Pundits’ showy partisanship reflects football’s embrace of fan-centric populism | Jonathan Liew

The coverage of Manchester United’s win over Lyon last week was just the latest sign that fandom is consuming everythingImpartiality fan here – for my sins! – but you have to say Robbie Savage and Rio Ferdinand during the closing minutes of Manchester United v Lyon on Thursday night were absolute class. It all starts in the 118th minute, with United 6-5 down on aggregate, and the TNT Sports camera lingering on the face of a crying boy in the crowd. “Let’s hope we ca