Soccer Saturday....

[cider spurs]

Clinton Morrison is an awful pundit.

...and talks like he's from southside LA. Gangsta bruv, he's gangsta.

As for Shocker Saturday. It's usually on one of the televisions in the pub, I might have a quick squizz to check accas now and then, but to sit and watch it in its entirety.

Feck that...tis not what God invented Saturday for. Missus reckons it was invented for shopping, I think she too has got this wrong, for I awake every Sunday feeling lighter in the wallet and rough as arseholes.

Saturday = pub, pints, pissed.

disclaimer: whilst every effort is made to get pissed on a Saturday, please be informed that any of the remaining six days of the week are in fact suitable as an alternative, or indeed, as additional sessions.

 

[hughy]

Clinton Morrison is an awful pundit.

I actually quite like listening to him. He struggles to articulate his points at time, but he's clearly a lot smarter than he comes across, and he's generally pretty level headed. Says what most people are thinking.

 

[hughy]

How is Charlie Nicholas going to be able to pay off the remaining instalments on his earring?

Well I'm sure he's sitting there thinking about it.

 

[Wsussexspur]

Soccer Saturday had been going down hill for years. it was well over due a revamp.. should have got rid of Merson though as well.

The Champions league goals show on BT during the group stages is the best of these type of shows about now in my opinion . Obviously helps they can show the action and goals as they happen. But still the level of pundits and presenters are much better and more informed than the scrapping the barrel of ex pros (both male and Female) who get dragged in now for Soccer Saturday/special

 

[DJS]

Merse is a tricky one for them to manage given his history of alcohol & drug abuse. Didn't he delve back into that life quite recently? Perhaps sacking him could lead him back to it again and I'm sure Sky wouldn't want the negative publicity if that was the case

Yeah I was also thinking that.

Would be very callous of sky to let him go as it might be something that helps keep him going.

Plus Ex-gooner or not he’s still more interesting then Thompson or Nicholas are.

I feel if they rotate it a bit more each weekend might keep thins fresher as was too much of a manly man old boys club with all those older blokes on there.

You expected them to start arm wrestling any minute lol.

 

[Daytripper]

Who to replace them though?

I never watched Soccer Saturday for the detailed analysis (there wasn't much) - it was more just to be kept updated on the footy with a little bit of light hearted humour/'banter' that was the appeal.

Maybe Jenas and Higginbotham as they are still young-ish in pundit terms and give decent analysis - and then Michah Richards for a bit of humour.

Would love to see Dawson on it one day after he got overly excited reporting on a Spurs game.

I think i'm in a minority - I find Alex Scott dull.

I actually quite like listening to him. He struggles to articulate his points at time, but he's clearly a lot smarter than he comes across, and he's generally pretty level headed. Says what most people are thinking.

Yep, I agree, I quite like him as a pundit, very laid back. He’s a Spurs fan too I think.

 

[Barmby Army]

There are plenty of ex-pros around who are intelligent and involved in the job, treating it with respect by doing their research properly while wearing their intelligence lightly enough not to put off the viewers who just want banter. Don Hutchison is one who immediately springs to mind, he's on 5 Live a lot and he's always got something worth saying, no matter the topic - his knowledge of European football is fantastic, the result of either a huge passion for the game or excellent research...whether one or the other, it's what you want in a pundit.

I'm not really bothered about the banter element, that's always been part of Soccer Saturday - I personally find it irritating, but that's a style preference. What bothers me is that a lot of them have made absolutely no attempt to provide anything beyond simply being an ex-pro. No interest in researching what they're talking about, and no acknowledgement that the game is different to when they played it. There's no excuse for not taking a basic pride in doing the job to the best of your ability.

With regard to the race/gender argument...let the idiots live in the past. They've lost that battle now, which is why these changes are happening, and as diversity becomes more and more normalised, their opinions will become more and more laughable - the genie's out of the bottle now, and it's not on anyone else to convince them that they're wrong any more, it's on them to move with the times or become increasingly ostracised and marginalised. They were asked nicely plenty of times, now change is being forced upon them. Good.

 

[thecook]

This explains why big nose is leaving

 

[spursfan77]

They need to move Stelling on too or else the programme will just be the same but with other people.

