World Cup TV pundits

[Deleted]

Best:

Jurgen Klinnsman - very serious & knowledgeable. Impeccable English as well, which helps.

Graeme Souness

Roy Keane - always has something interesting to say.

Pablo Zabaleta - see Jurgen. Same applies.

Also enjoy Mark Chapman & Nigel de Jong.

Worst:

Micah Richards - the jovial Village idiot act has worn thin. Not particularly witty or intelligent, so no idea why every conversation involving him descends into raucous laughter.

Pochettino - he may have worked in England for 6 years, but his English is terrible & he’s very difficult to understand.

Lee Dixon - could send a glass eye to sleep.

Personally I miss the days of Brian Moore, Barry Davies, Des Lynam & Jimmy Hill. It’s all become very gimmicky.

[aaronaldo]

Can’t stand Roy Keane or Graeme Souness

[bigandy99]

Eni Aluko is totally atrocious.. I have to turn over when she’s on a half time panel.. she has nothing to say which is of any interest to me… just my opinion..

[Deleted]

How many times has Jonathan Pearce referred to this being “Messi’s World Cup” tonight 🤮🤮🤮

[huddy1978]

Dec 9, 2022 21:04:23 GMT @workinglikeants said:

How many times has Jonathan Pearce referred to this being “Messi’s World Cup” tonight 🤮🤮🤮

I actually like Jonathan Pearce as a commentator, but I have to agree the over hype for Messi is gringeworthy.
To meet them in the final would be a dream.

[ExeterAddick]

I've never got this thing about players needing to win something at international level to prove their greatness.

You can't influence the country you're born in, or the players around you - it's pot luck. Players like Salah and Giggs were never going to win the World Cup, but it doesn't stop them being greats.

Messi IMO is the best player of all time (in my living memory anyway) regardless of what he does for Argentina.

[ashaddick]

Dec 9, 2022 14:50:54 GMT @workinglikeants said:

Best:

Jurgen Klinnsman - very serious & knowledgeable. Impeccable English as well, which helps.

Graeme Souness

Roy Keane - always has something interesting to say.

Pablo Zabaleta - see Jurgen. Same applies.

Also enjoy Mark Chapman & Nigel de Jong.

Worst:

Micah Richards - the jovial Village idiot act has worn thin. Not particularly witty or intelligent, so no idea why every conversation involving him descends into raucous laughter.

Pochettino - he may have worked in England for 6 years, but his English is terrible & he’s very difficult to understand.

Lee Dixon - could send a glass eye to sleep.

Personally I miss the days of Brian Moore, Barry Davies, Des Lynam & Jimmy Hill. It’s all become very gimmicky.

I don’t get overly fussed about any of the pundits, there job after all is to draw reaction and opinions from an audience. But atleast now the vast majority are ex players unlike the days when pundits were just journalists who had limited knowledge of the inner workings of the game.
But I for instance find Keane and Souness’s constant grim faced tough man look incredibly boring, they need to lighten up its a game of bloody football.
But the whole thing is a matter of opinion and opinions can’t be wrong

[Deleted]

ITV commentator Sam Matterface getting a lot of stick for his clearly pre rehearsed line on Harry Kane,

“We needed Gary Lineker, we got Chris Waddle” 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Can’t imagine Brian Moore or Barry Davies coming out with a Pardew-esque line like that.

[AndyAddick]

Can be we drop the inane females there only for the diversity fans ! How many men commentate on net ball & rounders ffs

[smudge7946]

Dec 9, 2022 14:50:54 GMT @workinglikeants said:

Best:

Jurgen Klinnsman - very serious & knowledgeable. Impeccable English as well, which helps.

Graeme Souness

Roy Keane - always has something interesting to say.

Pablo Zabaleta - see Jurgen. Same applies.

Also enjoy Mark Chapman & Nigel de Jong.

Worst:

Micah Richards - the jovial Village idiot act has worn thin. Not particularly witty or intelligent, so no idea why every conversation involving him descends into raucous laughter.

Pochettino - he may have worked in England for 6 years, but his English is terrible & he’s very difficult to understand.

Lee Dixon - could send a glass eye to sleep.

Personally I miss the days of Brian Moore, Barry Davies, Des Lynam & Jimmy Hill. It’s all become very gimmicky.

It's good to see the Micah Richards type personality on the telly. A few years ago it would have been considered by certain types as the height of racism to have a laughing black person on the telly. Other examples include

Rusty Lee
Kris Ackabouse
Frank Bruno
That bloke who used to be on record breakers.

[DFT]

I watch the game then do something else when the pundits are on.

