Soccer Portal

There is obviously a big market for ex players to voice their opinions in the media on football, let’s have a look at TV coverage in the light of Gary Neville being employed by Sky as a pundit from next year.  They reason it is to give us the benefit of his experience as a top player and an insight into aspects of the game not apparent to us mere mortals.

The first thing to say is that just because someone has been a great player, it does not mean they can make the transition into being a good pundit.  Looking at some players over the years it is apparent that some either have no idea about the tactical side of the game or have any interest in it.  Horses for courses, not all players are blessed with such knowledge and have forged successful careers as players without it.  Some do not have the eloquence to deliver cohesive analysis.  There is also the general lack of common sense displayed by others, as has been evidenced by recent publicity about off the field exploits and postings on social media sites like Twitter.  Anyone who allegedly posts pictures of their private parts or makes jokes about immigration at the time of the Ghana international recently maybe does not think through the consequences of such actions or have the ability to enlighten us with their expertise.

Secondly, what are we looking for when we listen to the ‘experts’?  Football is a sport and part of the entertainment industry.  Should we be looking for in depth analysis from respected ex players with a serious approach, the fun side of coverage or a mix of both?  If you look at Sky’s Soccer Saturday, it is mainly entertainment with some substance. You get the news re team line-ups, regular updates on scores and a comprehensive coverage of the results.  Occasionally we get some interesting thoughts from some of the experts who don’t take themselves too seriously and keep us interested on a Saturday afternoon especially when your own team isn’t playing.  We do look forward to Kammy’s insights and regular, ‘Unbelievable’, shouts to camera.

The Good, and the rest.

There are some who provide that mix, the likes of Gareth Southgate, (great knowledge), Jamie Redknapp, (passionate who has the personality and insight which could see him taking over the Andy Gray role on Sky next year), and Lee Dixon, (tactically sound, just needs a personality implant).  Their presenting styles are a good mix of expertise with a smattering of humour providing a good balance.

Then there are others like Andy Townsend, Alan Shearer and Alan Hansen.  The record needs to be changed in their delivery of stock phrases, and the lack of innovation in their analysis of events.  Come on, give us food for thought, and tell us something we don’t know, stop trotting out the usual platitudes!  They are serious pundits with a serious message, we need to be informed and educated as reflected in Stan Collymore’s comments re the input on Match Of The Day.

The final group are the ones who are there for pure entertainment value.  I include Ian Wright in this group, (hyper active with a ridiculous national bias), and Paul Merson, (whose command of the Queens English makes it hard to understand his point if there is one).

Neville – passionate or whinger?

Back to G. Neville. Esq.  You have to give Sky credit for expanding their portfolio of pundits to include one of the most successful footballers in recent times in terms of trophies. However, can he be relied upon to give us technical, informed, and objective analysis?  His career has been built on what has been described over the years as passion, intensity, and commitment.  Unfortunately there a lot of people who will remember him as a player as a whining individual always to be relied upon to head the deputation who surrounded referees, screaming abuse with his face contorted with rage when things were not going the United way.  He has been described as the shop steward of football.  It was interesting to read his quotes after Wayne Rooney’s recent ban for swearing directly into a camera after scoring against West Ham.  “When there is so much at stake, you will get emotion and passion and with that comes incidents. Whether that be a fight, swearing, or a bad tackle, it will always be there and you will never get rid of it”.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course, I am not sure I am looking forward to getting the benefit of this particular one. Fighting, bad, often career threatening tackles, surely he is not condoning that or trying to enlighten us that it is all part of the game?

Ben Foster helped us with an insight into Neville’s character, “Gary Neville. He was a huge win-at-all-costs player. It was everything to him; that's the way he was, it's why he's been so successful.”  This was part of Foster’s memory of his time at Old Trafford describing scuffles on the training pitch, tackles flying in etc.

I will wait and see, maybe Neville has mellowed with age and retirement, and he certainly is a vastly experienced footballer who could bring fresh new insights into the coverage for our information and entertainment.

Stay on your feet

Sometimes passion can be mistaken for bias though.  There has been massive reaction recently to Ray Wilkins’s input at the Tottenham Champions League game at Real Madrid.  He explained his apparent bias in referring to Spurs as, ‘We’, as being down to supporting the English team.  His constant use of the phrase, ‘You’ve got to stay on your feet’, has been lampooned to the extent that Rio Ferdinand is openly joking how he used the phrase in a recent interview, other sports personalities making the transition to TV/radio are now treating it as a competition to introduce the phrase in their musings.  It is a shame to see such a nice man and good coach with great knowledge of the game become a figure of fun though.

So there we are, a new dawn approaches next year in Sky’s coverage of football.  The technical side is developing with matches in HD and 3D, and the interactive wall attracts experts in to explain what we can expect to see in forthcoming matches.  As we know football is a game of opinions which includes our own to determine the type of input we choose to receive and who delivers it.   One man’s meat is another man’s poison; I listen to it all and take what I want from it as we all do.