Gray & Keys back in a job

[Westdene Wonder]

Thanks redneb for stating the mans angle which so many agree with but will not come out.
It is a mans game and we need a space we can watch and discuss football which is the reason it is so popular and long may it remain so.

 

[Easy 10]

I hope Gray & Keys don't turn the show into another Premier League wankfest.

In all honesty, what else could it possibly be ?
These guys have absolutely no clue whatsoever about anything outside of the the Prem - their entire Sky careers have focussed exclusively on that league and nothing else, aside from England internationals and the Chumps League, which is kind of all lumped in with the same thing.

If the team has not appeared in the top flight in the last 20 years, they will NOT have heard of it.

 

[Acker79]

Anyone listened to it? I haven't, was wondering if it was any good?

 

[Jam The Man]

I listened to the first hour or so.. Keys is a natural (if somewhat smugger than ever!), but Gray seems a bit nervous.

 

[Hiney]

I've been listening. Keys is a pretty decent presenter and sounds very relaxed. As Mr Jam has said, Gray seems nervous.

It was interesting that they have trotted out a number of 'big' names to have a chat with, presumeably to show that they still have some clout in the football world.

It is a Premier League wankfest, but at least it is informed comment, rather than the idiotic ramblings of Mike Parry.

Judgement reserved for now.

 

[byf]

I've been listening. Keys is a pretty decent presenter and sounds very relaxed. As Mr Jam has said, Gray seems nervous.

It was interesting that they have trotted out a number of 'big' names to have a chat with, presumeably to show that they still have some clout in the football world.

It is a Premier League wankfest, but at least it is informed comment, rather than the idiotic ramblings of Mike Parry.

Judgement reserved for now.

I thought the idiotic ramblings as you put it from Parry were fantastic. It made for decent listening as Graham and Parry went at each other, very entertaining.

Parry & Graham shall be missed!

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

There is not enough interest in football for all that coverage. It will end up including all the political stuff.

 

[hitony]

I thought the idiotic ramblings as you put it from Parry were fantastic. It made for decent listening as Graham and Parry went at each other, very entertaining.

Parry & Graham shall be missed!

I have to agree with you, in my opinion Parry was very good, I never could stand Andy Gray and as for keys I could give or take i suppose, but I wont listen to talksport all the time that twat Gray is on it.

Not everyone will like everyone....as i think NSC proves....

 

[Gritt23]

Well, I caught about 15 mins towards the end of the show, and it sounded like absolute bollocks to me. Nothing incisive, just ploughing through the same old stories that the Breakfast show and others will have long since done to death, without the wit or nouse to either look at an issue differently, or the ability to add humour.

The topics I heard were;

They read out some texts /emails / tweets giving examples of the “Greatest Goals ever” presumably on the back of going totally overboard on the Rooney goal. C’mon we’ve had enough of everyone doing that already, move on, or at least try and come up with a different slant on it.

The FA Cup, and how it’s losing it’s magic! Seriously! Ground-breaking, cutting edge stuff then, let’s have your ideas lads. Gray “It does need to evolve, it needs a, err, not a re-vamp, it just needs refreshing a bit. I think the FA are absolutely right to be looking at it.” That was it, no ideas, no thoughts of what could or should be done, just an inane “yep, it needs looking at.” Then a bit from them both, that pretty much sums them up, and is a very good example why I’ve long since lost all time for them.

Keys “It’s not just the BIG clubs though is it Andy? It’s one thing for clubs to be concentrating on the Champions League rather than the FA Cup, but it goes much deeper than that, when you see teams looking at how much they will lose if they get relegated from the Premiership, even those smaller clubs are losing interest.”
Gray “That’s right, and the attendances are dropping too. You can understand it as well, as money is tight out there and fans are spending a lot of money seeing their team play in the Premiership each week, so when the Cup comes around have they got the money for that as well?”

The Big clubs are Chelsea and Man Utd, the small clubs are WBA and Wolves. The rest of us are just myths and legends that they’ve heard tell of, but can’t be absolutely sure of their existence. One thing they do know, is that the rest of us just don’t matter to them whether the myths are true or not.

Then they hand over to H&J, who amongst their show have both of the topics above as well. So not only is that dragging these stories out ALL DAY, but you also see how to do it. H&J know these topics are being done to death, so they have ….

1. Rooneys goal, and how unbelievably over-top-everyone has gone. “The Sun want us to ‘remember where we were when we first saw the goal!’ It’s our JFK moment, well, we want ideas for how we should commemorate 12th February from here onwards.” They then continue with tongue firmly in cheek throwing out ideas for it to be known as Wayne Rooney Day, perhaps a statue outside Old Trafford of him connecting with the volley, perhaps a special Rooney suite whereby the seats are upside in the volleying position, or even make it into a roller-coaster ride. LOL.

