Poll: Will You Miss World Soccer Daily?

So glad he got the boot. He was an arse. Maybe Nick Geber can come back and restart the show. Cohen was a self serving jerk always pushing his clique (Posh Spice, Georgie, and friends). He did not take critique well. Sent him a couple of comments over the years only to get inflamatory hate mail back from the wanker.
Good riddance.

Well, he's back, folks. Found it on iTunes podcast list and they are up and running from the start on a subscription basis. So if you want your Cohen, he's there with Kenny again.

I am an American football who has listened to this show for over a year. There were times that Steven made comments that I disagreed with but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I was not a footie fan when Hillsboro happened so the only thing that I can say is that it was tragic. What upsets me is that in a country based on free speech, Look at the admendments making up the Bill of Rights, someone has been silenced because people did not like what he said. If a boycott was initiated everytime someone said something that another person didn't like then we would all be in trouble. I realize that this situation doesn't include all Liverpool fans, just a select few who feel it is theri duty to state the opinion of all Liverpool fans. I believe many would probably be embarrassed or outraged at the lengths certain members of their community have gone to to find "justice" as they put it. But I wonder, how many of these fans intersted in justice were there at Hillsboro? How many of them personally knew someone who died? How many of them were footie fans, or for that matter knew what proper football was?

as usual scum always screw it up for the rest , if you didnt like what he said turn off...

i remember watching it happen on tv and couldnt believe what i was seeing , but i also remember watching the bradford fire in 1985 , ibrox in the 70´s ...it was terrible what happened at hillsborough but why oh why do we have to have it brought up every year , bradford isnt , ibrox isnt ...so why hillsborough ..nothing will change for the people who so sadly lost there lives,no amount of compensation money for the families will bring back the loved ones ..

this sickening witch hunt the so called supporters of liverpool have made on the WSD and the families of staff is an insult to the people who lost there lives

maybe you should listen to the chants the liverpool supporters make when you play man utd , about the berlin aircrash...

and as for conor brennan and his gang , your a disgrace
lets hope no one boycotts your business ...shoe would be on the other foot then wouldnt it !!

IF YOU DIDNT LIKE WHAT HE SAID , JUST TURN OFF THE RADIO
OR BETTER STILL PHONE IN AND CONFRONT HIM WITH HIS COMMENTS AND ASK HIM EXPLAIN HIMSELF...

maybe you arent articulate enough ?

Don't like his comments? DON'T LISTEN! The scum who forced the show off the air are the same cowards who try to tell others what they should think about religion and politics. I hate Rush Limbaugh with a burning passion, but I wouldn't dream of trying to get his show off the air. My response is to NOT LISTEN!

miss it like crazy, no other show like. I think they should have created their own show, beat Steven in healthy competition, instead of some lame 60's English labor tactic (sure I guess it worked, but to what end). Then maybe we fans could have had a win-win instead of a draw at best (I assume the liverpool fans weren't listening anyway, so everyone else lost). Liar or not, agree with it or not, it was still just an opinion. No matter how ridiculous.

Arsenal fan here...
Cohen is a loudmouth sensationalist pig of the highest order hiding behind free speech. His demise is long overdue and his nonsense finally came back to bite him. The sweeping indictment against "Liverpool fans" is ludicrous, unsubstantiated and shows how he's been able to manipulate so many listeners. I won't miss that show one bit and at the end of the day neither will others. I've no doubt someone better will fill that void soon.

Correction: Steven rather than Stephen, sorry.

This whole discussion is based on acceptance of the story about death threats from LFC supporters. If, in fact, there were death threats made against Stephen Cohen or his family, they certainly didn't come from anyone in or around LFCNY, a gentle and good natured group I've been watching games with for several years.
Free speech means that Cohen can (and has many times over several years) make his views known regarding Hillsborough, and LFC supporters can organize a boycott of his sponsors.
Thanks also to the commenter who mentioned Cohen's generally racist ramblings.
I'm sorry the forum is gone, but if it had to go with Cohen I can't complain. I'm sure its wishful thinking, but if this boycott leads to any mitigation of the hateful dribble that we have to suffer along with the info, interviews and humor we want from sports radio, it will be a handy outcome. (BTW, I have witnesses on this blog who can attest to my enjoyment of ribald and reasonably offensive humor, so when I call something hateful dribble, its gone fairly extreme).

