BBC denies obsession with all things Manchester

The BBC has denied having an obsession with Manchester United but its head of football output admits the corporation needs to “keep an eye on” the amount of coverage it gives to the club.

Friday’s FA Cup first-round tie between Salford City and Notts County has been selected for live broadcast by the BBC. That is scheduled just 24 hours after the second of a two-part BBC1 documentary called ‘Class Of ’92: Out of Their League’ airs, which is about five former United players’ ownership of Salford.

United’s most successful manager Alex Ferguson was recently the subject of a BBC1 documentary, and so too was United and England striker Wayne Rooney.

BBC’s football boss Mark Cole said it had been “mentioned” in discussions over which FA Cup tie to show live that the choice of Salford City could provoke claims of favouritism towards the Old Trafford club, based just a few miles away from the broadcaster’s Salford headquarters.

Cole defended the coverage. When asked if the BBC was obsessed with United, he said: “That was mentioned when we were choosing the games and I said ‘look, we have to just choose what we think is the best game and we’ve just got to make sure all of our coverage is fully representative of the whole country’, which it is.”

Referring to the recent spate of programmes about the Red Devils, Cole added: “I can see as a collective that some people will say ‘look, actually you have got to be careful on that’, I think it is just one for us to keep an eye on.”