Punditry arms race leaves us all none the wiser
A glut of experts in the BBC and ITV studios has led to cluttered analysis, writes Adam Hurrey
In a World Cup week dominated by a peculiar controversy over a team sheet, the broadcasters were still trying to find their own perfect blend with their punditry line-ups. One thing is certain: less is not more. Football coverage, particularly at major tournaments, is increasingly subject to its very own Moore’s Law – Brian Moore’s Law, perhaps – the aim of which appears to be to squeeze as many expert guests into one TV studio as possible. Like a manager watching his team losing 1-0 with time running out, but without the obvious desperation, the broadcasters’ strategy in the punditry arms race is simple – throw as many bodies into the mixer as possible.
ITV summoned its big names into its observatory-sized Red Square pad for Germany’s do-ordie encounter with Sweden – Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Patrice Evra and Henrik Larsson – a fourpronged approach that left presenter Mark Pougatch juggling more egos than usual. The result: something of a muddle.
Like any team, there has to be a blend of youth and experience, of adventure and safety.
Fortunately for the BBC, it did not have Steven Gerrard storming in at half-time of England’s demolition of Panama to make exactly the same observation as Frank Lampard, but they too have had moments of cluttered clunkiness. A particularly awkward 30 seconds saw Phil Neville absent-mindedly rearranging the words of colleague Alex Scott about 10-man Colombia’s substitutions against Japan, which served to emphasise how many pundits there are with so little between them to say.
We have at least been treated to a variety of approaches, some diverse wardrobes and a range of lengths of patience for when it occasionally collapses into giggles.
Between them, the BBC and ITV have recruited every established type of World Cup pundit. The mandatory Former England Star position is well stocked, as always.
Poor Panama had their unsophisticated approach yesterday taken apart by the Golden Generation phalanx of Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Alan Shearer, while Gary Neville provides the been-there-not-quitedone-it World Cup expertise over on the other side.
Earnest prime-time newcomers like Scott, Eni Aluko and Matthew Upson have slotted in refreshingly alongside the deadpan realism of Danny Murphy and Ryan Giggs.
Roy Keane ostensibly fills the Unimpressed Old Schooler role – “They spoke about [Jerome Boateng] having 650 pairs of shoes. Well, he can’t be right upstairs,” he growled on Saturday – but there have been chinks in that armour, notably when he allowed himself a smirk as Ian Wright gleefully speculated what Gareth Southgate “was doing in the woods” when he dislocated his shoulder last week.
Punditry is never life-affirming, but seeing Keane briefly surrender to some year-eight innuendo was as close as it gets.
With the notable exception of Slaven Bilic – with his gentle but firm rejection of any cliche thrown his way – the international guests have yet to settle into their niches.
ITV’S rotating presenters, Jacqui Oatley and Pougatch, continue to be frustrated in their duel of Get Any Sort of Smile Out of Larsson, while Didier Drogba has so far been largely unenthused by the mid-afternoon repartee of Dan Walker and Mark Chapman.
All teams need a good leader, and Gary Lineker, by virtue of his heavily-referenced World Cup legacy, has assumed a unique player-manager role here.
There is no consensus on what makes the ideal football pundit, so the broadcasters are throwing everything they have at us.