It was a good show that had really gotten better with time. Kenny was a great addition as well as the guest line ups. No more Robbie Earle and chats with the players. Jozy Altidore was a great interview.
Both parties crossed the line at one point. It should have been settled with a discussion amongst cool heads.
What did Kenny ever do to anyone? He always had the right ideas and could put the brakes on Stephen a bit.
Hopefully it will continue in some shape or form.

The Liar? Oh boo hoo. Yeah it worked, congrats. And Tim Vickery's viewpoint is Tim Vickery's viewpoint. So Cohen was wrong for what he said (and apologized for going too far); so he let the rabid Liverpool hating fan inside his person come out too much; so what?; so he was dumb enough to express mock indignation at a host of things related to Liverpool and those attempts at bad humor were turned into Internet gotcha clips. Turn his show off. Better yet, call his show and show him how wrong he is. 'Cause now? Actually, now his words stand. They stand. Within niche and growing soccer community in the US people only know that Liverpool fans freak out when some event from like decades ago happened and people don't agree with the take on the whole matter.

This isn't about free speech. That's a straw argument. This is about raw emotions. This is about (interesting isn't it?) a storied club who's fans have such a violent past that actions by many of these same fans are completely swept under the rug. And now, long ago, probably years before many who post here were even born, a terrible tragedy happened (too many fans, pens [why were there pens again?], absent authorities, open gates, closed gates, alcohol, decaying infrastructure, terraces, etc, etc, etc) can be treated as if it were more tragic than any of life's other tragedies...and just a bit of thou protesteth too much, eh? I mean really, isn't that what's also going on here?

So much of this is so ridiculous and this "Hate Cohen" stuff is as immature and stupid as this whole debate. Liverpool fans (in the main) just silenced the only decent (and improving) soccer show in the US, where, to those of you not from the US, soccer fans actually know their stuff.

Tim Vickery made the best and most rational comment about this matter on World Football Phone-in. To paraphrase,
Making a contrarian viewpoint is free speech.
Making a contrarian viewpoint without facts to back your claim is an abuse of free speech.

Cohen brought wrath upon himself for making repeated foolish statements.
There is one truism that Steven Cohen should remember well.
Money talks, bullshit walks.
In essence, the boycotts worked and now the liar has been silenced.

As a Liverpool supporter here in the states, WSD was one place I was able to sit at work and get the scoop about what was happening in the footy world across the pond. Now the show is gone. The motto, You'll Never Walk Alone rings very true to me, but the truth is at some point everyone does. Your actions are yours alone. Start something and others become involved and go over the top. Guess what you started it. Keep that close to your heart.

I feel for the 96, it was a tragedy, but there are believe it or not, different opinions out there on EVERYTHING. I wasn't old enough to remember this happening, but I have seen photos and read eyewitness accounts and it is truly heart wrenching. But here my opinion on your actions. Why not use your heartache and anger in a positive way? Just this year people died in Africa attending a football match. Why not organize to make stadiums safe around the globe? Why spend all this time and negative energy organizing against one single radio show? Have you broken it down and asked yourselves, what was really behind this? If you want to respond and answer this feel free too. Please try to convince me. And what is this statement on LFCNY about "Today’s statement that Steven Cohen is finally gone off air is Justice for the 96." Thank god now everyone can rest now. Have you contacted the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to tell them they can shut down now. Mission accomplished. How does you getting a show off the air get justice for the 96. I think you have delusions of grandeur. Get over yourselves.

