Shit punditry

[Simon]

Niall Quinn made one of the all-time stupidest comments yesterday - Adebayor blasted a shot at Tremmel, and Quinn noted that the slow-motion replay "didn't do justice to the speed of the shot". Just a completely brainless, inane comment.

So this thread is to mention any stupid shit that pundits come out with. Jamie Redknapp is of course great for these - when Bale banged in a free kick that flew about an inch over the wall, he suggested that it "literally gave the Newcastle wall a haircut".

You can also include punditry that is just shit rather than outright stupid. For example Michael Owen, who has nothing of interest to say, ever.

[MikeHunt]

Niall Quinn is the worst pundit and commentator on the telly ever. No contest.

[Slare]

I don't mind him. He is at least innofensive and just states the obvious constantly, "He's hit a shot there and it has went past the keeper and into the net and it is a goal and his team are leading" kind of thing.

The worst by a country mile is Craig Burley. Obviously a lot of you might not have heard much of him but he just sounds like an 80 year old bitter Scotsman who hates everything and especially football. Everything is seen in a negative light and he sucks the life right out of you. Big toothless cunt.

[Bad Collin]

I don't mind Burley.

The worst is Lawrenson's combination of miserable comments and cluelessness. He should just give it up if he hates football so much.

[Ringo]

Enjoyed it yesterday when they were showing the goals again after and Hoddle said the Eto's second was the "easiest goal he's ever likely to score". Then they showed the third.

[Andy]

Yep Burley and Gary Birtles are awful because they sound like they just hate football.

I sometimes wonder why Sky and the BBC don't pay attention to social media. You look at website comments, twitter, facebook and other places and nobody has a good word to say about Shearer, Owen or Quinn to name three.

Robbie Savage has improved a lot I think. I still disagree with him most of the time but at least he does his research now instead of making stupid points that are often just incorrect.

It's much easier to pick out the good pundits which is a really odd state of affairs. Kevin Kilbane has done a lot this season and I think he's excellent. Neville and Carragher obviously, Souness, Nevin and Keane stand out for me. Also as Mik mentioned the other day Kamara is excellent on Goals on Sunday but probably doesn't get the credit he deserves because ofhis antics on Saturdays.

[son_of_foley]

Yep Burley and Gary Birtles are awful because they sound like they just hate football.

I sometimes wonder why Sky and the BBC don't pay attention to social media. You look at website comments, twitter, facebook and other places and nobody has a good word to say about Shearer, Owen or Quinn to name three.

Robbie Savage has improved a lot I think. I still disagree with him most of the time but at least he does his research now instead of making stupid points that are often just incorrect.

It's much easier to pick out the good pundits which is a really odd state of affairs. Kevin Kilbane has done a lot this season and I think he's excellent. Neville and Carragher obviously, Souness, Nevin and Keane stand out for me. Also as Mik mentioned the other day Kamara is excellent on Goals on Sunday but probably doesn't get the credit he deserves because ofhis antics on Saturdays.

Savage is as mental as last season to me. I wonder if you hate him less because he's chatting less shit about Arsenal and more about other teams

[Andy]

It's maybe because I'm not listening to him as much but he does seem genuinely better to me. He may well have just gone through Opta and stuff but when he's on commentary and 606 he comes out with some interesting stats. His voice is still annoying. And his stupid fucking hair.

[son_of_foley]

Lawrenson is a mentalist. For sterlings penalty against stoke he says the handball is clear as day and its embarrassing it didn't get given. Despite the fact in normal speed from where the ref was it's not clear as anything. Hate it when they watch 15 replays and make out it should have been an easy decision. What do you think on first viewing. What does it look like from the refs angle.

I really think Refs should be able to talk to the media after a game

[RFF Champ]

Savage was good on 606 when Chapman was there. The show took fewer calls from nutters too. Now Savage does it Darren Fletcher it's just prodding the disatisfied top 4 fans again.

[MichaelC]

The worst by a country mile is Craig Burley. Obviously a lot of you might not have heard much of him but he just sounds like an 80 year old bitter Scotsman who hates everything and especially football. Everything is seen in a negative light and he sucks the life right out of you. Big toothless cunt.

:yes:

Burley is utterly shit.

