Club backs coach who threatened BBC woman with a slap
SUNDERLAND manager David Moyes will keep his job, despite threatening to slap a female TV reporter.
The club last night said Moyes’s comments were ‘wholly unacceptable’ but his job was safe.
Moyes, 53, issued a public apology to BBC Newcastle and Radio 5 Live reporter Vicki Sparks on Monday after video footage emerged of the controversial exchange following a post-match interview.
The BBC also found itself in the firing line after it was accused of trying to stifle Miss Sparks by taking her off air on the day the row exploded.
She had been expected to present the 1pm sports bulletin on BBC Radio Newcastle on Monday, but was axed at the 11th hour after her treatment by Moyes became a major news story. And in a bizarre move, the corporation also reported the row without naming Miss Sparks as the journalist involved or even mentioning a link to the radio station.
Moyes, whose side lost 0- 2 at Leicester City last night, was forced to apologise after he was caught on camera threatening to ‘slap’ Miss Sparks, ‘even though’ she is a woman. He also told the 29-year-old journal- ist: ‘Careful next time you come in.’
The story broke on Monday morning, but BBC Radio Newcastle remained strangely silent on the matter – despite the fact the row involved one of the region’s most popular football teams.
There was no mention of the incident in its morning news bulletins. Instead, it made room for items about the cancellation of fitness classes and Billy Ocean appearing at a music festival.
Miss Sparks read the sports bulletins between 7am and 9am as usual. But by 1pm, BBC Radio Newcastle editors realised they could no longer ignore one of the biggest stories of the day, and pulled the reporter off air. From that point, its hourly news bulletins all led on the extraordinary row – but even then, they did not name Miss Sparks or even identify the reporter involved as a BBC Newcastle journalist.
The station only started calling her by name from 4pm.
Yesterday, BBC insiders claimed that Miss Sparks had made a ‘joint decision’ with the broadcaster to stand down from the 1pm bulletin.
The BBC said: ‘As a duty of care to Vicki, who was on air for Radio Newcastle in the morning, we chose not to name her until later in the day.’
Critics accused the BBC of a whitewash, with one source claiming the corporation put its relationship with Sunderland ahead of its duty as a news organisation.
The club said: ‘ The exchange between the manager and a BBC reporter was wholly unacceptable and such actions are not condoned or excused in any way.
‘ With both the BBC and the reporter agreeing that appropriate action had been taken at the time, the club continues to fully support David in his role as manager.’
The footage of Moyes threatening Miss Sparks was filmed on a so-called ‘pool camera’ which supplies a single stream of footage to the BBC, Premier League Productions, BT and Sky. Any of the four broadcasters that had access to the feed could have broken the story of Moyes’ threat to ‘slap’ Miss Sparks, but none did.
Greg Clarke, who is chairman of the FA, last night accused Moyes of undermining efforts to tackle domestic violence, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
‘It was regrettable, it was distasteful, and I think it showed a complete lack of respect,’ he said.
‘There is a lot of violence against women in society and terms like that aren’t just disrespectful, I think they are bad examples.’