Andy Gray – The Last Word? I Hope Not.

“Oh Andy,
You came and you slagged off that Massey,
So you were sent on your way, oh Andy,
You and Keyesy you boys aren't so classy,
But I’ll miss you, you know, oh Andy…”



OH Andy indeed. The now-former Sky Sports pundit is the current hot topic on everyone’s lips at the moment. Although if you tuned in to BBC 5 Live last night after the Blackpool vs. Manchester United game expecting a debate about Gray, you may have been instead enticed by presenter Tony Livesy’s bizarre and less-than-fascinating topic of ‘Where have you been barred from?’

Most of the responses regarding Gray’s dismissal are seemingly ones of joy. Critics, football fans and journalists alike have all rejoiced in Sky’s announcement yesterday. Comments on Twitter and Facebook have been amusing and often cutting. Many have praised Sky for their handling of the situation, although it was understood that if the 3rd video clip, featuring presenter Charlotte Jackson, hadn’t have been found and shown to Sky bosses, then Gray would have remained in his position as he had already been given just a stern warning, just as was then given to his ‘mate’ Richard Keys.

Going back to BBC 5 Live, Gray would have been alarmed at an interview with Ron Atkinson on the situation yesterday evening. Probably the last person Gray would have wanted sticking their noses in was the gold-plated Atkinson, although hats off to the BBC for trying to stick Gray in a corner with a pundit sacked for obscene racist comments in 2004. Unsurprisingly, Atkinson believed the dismissal of Gray was a bit harsh, before probably being interrupted by the BBC reporter as he trailed off whilst talking off about another programme which shows he isn’t racist.

But is Big Ron right about Gray? Possibly, although Gray’s comments were rightly judged to be sexist and derogatory towards women and to that he has no defence. However, Sky has set a dangerous precedent by relieving the former Scottish international of his duties. One must be truly naïve to believe Gray is in a minority within such broadcasting corporations to hold such sexist views. Gray’s sacking will simply make people in broadcasting more careful about what and where they say it, rather than changing attitudes altogether.

Many have already raised the issue on whether Soccer AM’s ‘Soccerette’ feature will continue after what has happened. The Soccerette feature involves an invariably attractive female parading about in a short skirt and football top, whilst being the subject of jokes and innuendoes. Those who argue in defence of the show that such jokes are done in jest, are in danger of being hypocritical. The Soccerette segment of the show has always been a popular one, especially with men, ever since Tim Lovejoy first cat-walked up and down the Soccer AM studio with a female in tow.

So are we to believe that we have all been disgustingly sexist all this time? Maybe we should all write to Sky and apologise, sending in a ‘My Name is Earl’-type list of all the women we have had naughty thoughts about on those hung-over Saturday mornings. In fact, critics would probably like to believe that Gray and Richard Keys would hang around the back of the Soccer AM studios, leering at the Soccerette and presenter Helen Chamberlain, dressed up as milkmen.

Gray was rumoured to be already disliked by a fair few colleagues and journalists within football, with some journalists not sharing the 55-year-old’s view that you have had to have played professional football in order to hold a valid opinion on the sport.( Although to be fair, Gray is probably not the only ex-professional-turned-pundit to share such a belief) Since Gray first boomed onto our screen as the regular pundit/co-commentator alongside Keys and commentator Martin Tyler for Sky Sports in 1992, he has rumoured to have since become big-headed and self-indulgent, again not winning many friends.

Many football fans have also criticised Gray over the years for seemingly hating their team with a passion and that he loves a rival team instead. Listen guys, he’s a critic, he’s supposed to have an opinion, and he can’t hate everyone. I have heard Everton and Manchester United fans say that ex-Everton player Gray favours Liverpool, and more understandably I have heard Liverpool fans say he hates the Anfield outfit and blatantly favours the Toffees.

