[Politics] Alec Scott

[timbha]

Yes,was he the guy commentating on Monday with KC on the radio?
I must admit I did like his commentary and he did through in a few obscure details but in quite a fun way.
I was particularly impressed when he said "they are now attacking the goal in a westerly direction so towards Worthing".
I thought that was excellent bit of local knowledge applied by the commentator.
He's better than me because I completely lose my bearings whenever I'm in the stadium.

He was Sky’s commentator for the match with Alan Smith. They have a combined age of 133 years (75 and 58)

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

Funny, because I’m sure they managed elite clubs. Maybe not (depending on your loyalties)

To be fair Wenger and Mourinho are two of the most successful elite managers of the modern era of football.

Portlock Seagull said only elite PLAYERS should be pundits. These two examples were never elite players.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

If only there was an emoji to indicate playing along [emoji849]

Agreed - otherwise that is very meta.

 

[Larry Boyd]

Portlock Seagull said only elite PLAYERS should be pundits. These two examples were never elite players.

I do think that the pundits on men's PL football should be men who have played men's PL football, they have credibility, they've played the game to that level. Women haven't, women's football is a low quality sport, you may as well have a County league player offering his views on the match.

 

[Pint of Ale and a Burger]

He was Sky’s commentator for the match with Alan Smith. They have a combined age of 133 years (75 and 58)

Oh ok,I didn't see the sky coverage and I'm not that knowledgeable of commentators.
I was wondering who was the commentator on radio 5 live alsongside KC if anyone knows?
Great stat by the way,you also have the makings of a great commentator.lol.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Yes,was he the guy commentating on Monday with KC on the radio?
I must admit I did like his commentary and he did through in a few obscure details but in quite a fun way.
I was particularly impressed when he said "they are now attacking the goal in a westerly direction so towards Worthing".
I thought that was excellent bit of local knowledge applied by the commentator.
He's better than me because I completely lose my bearings whenever I'm in the stadium.

Yes, as someone who finds football a bit bring, I really enjoy a commentator who can lively up proceedings. Little snippets like 'Brighton is the 15th busiest coastal resort in Norther Europe, according to official EU statistics, although this may change once we leave the EU' and 'today's temperature reached a maximum of 14 degrees for the fifth day in succession, which is a record for East Sussex, although for Sussex as a whole the record is held by West Wittering which, frankly, is what some say I'm doing. What do you think, Alan?'.

If it weren't for this sort of thing I'd probably not bother with the football.

 

[rippleman]

I do think that the pundits on men's PL football should be men who have played men's PL football, they have credibility, they've played the game to that level. Women haven't, women's football is a low quality sport, you may as well have a County league player offering his views on the match.

Great to see misogony alive and kicking on NSC.

Carney has over 140 international caps scoring 32 goals. She played in two world cups. She represented GB at the Olympics. She was awarded an MBE for services to football.

But you are probably right. She knows f*** all about the game.

 

[timbha]

Yes, as someone who finds football a bit bring, I really enjoy a commentator who can lively up proceedings. Little snippets like 'Brighton is the 15th busiest coastal resort in Norther Europe, according to official EU statistics, although this may change once we leave the EU' and 'today's temperature reached a maximum of 14 degrees for the fifth day in succession, which is a record for East Sussex, although for Sussex as a whole the record is held by West Wittering which, frankly, is what some say I'm doing. What do you think, Alan?'.

If it weren't for this sort of thing I'd probably not bother with the football.

Looks like it’s cricket for you!

 

[nickbrighton]

Whatever your view, continually calling her Alec, rather than Alex is pretty disrespectful and petty.

You are quite correct to point that out to me , and on the very slim chance she ever reads any of this then I apologise, I genuinely thought it was Alec.There is no excuse, just an error on my part which I am now aware of and will not repeat again. It certainly wasn't meant to be disrespectful, and would only be petty if it was a deliberate act, such if I continued to use it from now.

Good luck to her, her career is obviously taking off, however like others , I simply don't understand why she is considered to be a good presenter. I always find her style to be hesitant and somewhat forced. However others do like her and so thats great. I have to choice to watch or not.

 

[Larry Boyd]

Great to see misogony alive and kicking on NSC.

Carney has over 140 international caps scoring 32 goals. She played in two world cups. She represented GB at the Olympics. She was awarded an MBE for services to football.

But you are probably right. She knows f*** all about the game.

