Football Pundits

[Mcr Warrior]

Ally McCoist (co-commentator on tonight's Netherlands vs Ukraine match on ITV1) is just about setting the right tone.

Combination of insightful and perceptive comments and dry humour.

 

[507021]

Ally McCoist (co-commentator on tonight's Netherlands vs Ukraine match on ITV1) is just about setting the right tone.

Combination of insightful and perceptive comments and dry humour.

He's one of the few pundits I actually rate.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I haven’t any time for football pundits; they’re boring. In addition, I believe it’s about time Roy Keane gave up punditry. I can’t stand the bloke.

 

[Worm]

Why the moaning about women in punditry? From what I can see the women who present are former players in their own right who are clearly very knowledgeable .

If they were random bimbos with perky breasts and breathy voices who had nothing to do with football I could understand the cynicism but otherwise it makes you the fool.

 

[SuspectUsual]

People say cricket is boring, but is football the only sport where after 90 minutes the score can be 0:0 ("nothing has happened")? In that time cricketers would have scored many runs.

Baseball can be 0-0 after a lot longer than 90 minutes. Still a really good sport though.

As for pundits, I’m all for a meritocracy but recent years it feels like anything but that. TV companies will I suspect end up with an informal quota system because they’re too scared of having the “wrong” pundits on the screen at the same time.

Regardless of colour or sex, some are really good and some are downright awful. For example:

Good - Gary Neville, Carragher, Roy Keane, Micah Richards, Alison Mitchell (cricket commentator)

Awful - Paul Merson, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen, Alex Scott

 

[DarloRich]

Unfortunately not restricted to Boys anymore we now have women as well.

I don't mind them commentating or hosting but as panellists they have not played at the same level as the men and should not be there.

REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! It aint rocket science. It is football.

I assume you are against having Andy Townsend offer comment on the champions league final as he has not played at that level?

People say cricket is boring, but is football the only sport where after 90 minutes the score can be 0:0 ("nothing has happened")? In that time cricketers would have scored many runs.

You cant have watched much football then if you think nothing happens in a 0-0 draw!

I believe it’s about time Roy Keane gave up punditry. I can’t stand the bloke.

He is the best of the lot: The thinly veiled contempt for everyone around him, the barely contained anger at another vacuous comment, the disgust at the hyperbole around average players being lauded, the fact that no one ( not one single player alive or dead) meets his high standards of commitment and the knowledge that at any moment he may explode and sort people out in the studio before bursting out of the screen to attack the viewer

Souness is another barely containing his boiling rage at modern football and the effete nature of modern footballers.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

He is the best of the lot: The thinly veiled contempt for everyone around him, the barely contained anger at another vacuous comment, the disgust at the hyperbole around average players being lauded, the fact that no one ( not one single player alive or dead) meets his high standards of commitment and the knowledge that at any moment he may explode and sort people out in the studio before bursting out of the screen to attack the viewer

Souness is another barely containing his boiling rage at modern football and the effete nature of modern footballers.

You’ve almost summed it up in one. He’s an absolute fiend. I don’t see any of those ‘qualities’ (for want of a better word!) as a particularly good thing...

Souness isn’t too far behind either...

 

[Cowley]

He is the best of the lot: The thinly veiled contempt for everyone around him, the barely contained anger at another vacuous comment, the disgust at the hyperbole around average players being lauded, the fact that no one ( not one single player alive or dead) meets his high standards of commitment and the knowledge that at any moment he may explode and sort people out in the studio before bursting out of the screen to attack the viewer

And when the beard’s getting more and more unkempt, you know that the internal rage is slowly rising and about to explode forth...

 

[507021]

He is the best of the lot: The thinly veiled contempt for everyone around him, the barely contained anger at another vacuous comment, the disgust at the hyperbole around average players being lauded, the fact that no one ( not one single player alive or dead) meets his high standards of commitment and the knowledge that at any moment he may explode and sort people out in the studio before bursting out of the screen to attack the viewer

Souness is another barely containing his boiling rage at modern football and the effete nature of modern footballers.

What I like about Roy Keane is he says it how it is. Puts many of the others to shame.

Great pundit.

 

[DarloRich]

And when the beard’s getting more and more unkempt, you know that the internal rage is slowly rising and about to explode forth...

That is when he has been living in a cave in the wilds of Ireland, winding himself up about Manchester United players bringing out clothing ranges, celebrating minor success in a manner he finds inappropriate, driving fancy cars, lacking a steely focus on wining and winning and winning and being seen at events rather than practicing!