[Gary J]

I really think Refs should be able to talk to the media after a game

I think Sky should do what the NFL do where they get Mike Pereira as a rules analyst and they cut to him straight away after a ruling needs to be made and he'll explain why he thinks the ruling was made. I think it would be better hearing from a former officials viewpoint it would also give fans a better understanding of the rules and might even defuse some of the idiots ringing into 606 if they have had the reason they didn't get given a penalty or had a player sent off explained to them beforehand.

[MikeHunt]

Thats a genuinely great idea.

[Simon]

I think Sky should do what the NFL do where they get Mike Pereira as a rules analyst and they cut to him straight away after a ruling needs to be made and he'll explain why he thinks the ruling was made. I think it would be better hearing from a former officials viewpoint it would also give fans a better understanding of the rules and might even defuse some of the idiots ringing into 606 if they have had the reason they didn't get given a penalty or had a player sent off explained to them beforehand.

BT Sport do this with Mark Halsey, with only partial success. When there's a difficult call it's fine, because Halsey explains the complications with interpretation of the law etc. But when the referee clearly gets it wrong, Halsey hardly ever contradicts him and tries to make excuses for the decision.

[Gary J]

Didn't realise BT did that i think it would work if you had a guy in who wasn't afraid to criticise a ref's decision if he had indeed made one and wasn't just doing it for the sake of it. It works quiet well when watching NFL games because Pereira isn't afraid of doing so if he feels the wrong call has been made.

[DavidUK]

So this thread is to mention any stupid shit that pundits come out with. Jamie Redknapp is of course great for these - when Bale banged in a free kick that flew about an inch over the wall, he suggested that it "literally gave the Newcastle wall a haircut".

I remember him saying that someone "literally doesn't have a right foot." I'm sure he has a website dedicated to his misuse of the word "literally."

[DavidUK]

I don't mind him. He is at least innofensive and just states the obvious constantly, "He's hit a shot there and it has went past the keeper and into the net and it is a goal and his team are leading" kind of thing.

The worst by a country mile is Craig Burley. Obviously a lot of you might not have heard much of him but he just sounds like an 80 year old bitter Scotsman who hates everything and especially football. Everything is seen in a negative light and he sucks the life right out of you. Big toothless cunt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_eOcsSJtKI

[turdpower]

Not punditry as such, but I was watching Soccer Saturday and they had a guy reporting on the Reading/Bolton game.

Reading are 7-0 up and concede a late goal.

The reporter, without irony says "it wasn't a wasted trip for Bolton fans after all".

Yeah...

[da_man]

Sky have a really awful collection of co-commentators at the moment. Neville and Souness are excellent pundits and Carragher is good despite his need to compare everything to something/someone from his Liverpool days.

Niall Quinn's banality is intolerable.

[The Rosk]

Turdy I saw that and it was obviously ironically said.

Everyone seem to forget about Alan Smith, who is always absolutely average and nothing else.

[Peter Griffin]

Tony Gayle, ughh.

[Romford Pele]

Andy Townsend - arrrrgh cliche central. If a team starts badly then does a decent pass..."That's better". Changes view completely depending if there is a dive from a British team or a foreign one.

Robbie Savage - Just plain annoying. Tactic if someone doesn't agree with him on 6.06 - keep repeating same question louder and louder and not listen at all to the caller. Defends anything to do with footballers wages, actions no matter how deplorable.

Jamie Redknapp - Thick as shit, says really stupid things and I have never forgotten how he embarassed himself at half time at Arsenal/Spurs 2008, terrible. Souness looks like he would like to twat him sometimes.

Mark Lawrenson - Lazy, dresses like a tramp, miserable as fuck and no insightful analysis. I remember one football focus they did live from Spurs, they had Les Ferdinand. Les had made a real effort, nice pinstripe suit, buffed shoes and Lawro turns up with a shitty purple jumper. He'd probably woken up on someones sofa after being out on the lash in London the night before.

Honourable mentions - Tony Gale (clueless), Tony Cascarino (ditto), Michael Owen (boring), Garth Crooks (pompous), Stan Collymore (full of self importance), can I have Adrian Durham? Complete twat.

[Gary J]

What did Redknapp do at half time in 2008?