Despite Gray’s lack of support over this current issue, it mustn’t be forgotten that Gray was well-received in his early years at Sky. I myself always liked Gray as a pundit. For years armchair supporters had been subjected to the likes of Jimmy Hill turning up at the odd BBC FA Cup game. Hill once famously castrated (not physically) Manchester United’s players before an FA Cup Third Round tie away to Nottingham Forest in 1990, claiming their body language during the warm up displayed signs of a team already beaten. United ended up beating Forest 1-0 thanks to a Mark Robins header, and went on to win the Cup, leaving Hill to take the embarrassment firmly on his magnificent specimen of a chin.

Gray was part of a team that revitalised watching top-flight football, and was perfect in transferring over the excitement of the new Premier League to a TV audience. Gray’s powerful, purring, raspy voice relayed the action on the pitch brilliantly when working alongside commentators such as Tyler and Ian Darke. Back in the early-to mid 1990’s, Gray’s acerbic tones made players like Ian Culverhouse, Michel Vonk and Ian Marshall appear to be Gladiator-esquein the fight for the Premiership crown, rather than the absolute donkeys that they were.

Importantly, there is nothing w rong with this type of passion. Liverpool fans have great memories of Steven Gerrard’s strike against Olympiakos at Anfield in 1995, where Gray was assisting Tyler in the commentary box. The Scot’s ear-splitting cries of: ‘Oh You Beauty!’ (Not a comment on any female stewards in the Kop) conveyed the emotion of the moment brilliantly, and made the moment even more memorable for those watching the game in their armchair. It was a great moment that showed you how much Gray loves the game, and at that point, how much he loved his job.

Not that Gray’s excellence was down solely to his sheer passion and love for the game. Gray was also tactically astute, and he is still one of the rare breed of football-analysts that can do the business both in the commentary box and back in the studio. Alan Hansen may sit comfortably in his bland BBC studio in his array of pastel coloured shirts, but he has never been one for venturing into the commentary box to join the likes of John Motson. Mark Lawrenson, who’s head is increasingly looking like a melted pumpkin, has made many ventures into co-commentating, but comes across as a dishevelled, bitter old man who has missed the last bus home, particularly when paired with Motson.

Back in the studio, Gray showed innovation with his ever-evolving gadgetry, usually on ‘Monday Night Football’. Not distracted by Keys’ sporadic and slightly disturbing looks into the camera as he asked Gray a question, Gray would use his equipment to analyse a future game or look back on the weekend’s action. It was fresh, unique and fitted in well with Sky’s insistence to be one step ahead of the competition. Such technical wizardry isn’t all that easy to pull off either, as we all know what happened when Andy Townsend invited ITV bosses into his pimped-up Ford Transit when the channel won the rights to show Premiership Football in 2001. Jamie Redknapp has shown sufficient nouse to be able to replace Gray's piercing views in the Sky Sports studio, but the channel is lacking a co-commentator of decent quality.

With Gray now gone, it is up to the likes of Townsend and co to provide not only insight, but excitement to our screens. But the year is now 2011, and a new breed of respected football journalists has arisen. The likes of Gabrielle Marcotti and James Richardson have both had their names mentioned on Twitter to replace people like Gray, and both been on our screens for a while now, with Richardson in particular having a big following ever since his days presenting Italian football for Channel 4 in the early 1990’s, and Marcotti appearing on ITV’s Champions League highlights programme.

However, despite the intelligent views that these two give on a regular basis, it remains to be seen whether these could do a job like Gray did. Richardson and his clever use of puns have a cult following, and he hosts the fantastic Guardian Football Weekly podcast. His quirky presenting style lends itself brilliantly to the tongue-in cheek style of the show, while remaining thoughtful and insightful.

Indeed it is this style of punditry and analysis that some people wish was more prevalent in the current era of football broadcasting. Whether it is an abundance of statistics, the use of Prozone or more Richardson-style punnery, the market for this style of presentation is there, but whether it is suitable for prime-time football is another question. Italian football may well suit Richardson, but the slow, almost contemplative pace of the Italian game is perfect for Richardson’s musings. But what about Richardson handling a big ‘Premier League Super Sunday’? Would his sudden ramblings about attack strategies in the Battle of Gettysburg really be appropriate during a Merseyside Derby?

