Everton hold talks with Sky Sports over reporting vs Newcastle after fan concerns
Everton have been in contact with Sky Sports over their coverage of the game against Newcastle on Thursday night, according to the Fan Advisory Board.
The group reported via Twitter on 8 December that they had spoken to the club and been “advised” that the Toffees have already had talks with the broadcaster.
Fans are unhappy that Sky Sports were reporting from the Wirral instead of around Goodison Park ahead of the game due to another planned supporter protest against the Premier League and the points deduction, which suggested they were in some way a source of potential “trouble”.
The Fan Advisory Board wrote: “Many thanks to our fellow Evertonians who have contacted us regarding SKY’s reporting ahead of our home fixture against Newcastle last night.
“We share their concerns and have spoken to the club who have advised us that they have contacted SKY to discuss this issue.”
Wrong message
However this situation has come about it should be addressed because it isn’t right for the Everton supporters to be made out to look like a threat to anyone’s safety without very strong grounds.
The context in which it has happened is one with heightened emotions, with fans already outraged at the size of the 10-point deduction from the Premier League and the route that was taken to get to it.
And with Sky Sports also having decided not to show the protest banner flown over the Manchester City vs Liverpool game two weekends ago with what felt like a subsequently flimsy explanation it gives the impression of the fanbase being dismissed at best and demonised at worst.
The game may have been broadcast on Amazon Prime but Sky Sports are still a sports news outlet so the protest itself seemed more than worthy of coverage ahead of kick off.
Thankfully the action on the pitch at least proved to be exactly what the supporters would have hoped for as arguably the best result of the season was secured in a 3-0 win over the Magpies.
Goals for Dwight McNeil, Abdoulaye Doucouré and Beto took the points to give the fans in the stands a cause to stick behind, even if they appeared to have been made to look bad unfairly ahead of the game.
In other Everton news, the UK government is expected to need convincing that one man is entirely excluded from the takeover process.