Media Stories, Rumours and Gossip

[My Blood Is Blue]

50 minutes ago, Bert19 said:

I think there's a general theme around how pundits are used in general tbh. 

The main broadcasters seem to like

a) ex Liverpool and Man Utd players

b) those close to them

c) "big" names. 

d) people willing to peddle the latest narrative

Hence why BT seemed to think Paul Scholes and Michael Owen's complete lack of charisma or insight would be preferable to someone like Pat Nevin who can do reasonably complexed tactical and technical breakdowns, speaks eloquently and doesn't just follow what other people think. 

It's all just maintaining the dominant hegemonic structure. 

Funnily enough, I was having a coffee with a new client at work yesterday, whose name I shall not drop, but he was genuinely one of the best Premier League and England players of his generation but has struggled to continue any kind of work in football after retiring from playing and his views on it are not too dissimilar to what's being said... if you don't look/sound right or say the right things, then the sport, in general, is swift just to cut you out and this is coming from someone who has as much experience and knowledge of the game as you could possibly want.

[Ham]

57 minutes ago, Thiago97 said:

I always think pundits have a real opportunity to broaden the horizons of viewers and take them into the dressing room and build up on matchday. Yet, they rarely seem to tell you anything that the viewer does not already know.

I remember someone on this forum (Can't remember who- Maybe Ham?) said of Jamie Redknapp one day 'Talks plenty tells me nothing' which unfortunately does sum up the majority of pundits we have on TV.

Personally, I enjoy watching and listening to Roy Keane ahead of most pundits. Gary Neville can be very good and informative at times, but can end up going on crusades that his ego will not let him walk back from.

Special mention to a couple of female pundits who have stepped up their game in recent times. Personally, I think the likes of Alex Scott offer absolutely nothing to punditry, I don't get TV's fascination with her at all!  I think Rachel Yankey is very good when she gets a gig and Karen Carney has improved a lot in recent times. 

It's not a case of me wanting to single them out as females, but we have only really had female pundits on our screens for 4-5 years now, so that does kind of single them out compared to decades of male pundits.

The likes of Morrison, Sutton, Dawson, Sherwood as just dull as dishwater imo.  I was not a fan of Rio Ferdinand early on, but credit where it is due, he has improved a lot imo.

 

Agree with pretty much every word of this. Karen Carney is better than most pundits, male or female. 

In my opinion, it does the inclusivity movement no favours when they choose someone as a box-ticking exercise only as it eventually brings unwanted criticism on that person.

Clinton Morrison is the most clear example of this.  Just awful. Embarrassing. A caricature. A clown being wheeled out to entertain. 

As much as I loved Claire Rafferty as a player, she's completely out of her depth speaking in public and offers zero insight.  

It's not for everyone, even if Sky, the BBC and TNT would like it to be the case.

Compare football punditry with Formula 1 and it's chalk and cheese.

REAL insight on a granular level that teaches me something every single week. F1 don't talk down to the viewer. They educate. 

Football needs to look at itself and re-evaluate the purpose of the pundit. 

25 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Funnily enough, I was having a coffee with a new client at work yesterday, whose name I shall not drop, but he was genuinely one of the best Premier League and England players of his generation but has struggled to continue any kind of work in football after retiring from playing and his views on it are not too dissimilar to what's being said... if you don't look/sound right or say the right things, then the sport, in general, is swift just to cut you out and this is coming from someone who has as much experience and knowledge of the game as you could possibly want.

John Terry? Matt Le Tissier? 

Give us a clue? We won't tell. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Ham

[paulw66]

40 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Funnily enough, I was having a coffee with a new client at work yesterday, whose name I shall not drop, but he was genuinely one of the best Premier League and England players of his generation but has struggled to continue any kind of work in football after retiring from playing and his views on it are not too dissimilar to what's being said... if you don't look/sound right or say the right things, then the sport, in general, is swift just to cut you out and this is coming from someone who has as much experience and knowledge of the game as you could possibly want.

Out of interest, what industry do you work in?

[thevelourfog]

What is punditry really even for? It seems to be used to tell people what they have seen, when really it should be explaining why the things we've seen have happened. It ideally should be a few people who don't see football the same way as each other, too. 