Free Speech, I agree. You can say whatever you want. But if this garbage about threats is true, then it will come back to you, you cannot separate yourselves from the rabble that did this. In one way or the other, sometime something bad will happen to you, and then you will think back and say, "damn, I was associated with an on line movement that at some point became anti-Semitic and threatened innocent children."

You should be very proud. So leave the people of the show alone now. You have won and I just wonder what you will do with your time now. Other than you Hicks and Gillette, give Rafa his money and win the league.

Sharky, you miserable ignoramus, Kenny is an Arab. You couldn't be further off.

I am just curious how making death threats, especially against children honors victims of a terrible tragedy and their memory?

Sorry, I forgot the link: http://worldsoccerreader.com/

I only discovered this podcast three weeks ago (the week before the season began.) I enjoyed most segments during those 3 weeks. The 5 min fans club previews, in particular, were top class. I hadn't listened much this week, but I was shocked when I heard Friday's show. I decided to research these hooligans, who hounded this show off the air. However, the more I looked into the story, the clearer it became that Steven Cohen doesn't deserve a platform to insult a city, a football club, but most importantly, the survivors and relatives of the deceased fans of the Hillsborough disaster. How would people feel about some radio host continually insulting the families of deceased soldiers or 9/11 victims? Would you not at least put pressure on the sponsors of the program to withdraw their support for it? He has made statements a number of times in the past 3 years, been forced to make an apology, and then reiterated the despicable comments a few months later. No matter the undoubted quality of the format of the show, this host doesn't deserve to be on the airwaves. I really hope another top quality show will take its place and will push soccer on in the US. Finally if you have time, this website has good, independent coverage of the events of this controversy. Take care

I had been a regular listener of WSD for years. To be fair to Steven, the show has vastly improved over the past year or so with the addition of Kenny. When one recalls the Cohen/Geber shows, it's amazing how far the program has come to actually mimicking proper radio formatting in its last days.
I find it rather galling though that Steven play the race card now when I recall some of the remarks he had made in the past years. Never mind his hatred of Liverpool. What shocked even me was his open hatred of anything Arab or Muslim. Both Geber and Cohen constantly made disparaging and insulting remarks about Arab entities interested in investing in English clubs. And anything revolving around the Arab/Israeli conflict happening in the news drew comments from Cohen that were so racist that he would have been removed years ago were he on regular AM band radio.

I'm very saddened by the destruction of this show. If you don't like what Steven Cohen has to say, don't listen to his show. But, to bring about his show's destruction is immature and ridiculous at the same time. I don't agree with many things that he has said, but he still had the best soccer show in The United States, the best guests, an open forum--where were the Liverpool fans who disagreed with Cohen, but never called his show?, and flexibility in its format. And now? Nothing. Nice work, really nice work...and I'm not even talking about the whole "free speech" thing (because one can "free speech" him back), I'm just talking about the lunacy of fans (many surely not even alive when Hillsborough happened [and Heysel for that matter]) who want to destroy that which dares to question.

So much for free speech in this country. That show was the best place to get information on the game especially for someone new to the game. It was educational, entertaining and annoying at the same time. If you don't agree with someone you have the ability to change the channel. I don't listen to Bill Marr or Rush Limbaugh because they are both idiots but guess what they have the right to say what they feel.

very verbose, but good read: http://socceruniverse.ning.com...

Clifford - Cohen sincerely apologized for his remarks. He condemned the boycott and the death threats, but apologized sincerely for his factually inaccurate remarks. Read the press release on worldsoccerdaily.com. To say that the show being pulled had nothing to do with Liverpool FC's "fans" is completely naive and uninformed.

Over the years Cohen would make comments that I found objectionable, but so what.

As far as I'm concerned Liverpool fans can no longer with any honesty sing YNWA. You need to be singing:
YNWAUYAWUC (You'll never walk alone unless you agree with us completely)

YNWA now belongs to Celtic, the only place where it can be sung with true honesty.

