Football Sponsors/ Sponsorship and Media
English football fans in Barcelona for England's away fixture against Andorra might have kept their opinions about England's performance largely to themselves, but they did not refrain from venting their fury at broadcaster Setanta.
England's failure to score by the half-time whistle against opposition ranked 186th in the world was greeted with a chorus of boos by the travelling supporters.
But the response paled in comparison with the abuse of former boss Steve McClaren and his men when England took on Andorra away in the ultimately unsuccessful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
If England fans were in a more charitable mood, it did not stop them from calling on the FA to "sort out" the fiasco which saw Setanta monopolise the rights to England's game away to Andorra - a status quo which is set to continue when John Terry and co travel to Croatia on Wednesday.
When the rights to live England games were held by Sky - depriving fans without satellite TV access to live coverage - the broadcaster would typically sell a highlights package to the BBC or ITV.
However, Setanta say they it has yet to receive an offer from a terrestrial broadcaster to show highlights that makes "commercial sense".
This has not gone down well with England fans, many of whom have taken the debate to the message boards of the FA website.
"Why should they have all the England games when not everybody has Setanta?'' one fan asked, the Telegraph reports.
Fans at the England match in Barcelona, meanwhile, were anxious not to forget supporters at home, filling the stadium with chants of "we hate Setanta" and "BBC".
The Telegraph also speculates that opposition to Setanta is down to the fact that the broadcaster is Irish, rather than British, owned.
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21 October 2010
21 October 2010
21 October 2010
20 October 2010
20 October 2010
