Players Need The Fans To Turn Them On!

It’s 8pm on Saturday, and I’m coming back in from Port Vale, still semi-drunk and still smiling from Lita’s wonder strike.

I get home, turn on the PC, remove the emails containing tiresome viruses sent by fans of other clubs and speak to a few mates online about the day’s experience.

I turn around, switch on the TV to tune into Sky Sports news, knowing that I can see Lita’s strike once again.

Luckily I have Sky. Luckily I can watch the highlights from City’s matches.

I also have subscribed to BCFC World, so if I missed the highlights on TV I know I could always catch them online later in the week.

And then I thought: “What about those who don’t have Sky - those who don’t have PCs or access to one? People like 78-year-old Bob from Bedminster?”

Disgracefully, we are nearly a quarter of the way through the season and still we still don’t have any highlights package for terrestrial TV.

Something tells me we could not have any this season. The broadcast companies aren’t rushing to sort anything out – and the losers are the fans and the clubs.

City are losing out because perhaps the part-time fan who typically doesn’t go down unless things are going okay doesn’t bother, because he can’t see how well the team are playing.

While it’s all very well screening the goals on Monday nights evening news it doesn’t tell the story.

Take Port Vale. Steve Phillips played an absolute blinder and kept us in the game. He also saved us right at the death - it could have been 3-3. He won’t get any of the plaudits as most fans who couldn’t get to the game probably won’t get to see his amazing acrobatics.

Lita is the hero of the day in everyone eyes. I’m not taking anything away from him, but some of those who deserve a share of the glory like Phillips and Butler won’t get it, which is a shame.

The Football League and the clubs need to act fast if they are to sort something out for the remainder of the season, otherwise fans will become more disheartened with the way the rights are being dealt with, and it will be the game that loses eventually because it thrives on the interest of fans.

Personally I’d love to see BBC get the rights. A local programme presented by the ever-knowledgeable Geoff Twentyman would give us more insight into the games that perhaps we cannot watch live for whatever reason.
But surely the fans deserve better than they are getting at the moment.

I hold my breath and wait.

Tomarse

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