Tuesday 18 October 2011

Punditry, the ultimate old boys club

It seems fitting today to write a blog about pundits today after it emerged that Andy Gray and Richard Keys are doing a national speaking tour, strangely enough starting in Wolverhampton, where their career on Sky began it's meteoric descent with their comments about assistant referee Sian Massey in a game between Wolves and Liverpool. The two seem intent on becoming a double act channeling Alan Partridge, where no doubt a Keys and Gray tie and blazer badge pack will be available after the show...

Smashing all box office records (credit @tomEurosport in reply to @Zonal_Marking)

But is this where punditry is headed? Most have been leading international footballers, so have their own followings already, and are expected to provide a level of insight that perhaps your average fan may not see. The idea is to explain why something happened, how something could have happened, and what could be done about it. But in the age of Twitter, the average fan can indeed pass sentence on the pundits instantaneously.

Alan Shearer in particular has got it in the neck, and perhaps rightly so. On two occasions in particular, he has been castigated for showing a lack of knowledge and respect, while sitting there happily claiming the license payer's money. He claimed that no-one knew about Hatem Ben Arfa (French international), and criticised Lee Dixon for actually making the effort to learn the names of players during the 2010 World Cup, in particular Marek Hamsik, currently gracing the Champion's League with Napoli.

 Lineker was getting ID'd at the bar

Another 'victim' of Twitter was Ray Wilkins - his punditry during the Real Madrid v Tottenham quarter final in the 2010/11 Champion's League seemed to feature the phrase 'stay on your feet' several times, to the point that even Rio Ferdinand, well known for his broad vocabulary, passed comment. The line trended and now it's almost expected, and has caused a rush for photos such as these...

Butch practises what he preaches

FIFA 12 now gives the option of switching commentators should they particularly grind you, and if you look hard enough, you can still turn the noise off on Sky and purely listen to the fans, or listen with the radio if you can manage with the slight time delay.

In these multi-media days, we are spoilt for choice, but who would you have on your ideal pundit team?

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