Press reaction to the crazy proposal
The press was almost united in its opposition to the Game 39 plan. The Daily Express started up a sports page “crusade” called “Kick Out The 39th Step”, endorsed by Johan Cruyff and Graham Taylor among others. The Daily Mail took a proprietorial tone, claiming to have “led opposition to Scudamore’s campaign” via its online petition entitled “Just Say No!”, while the Sun settled on the annoyingly Cockernee “He Hasn’t Got A Scuby”, represented by Richard Scudamore’s head grafted on to Scooby Doo’s body. But while the Sun’s sports pages fell in line with the prevailing mood, their news section had taken an entirely different approach on February 8, the day after the scheme was announced.