It was a bad afternoon for Everton and Sean Dyche on the pitch, with the club suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa at Villa Park earlier today.
While their supporters will be concerned with the start their team has made to the season, their issues were put into perspective by the tributes paid to one of their own who tragically lost his life earlier this week.
Everton supporter Michael Jones tragically passed away after being injured while working on construction of the club's new stadium at Bramley Moore-Dock. A lifelong fan of the club, he was only 26-years old.
This incident has been met with an outpouring of grief in the Merseyside city, with Liverpool fans paying their own tribute to the construction worker by holding a minutes applause in the 26th minute of their game against Bournemouth at Anfield yesterday.
The Everton players and staff wore black armbands in memory of Michael Jones for their game this afternoon, something that resulted in some insensitive comments during the Sky Sports broadcast of the game.
Sky Sports duo make insensitive Sean Dyche comments
Along with the Everton players, Sean Dyche and his staff also wore black armbands in tribute to Michael Jones.
With Dyche also sporting a white shirt, the Sky Sports commentary duo joked that he looked like a 'croupier', someone who runs the gambling tables at casinos.
It was a misguided comment, one that many were quick to call out. Considering the meaning behind the armband, they felt that the comments warranted an apology from the broadcaster.
Hi @SkySports can I ask why your commentators thought it was acceptable to make a joke about Sean Dyche wearing a black arm band? If they’re so desperate for material can I suggest they get some training? Oh & apologise the family of the young man being remembered. Disgusting.
— melanie harvey (@melharvey72) August 20, 2023
Andy Hinchcliffe and the sky commentator cracking jokes about Sean Dyche ‘looking like a croupier’ in the black armband he’s wearing as a mark of respect for the young man who died last week at BMD. Is it me or is this in really poor taste @SkySports
— ged english (@gedenglish) August 20, 2023
Wow. @SkySports “Sean Dyche with his black armband on there looking like a croupier”
Disgusting. Appalling.— Yanndalf the Blue 🇺🇦 (@Yanndalf1) August 20, 2023
Why do @SkySports commentators think it’s ok to make several croupier/gambling jokes on Sean Dyche appearance based on his black armband. Offensive and in poor taste. @Everton should make a point of it. Very poor behaviour
— Alex Smith (@alexdsmiff) August 20, 2023
The comments were certainly poor.
Sean Dyche was part of an Everton delegation that paid tribute to Michael Jones earlier this week, placing a bouquet of flowers and a hand-written note at the construction site.
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