I don't think we need them and their salary makes it more expensive (Sky)

[paperboy]

And IMO, the very best was Ken Wolstenholme.

[Deleted]

Brian Moore for me. Was the predominant commentator when I was young and a friend of the family

[Occam’s Razor]

Jill Scott has been panned for her punditry at the England v Brazil game last night, and rightly so.

Her insights included “England have got to realise that this is not a friendly game”.

In the same week that it was revealed that Alex Scott has decimated the audience on Football Focus to such an extent that the BBC are contemplating canning this once iconic football show, I hope all TV companies are waking up to the fact that there is a lot of truth in the comment of Simon Jordan.

“Men do not want to listen to women on TV talking about football”

👏

Before anyone replies that there are plenty of dud male pundits out there , I agree, but let’s replace them with ex pros and serious football journalists who know what they are talking about.

Joey Barton went too far in his recent comments about women pundits but all the evidence is that the likes of Eni Aluko, Karen Carney & Alex Scott are a major TV turn off, talking about a sport they have no experience of, and don’t understand.

They are on TV because the sponsors & advertisers want boxes ticked, not because they are any good or relevant.

[hongkongaddick]

Mar 24, 2024 11:14:13 GMT Occam’s Razor said:

Jill Scott has been panned for her punditry at the England v Brazil game last night, and rightly so.

Her insights included “England have got to realise that this is not a friendly game”.

In the same week that it was revealed that Alex Scott has decimated the audience on Football Focus to such an extent that the BBC are contemplating canning this once iconic football show, I hope all TV companies are waking up to the fact that there is a lot of truth in the comment of Simon Jordan.

“Men do not want to listen to women on TV talking about football”

👏

Before anyone replies that there are plenty of dud male pundits out there , I agree, but let’s replace them with ex pros and serious football journalists who know what they are talking about.

Joey Barton went too far in his recent comments about women pundits but all the evidence is that the likes of Eni Aluko, Karen Carney & Alex Scott are a major TV turn off, talking about a sport they have no experience of, and don’t understand.

They are on TV because the sponsors & advertisers want boxes ticked, not because they are any good or relevant.

You will all be browbeaten into submission one day and be forced to accept that women make better pundits, commentators and players. You will not be permitted to have an alternative view let alone express one (that will be criminalised too).

[massivebeak]

At the risk of sounding UN-PC, I have absolutely Zero interest in listening to female pundits commentating on Mens Football. I will actively turn off the radio and search for another commentary.

And even more controversially I don’t even care if the male pundits are a bit shit- it’s still men talking about men’s football.

If I watch Woman’s football then it’s the reverse.

[bigandy99]

Personally, if Eni Aluko appears on my screen I will turn over until there is football to watch..

[reamsofverse]

Mar 24, 2024 13:05:32 GMT bigandy99 said:

Personally, if Eni Aluko appears on my screen I will turn over until there is football to watch..

Can't stand the woman. Stealing a living.

[huddy1978]

It will be interesting to see who is selected for punditry during the Euros.
I don't mind a host like Laura Woods as I think she is very good, knowledgeable as well, and was also very good on talk sport.

But, ex women England players (and managers) giving their opinions on the men's game, is not for me.
There are plenty of ex International players, who are more than capable of an expert opinion over someone who has played at a completely different level.

I'm not saying i don't like Aluko or Scott, they are entitled to an opinion which sometimes I can agree with, however i'm more interested in someone's opinion who has been there and done it at the highest level.

I guess that's the politest way i could put that!.

[Occam’s Razor]

Some interesting comments on here.

I think the penny is increasingly starting to drop that female pundits commenting on the much tougher, more competitive & far better supported men’s game is nothing more than a Woke absurdity.

The next time Harry Kane steps up to take a high pressure penalty in front of 80,000 people, and Eni Aluko says “I know how he’s feeling”, I think I’ll put my foot through the telly.

[bannedfromcl]

But the BBC wouldn't have it any other way, so it will always be there. Woke culture is being forced on all of us, one way or another we are meant to fold into this thinking.

[Occam’s Razor]

Mar 27, 2024 22:12:09 GMT bannedfromcl said:

But the BBC wouldn't have it any other way, so it will always be there. Woke culture is being forced on all of us, one way or another we are meant to fold into this thinking.

Clinton Morrison is the most blatant example of this 😬🙄

Does anyone who has listened to him on TV or radio genuinely believe that he gets his numerous media gigs based on merit ?

His overall speech, vocabulary and pronunciation are unbelievably poor….innit. But somewhere in BBC and Sky HQ’s there are box ticking quotas to be met for South London wannabe rude boys, so in he goes.

