The good, the bad, and the downright bland:
What does your average football fan expect from a pundit?
Detailed and knowledgeable analysis from someone that has experience of the inner sanctum, the proverbial secrets of the industry, the forensic insight into the “cult” of professional football where mystery and secrecy would make Kim Jong Un blush.
I think the previous paragraph would be a gentle paraphrase of a “pundit” justifying his well paid job more than what the fan seeks/gets.
Yes avid football goers, the die-hards, the “geeks”, yes they and we want good insightful and informative television “punditry” but what we often get besides the good work of a chosen few is turgid cliché ridden drivel masked and portrayed as “intelligent analysis”.
I definitely get the impression that there is a reverse snobbery in the game. More often than not the professional footballers come from working class/modest backgrounds which encouraged/made imperative the valiant attribute of endeavour.
However as these players hang up the boots and head to the more than cosy sofa, a lot of them seem to give a patronising turn of the nose at the everyday match goer/fan, blogger, journalist, how could they know anything about football, they never played to an elite level and therefore their opinions are rendered virtually meaningless and they should listen and lap up my cheeky banter/monotonous uncontroversial “insight”.
“What are those fans thinking booing the manager, he needs time”
Subtle implantations that the fan is a bit clueless (note not from all) and that we should all sit back and be “enlightened” as Robbie Savage dramatically points out “he won’t be happy with that” for the millionth occasion when describing a wayward effort on goal.
I know there may well be fans of the savage type analysis, light hearted and cheeky, and in fairness at least he shows a bit of enthusiasm but his flaws might not even be his fault.
Deep within the realms of Robbie Savage’s brain which conjures up the opinions that produce his paychecks, deep down there may be interesting anecdotes trapped, seeking the cold light of day, but from no fault of his own (and I don’t want to sound snobby myself) he perhaps can’t articulate them to the standard that television demands.
Of course it would be idiotic to support the opinion that all footballers are thick juvenile overpaid brats, it’s plain wrong despite obviously the many ill-advised tweets/laughing gas escapades of some.
However I think sometimes there is distrust in the game of intelligence or intellectualism, inherent in the collective mindset of the English football industry although not for long as Wenger, Mourinho, Van Gaal, and sport psychology coupled with sport science help continue to create a more open minded progressive sport that allows for all opinions.
The game and the sport is becoming more sophisticated but we are still being, for the most part, fed with low standard punditry nonsense.
I and many would love an experiment where three prominent respected journalists replaced the Rte panel for a night and see the difference, no they might not have the dressing room knowledge and “controversy is king” statements (dunphy) but they would have I think a reasoned intelligent tactical discussion about what they witnessed which is why Neville and Carragher are popular.
*Note at least the rte boys say what they think for the most part and don’t avoid controversy, sometimes going out of their way to create some, they are definitely not the worst offenders in the fraternity whilst being flawed and sometimes tortuous on the ear drums
Nobody has a problem with experienced ex-pros analysing football on tv, but what we do want is interesting insight and the tools to communicate to the viewing audience rather than bland, unlogical, pub-stool banter!!
Great players don’t always make great pundits (Thierry Henry) and great players don’t always make great managers (Diego Maradona, case in point.)
The football industry has finally delved into other sectors to enhance and evolve, (sport psychology, sport science, yoga) maybe it’s time some of the dinosaur pundits did too and allow for some outside help from journalists and bloggers as while they may not know the extremes of a cold wet night in stoke facing bone crunching tackles, they still know a thing or two about the beautiful game other than the blatantly obvious.
“YOU don’t have to have been a horse to be a jockey”
Arrigo Saachi