I am becoming increasingly disappointed and incensed by the BBC's completely pro-English biased. Today (Monday) I turn on the radio, 909 as usual, to hear how sorry we all feel for Martin Taylor. He is mentally shattered. Arsene Wenger, once again, portrayed as the evil wrong-doer who seems to be the focus, at every opportunity, of criticism far beyond that which is fair or justified.

Imagine this.

Eduardo carried out the same challenge on David Beckham (at the height of his Man Utd fame). Beckham suffers a double compound fracture and extensive muscle and ligament damage putting a serious question mark over the possibility of him ever being able to play football again.

The papers, the media, and especially Radio 5 would be carrying masses of ‘over the top’ stories of banning foreigners from the English game, about Eduardo never being allowed to play in England again, there would be references to the tragedy that was Munich, there would be pictures depicting Eduardo as the devil himself.

The problem.

Arsenal have for some time been regarded as a 'foreign' side in the Premier League given the high ratio of non-English players to English players. The anti-'foreigner' brigade, which includes the FA (happy to take the bewilderingly incompetent McClaren ahead of far superior 'foreign' alternatives), seem to have happily sat back and encouraged the now monotonous chant that we have heard so often, that “Arsenal don’t like it up ‘em”. This ‘standard’, set, and never better demonstrated than at Old Trafford when the 49 match unbeaten run came to an end, was endorsed by a referee who was either part of a hidden agenda on that day and therefore, simply a cheat, or in his display produced the most incompetent display of refereeing ever seen in the Premier League.

Birmingham

Alex McLeish, in his pre-match press conference, boasted how his team would ‘rough-up’ Arsenal and “get in their faces”. If he is prepared to say this to the media what does he say to the team behind closed doors? How does Martin Taylor, recently declared ‘saint’, who genuinely doesn’t appear to be ‘that sort of player’ interpret McLeish’s dressing-room malice, bearing in mind he has been criticised for not being ‘hard-enough’. There is no doubt whatsoever that the guy didn’t intend to cause the damage he did. However, unless he has lost control of his limbs (which if is the case, we should indeed feel more sorry for Taylor than Eduardo) there is no doubt that Taylor was intent on roughing-up Eduardo with the tackle and setting the standard for the match.

This accident has been waiting to happen and we (genuine football fans):can only hope:

a) That the FA take further action to set an example that this is not acceptable

b) That Eduardo returns to the same health and fitness that he had before Saturday, and

c) That the BBC and the English FA give ‘foreign’ players and the respect and recognition that they deserve.

Instead of looking closely at Wenger and feeling sorry for Taylor perhaps we should be looking closely at McLeish and giving Eduardo the sympathy that he deserves.