Boston Red Sox owners set to buy Liverpool FC

Fans are unhappy with how Hicks and Gillett are

running the club. (Image courtesy of teamtalk.com)

This is an update to my previous blog post (on 24th September) about Liverpool’s rising debts. It seems the Liverpool board has finally found a solution to their financial woes. This article from Bloomberg says that the owners of the American baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, will take over the beleaguered club – for 300 million pounds.

Bloomberg is one of the world’s major news corporations, so we can believe this piece of news. Reporter Tariq Panja has done a decent job too.

There's tension in the story - which is good. It seems that current co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, oppose the deal and the real reason is that they aren’t being paid 600 million pounds. Perhaps Panja could have mentioned something about this reason. Why the two co-owners can’t stop the sale of their own club, could also have been elaborated on more.

The choice of sources is good though, and adds credibility to the story. There are quotes from Martin Broughton, the Liverpool chairman and from a spokesperson for New England Sports Ventures (NESV), the likely buyer. Chairman Broughton has a direct influence in Liverpool’s affairs and NESV has just won the bid for the club, so their views would add interest to the story.

The providing of supporting facts are good too, because this gives concrete information to back up the article – like the new owner’s plans for the Anfield stadium. There’s also mention of the future stadium’s capacity, plans to win trophies and wipe out debts. This makes the article more informative.

Those who haven’t been following the issue can understand the story readily too, because Panja has provided adequate background information – like details of the Red Sox. This is good, as reporters shouldn’t assume their readers have been following the issue throughout.

Providing email addresses of Panja and the editor at the end of the article is a good tactic - it is ideal for online readers to inquire more about the story - and for the writer to obtain feedback.

Ancelotti desperate to win?

Strategy will be important to Ancelotti this Sunday.

(Image courtesy of The Sun)

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti’s father has just passed away in Italy, but according to this article from BBC Sport, the manager will still be presiding over Chelsea’s big match with London rivals Arsenal, this Sunday – and barking orders from the sidelines as usual.

This is interesting news because I think it shows Ancelotti’s desperation to win this game – even to the extent of rushing back immediately from his father’s funeral on Saturday. Every league match not won for Chelsea, means more points dropped in the league competition - and Ancelotti is worried.

This is probably a sad time for Ancelotti, so the reporter was right not to have interviewed him, even though a quote from Ancelotti might have added more depth to the story. The reporter is being ethical because Ancelotti would be grieving right now and not in a mood to speak to reporters. However, in the story, there is a short statement extracted from the Chelsea FC website, which helps to provide more information about the death of Ancelotti's father.

But the reporter could have obtained a quote from assistant manager Ray Wilkins about Chelsea’s chances of winning this Sunday – after having suffered their first defeat of the domestic league season last weekend. This could have strengthened and added variety to the story as well as helping to break up the descriptive text.

Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, I think the simple mugshot of Ancelotti is appropriate. Even though a picture of Ancelotti’s father, Giuseppe, on his deathbed might have been more relevant to the story angle, I definitely agree with the reporter not to have included such a picture – it’s simply not ethical to have done so.

But the WHY of journalism is missing because the article fails to address why Ancelotti will definitely be present at the Arsenal match this weekend – despite his father’s death. Wouldn’t he want to spend more time together with his family in Italy? We may assume that Ancelotti is too desperate to win against their London rivals, or that this could be an effort to impress his hard-to-please boss, club owner Roman Abramovich. But we can’t be sure.