[Football] Alex Scott @ Sky Sports.

[ChazzyBHA]

Alex Scott is one of the best pundits around at the moment... puts Souness and the likes of Sutton etc to shame

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Reckon Alex Scott has a great future in the media. Like Dan Walker, recently promoted to the Beeb's breakfast programme, she always comes across as relaxed, positive and knowledgeable. Girl done good

 

[trueblue]

I don't think levels of play have anything to do with understanding the game.

Mourinho and Wenger hardly kicked a ball in their careers and did alright for themselves.

It's also why we can look at games and have opinions and ideas on tactics or players or the financial state of global football likely without having played at any level.

To say you have to have been at the top of your profession in order to have your knowledge be taken seriously is patently ridiculous.

But that doesn't address why the airwaves are not full of lower league male footballers giving their opinion on matches at the highest level. Credibility is required to back up those opinions and, in football, that comes - with a few, mostly derided, exceptions - from having played or coached the game at the level you're talking about. How else can you give real insight otherwise? That's why pundits are there.

To be clear, I'm not anti women's football at all. I hope it takes off. Different type of game to men's football and watchable in its own right. I'm just against the exaggeration of the standard and over-promotion of its current 'stars'.

 

[trueblue]

Some people seem to use the excuse that women's football is not the same level as men's, so how can she be an expert on it?

Adam Virgo is an excellent co-commentator and pundit and often talks about football way above the standard he ever played. Is that the same?

Yes. It is pretty much exactly the same. How seriously would you take his analysis of a Champions League match compared to, say, Graeme Souness? The whole idea of the pundits is to provide expertise in that field. The fact that some don't bother shouldn't be an excuse to get in lots more that don't carry sufficient top level credibility.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

The Albion are pushing women’s football so much at the moment, and apart from a number of ‘look how PC I am’ posters on here, I don’t know anyone who is interested in it. It seems like there’s even more stuff on social media these days then there is about the men’s team. Yesterday I logged on to Instagram to be told ‘Defeat for Albion today’. Their constant marketing clearly isn’t working for me, because I’m ashamed to admit that the first word that came to my head was ‘Good’.

Muting all this on Twitter is a right effort. I hate the clickbait nature of ''New signing for the Albion!'' which turns out to the new womens reserve team left back which gets added to the mute bin along with everything else. I understand TB wants us to be successful at every level - and rightly so - but the force feeding of the womens game via the official channels is tiresome to those of us with no interest in it.

As for Alex Scott, she is the female Jamie Redknapp. Nothing much to say, not bad to look at, not the brightest and not the worst. I'm not sure I follow the Robbie Savage ''How many premier league games have you started argument'' about whether or not her opinion is worth listening to. Personally, I'd rather listen to some of the written press alongside a former pro for insight (Mark Langdon has forgotten more about European football than most ex pros have ever known for example) but if there is one thing for sure it is that broadcasters will continue to push this and Alex Scott is currently flavour of the month.

 

[Palacefinder General]

With one of his posts about Albion fans predilection for dick (see his posting history) we appear to have yet another one on here starting threads, the OP [MENTION=37938]Hu_Camus[/MENTION].

 

[dazzer6666]

Alex Scott is one of the best pundits around at the moment... puts Souness and the likes of Sutton etc to shame

Another one with a crush

She's no better or worse than a lot of the others - she uses a lot of cliches, and doesn't always offer much insight - but that's true of plenty of the male pundits too. Nothing to do with gender. She's also improving quickly, unlike most of her male counterparts who continue to trot out the same old shite game after game

 

[Eddiespearritt]

Treading carefully through the PC / non PC minefield, I like the addition of women to the line up of pundits. It is delicious to see Souness squirming so horribly (with "you don't know what you are talking about darling" written so clearly on his face) on Sky. You do hear a lot of nonsense spoken by the male pundits, and some of them make little effort to appear groomed or smart even.

My one reservation is that it is a revolution that is pushed too far and too fast - some of the ladies on Sky's midweek Soccer Special studio line-ups are struggling with the basics of broadcasting, I really don't know who they are, and definitely seem to be tokens, rather than there because they are amongst the best at what they do.

A bit like electronic advertising boards (which drove me crackers at first), and the score in the top corner of the screen, everything takes time to be perfected, but good communicators who are both men and women are here to stay. If some of the ladies usurp some of the men who destroy the English language on radio and TV, yes Paul Merson and Ray Parlour I mean you amongst many others, then hooray for that.

 

[Bladders]

Reckon Alex Scott has a great future in the media. Like Dan Walker, recently promoted to the Beeb's breakfast programme, she always comes across as relaxed, positive and knowledgeable. Girl done good

I've not seen her recently but when she first appeared, possibly the WC, her delivery always sounded like she was presenting a children's show on CBBC

I presume she's improved since then.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Yes. It is pretty much exactly the same. How seriously would you take his analysis of a Champions League match compared to, say, Graeme Souness? .

And do you feel someone would feel obliged to start a thread asking why he was selected as a pundit?

Not in a million years.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

The Football Ramble
Guardian Football Weekly
Totally Football Show.
BT Sports Champions League Goals Show (on TV)

All excellent podcasts (+ 1 TV show), pretty much solely male-based, with people talking eloquently and in-depth about top level football....presented and contributed to by people who never played professionally. That's fine.

