The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Football without smug presenters and idiot-level punditry was great
I’ve always found super smug, patronising poseur Gary Lineker easy to ignore. don’t follow him on social media and I always fast forward through the banal and irritating ‘state the bleeding obvious’ punditry on Match of the Day.
That Lineker earns £1.3 million per year for waving his arms about while reading an autocue and trying to shoehorn his own great goalscoring career into conversations is regrettable, but it’s not his fault the BBC is run by out of touch clowns with more (of our) money than sense to throw about.
His outpourings on Twitter are cringeworthy given he’s insulated from the problems most us face, but he’s entitled to an opinion nonetheless.
Sadly even I couldn’t escape his recent offering when he lazily threw the Nazi card at an elected Government as the rest of our media decided it was worth blanket coverage at the top of news bulletins and on the front of newspapers.
But some good did come of it. I have long advocated for less idiot-level punditry and more action in football highlight shows and thanks to Lineker’s arrogance and ignorance it actually happened last weekend.
Sadly it now looks like a oneoff, although removing Lineker for a thick tweet was harsh.
Last Saturday’s Match of the Day was too short and commentators are required, but it was TV bliss to watch goals, saves and controversy without endless replays of the same incident while one 'expert’ mutters something revelatory along the lines of ‘that Kevin De Bruyne is a good player’ and another chimes in with an insightful ‘the goalkeeper should have saved it.’
If you really need that sort of analysis to help you understand what just happened I suggest you start following a different sport.
Try cricket on Sky with their peerless pundits, a set of topnotch former superstars of the game who can actually articulate with authority about what you’re watching by using wellconstructed sentences rather than mangled versions of the English language.
Honestly how often has any Match of the Day presenter/ pundit made you stop and think ‘wow I never realised that?’ It never happens. Alan Shearer in particular is nicking a living at £500k a year for monotone grumbles about laws he doesn’t always appear to understand.
I had hoped BBC chiefs would stand firmer for longer as I suspected the support cast who threw their lot in with Lineker (who on earth is Jason Mohammad?) would buckle because it’s the easiest money they will ever earn.
I’m sure the rise in viewing figures of 500,000 for last weekend’s show was down to curiosity, but I reckon a 40-minute version with no chat would be a ratings success.
It was telling that among Lineker’s biggest supporters over his predicament were the country’s leading sportswriters. The same journalists are forever on TV. There’s nothing more boring than watching journalists interview other journalists about stories other journalists have written.
Sadly on Sky Sports News you now get that for half an hour late at night, obviously at the expense of highlights.