What people generally want to see, though, is attractive (a matter of taste!) people tell them their own simple understandings of things are right and occasionally argue with each other. So that is what we get.

Reckon a lay person would develop a much better understanding of the game with their TV on mute than with the sound up.

[My Blood Is Blue]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

Agree with pretty much every word of this. Karen Carney is better than most pundits, male or female. 

In my opinion, it does the inclusivity movement no favours when they choose someone as a box-ticking exercise only as it eventually brings unwanted criticism on that person.

Clinton Morrison is the most clear example of this.  Just awful. Embarrassing. A caricature. A clown being wheeled out to entertain. 

As much as I loved Claire Rafferty as a player, she's completely out of her depth speaking in public and offers zero insight.  

It's not for everyone, even if Sky, the BBC and TNT would like it to be the case.

Compare football punditry with Formula 1 and it's chalk and cheese.

REAL insight on a granular level that teaches me something every single week. F1 don't talk down to the viewer. They educate. 

Football needs to look at itself and re-evaluate the purpose of the pundit. 

John Terry? Matt Le Tissier? 

Give us a clue? We won't tell. 

You got the position right with one of the guesses, but not the player. If it was John Terry I’d have definitely been telling you all at this point! I’d also have done my best to get him to sign up to CFCnet!

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

Out of interest, what industry do you work in?

Broadly speaking…. technology

[Sciatika]

1 hour ago, thevelourfog said:

Reckon a lay person would develop a much better understanding of the game with their TV on mute than with the sound up.

Or better with just the sounds at the ground.

[Ham]

46 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

Or better with just the sounds at the ground.

Which has been available as an option on Amazon Prime games for the past two seasons. 

Sadly Sky and BT believe their opinions should be compulsory. 

[Ham]

59 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

You got the position right with one of the guesses, but not the player. If it was John Terry I’d have definitely been telling you all at this point! I’d also have done my best to get him to sign up to CFCnet!

 

Centre back or number 10?

What era? 

You can't leave it there 😳

[chara]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

Centre back or number 10?

What era? 

You can't leave it there 😳

Hmm...unfortunately .."Oh Yes He Can!"😁but we can all try to wear him down!!

I usually watch games with the sound off or very muted trying to get the "ground noise" not the inane babbling of so many "experts."

One comment from Mrs C .."Why do they have to keep going on about something that happened years ago in a game and not comment on what's happening?:..or such.

Strangely enough the pre,post game and half time comments here on NBC and stream are pretty good without the posturing and bias displayed whenever I catch UK commentary groups.  It's the posturing that angers me...."WE played so WE know better than you",,,well a lot of us "played" and/or have watched the game for a long time so share not patronise..it's my Bday today and I probably have seen more football at many different levels than some of the so called pundits..and I am not alone.

[Ham]

43 minutes ago, chara said:

Hmm...unfortunately .."Oh Yes He Can!"😁but we can all try to wear him down!!

I usually watch games with the sound off or very muted trying to get the "ground noise" not the inane babbling of so many "experts."

One comment from Mrs C .."Why do they have to keep going on about something that happened years ago in a game and not comment on what's happening?:..or such.

Strangely enough the pre,post game and half time comments here on NBC and stream are pretty good without the posturing and bias displayed whenever I catch UK commentary groups.  It's the posturing that angers me...."WE played so WE know better than you",,,well a lot of us "played" and/or have watched the game for a long time so share not patronise..it's my Bday today and I probably have seen more football at many different levels than some of the so called pundits..and I am not alone.

Happy birthday Mr C 🍻

[JaneB]

2 hours ago, Ham said:

Centre back or number 10?

What era? 

You can't leave it there 😳

Client confidentiality surely??

[Mark Kelly]

42 minutes ago, chara said:

Hmm...unfortunately .."Oh Yes He Can!"😁but we can all try to wear him down!!

I usually watch games with the sound off or very muted trying to get the "ground noise" not the inane babbling of so many "experts."

One comment from Mrs C .."Why do they have to keep going on about something that happened years ago in a game and not comment on what's happening?:..or such.

