onto. When his arrival is announced in a stadium, the tendency now is to turn up the volume of the PA systems to drown out the boos and whistles. Mostly, that doesn’t work.
And of course booing and jeering is what ManC are going to face anywhere and everywhere in football other than at home games, from now on. They are the ultimate cheats, the club we’ll all tend to “dislike” more than any other. In London Tottenham are a huge laughing stock, because of the number of players they buy and sell, but ManC…. that’s different.
And it is not just football. Talking to friends in different industries I hear of Etihad Airways suing the Premier League far more often than I hear the suggestion that ManC sponsors have entered into sponsorship contracts paid for by Abu Dhabi. English papers are running the story that “The assertion that the Abu Dhabi government paid for Etihad’s sponsorship of English Premier League football club Manchester City” while the middle east press say that is untrue which just gives more and more publicity to the story in England.
And so it goes on and on….”A cyberattack targeting a widely used airline check-in system caused major disruptions at several European airports over the weekend, with delays impacting passenger processing for airlines including Etihad Airways at London’s Heathrow and Brussels Airport.” What once was a story that brought scowls, not brings smiles. We really don’t like Etihad any more.
Here’s another one :”Check-in processes for Etihad Airways flights at Brussels Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport are facing delays following a cyberattack at a service provider that disrupted operations at several major European airports on Saturday.”Since the vast bulk of stories in the media are untrue or not quite true, the media can get away with this and a few more smiles appear. Etihad? Than’s ManC isn’t it? Well, they deserve it. Talk about the negative impact of advertising!!!
Before my retirement I worked for most of my life as a writer of advertising, and I can tell you, advertisers are not swayed by the veracity of a tale, but by the readership numbers it brings in. And the problems for Etihad are the stories of the day.
So now we have the story, which is being reported in severals quarters, or a senior ManC official saying, “My club will have to lose its Premier League status.” While elsewhere the former Manchester City chairman David Bernstein is being reported as saying that the ManC club should be relegated following the “biggest scandal British sport has ever seen.”
Now of course many such stories can be overcome – Arsenal have had the “dirtiest team in the football league” story bleated against them for years by journalists, but with all tales like that when some evidence is asked for, the bleating stops and the sheep go onto another pasture. But now we have a simple view expressed right across football that ManC are so awful in what they do, that there are even tales of their sponsors saying, they just need to be removed. Of course we don’t know if that is true or not… but in the media today, truth doesn’t seem to mean much anymore.
And this is a much harder battle for clubs to fight, because it incorporates the notion of generalised awful behaviour, rather than a specific “committing the most fouls” type of offence. And as a result we are already seeing this negativity spread. Consider these headlines…