I too love the way Souness will stare daggers into him when he's droning on. There was a great moment this season when Gary Neville just rolled his eyes as Redknapp bleated on.

[Romford Pele]

What did Redknapp do at half time in 2008?

I too love the way Souness will stare daggers into him when he's droning on. There was a great moment this season when Gary Neville just rolled his eyes as Redknapp bleated on.

Arsenal had gone 2-1 up on the stroke of half time - about 45 seconds before the goal there was a 50/50 tackle which an Arsenal player made, Jamie was convinced it was a stonewall Spurs free kick and got increasingly hysterical with each replay shown.

Alan Smith and Jamie Redknapp both looked embarassed for him as he made a complete tit of himself. Sky obviously agreed, as they took him off live Spurs matches after that with his Dad in charge.

[The Rosk]

I like Collymore as a pundit. Half of his stuff is actually quite insightful and the other half is basically ramblings of the insane. I would much prefer that than just standard fucking bollocks that you could write by just cutting up a SunSport pullout and throwing it at a wall covered in glue.

[The Rosk]

Also at what point did Balague become a caricature of himself. I remember yonks ago he was the best around, but now he's just become essentially a joke.

[Simon]

I love that Redknapp went from bumlicking us when his dad was in charge to slaughtering us when he got sacked.

Keown on 5 Live is an embarrassment. Terrible in general but when he's on Arsenal games he's a joke. The City game last year when Koscielny got sent off, he was so bad he ended up trending on Twitter.

[RFF Champ]

I like Collymore as a pundit. Half of his stuff is actually quite insightful and the other half is basically ramblings of the insane. I would much prefer that than just standard fucking bollocks that you could write by just cutting up a SunSport pullout and throwing it at a wall covered in glue.

Collymore is class. He's probably the most knowledgeable pundit around, he can discuss most teams in the football league well.

[Simon]

Also at what point did Balague become a caricature of himself. I remember yonks ago he was the best around, but now he's just become essentially a joke.

He's always been full of shit, back to his days on Revista La Liga. I'm sure I've said this a thousand times before but every week he would refer to some transfer rumour as if it was openly known that it was a done deal, even if the rumour had only been mentioned by him. He'd mention it in passing and then never mention it again, "Atletico Madrid are looking for a new striker because of course as we all know Fernando Torres has agreed a move to Barcelona". Absolute nonsense and he did this ALL the time. He's a fat dickhead who looks like a sleazier Dr. Fox.

[JP]

Collymore is class. He's probably the most knowledgeable pundit around, he can discuss most teams in the football league well.

Spot on.

Also, his accent is God like.

[Simon]

As long as you're working on the basis that God talks like a fucking idiot.

[JP]

Innit bruv!

[Simon]

Awroyyyyyyyt moyyyyyyt ow bin yowwwwww

[JP]

Ah, I see what you've done there, you've gotten a West Midlands twang mixed up with 'suffered a stroke'.

Possibly because you're having one yourself? If you can smell toast dial 999. Unless you're making toast, then you'll never know until it's too late. :(

[Simon]

My Birmingham accent is bostin.

[Romford Pele]

I love that Redknapp went from bumlicking us when his dad was in charge to slaughtering us when he got sacked.

Keown on 5 Live is an embarrassment. Terrible in general but when he's on Arsenal games he's a joke. The City game last year when Koscielny got sent off, he was so bad he ended up trending on Twitter.

I know it was just laughable. Also, the fact he says literally all the time when he shouldn't.

Keown is very biased towards Arsenal agreed - made me laugh at the end of 2012 season when on Final Score he was saying RVP would stay, he clearly wasnt!

[Romford Pele]

I like Collymore as a pundit. Half of his stuff is actually quite insightful and the other half is basically ramblings of the insane. I would much prefer that than just standard fucking bollocks that you could write by just cutting up a SunSport pullout and throwing it at a wall covered in glue.

He does think he shit doesn't stink everytome I hear him on Talksport, he's like Savage, he does like to shout people down.

And, though he has a point with his Twitter campaign, doesn't help his cause that he has history in knocking women about and then complains about abuse over the internet.

[The Rosk]

Oh yeah that thing he did fifteen years ago means he has to be OK with getting racially abused for life? OK cool

[Simon]

Collymore pied some presenter this morning on the BBC, she started off the interview by basically implying that it's fine to be racist towards him because he's a wanker and he quite eloquently, and with a magnificent level of passive-aggression, put her back in her box.