The Kharma wheel eventually eventually goes around and bites you on the the rear. These people who sent death threats will get theirs be by the FBI or other sources.
Of course Hicks and Gillette and almost 20 years with no title is a pretty good start.

First off, Cohen never sincerely apologized for his ignorant comments concerning Hillsborough. His half-ass effort to do so was quite reminiscent of an obstreperous little boy forced to say sorry for doing something he clearly has no remorse for. He's a pathetic idiot who deserves to lose his 'livelihood' and have his own club disown him. Kudos to Chelsea for doing the right thing.

Furthermore, Cohen is a coward. Had he sincerely apologized for his irresponsible and factually incorrect comments concerning Hillsborough, he would still be on the air. Instead he'd rather be a prideful idiot and make a mockery of himself by trying to play the victim. He is not the victim because unlike the 96, he's still alive, ego and pride clearly intact.

If his loyal listeners want to blame LFCNY or LFC supporters in general, feel free, it just shows their ignorance. Cohen was the one who pulled the plug on his show, not anything to do with Liverpool FC. He could have done the right thing, but did not. Good riddance to bad rubbish say I.

Yup, Cohen was more or less a top grade moron. So what? We don't love footy for the intelligence of its protagonists (right, Mr. Arshavin?). It was the best podcast in the world for the sport, and will be dearly missed by me and many of my friends.

What a shame. Always enjoy the give-and-take between passionate, opinionated, knowledgeable supporters. Beats hell out of Brent Mussberger doing the World Cup (what a nightmare memory that was). If only the LFCNY supporters understood that and weren't so freaking rude and abusive to other team's supporters who dare tread on their territory - literally and figuratively. Aside from one pub near Anfield, never had opposing supporters go so far out of their way to try to start a fight - even in Italy.

You bet they'll be missed. Its the best podcast on the web. I've listened to everything else out there. Its about finding that balance between entertainment and football and they did that better than anyone.

steve made a comment that he wouldn't say again, but why didn't one of these so called liverpool fans ring in and explain how wrong the comment was and give him the chance to apologise, for me the whole thing is truely sad(poor rafa has no job).
cooler heads should have prevailed

and also kenny is the man

how can't you miss it? it was the only thing of its kind.

i dont think its the end of cohen, or the whole affair. he's got talent, and will find employment in a year or two.

and if there were threats to his children (can some call the FBI/LAPD and seek a comment, even just to confirm an investigation is occurring?), then many a lawsuit will be flowing downstream.

"When you come to the U.S. We ask you to leave your old world behaviors and prejudices at the border…"

Such bullshit. When you come to the U.S., I think you are asked to turn into the most elitist nationalist in all the world.

Or if you had said "We ask you to leave your old world behaviors and prejudices at the border… and learn ours" that would have been perfectly said.

(Damn cat, stop walking on the keyboard!)

What a disgrace. Best futbol show and podcast ever. Is there anything better online? A sad day for sure.

As a European ex-pat, WSD was a good outlet to get news on the beautiful game on a daily basis. Yes, Cohen was the football equivalent of a shock jock, and the show was truly better when he wasn't on, but he wasn't the draw for the show, anyway.

During the season, they would have a great guest almost every day, and while these guys can be found in different places, no one show had them all, every week (or every few weeks). No other show in America that I know of was able to get interviews with Premier League managers.

What Cohen said was not right, and people have every right to not listen, but it went too far, taking with it the only decent soccer show in this country.

And that is the true shame.

When you come to the U.S. We ask you to leave your old world behaviors and prejudices at the border... If you do not like something, simply ignore it.
I would get tired of Stephen from time to time and so i would change the channel. I will miss all of them, Kenny and Howard the most..

I really don't understand what else these supporters wanted WSD to do. They don't speak about the hillsborough disaster anymore, cohen apologized numerous times. It is pathetic people are small enough to take this issue from a boycott to threats on his family. Is that really making anything better? I cant believe one man's opinion, just one man, can lead people to make death threats for his opinion. These people have ruined a great thing for american soccer fans, and apart from what you might think about the hosts, the great guests from across the world were really interesting and insightful for any fan.

