FA BLAMES LINEKAR

From the Telegraph

Relations between the Football Association and the BBC soured further last night after it emerged that senior Soho Square officials had raised concerns over the broadcaster's "vicious" coverage of the England team as far back as October 2005. And despite matching ITV and Setanta's successful £425 million bid for the rights to England and FA Cup matches from August 2008 in an email to the FA on Wednesday, BBC sources claim they were "frozen out" of the deal.

The storm over the FA's decision to dump the BBC shows no sign of going away as Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker raised the stakes yesterday by attacking the FA's attempts to tone down the corporation's criticism of the national team.

The FA responded by claiming it was Lineker's "sarcastic" presenting style which had caused the rift with the BBC in the first place. An FA insider said: "The issue's never been about constructive criticism from the BBC team. It is more about Lineker's sarcastic style."

According to BBC insiders, FA chief executive Brian Barwick, a former head of sport at the BBC and ITV, began pressurising the corporation following England's World Cup 2006 qualifiers against Austria and Poland in October 2005. The pressure grew after England's dismal World Cup quarter-final exit under former manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and, following the defeat against Portugal in Gelsenkirchen, Barwick condemned the coverage to senior members of the BBC Sport production team as "vicious".

While there is no doubt that ITV and Setanta won the four-year deal because their offer was £70 million higher than the joint bid from BBC and Sky, revelations that the FA tried to influence their coverage will seriously damage Barwick's reputation.

With Barwick under intense pressure over the appointment of Steve McClaren as England manager, the row with the BBC has overshadowed what was an extremely positive piece of news for the FA.

FA sources insist that the controversy is a smokescreen to try to disguise the fact the BBC were complacent in their negotiations over the new rights deal. They say the "negative" coverage of England had nothing to do with the decision to go with ITV and Setanta, a deal which they say was "pure business".

Lineker and Sky's Richard Keys fronted a BBC and Sky presentation to FA executives last Monday where Lineker was asked about the negative coverage by Barwick. Then on Wednesday the BBC emailed the FA with a bid matching ITV and Setanta's £425 million offer, but by that time it was too late. The FA had entered into exclusive negotiations with ITV and Setanta on Tuesday.

FA executives say that the BBC were guilty of misreading the market and just how seriously new ITV executive chairman Michael Grade wanted to win the rights. The FA are also disappointed with Lineker's comments on air during Saturday night's Match of the Day and in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph.

He wrote: "What the FA are doing is trying to dodge the real issues at hand. How could any broadcaster be taken seriously if it allowed outside parties to determine its editorial content? When that happens it is no longer journalism."