By Gerard Mulreaney (@gerardmulreaney)
The CEO of one of Ireland’s leading media houses IFP Media, Rebecca Markey has apologised to fans of the GreatestLeagueInTheWorld after a major gaffe appeared in the Irish Daily Mail’s 2019 SSE Airtricity League preview on Friday.
In the SSE Airtricity League Chairman’s address it looked like the magazine just copied and pasted his address from the 2018 version of the preview.
In it, Naughton spoke about Cork winning the domestic double and that Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny has made some noteworthy additions to his squad. He also spoke about the ‘new’ 10-team leagues!
In a rant on Twitter Steve Bradley, a writer who has contributed to When Saturday Comes, Football Weekends and the Derry Journal attacked the FAI and the league Chairman by saying how little that the games governing body really care about the league.
As evidence of how little the @FAIreland care about @SSEAirtricityLg, here's the Chairman's address in the official 2019 League Guide (frm @IrishDailyMail). He's just re-submitted his text frm last year's guide! Complete with name-checking the wrong team as champions 😳 #EpicFail pic.twitter.com/rhs95VhzCJ
— Steve Bradley (@bradley_steve) February 15, 2019
His rant was re-tweeted over 100 times, while many other fans also voiced their opinions. Many supporters felt it was a typical lack of respect by the people who run the game in Ireland and a complete slap in the face to everyone involved in the league, which kicked-off in Friday night in front of big crowds across the country.
However, on Sunday afternoon Rebecca Markey took to Twitter herself to apologise, and explained that it was a human error that unfortunately wasn’t picked up. She said she was embarrassed that it happened and included a link to an online version of the correct address by the league Chairman.
Hi Stephen, I’m CEO of the publishing house that worked on this mag, for the last number of years, alongside the Irish Daily Mail. It was human error that the wrong editorial went in and wasn’t picked up. Embarrassed it happened. Correct version here: https://t.co/mkb9O0znuT
— Rebecca Markey (@RebeccaMarkey) February 17, 2019
Despite the error on the Chairman’s address, the magazine itself was a superb effort. It included previews from all 20 teams, with comments from Players, Managers, Players to watch and the main men at each club.