Jamie 'hyperbole' Redknapp - not a top,top pundit. Self-important, prone to exaggeration, bias, in love with former teammates - he's too much.

-----------


plus hes an arrogant clueless caant

Neville - best of the bunch for a second year. Takes his job seriously, knows his stuff, and has gained the begrudging respect of fans who used to hate him, which says it all.

Carra – a bit too eager to get his point across at times – his voice can grate, but he does seem to know his football.
-------

these two are very good. play off each other well.

carrgaher is hyped and in your face, whilst being sensible

Neville is more laid back and focuses as he gets his point across. a fantastic pundit.

For me ITV have some of the worst punditry going. Keane for me despite his honesty is an awful pundit. Fails to understand that there is more to football than huff and puff and every player running around like a guard dog. Hardly talks about anything but desire and his cliche of "just not good enough" is getting very tedious. Well why Roy? Combined with Adrian Chiles and the odd appearance by some injured player and it's very poor. Dixon for me isn't bad and actually tries to discuss various tactics and formations which is good to see.

BT Sports are just as bad with Owen's commentary as painful as you described it. The mute button does not do it justice. The whole setup looks very amateurish at BT from the studio to the dress sense and like you I can't imagine Jake Humphries anywhere else apart from a childrens studio.

Sky for me retain the best punditry with Hoddle who I actually think is excellent alongside Neville and Carragher. Neville though for me is better off in the studio analysing rather than co-commentating alongside Tyler. I'm sure all of us would prefer to listen to his insight on the game and his voice isn't up to it on commentary for me. Also tries very hard to remain unbiased towards Liverpool and sometimes it shows on commentary. The best in the studio though. Redknapp is awful though, has never really got rid of the Spice Boy image and looks out of place most of the time.

Best pundit: Lee Dixon
Worst pundit: Owen Hargreaves

Think Redknapp is a likable bloke, but has too many sticks up his backside to be completely unbiased.

Good article, quite astute, not sure about Matt Smith though, all the accent donning gets a bit cringe after a while, and Carra's voice doesn't grate a little, it grates a lot, right about Shearer, as much personality as a sack of potatoes, ditto Owen, and Jamie(Charlie the cat) Redknapp should be on channel 5's 60 second news.

Hi Warm

Agree that Sky is still the best, but in my opinion the addition of Carragher weakened the format, particularly with MNF.

Neville has been superb, and the conversations between him and Chamberlain worked perfectly. Carra is an unwanted third wheel. I have nothing against the guy, but I just think his involvement takes something away from the overall format.

Neville is the best, Carra is good bar the accent. Shearer is a cheeseball cliche. Keane is my favourite. He don't give a funk.

comment by Earl Brutus (U1449)
posted 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
Good article, quite astute, not sure about Matt Smith though, all the accent donning gets a bit cringe after a while, and Carra's voice doesn't grate a little, it grates a lot, right about Shearer, as much personality as a sack of potatoes, ditto Owen, and Jamie(Charlie the cat) Redknapp should be on channel 5's 60 second news.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Article.
ITV

I find Matt Smith's staccato delivery annoying.

If Townsend says 'wee' or 'fizz' once more I'll puke.

We have a little office pool on which minute Tydlesey will mention 'Wayne, Man Utd or '99. He actually lasted 85 minutes during the Chelsea-PSG game. Gotta be a record.

You didn't mention Sarfgit? I'll never forgive him for the Pizzahut ads. Never won anything. Typically obsequious FA cretin.

Excellent summary all in all.
I especially like Chronics input regarding Jamie Shiteknapp.

Best article I've read in a while. Makes a change from the usual bolloçks.

I'd agree with most of what you say apart from BT Sport and Macca. He's absolutely horrendous. He thinks he's far better than he actually is. Awful. Simply awful. BT Sport in general is terrible. The sets are a symptom of everything that's wrong. Every show they ever produce seems to be from a 10ft square space in a 10,000ft square warehouse. Empty, cold and soulless.

Special mention to Des Kelly from Life's A Pitch for being the worst presenter of all time.

I didn't put Southgate in because he's been off managing the U21's, thank God. A truly woeful pundit who always sits on the fence, he was actually worse than Savage and Shearer - a damning indictment if it were ever needed.

I also forget to mention my best and worst football-related TV shows. 'What's the story?' is excellent. Always a good mix of guests, often insightful and interesting - intelligent debate on sports is not something we see enough of on TV. Compared to that awful show on BT - I can't even remember its name - presented by the cheesy guy with the awful jokes, it's brilliant.

Worst would have to be Soccer AM. Way past its sell by date by now and still trying to live off past glories.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Life's a Pitch, that's the one! Thanks fridgeboy. I've only seen it a couple of times but haven't lasted more than ten minutes. It mostly consists of adverts and terrible jokes. As you say, Des Kelly is absolutely awful - how did he get the job in the first place?

1. Neville
2. Souness
3. Danny Murphy
4. Roberto Martinez (always very impressed with his extensive football knowledge)
5. Dixon

Managed by Gary Lineker.

The only football show I ever found entertaining, y'know like a proper TV show should be, was Gazetta Football Italia. Saturday morning with a hangover and a spliff. Followed by NFL highlights. Perfect set up for the best day of the week

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Disagree with your Keown assessment. I think that Keown's a very good pundit, who really knows what he's talking about.

I'm glad someone else has gone off Soccer AM. Thought it was just me. In need of a total makeover / clear out.

Life's a Pitch is car crash telly anyway, the material is awful and it always feels like it's on the cusp of causing offence with some racist 'irreverent' jibe. Des Kelly seems more like a lost 4.00am sky news presenter than a host of what is being billed as a comedy show. He has all the charm of Fred West and doesn't seem to be skilled in anything other than misreading an autocue.

There's only one thing worse than Life's a Pitch, another football show on BT Sport presented by Danny Baker and Danny Kelly. I've got no idea what it's called but my god, Skinner and Baddiel they ain't.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Just to let you know mate 'The Secret Footballer' is Dave Kitson

Some ones that haven't been mentioned:

Robbie Fowler - Doesn't come across as the brightest. Doesn't offer anything insightful. Quite dull to listen to.

Paul Ince - Thicker still, and equally as bland.

John Hartson - Like Keane, he looks like he wants to beat up whoever he's talking to. Has a fair knowledge of the game but occasionally prone to stupidity - suggested Downing for the WC.

Paul Merson - One of the worst around. Stupid to the point he struggles with the English language. Talks football like a drunk.

Best article I have seen on the spurs forum.
Incisive , witty and well informed.
Five stars.