BOF Posted May 2, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 2, 2012 This is a good read. Funny and true. Every Monday evening, before my weekly game of poker, I play a few frames of snooker. Or rather I used to play snooker. Now I just hover my cue over the table as I look up to the telly utterly captivated by the intelligent and brilliant analysis of the weekend’s games by Gary Neville on Sky. Neville has taken the art of football punditry in this country to unparalleled heights this season, far exceeding his predecessor Andy Gray for depth and insight. More impressively still he backs each thought up with an array of considered examples, clearly explaining exactly why this team failed to break down their opponents or why a manager’s masterplan paid off handsomely. When his forensic analysis is compared to the Match of the Day lot or Southgate and Townsend on ITV it’s akin to comparing Poirot to the policeman off Balamory. Most surprising of all is how balanced and reasoned his views patently are, to the extent that when this man who has Manchester United embedded in his DNA, and has openly admitted in the past to hating both City and Liverpool, offers a negative opinion on either club you know that his lifelong bias is not clouding his judgement. He believes in what he says and what he says is often thought-provoking and illuminating. Relying on substance-free condemnation – a trademark of Hansen and something Gray too was guilty of – is not in his armoury as he patiently and calmly lays out exactly why Dalglish has failed to get the best out of Anfield’s midfield or why City temporarily struggled to win away from the Etihad. With Neville it’s all in the details and it is delivered as part tutorial, part courtroom summation. Yet at the start of the season, as he was unveiled as Sky’s new man, there was a significant amount of United-hating fans who were genuinely aghast at the appointment and threatened to cancel their subscription. They suspected a ‘rag-fest’ on the channel. They feared a glint in his eye following a defeat by City or Liverpool or hour-long eulogies to Ferguson’s genius. I too fell into this bracket and if he had uttered so much as ‘Becks’ in his nervy debut I would probably have never tuned in again. But there was far more to it than that. Neville, as a player, wholly represented all that was reprehensible about Manchester United throughout their dominating rejuvenation from the early nineties onwards with every negative trait that Ferguson purposely instilled into the club coursing through his veins. There was arrogance in abundance, an inherent sense of entitlement, and a rather annoying habit of overly celebrating big game victories in front of away fans, all packaged together in a face so punchable your hand would instinctively curl into a fist on sight. His features were so rodent-like you half suspected he watched Roland Rat as a small child and plaintively cried out ‘Daddy?’ to the screen. He was also hopelessly incapable of growing a moustache. Ferguson possessed the same arrogance in spades but he was the man at the helm responsible for turning United around. Cantona shared the confrontational manner but that was all wrapped up in his ego and genius. Neville meanwhile was a functioning right-back with a mildly impressive propensity to over-lap. He was a mutant lab rat from an evil experiment – a mouthy gimp boy – and it is fair to state that for several years I, like most, detested the personification of t*** more than Hitler and Thatcher combined. And now we were expected to tune in and spend lots of quality time together all cosy-like? Gary Alexander Neville deserves due credit and praise for his remarkable televisual reinvention but we too are worthy of significant kudos. Us, the fans, who by our very nature are trenchant in opinion and viewpoint – who are partisan to the very core – were willing to give our arch nemesis a fair chance and when he came through we had the magnanimity to acknowledge it. Right from the very start, following Neville’s shuffling, awkward first time out covering, ironically, City’s opener to Swansea, the tone of the compliments betrayed the genuine reluctance and turmoil within. The forums were filled with comments such as ‘Don’t shoot me but….’ ‘Is it just me or was rat-boy actually quite good just then? Right, I’m off to bathe in bleach’ ‘He may be a c*** but…’ As time went on, and weeks turned into months, this soon turned into an open and defiant appreciation. ‘I don’t care. Neville is the best pundit on the box by a country mile’. ‘It’s so refreshing to hear common sense being spoken’. Bizarrely the man who best illustrated a supporter’s capacity for hatred was now responsible for revealing our Christian side. But before we get the kaftans out and enjoy a love-in there is a deeper truth to his success that is truly depressing. Yes Neville is extremely good at providing detailed analysis of formations, tactics and passages of play. But in Spain or Italy – or indeed in America with their helmet-and-shoulderpads version of the beautiful game – such studious fare is considered the norm. In Britain we have previously been starved of it as networks repeatedly pander to the lowest common denominator – the casual fan – and fear alienating them with anything more complicated than a Rooney goal montage set to fast-paced Indie music. ITV’s coverage is just damn right insulting; its key demographic seemingly