📦 ✅

[zenga]

Mar 24, 2024 16:01:23 GMT Occam’s Razor said:

I think the penny is increasingly starting to drop that female pundits commenting on the much tougher, more competitive & far better supported men’s game is nothing more than a Woke absurdity.

Just because you don't have them in the UK doesn't make it a fact. One of the best pundits on Flemish TV (and highly regarded in Holland as well) is female, since 2015. They have tried out others, didn't work out. During the last 15 years we've had plenty of players in Belgium who played at the top level, and when they sit next to her she is considered a peer (which took some time). 

It comes down to the fact that you shouldn't talk about things you don't know. Hearing former top players who turned pundit talk about a top goalkeeper has also a certain absurdity factor. 

I can't stomach watching women football myself, although I have to admit it's getting better. But if someone is qualified as a pundit, the fact that they are female shouldn't matter. That's not a woke stance, just common sense. Obviously the amount of qualified women is a fraction of the amount of qualified men, which is basic math. 

I try not to get involved in the woke debate, because both sides use way to often irrational and nonsensical arguments. 

[Occam’s Razor]

zenga

You’ve nailed it - women pundits don’t know what they are talking about, when it comes to men’s football.

[seriouslyred]

Mar 29, 2024 11:38:56 GMT Occam’s Razor said:

zenga

You’ve nailed it - women pundits don’t know what they are talking about, when it comes to men’s football.

You read the the words... and yet fail to understand their meaning... every single time!

Have you considered taking up something simpler?

[Occam’s Razor]

Mar 29, 2024 21:31:53 GMT seriouslyred said:

Mar 29, 2024 11:38:56 GMT Occam’s Razor said:

zenga

You’ve nailed it - women pundits don’t know what they are talking about, when it comes to men’s football.

You read the the words... and yet fail to understand their meaning... every single time!

Have you considered taking up something simpler?

I see another abusive post Liked by that independent, Pakistani Test cricket-type umpire aaronaldo 🙄

I think your plan here Kevin, in between DM’ing the Mods again to try to get me banned, is to lure me into petty arguments.

I wonder if the wider ITTV membership knows about this 🤔

You flounced off Charlton Life after Ben Hayes & Co called you out for being a crashing bore.

Play the ball, not the man (or woman)

zenga said that people should not talk about topics they don’t understand, and I agreed that female football pundits should not talk about men’s football.

[aaronaldo]

SR had a very good point. You read what you want to read.

I’ll let Zenga reply but I don’t believe your takeaway was at all what Zenga meant.

[zenga]

Mar 29, 2024 22:35:26 GMT aaronaldo said:

SR had a very good point. You read what you want to read.

I’ll let Zenga reply but I don’t believe your takeaway was at all what Zenga meant.

As you know I'm not a native English speaker, it's not even my 2nd language. So despite me typically putting in the effort to re-read what I wrote before submitting - and even after submitting, it still happens that I formulate sentences in such a way that they can be easily taken out of context. After posting said post I immediately knew that someone could either take that line personal or use it to take my post out of context. But I thought so what, fk it.

Personally I appreciate the humor in Rozar's Macco's posts when he e.g. tries to take a single event to overgeneralize. He is astute and perceptive enough that I can't imagine that he takes himself too serious nor believes all the absolutes he writes. I also enjoy his somewhat provocative writing style and wit, and I don't mean that in a bad way (forgive me my lack of knowledge of the beautiful English language to not come up with a more sophisticated / accurate description on this rainy, slightly hungover morning). 

Or to clarify: the moment I read his reply to my post I smiled, thinking 'he got me good, that's what you get for being lazy for not rewriting that line'. Long story short: you guys know what I meant, he knows what I meant and he gave it a funny spin. All good.

[aaronaldo]

Thanks for clarifying Zenga. Your English is incredible considering it’s not your first language.

Most posts can be misinterpreted if you single out certain parts. Reading the whole post together is the key to understand the overall message.

[zenga]

Mar 30, 2024 10:37:52 GMT aaronaldo said:

Thanks for clarifying Zenga. Your English is incredible considering it’s not your first language.

Bedankt, maar dat valt wel mee, de meeste mensen van mijn generatie spreken behoorlijk Engels in West-Europa. We moeten wel want we zijn immers maar met ongeveer 20 miljoen nederlandstaligen op deze wereld. Sauf les chauvins français qui pensent qu'ils sont le centre du monde. Aber einst versuchten die Deutschen das - ohne Erfolg - zu ändern.