Recidivists
The American comedian Seth Meyers has a regular bit on his talk show where he sits in an armchair and launches into long recollection of things that happened ‘back in my day’.
Before his retirement from the studio in 2023, Graeme Souness filled this brief, much as how the Soccer Saturday panel represented the pre-live on Sky Sports era before they were gently phased out for being too grey and stale and not in keeping with the post-equality Act era of broadcasting.
The passback rule was amended in 1992, a point which Michael Cox uses as a jumping-off point in his excellent book The Mixer. Football changed not just through Sky’s money but through FIFA’S desire to stop goalless draws in World Cup games. These served to dilute the quality of the product and this rule change begat even more, not least those concerning handballs, player activity in offside positions and restarts from goal kicks.
I am sure it was useful for younger viewers to learn about football in the Neolithic era, when you played on peatbog pitches and could barge goalkeepers into the net for legitimate goals.
It could be that Souness, Hansen and Lawrenson were avatars for a time before Paul Pogba carved Adidas stripes into his haircuts. In this way, to bring in other characters familiar to Sky subscribers, the equivalent of Grandpa Simpson and Barney Gumble, the token Old Man and Drunk Man, could thrive.
This type of pundit just about exists in 2023-24 but was far more prevalent in the time before football began to be consumed Live on Sky Sports. Into the new millennium we were blessed with more football on new stations like TALKSPORT and ITV Digital, and three days a week given over to European games that need covering too. Match of the Day also moved to twice a weekend, which led to a proliferation of pundits.
Today, perhaps there are too many of them, each dividing their time between podcast mics, BBC radio studios and their own social media feeds.
But do we need them at all? When will people grow tired of the term I use for the title of my book on punditry: ‘banternalysis’, analysis with a side order of bantz?
Jonny’s ebook Banternalysis is out now on Amazon. The Football Literary Society, the new name for the Football Library Radio Show, can be found at soundcloud. com/jonny_brick
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