Leeds fans are silenced by Sky

Channel hush up chants in kick-off times dispute

SKy SPoRTS have been using technology to drown out abusive chants by Leeds United supporters which attack the broadcaster.

Some Leeds fans are angry that their kick- off times are often disrupted because of the number of times Sky televise their matches — and they voice their displeasure during these games.

During last Saturday’s fixture with Nottingham Forest at Elland Road, chants of ‘Sky TV is f****** s***’ were hushed by the broadcaster on more than one occasion — a process known as ‘dampening’.

Leeds fans have long had issues with Sky. The Championship club attract large TV audiences and, since the arrival of high-profile manager Marcelo Bielsa, they have become an even more desirable proposition.

From September 28 to November 10, seven of their eight matches have been, or are scheduled to be, televised.

of Leeds’s 15 league matches so far this season, only four have kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday, often creating transport problems for supporters.

Thanks to a new red button service, which allows midweek matches to be viewed, all but those four have been available to Sky viewers.

Chants against Sky are commonplace at Leeds and were heard briefly in the sixth and 90th minutes of their 1-1 draw with Forest, before being drowned out with what seemed to be neutral crowd noise.

After the final whistle, and with many fans still in the ground, Sky reporter David Craig interviewed the scorer of Leeds’s controversial late equaliser, Kemar Roofe.

As they headed for the exit, fans then launched into another anti- Sky chant, only for the audio to go off completely.

When the sound returned, the chant had ceased, although staff produced a second microphone which suggested that a technical problem may have been responsible for the outage.

Sky declined to comment. It is understood that the broadcaster does use dampening techniques in the event of coarse language being used, and is mindful of ofcom’s prewatershed regulations.

Last season, 19 of Leeds’s 46 league matches were televised.

Under Argentinian Bielsa, the club have high hopes of returning to the Premier League after a 15- year absence. They currently lie in second place, two points behind leaders Sheffield United.

Early last month, frustrated owner Andrea Radrizzani called for the creation of a Premier League 2 in a bid to increase television revenue.

Leeds picked up just £7.5million in 2017 under the EFL deal, compared to a guaranteed £100m for the team that finished bottom of the Premier League.

Leeds are on screen again this Sunday at Wigan, and also in front of the cameras the following Saturday at West Bromwich Albion.