Let’s not forget, football is traditionally the working man’s game, evolving from working-class roots. To alienate the working man in favour of a more middle-class and alternative broadcasting style is dangerous. Take ‘Big Jimmy', an oversized lorry driver who follows his beloved Walsall week in, week out.  But one particular Sunday afternoon, 'Big Jimmy' has to mind the kids, so he has to watch Sky for live coverage of Walsall’s big FA Cup tie at the Bescott Stadium at home to the rich Manchester City. New presenter Richardson is in his place with his meticulously-grown goatee beard. Now Jimmy likes the opening credits – the montage of giant-killings from over the years, ranging from Sutton United’s victory over Coventry in 1989, and Mickey Thomas’s superb free-kick in Wrexham’s win over Arsenal in 1992. However, big Jimmy is less than impressed when Richardson starts the broadcast looking pensively into the camera, stroking his beard and proceeding with a delicious play-on-words that involves replacing Bescott with Joleon Lescott. All of a sudden, 'Big Jimmy' doesn’t know what the fuck is going on.

If change is managed carefully however, it should be embraced. Match of the Day-bashing is now all too common, but that it is not to say critics of sporting punditry are wrong. On the BBC we have Garth Crooks, who now puts so much emphasis on every word he says, that the significance of each word he does say becomes less and less meaningful. On ITV, Gareth Southgate’s fashion has gone from failed-Dickensian to University student from 2002. The channel’s football coverage hasn’t recovered since the death of Brian Moore, and it certainly wasn’t helped when Steve Ryder resurrected his career on the channel, looking like a cross between a bewildered English sheepdog and actor Ted Danson.

So as the future beckons for football coverage, what does the future hold for Gray? Gray is reportedly furious at the way events have unfolded. Rumours of a stitch-up within Sky are rife, though that doesn’t excuse Gray’s comments. Despite Gray’s critics, he surely had more fans than Keys. If Keys doesn’t get the push today after the latest YouTube video that has been leaked, then you would hope he would show some kind of loyalty towards Gray and do the honourable thing of resigning. The latest video of Keys asking Jamie Redknapp if he would ‘smash it’ is breathtakingly bad. Disturbing even. I wonder if Keys was ever caught ‘hanging out the back’ of Anne Diamond on that TV-am sofa all those years ago?

Since the incident last Saturday, Keys has apparently had the chance to hold up his Teen-Wolf-like hands and apologise to the female assistant referee Sian Massey, though the point of apologising now seems rather pointless. “Sorry for my sexist views and sorry for believing women are completely unable to learn a law like the offside rule, but what are you going to do eh? Get me sacked? Do me a favour love… Oh shit.”

Anfield of Nightmares

AFTER yet another dismal showing last night in front of a foolishly-expectant home crowd at Anfield, Liverpool Football Club remains in relative-crisis mode. The 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers was one that should have been avoided, but now we are subject to more excuses as to why the Merseysiders failed to turn up.

One point argued by Sky Sports pundit Andy Gray last night was that Liverpool looked rusty, having had their last two league games postponed and over a fortnight's rest. Wolves on the other hand, played only three days ago, slumping to a 2-1 home defeat to Wigan Athletic. In Gray’s opinion, Mick McCarthy’s merry men were a whole lot sharper than Roy Hodgson’s Scouse screw-ups.

Gray’s arguments could be seen as perfectly valid if it were not for the fact that throughout the season we are subject to managers complaining about fixture congestion and players underperforming due to too many games in too short a space of time.

Liverpool’s rest period of 17 days would be envied by other teams, but for a team whose best players would seemingly benefit from rest and recuperation from past injury problems, it has not worked out. The recent postponements meant Steven Gerrard was allowed time to return from a hamstring problem and Fernando Torres, if we are to believe what we are constantly subjected to by media sources, was given his first rest since he was 10 years old.

Also within this time period, it seems Glen Johnson has reverted to a Benjamin Button-esque state, now possessing the footballing capabilities of his 12-year-old self. One moment in last night’s first half was of particularly naïve nature, as he needlessly booted the ball out across his own box for a throw-in. Rather than holding his hands-up and admitting the act of travesty, he instead appeared to signal to his forward players that they should have already been in the stands waiting for it. If Liverpool are to miraculously gain a place in Europe by May, expect a 3-year-old nappy-wearing Johnson to be held aloft by Pepe Reina in front of the Kop amidst the celebrations, and then given the opportunity to complete five-yard passes to Martin Skrtel and Jamie Carragher.