2. The FA Cup, they have someone coming into the studio from the Football Supporters Trust to give his views, and to complain that the FA are not making any plans to consult any supporters groups as part of the process, as opposed to Keys and Gray who had Ray Wilkins (honestly!) in to talk about the issue. They also gave their opinion of what should change, with Andy Jacobs saying that the change needs to be the scrapping of the League Cup!

Even if you have the same topic to discuss, give a view, or a different slant, or get someone with an alternate view in the studio. Nah sorry, but although that was just 15 mins I heard, it was enough. I wouldn’t be tuning into that from 10-1pm unless some breaking news was actually going on in that slot.

 

[Easy 10]

Come on Gritty, don't skimp on the details, give us what you REALLY thought.

 

[Gritt23]

Come on Gritty, don't skimp on the details, give us what you REALLY thought.

To be fair, I did only hear 15 mins, so I'm bound to be a little be short of detail.

 

[Easy 10]

To be fair, I did only hear 15 mins, so I'm bound to be a little be short of detail.

Fair enough then

The sports section of the Mail did a blow-by-blow live commentry on the show and report about it here Richard Keys and Andy Gray play it safe on talkSPORT | Mail Online

The verdict seems to be that it was a bit of an old pals act, with various managers and ex-players lined up to speak to them, and almost no interaction with the listeners, no callers on air. And obviously it was football, football, football all the way (Premiership). Zzzzz.

Sounds like its worth a swerve.

 

[FlownWest]

I thought it was awful to be honest.

I never used to have much of an issue with the two of them to be honest, yes they're stuck in a Premier League 'top 4' etc bubble, but you sort of accept that when they were hosting/commentating on these games on Sky week in week out... to hear about nothing but these clubs for 3 hours on a talk radio show was tedious to say the least.

Maybe the show will branch out more as they settle into the job but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[adrian29uk]

I know its only their first show so give it time. Trouble is everything they spoke about was already mentioned in the Breakfast show, so it was pretty boring. They should have kept the other guys in that slot because Mike Parry and the other guy where funny and at least spoke about other issues outside of football which breaks the programme up.

And just as I type this I found this article
Mike Parry quits TalkSport as Keys and Gray get his morning slot - East Hampshire - The News

 

[Acker79]

Perhaps it was a combo of trying to avoid talking about their recent (and in Keys's case quite current) controversies; and sending out a suggestion to listeners that TS is now going to be getting lots of interviews with the names in the game, "Keep tuning in to hear your favourite star!!"

 

[ChapManiA]

I turned it off after about an hour and a half. Boring, very boring. The pair of them lack SPUNK and personality. I've not missed them on the Sky Sports coverage either. A three hour show, 5 days a week, all about football, mostly the Premier League is going to be crap.

I miss Porky and Mike Graham, they were so entertaining, such a fun show to listen to, a great 'pick me up'.


Mike Parry is back in work already though. He's doing 6-0-6 with Robbie Savage this Saturday following the Man U/Crawley F.A Cup game, something to look forward to. The Beeb listeners are in for a treat!

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Going to listen to it now.... Really looking forward to hearing them again, say what you like, they're proper football men.

 

[Easy 10]

You HAVE to break these things up. Its hopeless having Brazil and Irani from 6 till 10 mainly talking about the Premiership, followed by another three hours of Keys and Gray from 10 till 1 talking pretty much exclusively about....the Premiership. H&J can get away with it to an extent as they always have a more quirky style, but then you've got Durham and Gough at 4, and the vast majority of their show usually focusses on....well, you've guessed it. Then the evening crew start...

What with TalkSport now also doing full commentry on Premiership games as well, they might as well go the whole hog now and re-brand themselves as TalkPrem.

 

[adrian29uk]

Why do Talksport do this. They got rid of James Whale and John Gaunt both excellent presenters in my opinion. Now Mike Parry has gone, triple blow.
Sorry but there is not much going on in the brain department at Talksport.

They might as well call it Premiership Talksport.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Thanks redneb for stating the mans angle which so many agree with but will not come out.
It is a mans game and we need a space we can watch and discuss football which is the reason it is so popular and long may it remain so.

Indeed.

However Gray has been caught numereous times about his outdated views on women. About 6/8 months ago he was "stung" in a kiss and tell how he would chat up girls along the lines of "do you know who I am? Come on get em off then you slag etc etc" funnily enough in the NOTW, the same NOTW that is part of the Murdoch empire and that Gray is now trying to sue.

He was always on borrowed time after that "kiss and tell".

Add to that the microphone incident (amongst others Im sure) and he can have no complaints. If I did that to a female colleague at work I would be sacked on the spot.

You just cant do that now in this day and age. Thank god.