Be afraid!

 

[Cowley]

That is when he has been living in a cave in the wilds of Ireland, winding himself up about Manchester United players bringing out clothing ranges, celebrating minor success in a manner he finds inappropriate, driving fancy cars, lacking a steely focus on wining and winning and winning and being seen at events rather than practicing!

Be afraid!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

To be honest, so far this tournament I've found the ITV coverage more tolerable than the BBC. If you took away the adverts, and football's biggest hypocrite (Keane) then it'd be no contest.

Bonus points for the "referee's view" bit, and for the use of Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye" during montages of the warm-up. A bit incongruous, but I like it!

 

[Bald Rick]

Unfortunately not restricted to Boys anymore we now have women as well.

I don't mind them commentating or hosting but as panellists they have not played at the same level as the men and should not be there.

I can’t believe you wrote that.

You don’t have to have played the game to be an expert in it, and be able to offer comment. Plenty of brilliant pundits / commentators / commenters, of either sex, who have never played the game even at a decent amateur level.

What I do find annoying are those who have played at a high level, and haven’t got a clue what they are talking about. Dean Saunders being one example.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Bonus points for the "referee's view" bit

Or as anyone who’s ever heard him on BT would say, “now over to Peter Walton inhis box room for him to agree with everything the referee / VAR has done, however obviously wrong it is”

 

[scotrail158713]

Or as anyone who’s ever heard him on BT would say, “now over to Peter Walton inhis box room for him to agree with everything the referee / VAR has done, however obviously wrong it is”

From what I've seen so far in the tournament, there's definitely a degree of truth in that.

 

[Loppylugs]

You don’t have to have played the game to be an expert in it, and be able to offer comment. Plenty of brilliant pundits / commentators / commenters, of either sex, who have never played the game even at a decent amateur level.

I am so glad you said that. As a member of the Southern Swifts Sunday League side who thrashed their opponents 1 - 0 who were one place above us in the division in 19?? and move off the bottom in the last game of the season, I feel fully justified in applying to the Beeb for a spot of punditry. I would describe the goal in detail but I was doing my bootlaces up in the centre circle at the time!!

 

[chorleyjeff]

This is out and out sexism and you really ought to hang your head in shame.

No. Just inconvenient facts. Sorry if writing this offends you.
A recent low point was a female pundit who, after the shocking Ericson heart incident, informed the nation that after the incident she phoned her mum to say she was safe. Knocked back the case for women pundits somewhat.

 

[Bald Rick]

Knocked back the case for women pundits somewhat.

Why? I thought it was a great thing to say.

 

[AlterEgo]

No. Just inconvenient facts. Sorry if writing this offends you.
A recent low point was a female pundit who, after the shocking Ericson heart incident, informed the nation that after the incident she phoned her mum to say she was safe. Knocked back the case for women pundits somewhat.

Didn’t she just phone her mum to tell her she loved her because she thought she’d just seen a man die? Seems pretty benign to me.

 

[507021]

No. Just inconvenient facts. Sorry if writing this offends you.
A recent low point was a female pundit who, after the shocking Ericson heart incident, informed the nation that after the incident she phoned her mum to say she was safe. Knocked back the case for women pundits somewhat.

I suggest you check your own facts before lecturing others.

 

[yorkie]

.... Knocked back the case for women pundits somewhat.

I don't see how gender has anything to do with it quite frankly.

Unfortunately not restricted to Boys anymore we now have women as well....

As someone who actively tries to encourage girls to play football, I find this to be a very depressing thing to read.

I would say it unfortunate that the sport is still as male dominated as it is.

In a Year 7 (age 12) football game I was helping to supervise earlier this week it was pleasing to see almost half (7 out of 15) of those playing were girls. Sadly I know that the proportion of girls who want to continue playing football declines as they get older. I think they are perhaps put off by the attitude of some people, which is a shame.

There are loads of male pundits who are not particularly great, so I don't accept any argument that dismisses female pundits based on their gender. It makes no logical sense and it sounds misogynistic to me.

The whole game needs to be more inclusive; it is great to see huge progress being made, but disappointing to see some outdated attitudes remain.

I've not heard any youngsters make a comment such as the above, so attitudes are changing, but the process is clearly being held back by some people.

I don't mind them commentating or hosting but as panellists they have not played at the same level as the men and should not be there.

By that logic, if we apply the same principle to coaches as well as pundits, coaches like Jose Mourinho should not be in the positions they are in? Your argument holds no water in my opinion.

