Conspiracy theories abound, from the existence of UFO's, to how many people were involved in the assassination of JFK, to did Man actually land on the moon? The debate on these topics can help while away the long, cold hours of a boring night shift or help the slightly inebriated nurse that final pint before last orders down the pub. However, there has been one aspect of the football news that has had me wondering why the BBC is loathe to give credit where credit is due. Is there a conspiracy among the the BBC personnel to play down the great season Swindon Town are having in League 1?
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| Swindon Town - Top of the League! |
Swindon Town's latest run of good results has seen them overtake their West Country rivals Bristol City to top the League 1 table. Although level on points, Swindon Town are above Bristol City on merit by the virtue of a better goal difference. The "Goal Difference Rule" was introduced into English football for the 1976 - 1977 season and is the difference between the goals scored and goals conceded for a team. The League 1 Table above shows that, as of 24th January 2015, although both teams had 54 points, Swindon Town's goal difference stood at +27, whilst that of Bristol City was +26. Therefore, by virtue of having a better goal difference by +1, Swindon Town are worthy table-toppers. Why, then, does the BBC insist that there are joint leaders of League 1?
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| The football League Show |
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| Football Focus |
During "The Football League Show" aired on Saturday 17th January 2015, Manish Bhasin stated, wrongly, that Swindon Town and Bristol City were "joint top". Then , today, on BBC's Football Focus, Kevin Kilbane made a similar mistake in his statement saying that the two clubs were joint leaders. Perhaps the BBC needs to send its employees on a GCSE Mathematics course so that they can add and subtract? Then, Swindon Town Football Club will get the recognition and praise that it deserves...hopefully!
