MEDIA: THE INDEPENDENT’S MONDAY SPORTS SECTION: AN EXPERT’S VIEW

John Owen is bowled over by the Independent’s new sports pages on

Mondays

As a Manchester City fan living in London, I often used to resent the

paucity of coverage given to my team in the Southern issues of the

national press. The only time they got any real column inches was when

they’d just taken a spanking from Arsenal or Spurs.

Dedicated sports sections in Sunday newspapers changed that. But the

Monday editions still invariably ignore the blue side of Manchester. ‘So

what?’ you may ask. ‘Haven’t you had your fill by then?’ Those who voice

these objections are clearly not sports fans. Frankly, if the papers ran

reports of City’s 1-0 win at Leeds in every edition between now and next

Saturday, I’d read them all. And before you say it, I’d read them even

if we’d lost.

The Sun was the first to understand the insatiable appetite of the

sports fan with its ‘Goals’ pull-out. Last Monday, the Independent

became the first broadsheet to launch a tabloid Monday sports section. A

quick comparison with the Guardian proves that it passes the acid test -

no mention of City in the latter, but decent length reports on all of

Saturday’s Premiership games in the Independent.

The section is tidily presented, with the latest on England’s cricketers

in South Africa leading the way and Sunday’s match between Wimbledon and

Newcastle rightly taking pride of place within the football coverage.

Elsewhere, there’s an interview with Jack Charlton, features on boxing,

athletics, tennis, Rugby Union, racing and a statistical ‘Digest’,

before it reaches a soap-box finale on the last page.

All in all, a cracking read. So, Ed, any chance of me cutting the

Independent from now on? Well, on Mondays anyway.

John Owen is Campaign’s only Manchester City Supporter

This article was first published on Campaign