The truth is that there is a combination of on-pitch factors which are directly affecting the team’s success. David Ngog is not going to be the next Thierry Henry, and just as it took Sir Alex Ferguson years to realise David Bellion wasn’t either, Liverpool should get rid of the young Frenchman. Any hopes of a possible partnership with Fernando Torres were surely vanquished last night, as both forwards struggled to hold up the ball and allow midfielders to join the attack.

Liverpool’s problems stem from this ability to not keep the ball in the final third. Fernando Torres is not the same player he was two years ago, and it looks often like English defences have him well and truly found out. Those who claim the Spaniard is still unfit must be as tired of their own voices as journalists are. Wolves last night were quick to close down the striker when he was receiving passes, but in reality they didn’t have to try too hard as the Spaniard’s control let him down more as the game went on.

Supporters of Torres who claim the Spaniard has poor support and delivery from teammates should look at the likes of Darren Bent, a player who has never played with a Gerrard, a Beckham or a Bergkamp, yet has consistently scored throughout his career in the Premiership. Torres looks constantly unhappy nowadays, but I’m sure his body language would be even more vitriolic if he were being supplied with through balls by Bent’s current teammates Kieran Richardson and Phil Bardsley.

There is a severe lack of confidence amongst the Liverpool team, but this is not something which the Charlie Chalk-lookalike Hodgson has solely instilled. Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool last season were at times equally awful, bowing out of the FA Cup early to Reading in a pitiful performance, and suffering the same tactical problems as Hodgson faces now.

Tactically, Liverpool’s biggest problem may lie in their reputation. Hodgson may have saved Fulham from relegation and moulded them into a capable outfit, but they were often playing teams who were open and not afraid of going for the jugular. Liverpool however, are still a club that can inspire fear, and with big names likes Gerrard, Torres and Reina, opposing sides often set-up with men behind the ball, frustrating the Merseysiders and limiting their opportunities.

It would be no surprise if at the time this article was published Hodgson had either handed in his resignation or had it terminated. His appointment was generally to be considered as a stop-gap. He was an elderly, experienced coach, who, though often appeared to be going blind, could help guide Liverpool through what was always going to be a transitional period.

The mid-table position comes as no surprise to many who have seen the decline of the team in the last 18 months or so, but many of the Kop faithful have found it hard during this period to accept Hodgson as the bloke responsible for managing their beloved club.

However, Hodgson should surely have not been expected to win titles and trophies. He was hardly achieving such feats at Fulham during his reign at Craven Cottage; instead he was battling against the odds and achieving commendable results and performances on a shoe-string budget. Indeed many Liverpool fans that were aware of financial restraints in the summer saw Hodgson as the perfect replacement to deal with such circumstances, due to his Fulham record.

Inheriting a Liverpool team in decline, Hodgson’s role was to steady the Liverpool ship and rebuild for the future, possibly for another manager to take charge when the team looks like it can win big trophies again, and consequently win all the plaudits. Rather like when former-boss Benitez took over Gerard Houlier's side in 2004.

There is nothing wrong with replacing Hodgson mid-season, and replacing him with someone like the heavily respected but equally-dour Kenny Dalglish. Most Liverpool fans would most probably desire a manager who isn't making decisions like playing Ngog and Torres up front together, employing Raul Meireles in a wide position, or simply playing Paul Konchesky.

Indeed, if something is not working and you don’t intend to continue with the set-up in a few years time anyway, then by all means cut your losses. However, as other teams get richer and rivals improve, Liverpool cannot afford to slip too far away. The club lacks a direction and a plan of attack – on and off the field. A short-term replacement for Hodgson however, is unlikely to have the galvanising effect that most Liverpool fans would like.

Finally, for those of you who wish to see old Roy first step on the shores of Liverpool docks back in the summer, please look at this rare clip...