Here’s your selection for today. Thank God this afternoon’s match is on Sky, eh!?

From Tim Parker
On Clive Tyldesley, the article is spot on but I think its purely ITV as Sky seems to be far more professional and fair. You listen to ITV do an Arsenal game and then listen to them do a Liverpool game and the difference in bias is ridiculous. The writer said it himself - that it’s all about being professional. But listening to Jim Beglin and Clive have cheeky digs at Arsenal for 90 minutes (when we are on ITV1, which is hardly ever!) then listen to them bleat on about Liverpool and the magic of Anfield, it annoys me so much. ITV have genuinely driven me out of my home and into the arms of the local pub. That’s my advice to all Gooners on Champions League nights. Get down the pub, couple of mates, couple of beers and you will be surprised how easy it is to ignore the commentary and just watch the game.

Excerpt from complaint sent to ITV by Stephen Davy
I believe that far too much was made of the Eduardo dive incident, although I believe the player did indeed make the most of the challenge by the Celtic goalkeeper, minimal contact appeared to have occurred. Also, it made me feel most uncomfortable to hear that Mr Dalglish likened 'foreigners' to a bad influence on our English players. Dives are common place in the Premiership, with some highly regarded English international players performing some rather accomplished theatrics in their careers. To allow a large portion of the games' commentary to become a debate, (although this actually proves tricky when only two people have microphones and only one is voicing concern!), is frankly not the job of a 'commentator'. The viewers saw the incident and I am sure have the capacity to draw their own conclusions.

Further to Mr Dalglish's post match 'cultural comments', perhaps he needs reminding that English players can and have demonstrated some negative and questionable behaviour and not only on the football pitch. Aggression and violence by English players is something which has been widely publicised. I struggle to remember an incident where 'foreign' players have been involved in court cases where violence is the charge, so perhaps a little refrain or tact could be used by a national broadcaster when dealing with the rather inflammatory issue of nationality. Or more appropriately in this Globalised age, especially in regards to the premiership, individual acclaim or criticism should be observed and the issue of nationality should rightly be inappropriate and ignored.

Although I certainly to not condone diving, a little perspective could be beneficial on this matter.

From Darren Whatling
I have had issues with shITV with their coverage of CL football and the lack of Arsenal games appearing on ITV1, instead we are always shoved to ITV4 in favour of the Mancs. Along with the aforementioned Clive Tithead who is SO biased to the northern scumbags it’s unbelievable. I managed to catch the 'highlights' after the news etc. and couldn't believe the career they were making out of the incident.

After reading the onlinegooner articles I was drawn to the ITV website and their link to to watch the 'dive' again and the 'judge for yourself' headline! W***ERS!

Excerpt from complaint sent to ITV by Drew Dewsall
I would like to register my disgust at what was an unbalanced coverage of the Arsenal and Celtic match on Wednesday 26th August. Whether or not the Arsenal player in question did in fact take a dive is one matter and I agree that this is a problem in football. But for 80% of the commentary following the incident to be focused on one moment is ridiculous. The fact that players dive is nothing new and we have seen time and time again such actions from other teams so why is it so highly focused in this instance? No player has ever been handed a retrospective punishment for diving but now it seems that this could be the case and I can only assume the weight of opinion has been swung by the constant referral to the matter by your station.

We have consistently seen players dive, Ryan Babel against Arsenal in the Champions League is a prime example yet in this instance barely a word was mentioned on the matter. Steven Gerrard and Didier Drogba consistently dive and again no major enquiries. So why now and why so intensely? It can only lead one to conclude that there is some level of bias in your reporting something which as an impartial channel should not be happening.

Excerpt from complaint sent to ITV by Simon Walstrom
Not only am I disappointed in the overall quality of the broadcast and I am concerned over the level of bias commentary I was subjected to listen to. At times, I had to pause the live feed and rewind just to double check what I was hearing. You almost got the sense that the commentator was livid with any Arsenal positive play and ecstatic when things looked questionable or dubious, or he had time to rake up past issues. The Eduardo 'dive' was a great example. Some 20 minutes had elapsed since the event and STILL your commentator was talking about it. I was watching in hope that he may have commentated on what was actually happening at that moment in time. Alas he didn’t and I was almost forced to mute my TV and listen to Radio 5 Live commentary. I think you would agree that this is a serious situation for ITV. Unfortunately this reflects in the overall bad coverage that your station puts out to air.

I do hope that you take this letter of complaint seriously enough to raise the issue with the commentator in question and remind him of his journalistic duties to the viewing public. If he wants to debate the merits of events all evening, then I suggest he either gets another job or decamps to the studio.

On the subject of overall broadcast quality, a local restaurant near me, which used to be very popular and successful, was taken over by a local couple who essentially run it on a shoestring and eventually it showed and the business collapsed. I tell you this as a warning more than anything and suggest that if you can barely afford to obtain the football rights at the sufferance of the broadcasting then I suggest ITV re-thinks its sports strategy.

Excerpt from complaint sent to ITV by N.Strange
After watching the Arsenal vs Celtic Champions League game on Wednesday, I feel that I have to make a complaint against your commentary team of Clive Tyldesley and Jim Beglin.

In the many years of following football and watching it on ITV, I have never come across such a biased commentary. I always had the opinion that commentators are supposed to be neutral when describing football matches, or at the very most pro – home nation. Off the top of my head, I can remember Tyldesley referring to Manchester United 17 times during a match that didn’t even involve Man U. Clive Tyldesley’s comments are trite, boring and embarrassing to listen to.

And the bias toward Celtic was quite unbelievable, both in the gantry and by the studio guests. For Kenny Dalglish to make statements suggesting that ‘diving’ is a foreigners’ trait and that British players don’t ever do it is frankly insulting and racist. If you are going to cover Champions League games, I suggest that you employ professionals that can take an unbiased view and impart their opinions accordingly.

Excerpt from complaint sent to ITV by… name withheld by request!
Although I agree Eduardo took a dive, to be reminded every other minute really spoilt what was overall a very entertaining game. Andy Townsend presents an excellent show on Talksport which gives listeners plenty of time to debate all the issues political, controversial and otherwise in the news on a daily basis. We don't need Clive Tyldesley and Jim Beglin to discuss the penalty decision throughout all 90 minutes commentary.

The half time and full time comment was dominated by Kenny Dalglish (Celtic and Liverpool legend!) airing his views, with Matt Smith and Andy eclipsed by his legendary status, fawning to his understandable upset at the result, which an impartial or indeed Arsenal representative would have been able to balance. The result of the tie never looked in doubt, even at 0-0, though Clive and Jim tried understandably to hype it up. Every early Celtic attack seemed to imply dominance, Arsenal’s attacks although just as frequent were not met with the same enthusiasm from the commentators. I have never written to a broadcaster before with a complaint, even the BBC, who let’s face it, are about as impartial as Alex Ferguson!

Yes, Arsenal were awarded a penalty, but as we are usually reminded these things tend to even themselves up. Did Wayne Rooney not dive when Arsenal lost their 49 match unbeaten run? Did Ryan Babel not dive when Arsenal were knocked out of the Quarter Final stage the season before last? Although, in my opinion these two examples were significantly much more pivotal to the resultant score and subsequent impact on the defeated club, the aftermath was nowhere near as has been seen since Wednesday’s game, i.e. Eduardo may be banned for two games! Justified I agree, but a new precedent!!, I wonder why?

The tie finished 5-1, surely even Mr Dalglish would accept that there was a massive gulf between the teams??!!