I also don't believe that someone's individual skills and physical attributes are necessarily an indication of their ability to analyse and read the game.

I know of people who don't play football yet they have intelligent opinions on the game and understand the game, while others who are gifted at playing the game but aren't able to analyse it. They are quite different skills.

Also it's inherently unfair, even if it was relevant, to suggest that someone who is at the top of the women's game can never be at the same level as the mens.

 

[SuspectUsual]

In a Year 7 (age 12) football game I was helping to supervise earlier this week it was pleasing to see almost half (7 out of 15) of those playing were girls.

That in itself is a massive step forward. When my eldest son was in that age group 11 years ago, mixed sex teams were forbidden. I presume it was an FA diktat, percolating down through the county FA to the league. There were a couple of girls who’d been among the stronger players up till that point, but they were effectively forced to abandon football at that point because there wasn’t a girls’ team in the area.

 

[Butts]

Just to make my position absolutely clear ....

I have no objection to women playing football, hosting Match of the Day or commentating on the games shown.

What I take issue with is their employment as pundits on a show featuring male football at the top level. I would have exactly the same reservations about males being employed in the same capacity if it was females playing.

Both should deploy players or managers with direct experience of the genre featured in my opinion.

 

[GusB]

Just to make my position absolutely clear ....

I have no objection to women playing football, hosting Match of the Day or commentating on the games shown.

What I take issue with is their employment as pundits on a show featuring male football at the top level. I would have exactly the same reservations about males being employed in the same capacity if it was females playing.

Both should deploy players or managers with direct experience of the genre featured in my opinion.

Your position is abundantly clear. It doesn't stop your views from being extremely backward.

 

[birchesgreen]

I don't really care what is between a pundit's legs, what is far more important is what is in their head.

 

[AlterEgo]

Just to make my position absolutely clear ....

I have no objection to women playing football, hosting Match of the Day or commentating on the games shown.

What I take issue with is their employment as pundits on a show featuring male football at the top level. I would have exactly the same reservations about males being employed in the same capacity if it was females playing.

Both should deploy players or managers with direct experience of the genre featured in my opinion.

You should try reading The Athletic. None of the analysts there are former top level footballers but they’re students of the game who know what they’re talking about.

Demanding pointless credentialism in football is just playing into the “jobs for the boys” mentality that afflicts TV punditry these days. I’d actually rather like to hear from fewer ex-pros.

 

[Bald Rick]

Just to make my position absolutely clear ....

I have no objection to women playing football, hosting Match of the Day or commentating on the games shown.

What I take issue with is their employment as pundits on a show featuring male football at the top level. I would have exactly the same reservations about males being employed in the same capacity if it was females playing.

Both should deploy players or managers with direct experience of the genre featured in my opinion.

I, similarly, have an issue with people commenting on Rail Forums who have not worked in the rail industry at the top level.

(Oh wait, no I don’t).

 

[Butts]

I, similarly, have an issue with people commenting on Rail Forums who have not worked in the rail industry at the top level.

(Oh wait, no I don’t).

Is that not a contradiction in terms ? - at least according to a lot of the anecdotal posts found within various threads.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Jun 2021 ==

Your position is abundantly clear. It doesn't stop your views from being extremely backward.

From your perspective perhaps, but I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling the sex of the pundits should be aligned with that of the players they are "punditing on" be that Male or Female.

Is anyone allowed a dissenting opinion from yours ?

 

[Spamcan81]

Unfortunately not restricted to Boys anymore we now have women as well.

I don't mind them commentating or hosting but as panellists they have not played at the same level as the men and should not be there.

What rubbish. Good to see sexism is alive and well in your world.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Jun 2021 ==

Didn’t she just phone her mum to tell her she loved her because she thought she’d just seen a man die? Seems pretty benign to me.

Correct.

 

[507021]

Just to make my position absolutely clear ....

I have no objection to women playing football, hosting Match of the Day or commentating on the games shown.

What I take issue with is their employment as pundits on a show featuring male football at the top level. I would have exactly the same reservations about males being employed in the same capacity if it was females playing.

Both should deploy players or managers with direct experience of the genre featured in my opinion.

The game has moved on. Deal with it.

From your perspective perhaps, but I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling the sex of the pundits should be aligned with that of the players they are "punditing on" be that Male or Female.

I'm genuinely not sure what's worse, your blatantly sexist views or your attempt to justify them.

Is anyone allowed a dissenting opinion from yours ?

I don't recall him saying anything of the sort.

He was just exercising his right to disagree with your outdated views.