The TV Times

Despite the riches it has brought the game, football's main men still has an ambivalent attitude to TV, embracing the medium only when it suits them. When it doesn't, the tables are turned and TV is cast as the cause of all the game's ills.

Almost ten years ago, West Ham's response to Sky Sports News broadcasting footage of John Hartson attempting to remove a chunk out of Eyal Berkovic's head was blame the whole thing on the station. Hartson was duly rewarded with an all-expenses-paid trip to the south of France; Sky Sports were barred from the training ground with Harry Redknapp accusing the station of a "stitch up".

And why are reminded of this instance? Because of the Premier League's response to Cristiano Ronaldo's dive at Spurs: namely, to ignore the player's offence, as any admission of cheating would damage the league's brand, and blame the furore on Spurs for committing the cardinal sin of showing a replay of the incident at half-time to the poor mugs in attendance at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Asking The Question

At least one man was impressed with Geoff Shreeves' cowardly interview on Sky Sports following ManYoo's dive-assisted win at Tottenham. Instead of requesting Ferguson's view on the match's pivotal moment, the ace interrogator preferred to focus on Fergie's bank balance.

It was all very jolly and certainly met with Ferguson's approval - as the 'interview' ended, the ManYoo manager made a point of patting Shreeves on the back for a job well done. No wonder he was happy. Once again, the tacit threat of a media boycott had got the ManYoo boss off the hook.

As Shreeves wasted no time in demanding Martin Jol's views on the penalty incident, perhaps it's time that his superiors at Sky told their reporter to ask questions of Ferguson regardless of the potential consequences.