a prepubescent Match magazine reader whose knowledge of the game is entirely accrued from statistics on stickers. Their pre-game analysis consists largely of showing several clips of the highest profile player on display then astutely claiming he will be a danger to the opposition. They should look out for him. He’s really good. At half-time they will assess that same player’s performance and offer no insight as to why he has thus far been so subdued. Indeed the pundits, along with ‘celebrity fan’ Adrian Chiles, will repeatedly air puzzlement at this. They will then look ahead to the second period and hope that this high-profile player does something ‘magical’. Why has he been subdued? What are the opposition doing to stymie him? Who the hell cares as long as his name is mentioned several times. On the BBC Hansen and co endlessly regurgitate their single con-trick of rewatching a goal, pinpointing who was to blame for it, then lambasting that player mercilessly. This generally involves a full-back not tucking in or the centre-backs being dragged too far apart. It is tactics-by-numbers and for this they get paid a fortune of our money. Even Andy Gray’s long tenure at Sky can be viewed with hindsight as being painfully basic in scope. ‘Modric will be looking to play in this space here’. Cue the computerised face of the artful Croatian being moved into the vast gap between the opposition midfield and defence prior to every televised Spurs game. The reason that Gary Neville has been so warmly received – despite his previous incarnation as the devil incarnate – is that, for the first time in a generation, we the viewers are being accredited with a large degree of intelligence. He assumes that we’ll understand. He talks to us aficionado to aficionado. And for that, in addition to the new-found respect he has rightfully gained, the rat-faced c*** is also deserving of our gratitude too. PLEASE LINK TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE. YOU KNOW THE RULES NV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggyrichard Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Made me smile, but very true, Neville has grown on me and to be fair he is very very good at what he does. "Right, I’m off to bathe in bleach..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted May 2, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 2, 2012 Great article, especially the last 5 or 6 paragraphs. So so so true. When you listen to something like football weekly and hear the stuff people like Michael Cox or Jon Wilson say about games, and compare it to stuff that Alan Shearer says, it's like the article says, comparing "Poirot to the policeman off Balamory" When people like Setanta and ESPN gain the rights to games, I keep wishing that one of them will take a gamble and put people on who actually understand why things are happening. Yet we always end up with John Barnes or Criag Burley spouting shite. Or Shearer telling us "What he's done here, is he's got the ball, run to here, and kicked it into the goal, here. If the keeper had saved it, it probably wouldn't have been a goal" Neville is the best by an absolute mile. And incidentally, they should keep him in studio and off the co-commentator job, as I don't think he is nearly as good in that role as he is as a pundit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggyrichard Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Neville is the best by an absolute mile. And incidentally, they should keep him in studio and off the co-commentator job, as I don't think he is nearly as good in that role as he is as a pundit. I did like him during Man Utd v Everton. Phil Neville gives the ball away and Man Utd score from it. All he said was... "oh Philip!" Brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted May 2, 2012 Author Moderator Share Posted May 2, 2012 I thought it was interesting to hear that part of the reason we've taken him so readily into our living rooms after years of hating him is that we've been starved of quality by the eejits that have gone before; as much as for how good he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderstudy Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I agree. I hate the bastard but he's a very good pundit. What about Nobber Savage on 5Live? Absolutely hate the rocket polisher, but he's not too bad. Urgh. Hurt saying that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Yeah, Gary Neville in "not a cock" sensation has been one of the the highlights of the season. Quality football coverage has always been out there, I see Michael Cox and Jonathan Wilson have already been mentioned in this thread. It's great to see Neville taking it mainstream, and I hope next season we see the BBC and ITV react to it. We dont want our football coverage to be like the **** Monday morning pull out section of The Sun, we arent thick and we can concentrate for more than thirty seconds at a time. Yeah, there will always be some people who just want to see the goals but increasingly we are seeing the internet cater that market. He didnt just watch the reply and tell everybody what they had already seen, he offered his opinion on the matter and then gave several reasons, with examples, about why he had taken that opinion. Fantastic stuff even if you didnt agree with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laivasse Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Neville's