How an earth does me saying I only want current or ex men as pundits on the men's game make me a misogynist? For the record I'm not a misogynist, I have deep love and respect for some women and have many women friends and colleagues.

The point I'm making is women's football is poor quality and whilst Carney has won caps / trophies it's at a standard way below the men's game therefore to me she has no credibility, I want to hear the views of Carragher, Neville, Ferdinand, Souness, guys who have played the game to a high level. Let Carney and Scott etc be pundits on the WSL.

Answer me this then: Why aren't lower league players ever pundits on Super Sunday or MNF?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Looks like it’s cricket for you!

Too busy for that, mate. Currently reading a book on the art of facetiousness. I haven't quite got the hang of it

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I do think that the pundits on men's PL football should be men who have played men's PL football, they have credibility, they've played the game to that level. Women haven't, women's football is a low quality sport, you may as well have a County league player offering his views on the match.

I thought that most on here thought that most pundits were hopeless, biased and boring and a waste of time.
Most are male ex elite players.
And what about Lineaker, is he now suddenly ok or still a ****.
For some reason they seem ok now

 

[Seaview Seagull]

Great to see misogony alive and kicking on NSC.

Carney has over 140 international caps scoring 32 goals. She played in two world cups. She represented GB at the Olympics. She was awarded an MBE for services to football.

But you are probably right. She knows f*** all about the game.

Let me pose another question. Should all managers be ex elite players on the same argument? If not why commentators? I simply make the point that management, commentary and playing are different skills and one does my depend on the other.

 

[Simster]

How an earth does me saying I only want current or ex men as pundits on the men's game make me a misogynist? For the record I'm not a misogynist, I have deep love and respect for some women and have many women friends and colleagues.

The point I'm making is women's football is poor quality and whilst Carney has won caps / trophies it's at a standard way below the men's game therefore to me she has no credibility, I want to hear the views of Carragher, Neville, Ferdinand, Souness, guys who have played the game to a high level. Let Carney and Scott etc be pundits on the WSL.

Answer me this then: Why aren't lower league players ever pundits on Super Sunday or MNF?

It's called positive discrimination and it is very much needed in order for things to change. And I agree that women's football is at a level well below the men's game (as we all do), but Carney has comfortably reached the top by beating what was in front of her. I don't see what more she could do as a woman who wants to be a pundit.

Consider a comparison with, say Ally McCoist being a pundit on a Premier League game. He played briefly for Sunderland in the 80s and didn't pull up any trees. He didn't do anything at international level either - Scotland have still never got out of a group stage. What he did do was clean up at Rangers at a time when trophies were handed out to Rangers players free with every £10 worth of petrol they bought, a bit like Celtic for the nine years prior to this season. So where was the outrage when he appeared as a pundit on Premier League games with his CV showing him cleaning up in a pub league?

I wouldn't say Robbie Savage or Andy Townsend were world beaters either, but both have forged careers in punditry. At least Savage exudes personality, but WTF Townsend ever brings beyond banality and/or ignorance is beyond me. How did he get a job at ITV FFS?

 

[BN41Albion]

Technically, most of those who slate women's football would get smashed off the park by those women who play at the top level of their game. Most have probably never played the game at any decent level themselves either, so despite being offended by women's football, have little actual experience playing themselves. In fact, in my experience, typically the higher the level someone has played, the more respect he has for the women's game - wonder if this is actually true or not?. More likely to be playing at a club with a women's section perhaps, or have a daughter who plays the game, etc.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Totally agree with you. It's just box ticking having women pundits on men's football, why don't Sky ever have lower league players on Super Sunday or MNF? Because everyone would say 'wtf does he know about PL football he has no credibility'.

Let Alex Scott and her mates be pundits on women's football and have have current or ex male players as pundits on men's football.

Here come the wokes.......

As long as you have a panel that consists of different skill sets and experiences they don’t have to be ex players. You may want an ex player to discuss some of the player interactions, positioning etc on the pitch and an ex manager to point out the tactical side and so on. Not saying that Scott offers anything but just that you dont need all ex players

 

[Stato]

My problem with pundits is not whether they are men or women, but that they are generally all ex players and this means that the 'insider view' becomes the accepted paradigm and allows for accusations that 'You don't know if you haven't played at the top level' that is lately being twisted to make a stick to beat female ex-players with. Yes, you want a sprinkling of ex players, but diversity is not just about gender, sexuality, race, nationality and class, it's also about background and perspective. I don't personally like Simon Jordan, but view his contributions as being of worth because he comes at the game from a different perspective to most pundits.