Strangely enough the pre,post game and half time comments here on NBC and stream are pretty good without the posturing and bias displayed whenever I catch UK commentary groups.  It's the posturing that angers me...."WE played so WE know better than you",,,well a lot of us "played" and/or have watched the game for a long time so share not patronise..it's my Bday today and I probably have seen more football at many different levels than some of the so called pundits..and I am not alone.

Happy Birthday to our man in the colonies 

[JaneB]

44 minutes ago, chara said:

Hmm...unfortunately .."Oh Yes He Can!"😁but we can all try to wear him down!!

I usually watch games with the sound off or very muted trying to get the "ground noise" not the inane babbling of so many "experts."

One comment from Mrs C .."Why do they have to keep going on about something that happened years ago in a game and not comment on what's happening?:..or such.

Strangely enough the pre,post game and half time comments here on NBC and stream are pretty good without the posturing and bias displayed whenever I catch UK commentary groups.  It's the posturing that angers me...."WE played so WE know better than you",,,well a lot of us "played" and/or have watched the game for a long time so share not patronise..it's my Bday today and I probably have seen more football at many different levels than some of the so called pundits..and I am not alone.

Happy Birthday my friend 🥳  Is Mrs. C taking you out for a nice birthday dinner? 😉

IMHO there's far too much 'punditry' on tv sport now.  It's almost taken over from the actual sport.  It's becoming all about the presenters and an ever more growing number of ex-professionals wheeled on to give their opinions.  And don't get me started on the endless interviews with participants, most of whom say exactly the same thing.  It's soooooo boring.

And I'm far from talking about just football, tennis is going the same way and athletics went a long time ago.  I watched the netball world cup and they gradually increased the number of 'pundits' to three in the studio plus a presenter.  Surely sport can only be dissected so much?

Obviously I now mute the inane chatter unless there is someone whose opinion I might actually want to hear which isn't very often.  For goodness sake just let me watch the sport I tuned in for and stop padding it out with endless interviews, past events and childish features about someone's favourite music or food or who their worst room mate has been.

Grrrrrrrr 😡  

[My Blood Is Blue]

31 minutes ago, JaneB said:

Client confidentiality surely??

Yeah... I've already said too much. 😀

[My Blood Is Blue]

@chara

[chara]

Thanks Jane...quiet supper tonight..unfortunately any dinner out of note means a 50 mile round trip at least but Paella. and chips will go down well..(well no chips!)

The "pundit" issue....I think most of the true sports watchers feel the same way but "someone" seems to think the pundits are more important than the actual game and we "must" pay attention!😁

 

[chrisb]

Happy birthday @chara! Oh to be 21 again 😁! 
 

Having watched a few games that have originated in the US of A I must say that some of the commentary is sooo much better than what Sky/Virgin/ITV or BBC have. I believe it was Efan Okuku that was commentating and he was so unbiased and factual with his commentary that it was a pleasure to listen to him. If only Redknapp and Spit the dog were even half as good.

[asvaberg]

2 hours ago, chara said:

H!"😁

One comment from Mrs C .."Why do they have to keep going on about something that happened years ago.......?:..or such.

 

A VERY special Mrs you have, Sir.

My experience with females over the years are the exact opposite: nagging about things that happened way back, like "dishes not washed", "carpets not vacuumed", "clothes not taken out of the dryer and folded" etc etc....

Sorry, couldn't resist.

🙂

[Blue Moon]

2 hours ago, chara said:

Hmm...unfortunately .."Oh Yes He Can!"😁but we can all try to wear him down!!

I usually watch games with the sound off or very muted trying to get the "ground noise" not the inane babbling of so many "experts."

One comment from Mrs C .."Why do they have to keep going on about something that happened years ago in a game and not comment on what's happening?:..or such.

Strangely enough the pre,post game and half time comments here on NBC and stream are pretty good without the posturing and bias displayed whenever I catch UK commentary groups.  It's the posturing that angers me...."WE played so WE know better than you",,,well a lot of us "played" and/or have watched the game for a long time so share not patronise..it's my Bday today and I probably have seen more football at many different levels than some of the so called pundits..and I am not alone.

Many happy returns to our cousin from the colonies of Colorado!

