Malevolent Media Malign Manchester's Money Men

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Vital Manchester City regular contributor, Derry, sent us the following article.

There`s nothing like a spot of alliteration to light up a headline. This isn't a trumpet blowing exercise on my part, merely a pseudo smart arse way of saying the couple of seconds effort I put into coming up with it is a few seconds more effort than the average hack exerts in his or her reporting on our beloved Blues.

As City fans, we all know how biased the reporting tends to be. We have all witnessed first hand the acerbic wit used by Fleet Street's finest to lampoon and lambaste our club right from Chief Executive to manager, players and even fans in some cases.

We all know and accept the club is in yet another transitional stage as it finds its feet with the freedoms and responsibility this newfound wealth brings. However, Fleet Street has been absolutely unforgiving at every turn whenever we have made a mistake.

I do not expect the media to kow-tow to City, after all, as a nation we champion freedom of speech and a free press of course (although given the sporting affiliations of the average hack, a free press is probably stretching it!).

However, one thing puzzles me enormously.

In the face of all this criticism, the silence from the club has been deafening. Why has the club chosen not to defend itself? I know PR was outsourced (whether wholly or not is a moot point), so what exactly are they doing to earn their fees? Why has no one from the club popped their head above the parapet to protect our reputation in the face of this media feeding frenzy?

Can you imagine Real Madrid or Barcelona accepting such shabby and unmerited treatment from the Spanish press?

If the club has serious ambitions of greatness, it has to be able to effectively manage not just world-class players, but also its relationships right the way through from the community, businesses and the media.

In order to make City as attractive a proposition as possible, it must manage and protect its brand a lot more vigorously. Otherwise, just in terms of playing staff, we could end up being the cash cow for one last pay day for journeymen - and we`ve all been there before and know where that inevitably ends.

Many thanks Derry.