On this week's edition of The Football Show from Balls.ie, we spoke to Daniel Gordon, director of the newly-released George Best: All By Himself. You can listen to the full discussion on the podcast, by subscribing on iTunes, or by listening below:
Along with the Best documentary, Gordon has a superb filmography, and has directed a number of acclaimed documentary films, two of which were commissioned by ESPN's storied 30 for 30 stable: 9.79*, the story of the mens' 100-metre final from the 1988 Olympics, and more recently, Hillsborough, the film that tells the full story of the Hillsborough stadium disaster of 1989, in which 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives.
Included in that documentary is The Sun's coverage of the disaster, in which they splashed abhorrent allegations about Liverpool fans' actions on the day, under the headline "The Truth". The claims have since been proved as lies and included slurs that Liverpool fans pickpocketed the dead and urinated upon police officers.
The Sun has been boycotted by the people of Liverpool ever since, and earlier this month, Liverpool Football Club decided to ban reporters from The Sun newspaper from reporting on the club’s matches from Anfield and be given no access to interview players or the manager, Jürgen Klopp.
Having spent years working so closely with the story, we asked Gordon his opinion on the club's decision:
I sort of say, why wasn't it done earlier? There's been a long campaign from the very beginning against The Sun for what they did, they never truly apologised for what they did. When the verdict came, The Sun didn't carry it on their front page, and neither did the Times. I think I'm right in saying that the Times later corrected it with a picture, after their own journalist objected. So I think you know where their opinions lie. So there's no way I would criticise that, I think it's right.
The thing that people need to remember, the story, "The Truth" that the Sun used, that story went around and into many newspapers on or around the 19th of April. The Sun, as they would do, especially at that time, went one step further and turned it into a horrific headline. An awful lot of newspapers can hang their head in shame for their coverage around that time, but as has been proved since, The Sun is particularly bad. You can buy the Sun in Liverpool, but nobody buys it. They've put it out to pasture there.
Gordon also spoke at length about the process of putting together the Best movie, and you can listen to the full conversation on the podcast.
George Best: All By Himself is showing in cinemas now.