Brazbit: I loved the show. Listened every day, but agree that I thought we lived in a country when you didn't like something someone said, you ignore it. When you don't like what someone DOES, you do something about it.

Joe Wright: Who the hell cares. Geez. Everyone makes dumbass comments on occasion. Get over it.

It's gonna suck to go without it. It was always nice to hear them talk honestly about a game or news piece. Honest in the sense that they didn't hide their bias, didn't try to be the most objective, but only gave their opinions. It felt like you were listening to a real person, not a robot.

Also, they had great guests like Graham Hunter and the dudes from South America. I also liked the guy that discussed Turkish football. I don't care about it, but that correspondent always gave entertaining interviews about the league.

Oh how can I forget? Ray Hudson was a guest on that show and it was a great interview.

So yeah I'll miss it.

I suggest that anyone who cannot understand the boycott first take a look at the Taylor report and realise that what this commentator has said is an insult to the memory of the 96.

This reaction would of been further exacerbated by the actions of The Sun newspaper in the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...

I'm so disappointed, it was about the only legit radio show about soccer that we have to listen to...I won a world soccer daily t-shirt, and now I'll wear it proudly to every bar match I go to. This actually made me not like Liverpool supporters where I was was neutral and unbiased.

I will miss listening to them. I've been downloading the podcast for a few years now, and it's a bummer to lose a soccer show in the US.

I'll miss Kenny more than Steven, even though he is a closet gunnar

I will very much miss the show. I don't yet know who was right or wrong in the Liverpool debate. But it was a good show -- top-notch commentators, comprehensive coverage of the game in the U.S. and around the globe, informative, good music selection. It was a part of my daily routine for 3 years.

I sincerely doubt that whatever Mr. Cohen said was worth killing the show.

I will greatly miss this show. If only more people had been like Jon and simply stopped listening if they didn't like what they heard.

You missed option C): It wasn't all that great

Jon:
No, I actually didn't e-mail him. So I guess there are 2 of us weirdos who got "worked up" about it. :)
I just stopped listening.

Homey, you must have been the one that emailed Kenny about that, cause I can't imagine too many people getting really worked up about that.

I used to listen to it and enjoy it somewhat. But I got tired of Cohen's sidekick constantly taking the Lord's name in vain. That began to really bother me, so I stopped listening.

Terrible news for football in the US. There is no other such outlet for fans to voice their opinions. And in the end, isn't this what it's all about, OPINIONS?

LFCNY should be ashamed of themselves.

Barring the Hillsborough comments, he still came off like a pompous idiot. Will not be missed.

I just listen to Football Weekly.

Long hair, don't care.

I doubt it was for lack of sponsorship, as many of the sponsors called in on the last show and seemed upset. This was and is a shame, and now thanks to a few idiots, we have no real soccer radio show in this country. Way to go, assholes.

I fear I may have killed WSD, first time I listened to it was Thursday for the Bill Simmons interview, and the next day it's over.

Thanks Daryl - I've become a subscriber to the world football phone in podcast as a result of hearing Vickery and Brassell on WSD.

As for Pena - I attempt to use my slipping Italian skills and read him in the Gazzetta Dello Sport.

I can't help you with Massimo Lopes Pena, but you can find Tim Vickery (and sometimes Andy Brassell) every week on the BBC World Football Phone In:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/...

I'll miss it mainly for the regular excellent guests - Tim Vickery, Andy Brassell, Robbie Earle and of course my personal favorite, Massimo Lopes Pena due to his pro-Fiorentina bias. Like all phone-in shows, I tended to get frustrated with the hosts and callers, but Hassan and Cohen did a great job of tracking down guests who could add excellent insight into the beautiful game.

With the continuing expansion of television coverage of European football in the United States, it is truly a shame that there isn't another show of this sort as a forum for discussion of the game.