A WOMAN who has played for her country over 100 times DARES to speak about BLOKES FOOTER and the level she has played at is highlighted as a reason not to listen to her

 

[BBassic]

But that doesn't address why the airwaves are not full of lower league male footballers giving their opinion on matches at the highest level. Credibility is required to back up those opinions and, in football, that comes - with a few, mostly derided, exceptions - from having played or coached the game at the level you're talking about. How else can you give real insight otherwise? That's why pundits are there.

To be clear, I'm not anti women's football at all. I hope it takes off. Different type of game to men's football and watchable in its own right. I'm just against the exaggeration of the standard and over-promotion of its current 'stars'.

Yeah fair point, well made

I think I read your original reply haphazardly! Call it a lack of coffee.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I don't think levels of play have anything to do with understanding the game.

Mourinho and Wenger hardly kicked a ball in their careers and did alright for themselves.

It's also why we can look at games and have opinions and ideas on tactics or players or the financial state of global football likely without having played at any level.

To say you have to have been at the top of your profession in order to have your knowledge be taken seriously is patently ridiculous.

I can see why producers want Alex Scott on and I, of all people, can’t criticise anyone who makes a living from talking or writing about football without having played anywhere near a decent level themselves. (And since we’re talking about the top level of men’s football, I include her.)

But this is surely all about the role of these studio pundits. Are they there to tell casual viewers something about the game they’ve just watched that they might not have realised? Or are they supposed to provide real insight into what goes on in a Premier
League match. For the former, she is adequate. For the latter, I’d prefer someone who has been there and done it, and recently too. Roy Keane is entertaining when having a go at Pogba and company, but he’s out of date tactically. I don’t think he understands what teams like Man City and Liverpool are doing half the time. I’d much rather listen to Liam Rosenior.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

But that doesn't address why the airwaves are not full of lower league male footballers giving their opinion on matches at the highest level. Credibility is required to back up those opinions and, in football, that comes - with a few, mostly derided, exceptions - from having played or coached the game at the level you're talking about. How else can you give real insight otherwise? That's why pundits are there.

To be clear, I'm not anti women's football at all. I hope it takes off. Different type of game to men's football and watchable in its own right. I'm just against the exaggeration of the standard and over-promotion of its current 'stars'.

What I’m quickly learning is that all the criticisms used against women’s football, are rampant and seemingly acceptable in the men’s game. Take your “exaggeration of the standard and over-promotion of its current 'stars'.” - I could name endless male players way over promoted and exaggerated. Take Wayne Rooney for example. This flat-track bully, summer chubster and all-year boozer was often refered to as world class.

 

[trueblue]

The Football Ramble
Guardian Football Weekly
Totally Football Show.
BT Sports Champions League Goals Show (on TV)

All excellent podcasts (+ 1 TV show), pretty much solely male-based, with people talking eloquently and in-depth about top level football....presented and contributed to by people who never played professionally. That's fine.

A WOMAN who has played for her country over 100 times DARES to speak about BLOKES FOOTER and the level she has played at is highlighted as a reason not to listen to her

Personally, I don't give a fig about the opinions on the podcasts either. You only have to hear them talk about a club you know well to realise that most of it is based on shallow knowledge at best. Information about foreign leagues from the likes of Sid Lowe, Guillem Balague - sure, that can be interesting in terms of hearing about up and coming players, news from from the clubs etc, but once they stray into tactics I take it all with a pinch of salt.

Fans and journos chewing the fat about football is not the same at all as analysis of a live TV game. Pundits are supposedly chosen - and paid handsomely - for what they can add in terms of expertise and insight. So you're comparing apples with oranges.

 

[trueblue]

What I’m quickly learning is that all the criticisms used against women’s football, are rampant and seemingly acceptable in the men’s game. Take your “exaggeration of the standard and over-promotion of its current 'stars'.” - I could name endless male players way over promoted and exaggerated. Take Wayne Rooney for example. This flat-track bully, summer chubster and all-year boozer was often refered to as world class.

If that's the best example to back your argument, totally laughable.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I would

Indeed. Nice to have a bird on the pane. Technically the most f*ckable pundit since, er, Graeme Le Saux?

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I can think of plenty of men who got the pundit gig simply because they were decent footballers but mostly spout unintelligible gibberish; I simply cannot watch self-styled Paul "the Guv'nor" Ince with his "wetbopbippop digchopflipflop innit" drivel or Robbie "Yeeeaaaaaaa hahahaha" Savage.

To suggest she shouldn't be offering opinions on a football game because of her gender is ridiculous and such attitudes belong in the 1950's

She shouldn't be offering her opinions because she hasn't played at the highest level, that's nothing to do with her gender.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

If that's the best example to back your argument, totally laughable.

If you don’t agree with me on Rooney we could both name a dozen players fairly rapidly.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Personally, I don't give a fig about the opinions on the podcasts either. You only have to hear them talk about a club you know well to realise that most of it is based on shallow knowledge at best. Information about foreign leagues from the likes of Sid Lowe, Guillem Balague - sure, that can be interesting in terms of hearing about up and coming players, news from from the clubs etc, but once they stray into tactics I take it all with a pinch of salt.

Fans and journos chewing the fat about football is not the same at all as analysis of a live TV game. Pundits are supposedly chosen - and paid handsomely - for what they can add in terms of expertise and insight. So you're comparing apples with oranges.

Fair enough. So what level of men's football is Alex Scott allowed to talk about before her opinion is considered worthy?