Lazy Punditry Just Needs to Stop...

After another Christmas of not doing especially a fat lot, I decided to take my usual place on the sofa and tune into a Boxing Day feast of football which comprised of the usual dose of Soccer Saturday followed by Match of the Day.

Whilst this for me is pretty much a perfect Saturday and nothing can quite beat the sound of Chris Kamara shouting "Unbelievable Jeff" or Paul Merson screeching "He's hit the Beans on Toast!!", one thing which has persistently frustrated an annoyed me about these programs is the ridiculous amount of bias that the pundits and presenters show towards the "Bigger Teams" and also the "London Teams" in particular.  In my view, the punditry at times is incredibly "lazy".

By lazy, I mean the fact that for example , in the pre-match chit chat for Soccer Saturday which is a whopping 3 hours, the ex-professionals' debate on the games is incredibly lop sided in terms of how much time they assign to each team.  For example, a Man Utd vs WBA game will be treated to say 20 mins of chit chat with 18 mins dedicated to Man Utd with discussions of Wayne Rooney's hair cut to Gigg's antics and then a mere aside saying that WBA will be hopeful of a point or such like.  Is this really fair?  Where is the detail and analyis of the other team involved in the equation?  And don't even get me started on their insistence of calling the  big teams players names by their first name or even their nickname.  I even heard Kamara refer to Gerrard as "Stevie G"  on Saturday afternoon. Unbelievable(!)

Are these pundits too lazy to actually do any research into every team in the Premiership?  Or are they only bothered about the old pals act they have going on with their former clubs?  These guys have the whole week to study games and facts and yet it appears only Monsieur Stelling takes anything in and he really is an exception to the rule.

An example of this sheer arrogance and know it all behaviour of this was on Saturday's MOTD after the Wigan Vs Man Utd game.  With the game fairly well poised Connor Sammon received a harsh red card and then the game was pretty much a non event.  After the game, Lawro said that the result was unlikely to have changed despite the sending off which was probably a fair comment.  However, he then added to this by saying that Wigan were never likely to win because they had lost every game in the Premiership to Man Utd prior to that. I am not a Wigan fan but if that comment had been made about my team I would have been fuming!  Is the guy a bookie or a pundit? I am all for opinions but assuming Wigan would lose just because of previous games was a ridiculous thing to say. This was a team which had taken good points of Chelski and Liverpool in recent games. Prior to yesterday, WBA had lost every boxing day in the Premiership.  Did that mean that because of that Lawro expected the Baggies to forfeit the game and hand the 3 points to City?  Because it's just as well we didn't isn't it?

These clowns will also spend 5 hours spunking themselves silly over a decent goal from say a Rooney or a RVP yet almost completely dismissing a perhaps even better goal from a player who is from a smaller or lesser known team (for example, see Morrison for WBA vs Blackburn on Youtube..how many of you were aware of that goal?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpVRHXMP2Ak

It cannot be denied that Sky can be just as bad, and you can almost guarantee that a a 4-4 draw between Bolton and Norwich would not be Game of the Day if Tottenham managed to beat Blackburn 3-1 in a fairly drab game.

This nonsense has been going on for many years now, with every time a top 4 team fails to win , it too often being blamed an "off day" without any credit given to the opposition. I would expect this sort of behaviour off managers and players alike but certainly not the neutrals in the studio who are receiving a large wedge of our license fee money to pay for their too often useless opinions.

Sunil

LFC are the biggest losers...not Suarez

Liverpool FC. A team often associated with great past glories, one of the best match day atmospheres and some of the finest players to have ever graced the British game. However, their actions in response to the suspension handed to Luis Suarez have in my opinion been nothing short of extraordinary.

I am sure you have all had your chance to digest the days events and to sum up my feelings regarding the ban, I consider that it was a fair punishment, all things considered. Whether or not Luis Suarez is actually a racist is a completely different matter but his decision to use words which could cause offence based on colour/ethnicity was deserving of such a punishment in my view.

The main reason that I am blogging is that I cannot believe the reaction of LFC and more pertinently, the statement they released on their website. Was this statement put together by Gustavo Poyet? Or a 15 year old? Or both?

The statement states that Suarez cannot be a racist because of his background and his actions in the past in helping ethnic minorities in the community. Firstly, the FA did not call Suarez racist, they actually just said that he used inappropriate wording about colour. That aside, suggesting that someone cannot be racist simply because he is of a mixed origin is nothing short of farcical. I, for example, am of Indian descent. But if I walked into the office and addressed a black colleague by saying "What's up N***er!" would I really be able to hide behind my ancestry to suggest that this sort of wording was acceptable? Of course I wouldn't. The logic shown by LFC in this instance is utterly ridiculous.

Furthermore, LFC have stated that the case was based on only Evra's word? Did LFC actually realised that Suarez himself said that he had a used a word towards Evra which he said that his own players also used towards him. So it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that something was definitely said by the Uruguyan.

Then to make things worse, they then make reference to Evra's previous "racist incidents", using it as a stick to beat him with. Talk about classless.  (I have noted that it has been indicated that Evra made a comment about Suarez's South American roots but this article is not commenting on that, more the reaction from LFC).

