Richard Keys cannot believe what ITV and FA did to Everton
Richard Keys has hit out at ITV and the FA for the decision to broadcast the 0-0 draw between Everton and Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Thursday 4 January.
The beIN SPORTS broadcaster claimed the game looked like it would be boring before it even kicked off, and was proved right as the sides played out a stale 90 minutes of football.
One moment of entertainment was provided by the VAR call to give Dominic Calvert-Lewin a controversial red card, but it was an otherwise uneventful fixture.
“On the subject of Palace/Everton, what on earth were TV execs thinking when they chose that game to kick off a weekend of FA Cup coverage? It looked drab on paper. It was drab in practice. It was a howler to cover it,” Keys ranted via his blog [8 January].
“I guess decisions like that are driven by ego. ITV don’t get much live football these days – no PL football at all – so I suppose they want to choose a PL-looking fixture where and when they can, as part of their FA Cup coverage. The BBC are as bad in fairness.”
Keys is right, it was a terrible choice
Any Everton or Crystal Palace fan would have been able to tell you the outcome of that tie before it kicked off, so for it to be selected for ITV coverage, let alone moved to its own date to kick off the weekend of football, was a shocking decision from whoever made it.
The desire to show all-Premier League clashes is understandable given the drive for higher viewing figures, and clubs from the top league will obviously increase those, but they clearly don’t think of the fans when making these decisions.
It also takes away from the point of the FA Cup. Why would a clash between two middling Premier League sides be picked for TV coverage rather than giving the broadcasting money to a club that actually needs it?
While everybody was bored to sleep by two sides who showed no desire to push further into the cup, Maidstone – the lowest-ranked team left in the competition – beat high-flying Stevenage to progress into the fourth round. Surely that was worthy of some coverage?
In other Everton news, the club are joined by Manchester United in their interest in an £8million wonder.