I would argue that some sports journalists and fans, who tend to watch far more football than most footballers do, would make for great pundits and would bring something different. Alex Scott is just as good at the job as any number of ex pros, but they all give a player's perspective and that is very limiting. By all means use Alex Scott and her fellow ex pros, but if non politicians are thought worthy of giving their opinions on Question Time, then why not on football programmes? The most entertaining people on sports TV in the last thirty years have been the likes of Des Lynam, Geoff Stelling and Mark Chapman, not their ex pro guests, so instead of giving the presenting jobs to the ex-pro pundits, give the pundit jobs to a wider variety of people. Who wouldn't be happy to occasionally not hear from Alan Smith, Chris Sutton, Robbie Savage, Alan Shearer, Mark Lawrenson, Garth Crooks or Lee Dixon, but instead get Eleanor Oldroyd, Henry Winter, Marina Hyde, Martin Samuel, David Conn, either of the Kelners, Paul Sinha, Bob Mortimer, Baker and or Kelly? What special insight do ex-Everton player Kevin Campbell and childhood Everton fan Jamie Carragher bring to punditry on Brighton v Everton that mean that the programme couldn't be bettered by one of them being replaced by Paul Hayward?

 

[albionalex]

How an earth does me saying I only want current or ex men as pundits on the men's game make me a misogynist? For the record I'm not a misogynist, I have deep love and respect for some women and have many women friends and colleagues.

The point I'm making is women's football is poor quality and whilst Carney has won caps / trophies it's at a standard way below the men's game therefore to me she has no credibility, I want to hear the views of Carragher, Neville, Ferdinand, Souness, guys who have played the game to a high level. Let Carney and Scott etc be pundits on the WSL.

Answer me this then: Why aren't lower league players ever pundits on Super Sunday or MNF?

Out of interest, is this because you find their analysis excellent or just because you only want to hear from ex-players who played at the very top?

Personally, aside from Neville and Carragher, I find the punditry from the top ex-pros pretty poor.

Keith Andrews, on the other hand, who wasn't exactly an elite footballer, is superb.

 

[Larry Boyd]

It's called positive discrimination and it is very much needed in order for things to change. And I agree that women's football is at a level well below the men's game (as we all do), but Carney has comfortably reached the top by beating what was in front of her. I don't see what more she could do as a woman who wants to be a pundit.

Consider a comparison with, say Ally McCoist being a pundit on a Premier League game. He played briefly for Sunderland in the 80s and didn't pull up any trees. He didn't do anything at international level either - Scotland have still never got out of a group stage. What he did do was clean up at Rangers at a time when trophies were handed out to Rangers players free with every £10 worth of petrol they bought, a bit like Celtic for the nine years prior to this season. So where was the outrage when he appeared as a pundit on Premier League games with his CV showing him cleaning up in a pub league?

I wouldn't say Robbie Savage or Andy Townsend were world beaters either, but both have forged careers in punditry. At least Savage exudes personality, but WTF Townsend ever brings beyond banality and/or ignorance is beyond me. How did he get a job at ITV FFS?

I don't think it is, it's about ensuring the right people are in the right jobs and not recruiting based on skin colour or gender, when you do this you end up with people like Diane Abbot as shadow home secretary totally out of her depth (see interview with Dermot Murnaghan post June 2017 London terrorist attacks).

Ally McCoist also 'beat what was in front of him' he also played and scored in a WC and EC and reached the European cup semi final with Rangers in 1993, some pub team that. Him Townsend, Savage have all played men's professional football therefore to me their views have credibility.

So why don't lower league players ever get invited onto Sky's live coverage then? I would imagine a lack of credibility along the lines of 'how can he be offering an opinion on PL football when he's never played it'.

 

[albionalex]

I don't think it is, it's about ensuring the right people are in the right jobs and not recruiting based on skin colour or gender, when you do this you end up with people like Diane Abbot as shadow home secretary totally out of her depth (see interview with Dermot Murnaghan post June 2017 London terrorist attacks).

Ally McCoist also 'beat what was in front of him' he also played and scored in a WC and EC and reached the European cup semi final with Rangers in 1993, some pub team that. Him Townsend, Savage have all played men's professional football therefore to me their views have credibility.

So why don't lower league players ever get invited onto Sky's live coverage then? I would imagine a lack of credibility along the lines of 'how can he be offering an opinion on PL football when he's never played it'.

Because they have no name value.

Alex Scott does.