punditry is more insightful than that of anyone else on TV atm, that's for sure. I hope he's got the gig for a good few years. On the flipside, I think some of the things that make him very watchable as an analyst are the same things that make him a poor co-commentator thus far. The way that he clearly believes everything he says, kicks every ball (for both sides) regardless of the game and seems generally a nice bloke to chat about football facts with, all tend towards him getting given too long a leash by his bosses or his commentary partner during matches. His commentary tends to degenerate into irrelevant jokey banter, inappropriate groans when chances are missed, and general babble about whatever crosses his mind about the match. It just feels really slack and less than pro. If someone could have a word in his ear and tell him that his two roles have to be played differently, most of us wouldn't have any reservations in our praise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno_2004 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I like his punditry, but I'd have more respect for it if he hadn't uttered the words in discussion about the Villa fans and McLeish: 'Well, he hasn't done anything wrong' in regards to our ginger-haired friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I like his punditry, but I'd have more respect for it if he hadn't uttered the words in discussion about the Villa fans and McLeish: 'Well, he hasn't done anything wrong' in regards to our ginger-haired friend. This. I find myself tuning in earlier to Sky as he analyses a few games before the main game footage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Neville is doing very well though needs to up his Champions League performances. though he is a lot better than that word removed Gray they had on before, How he had that job for so long is baffling as he was quite useless about football especially European games when he used to get owned by Gulliet and Souness for example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted May 2, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 2, 2012 His punditry career has already given us great moments like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6RG6yxgeFE. Any excuse to post it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 His punditry career has already given us great moments like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6RG6yxgeFE. Any excuse to post it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaGoMarching Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I dont' really know anyone who now doesn't think he's thoroughly decent pundit. The best thing about watching Monday Night Football is his analysis. Truely a joy to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted May 2, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 2, 2012 His punditry career has already given us great moments like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6RG6yxgeFE. Any excuse to post it again. I have a theory about this. I reckon Gary has thought: "Right, all the good commentators have that moment where they are caught up in the game and shout something. Then it gets repeated on adverts for years. Just look at Andy Gray with his 'YOOOOUUUUU BEEEAAAUUUUTYYYYYY' moment. What I need to do is shout something like that in a game and I'll have stamped my mark on this commentating malarky" Then I reckon he half forgot about that little thought. Then comes the game, he sees Torres go through and thinks "this is it, this is my chance, I need to shout something... ****, what should I shout?! Anything.... shout ANYTHING!!" And that's all he could come up with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted May 2, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 2, 2012 I dont' really know anyone who now doesn't think he's thoroughly decent pundit. The best thing about watching Monday Night Football is his analysis. Truely a joy to watch. On more than one occasion, I've watched MNF until he's done his analysis of the weekend's games, and then turned off without watching the game that's on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villadude Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Agree with all of that, easily the best pundit on the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Brilliant in the studio but just as bad as every other co-commentator out there (apart from maybe ray Wilkins) sky seem to have drafted in Quinn in the last month and no doubt they'll add more next season so hopefully they'll realise this and keep him in the studio as a package I still find it crazy how much better their la liga coverage is (IMO) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 as a package I still find it crazy how much better their la liga coverage is (IMO) would agree with this and would go further and say their Premier League coverage is one of Sky weakness. For all the gloss and glamour it seems to be a lot of Yes men like Wilkins and redknapp saying how great Premier League is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaGoMarching Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I did love their la liga coverage with Mark Bolton, no idea why they replaced him, cause i just can't warm to Minto at all. Ballague/Hunter are worth the watch tho, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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