 

[bubble07]

They need to move Stelling on too or else the programme will just be the same but with other people.

If he goes noone will watch it

 

['O Zio]

I cant help but feel you're affording these journalists far more credit than they deserve.
What if Dave from Margate watches as much/more football than these writers...would you have him in the running for the job then?

There's a reason why virtually all pundits have played or managed professionally, being a good writer doesn't equal being a good pundit.

But Dave from Margate won't have watched as much football because he's got an actual job to do most of the time. Football journalists are literally paid to sit and watch football so I don't really understand what you're getting at there sorry mate.

I never said being a good write automatically makes you a good pundit. My point is that when you think about what the role of a pundit boils down to it's essentially to sit and watch football matches and then explain what's happening to an audience in an interesting way. So given that both of those things are what football writers do on a daily basis and have worked their way up the ladder by being good at those exact two things, maybe they're more qualified than some random ex-pro who just happens to have an agent who was owed a favour by someone at sky

 

[Gb160]

But Dave from Margate won't have watched as much football because he's got an actual job to do most of the time. Football journalists are literally paid to sit and watch football so I don't really understand what you're getting at there sorry mate.

I'll spell it out for you then, analysis is a small part of a journalists job, it's 100% of a pundits job...which is why pundits do punditry, and journalists do journalism.
It's really rather simple.

 

['O Zio]

I'll spell it out for you then, analysis is a small part of a journalists job, it's 100% of a pundits job...which is why pundits do punditry, and journalists do journalism.
It's really rather simple.

Couldn't really disagree with you more there mate. Watching games and analysing them and talking about them in an interesting way is basically the main thing a football journalist does. They're basically pundits but in print and/or radio form.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one I'm afraid. I think we both seem to have a completely different concept of what kind of journalism I'm talking about.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Sky Sports to debut new Soccer Saturday panel after controversial exits

Sky Sports axed three of their long serving Soccer Saturday pundits last month, but their replacements hadn't been announced

www.football.london

 

[LSUY]

They need to move Stelling on too or else the programme will just be the same but with other people.

Get rid of Stelling and Soccer Saturday would no different to BT Sport's Score and BBC's Final Score.

 

[spursfan77]

Get rid of Stelling and Soccer Saturday would no different to BT Sport's Score and BBC's Final Score.

So better then?

 

[TheChosenOne]

Their first four-man panel on Saturday will feature ex-Spurs and Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood, former Stoke and West Brom boss Tony Pulis and former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison.

The trio will appear alongside long-time regular Paul Merson, with Jeff Stelling hosting the flagship live scores programme as usual.


Snooze Fest = no charisma.

 

[Sweech]

I cant help but feel you're affording these journalists far more credit than they deserve.
What if Dave from Margate watches as much/more football than these writers...would you have him in the running for the job then?

There's a reason why virtually all pundits have played or managed professionally, being a good writer doesn't equal being a good pundit.

Totally disagree as podcasts are now overtaking these shows for viewer/listenership and a ton of the podcasts are loaded with journalists who know what they’re talking about (Honigstein, Horncastle, etc.). The fact is they’re already doing the punditry and are arguably already better at it.

In fact I believe your argument is why the format is slowly dying the way it is. It’s an old boys club that looks for “banter” who you can tell watch maybe one game a week. There’s nothing there and people are tuning out.

If I wanted to hear “he needs to do better” or “he needs to try harder” then I’ll listen to those old ex-pros.

 

[felmani26]

Their first four-man panel on Saturday will feature ex-Spurs and Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood, former Stoke and West Brom boss Tony Pulis and former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison.

The trio will appear alongside long-time regular Paul Merson, with Jeff Stelling hosting the flagship live scores programme as usual.


Snooze Fest = no charisma.

You can add Glen Johnson to that illustrious list too.

They've somehow managed to make the show even worse!

 

[VegasII]

Their first four-man panel on Saturday will feature ex-Spurs and Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood, former Stoke and West Brom boss Tony Pulis and former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison.

The trio will appear alongside long-time regular Paul Merson, with Jeff Stelling hosting the flagship live scores programme as usual.


Snooze Fest = no charisma.

Wow. Gilet Soccer Saturday.