Sky Sports has taken a barrage of stick on social media after its promo video for Aberdeen Celtic yesterday contained only Celtic goals.
The promo starts with a voice over saying Aberdeen v Celtic is one of the most significant fixtures in Scottish football and a game which always has an ‘edge’.
Then Sky reel off twenty-two Celtic goals with commentary clips including “it’s the same old story for Celtic v Aberdeen,” and “today is the day for eight in a row”.
The clip finishes with Neil Lennon applauding Celtic fans at Pittodrie and pumping his fists in the air, with no footage of Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes or his players.
To add insult to injury, in the tagline beneath the video, Aberdeen was spelt wrong.
-Fan reaction to promo vid: Sky coverage harming Scottish game
Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack vented his frustration on social media saying: “Really disappointed at Sky. To spend all week creating a one-sided promo that tries to humiliate any club goes against Sky’s commitment to help promote and grow the SPFL. BTW team name is spelt ABERDEEN!”
The Red Army expressed their anger in reply to the post feeling coverage of Scottish football is often bias towards Rangers and Celtic, and calling the media ‘narrow minded’.
Fans wrote: “It’s up to us (the sides outside of Rangers and Celtic) to show there are more than two teams in Scotland.”
“Would you promote Burnley v Man City by only showing Man City goals? What was the rational for only showing Celtic goals?”
“Dave, even as a Celtic fan we feel the same.”
One fan argued that because Celtic are the dominant force in the fixture it made sense that the reel showed only Celtic goals.
“If we are being honest here the majority of goals scored in this fixture are Celtic ones”
Three Dons’ goals to add to the next promo after 3-3 thriller
There’s now three Aberdeen goals to add to Sky’s next promotion of Aberdeen versus Celtic.
Lewis Ferguson put the Dons ahead with a first half penalty on a windy Sunday afternoon. Ryan Hedges re-established the Dons lead in the second half then right at the death Ferguson scored a second penalty in injury time to rescue a point for McInnes.
The result leaves the Dons fourth with a game in hand over third place Hibernian, while for Celtic that’s one point in six after losing to Rangers last weekend.
Aberdeen are favourites to at least finish best of the rest this season and there’s hope they can do a lot more with what many feel is one of the best squads Derek McInnes has had to work with in his seven years at the club
Derek McInnes said after the game: “The penalty decisions, the referee got them all right. The players never gave up and they deserve whole heartedly their point.”
Neil Lennon’s opinion was almost polar opposite to McInnes saying the refereeing was not up to standard.
After the game Neil Lennon said: “I thought the referee had a very poor game – decision making, being influenced by his assistants, and some of the decisions were baffling.”
Hopefully the next fixture between these two sides will be as exciting as they meet again next weekend for the delayed Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 