[chara]

16 minutes ago, asvaberg said:

A VERY special Mrs you have, Sir.

My experience with females over the years are the exact opposite: nagging about things that happened way back, like "dishes not washed", "carpets not vacuumed", "clothes not taken out of the dryer and folded" etc etc....

Sorry, couldn't resist.

🙂

Ahh asvaberg...many thanks for the kind words BUT...whilst Mrs C has many fine attributes and qualities ..a blessing for one such as I..she still has the, I'm sure Gender related, Memory Bank mutation that instantly brings to the fore such past misdeed  as you mentioned.....for one such as I for whom yesterday can be a blur the ability to recall 10 year old misdeeds is a thing to be feared and held in wonder!

[blueandproud]

7 hours ago, Bert19 said:

I think there's a general theme around how pundits are used in general tbh. 

The main broadcasters seem to like

a) ex Liverpool and Man Utd players

b) those close to them

c) "big" names. 

d) people willing to peddle the latest narrative

Hence why BT seemed to think Paul Scholes and Michael Owen's complete lack of charisma or insight would be preferable to someone like Pat Nevin who can do reasonably complexed tactical and technical breakdowns, speaks eloquently and doesn't just follow what other people think. 

It's all just maintaining the dominant hegemonic structure. 

There are  a  fair share of ex meddiocre players masquerading as pundits, and as far as I'm concerned, mediocre players = mediocre pundits (Clinton Morrison,  Anton Ferdinand, Lee Hendrie, Jamie O'Hara, Gaby Agbonlahor, Tony Cascarino, Chris Sutton, Jermaine Jenas, Robbie Savage,Danny Murphy, Craig Burley) the list is endless.  Some once so-called great players are no good as pundits either (Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Micheal Owen, Dwight Yorke, and Martin Keown fall into this category.  Good or decent pundits for me are Pat Nevin, Paul Merson, Ally McCoist, Graeme Souness, Roy Keane, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright.  You might not alwas agree with what they say, but they talk sense more often than not.

[Mark Kelly]

7 minutes ago, blueandproud said:

There are  a  fair share of ex meddiocre players masquerading as pundits, and as far as I'm concerned, mediocre players = mediocre pundits (Clinton Morrison,  Anton Ferdinand, Lee Hendrie, Jamie O'Hara, Gaby Agbonlahor, Tony Cascarino, Chris Sutton, Jermaine Jenas, Robbie Savage,Danny Murphy, Craig Burley) the list is endless.  Some once so-called great players are no good as pundits either (Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Micheal Owen, Dwight Yorke, and Martin Keown fall into this category.  Good or decent pundits for me are Pat Nevin, Paul Merson, Ally McCoist, Graeme Souness, Roy Keane, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright.  You might not alwas agree with what they say, but they talk sense more often than not.

God, Danny Murphy, he's the kind of bloke that if he lived next door to you he'd stick his head over the hedge and tell you you're not cutting the grass properly.

Considering he was rank average as a player in his mind he's head and shoulders above everyone playing today. 

Must be a Liverpool thing. 

[JaneB]

41 minutes ago, asvaberg said:

A VERY special Mrs you have, Sir.

My experience with females over the years are the exact opposite: nagging about things that happened way back, like "dishes not washed", "carpets not vacuumed", "clothes not taken out of the dryer and folded" etc etc....

Sorry, couldn't resist.

🙂

I'm with Mrs. Asvaberg here 😉

[RDCW]

7 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Funnily enough, I was having a coffee with a new client at work yesterday, whose name I shall not drop, but he was genuinely one of the best Premier League and England players of his generation but has struggled to continue any kind of work in football after retiring from playing and his views on it are not too dissimilar to what's being said... if you don't look/sound right or say the right things, then the sport, in general, is swift just to cut you out and this is coming from someone who has as much experience and knowledge of the game as you could possibly want.

OK, please let the name lightly fall! I'm intrigued. 

[RDCW]

5 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

You got the position right with one of the guesses, but not the player. If it was John Terry I’d have definitely been telling you all at this point! I’d also have done my best to get him to sign up to CFCnet!

Broadly speaking…. technology

Sol Campbell?