Of course the club intend to appeal the ban which they believe was too harsh. Now whilst comparing other situations across other professions can be difficult, a while back a certain Rodney Marsh made a certain comment about the Tsunami and was subsequently sacked immediately.  I am not suggesting that Suarez should be sacked but to suggest that the ban was unfair or out of proportion is difficult to agree on.

I am quite simply shocked that LFC have refused to condemn any of Suarez's actions in this whole episode. The very fact that he used a word which reference Evra's colour is a pretty damning indictment on his part, whether it was meant to cause racial offence or not. If a Chinese guy pissed me off I would just call him a rude word perhaps but if I was to call him a little ch*nk then I could hardly blame anyone for concluding that I was being racially offensive. Suarez has only himself to blame in my opinion but the embarassment caused by LFC's response means that he has not come out of this debacle with the least amount of respect out of all parties involved. That dubious accolade belongs to Liverpool Football Club.

Sunil


P.S As I have written this article, it has transpired that the team and manager are supporting Suarez by wearing T-shirts in the warm up with his face on the front.  Absolutely unbelievable!

No Sympathy for Steve Kean...

If there is one thing we love in football, its a villain. Someone to hurl abuse at in such a fashion that it would not be out of fashion at a Pantomime at the Hippodrome in Birmingham. However, in pantomime we all know that anyone booing or hissing is merely in jest and by the end of the evening the actors and actresses all are smiling away as they accept the standing ovation which their performance (just about) deserves.

However, the world of football is not as forgiving as your punters down the local theatre. The abuse which was handed to Steve Kean at the end of the West Brom game was pretty vile but lets be honest, after the last minute goal by Peter Odemwingie, it was handed to him by about 10 people, as the vast majority of fans were already streaming towards the exit gates.

I have been a football fan for around 20 years and I am going to be honest and say that I have handed out my fair share of stick to both players and managers alike, but never to the level that Mr Kean is currently receiving. In fact, my approach has softened slightly over recent years as I have come to the opinion that just because all the professionals earn more than me, it does not necessarily merit me to be able to spew words of a vicious nature to the men.

Which would perhaps lead me to suggest that I have some sympathy for Mr Kean's current predicament. But the truth is, I don't. My sympathy completely lies with the Blackburn fans.

When Fat Sam was booted out by the Indians a year ago, there was definitely a dodgy whiff in the air (no curry jokes please). That these newcomers would get rid of an established (if perhaps disliked) manager and replace him with a man with no Premiership managerial experience seemed a little odd to say the least and at best, it was completely irresponsible. In fact, I was of the opinion that perhaps Kean had walked in on the Venkys having a threesome with one of their chickens and was going to use evidence this as blackmail. That seemed a the only logical experience at the time.

Fast forward a year later, and Kean's results in the Premiership have been nothing short of atrocious. A quite simply awful 7 wins from 37 games , 2 of which were against my beloved Baggies (how embarrassing). In fact, Blackburn's survival last year was mainly based on the ineptitude of the teams around them to put a run of results together, rather than the Rovers being able to put together any decent results themselves.

In terms of taking the job, no one could really blame Kean. Almost all football professionals in his job would have done the same thing. And lets be honest, the guy talks a good game. He keeps insisting his team will turn the corner, were unlucky, got shafted by the ref or will call upon their "team spirit" to dig them out the hole they are in. How about this Steve, why don't you get them actually playing football together and doing the basics right? That is what your job is to organise! He was rather smartly been observed as football's equivalent of Comical Ali. "Everything is under control....there are no enemies here.!!". Ho hum

Even as a non Blackburn fan this can be hard to take sometimes, and God knows what it must be like for the Rovers fans to put up with. His appearances in public remind me of a recent programme which chronicled the collapse of RBS bank. For those with a only a passing interest, I will educate you if I may.

Around 6 months before the collapse, the board of members and its head, Fred "The Shred" Goodwin held a meeting with shareholders. By this time, everyone in the country knew that the bank was pretty much f*cked. However, the members refused to acknowledge this and instead of resigning, decided to declare that they were "fighters" and would help the bank out the mess. They even denied that the bank was in any sort of trouble. This was complete nonsense of course. They merely did not want to resign in the hope that they would not lose out financially which I think is what Steve Kean is doing.

It has gotten to the point that his arrogance to remain in the post is actually hurting the club more than if he stays. When it gets to the stage where a man is not willing to fall on his own sword for the benefit of others its hard to maintain any sympathy. Let me cast your mind back a year or so ago when Gordon Strachan resigned and sacrificed any pay off from Middlesborough. I believe in fact, that even our beloved Schteve McLaren did the same when he left Nottingham Forest. At least these Ginger Ninjas have a smidgen of self respect left and will probably pick up work in the future. Unlike Mr Kean who will probably end up working selling Chicken Burgers in a later life. And so, all that's left for me to say is......KEAN OUT! (come on, if everyone else is saying it then why not me?)

Sunil