The Boys are Back!
Last week I reported that the lads who had brought you "World Soccer Daily" as a Sirius radio show and free podcast had packed up the show due to a campaign of intimidation by the Liverpool supporters' clubs in this country. Well....after a little over a week off the air, Steven Cohen and Kenny Hassan are back with a new name - "World Football Daily" - and new incarnation of the show, which will be televised via Ustream. Here's the announcement from their website:
"On Monday, August 31st, World Football Daily will do a complete show, with guests, as we preview what the future of our brand is going to be. It is our intent to change the way football is discussed by bringing a football show of the people, for the people and by the people straight to the people. We hope you will get involved, be active and support this new show. The United States of America will lead the way in fan-based shows covering the beautiful game."
By support, they are indicating that the new show will be "subscriber driven" rather than ad driven, meaning that you'll have to shell out $9.95 per month to listen. As it's a daily routine for me, I'm thinking very seriously on doing this.
For now, you can see their teaser on "Ustream WSD."
posted by The Blue Devil @ 12:05 PM
5 Comments:
I've just listened to the first full show through the iTunes stream. Great stuff. Two full hours of chat about the weekend's footie.
Ugh - i cant stand Cohen. Evil personified, liar too.
I wouldnt give him a dollar.
What happened to him on Sirius was very much of his own making and he left because he had lost a lot of sponsors and had the gall to claim it was the LFCNY "Terrorists" who he likened to a Jihad that ran him off - yet he was back not more than a week later. He is a 2-faced moron who refused to take any responsibility for his actions. Nick and Keith are replacing them on Sirius and I am sure will pull in the masses sans the 9.95. Rant over :)
oops jumped the gun, looks like Nick and Steve will not be starting on Sirius. Nick has some professional issues apparently and so it may be a non-starter...
http://thekartikreport.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/exclusive-sirius-wsd-restart-a-no-go/
Thanks for the comments, Simon. I have the same personal opinion of Cohen that you do, but I also find him a vital voice for football in this country. There's absolutely no way that ESPN would be showing live footie on a Saturday morning had Cohen and Geber not brought in the audience for the game over the past eight years. Nick Webster and Keith Costigan are FSC company men who trot out the MLS talking points straight from Sunil Gulati's desk; they will never find the same grassroots audience that Cohen has built.
In the end, it wasn't that the advertisers or Sirius abandoned him - they didn't. He and Kenny Hassan quit the old show simply because their families' safety had been threatened by dozens of members of Liverpool supporters' clubs in an action officially sanctioned by Liverpool F.C. and Gillette and Hicks. Regardless of his opinions on Heysel and Hillsborough, I don't think any true supporter of the game (or anyone living in a democracy) can condone those actions. I'm glad to see them back.
Not a chance - these threats (and I am sure there were a few morons) have hardly been substantiated and the fact he was willing to throw his family to the wolves a week after he quit (and as soon as they figured out a sponsorproof plan) tells me everything... Indeed Cohen himself has a complaint lodged against him with the FBI for slander and accusations of anti-Semitism which arent true.
I certainly cant underestimate the show's value but he is reprehensible and did this to himself... twice as he had to apologise on FSC only 2 or 3 years ago for the same thing. I cant stand stupidity and for him to have done this twice and on a subject that needs sensitivity and then to blame everyone else but himself for this defies belief.
Seeing even Peter Kenyon berate Cohen tells you just how low this man is. Am I glad to see him back? No. Would I have been glad to see him replaced with anyone else - absolutely. I like Costigan; one of the best on FSC.
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