Gary Neville: Football Saviour?

Most recently Hansen has decided to place a lot of the blame for Man City’s end of season collapse at the feet of Super Mario. Hansen has long held beef against the “damaging distraction” Balotelli and his off the field antics, which to someone from the relatively straight edge old-guard of English football is natural, but his recent claims that “he’s no world beater” (an opinion formed by his dislike for his personality, in my opinion) was something that even Alan “say-what-you-see” Shearer was quick to laugh off last week on Match of the Day, as Mario scored 2 of City’s 3 goals. In the main i don’t mind Lawro, he offers rational opinions (calming the excitable Colin Murray, on MOTD2, who was instantly hailing the Couch goal the best of the season) but his general demeanor, seemingly melting further in to his seat each year, and feckless tone seem to suggest he’s just there to pick up his cheque.

My final issue with MOTD is rather pedantic. With two defenders usually offering analysis it is quite confusing to me why Gary Linekar is bypassed when discussing issues relating to forward play and technical attributes considering his illustrious playing career and eloquent style of presentation. I’m not saying MOTD needs to be replaced by the format of its youthful excitable sister programme MOTD2 but rather find a balance between the modern age and its tradition, mirroring its title sequence, old tune, new faces.

In comparison to many other pundits, Neville seems to put a lot of thought in to his opinion (something Sky want to stress by giving him his own advert) which leaves it feeling reasoned and relatively unique and insightful, if not agreeable. Many other pundits we see on our screens just seems to read from the same generalised hymn sheet (such as City’s threat to Europes elite this season, something i touched on in my last piece) and therefore don’t serve to provide any discussion amongst the viewing public or provide any new lines of thought. A solution to this is something Sky and ESPN already offer, in their coverage of Spanish and Italian football respectively, put a journalist on the panel.

For some reason the powers that be have decided that only those who have been fortunate enough to play the game professionally are the only one qualified enough to comment on it on our screens, an idea which seems to be instilled in the employment of managers too. Journalists have spent their entire lives watching, studying and playing (on a much less grand scale) the game whereas even the most studious of footballers isn’t afforded the luxury of being able to study the game in such depth as us followers of the game, simply because they spend their days largely focusing on playing.

In short just because these men have played at the highest level doesn’t necessarily mean they understand the nature and history of tactics, formations, mentality of clubs infinately more so than someone who hasn’t. The presence of Gabriele Marcotti on ESPN and Guillem Balague on Sky are shining examples that having a journalist as part of the coverage adds a refined feel to discussions but also an opinion which is not only reasoned but can challenge/correct established thoughts (such as Marcotti dismissing the idea that the extra officials in Uefa games don’t do anything, in the coverage of Juve vs Napoli).

if you’re wondering why i have failed to mention ITV’s coverage all you have to do is watch that shambles, Chiles clueless questioning (with Roy Keane’s ensuing rage at the fool) and Gabriel Clark’s blatant leading questions, have left me switching over whenever the game isn’t on.

It looks like Gary Neville is the standard bearer for the modern day pundit and i know i’m not the only one to share this opinion, hopefully those in charge of such decisions take note and start to implement a change to their broadcasts. A more insightful and thought provoking coverage of the game can lead to helping the wider viewing publics understanding of the game which could help and change the way we play and percieve the game. Just a thought.

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