[JP]

And, though he has a point with his Twitter campaign, doesn't help his cause that he has history in knocking women about and then complains about abuse over the internet.

Ridiculous.

[Romford Pele]

Oh yeah that thing he did fifteen years ago means he has to be OK with getting racially abused for life? OK cool

I didn't say that, I said it doesn't help his case. He is right it is completely out of order, but he has done plenty wrong himself.

[Romford Pele]

Ridiculous.

Whats worse, beating up women or calling people unpleasant things online?

[The Rosk]

Just watched that. Good lad.

[Simon]

Whats worse, beating up women or calling people unpleasant things online?

That isn't the point. The point is that just because one thing has happened doesn't mean the other is fair game.

[The Rosk]

I didn't say that, I said it doesn't help his case. He is right it is completely out of order, but he has done plenty wrong himself.

First off, you don't know what happened to Ulrika. Secondly, it doesn't matter. You are effectively condoning people racially abusing him because he supposedly did something 15 years ago that he never got charged for.

[Romford Pele]

He kicked her down the stairs! Just because he didn't get arrested (she didn't press charges) doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I'm not condoning anything, I'm saying that if you are going to start acting like you are holier than thou when you have done plenty wrong weakens your positon.

[Peter Griffin]

Collymore pied some presenter this morning on the BBC, she started off the interview by basically implying that it's fine to be racist towards him because he's a wanker and he quite eloquently, and with a magnificent level of passive-aggression, put her back in her box.

Link?

[Romford Pele]

That isn't the point. The point is that just because one thing has happened doesn't mean the other is fair game.

Again - where did I say it was fair game. Probably more the fact that people have less sympathy for him than someone who hasn't knocked women about.

[The Rosk]

He kicked her down the stairs! Just because he didn't get arrested (she didn't press charges) doesn't mean it didn't happen.

So a professional footballer kicks a woman down the stairs yet she walks away less than 15 minutes later with no blood, bruising, scars to speak of and doesn't press charges when she could easily make millions off such an accusation with so many witnesses around.


I'm not condoning anything, I'm saying that if you are going to start acting like you are holier than thou when you have done plenty wrong weakens your positon.

It doesn't weaken the position whatsoever. It just highlights the inability of dunces to compute why there is no relevance to linking racial abuse back to something in the person's past.

[JP]

I'm not condoning anything, I'm saying that if you are going to start acting like you are holier than thou when you have done plenty wrong weakens your positon.

Yes you are, that is exactly what you're doing. By implying he doesn't deserve the same level of sympathy as somebody else in his position because of what he has done that is precisely what you're doing.

[MikeHunt]

holy fuck. how stupid can one person be.

[Gary J]

I did like the way the Sun today basically condoned the abuse Collymore had been getting because of that Ulrika incident. Yet Gazza who has also been known to smack his wife about is seen as a tragic figure and deserving of our sympathy.

[Gary J]

But yeah back to the subject of punditry I do like Collymore I think he's one of the best pundits around.

[Romford Pele]

Yes you are, that is exactly what you're doing. By implying he doesn't deserve the same level of sympathy as somebody else in his position because of what he has done that is precisely what you're doing.

Don't put words in my mouth.

If Fred West was complaining someone was being racist to him, would you be as sympathetic as to a normal person?

An extreme example perhaps, but that is the point I am making.

[Romford Pele]

So a professional footballer kicks a woman down the stairs yet she walks away less than 15 minutes later with no blood, bruising, scars to speak of and doesn't press charges when she could easily make millions off such an accusation with so many witnesses around.

It doesn't weaken the position whatsoever. It just highlights the inability of dunces to compute why there is no relevance to linking racial abuse back to something in the person's past.

Oh right, as there were no bad injuries its all FINE then.

How do you know she didnt have bruising, she wasn't naked was she?!

[The Rosk]

:lol: Fred West example.

Brilliant.

Good old Gazza, the lovable pisshead! Wanting to be mates with Raoul Moat, what a legend! Sheryl didn't understand him.

ROOOOOOOONNNEEEEYYYY shagged a prostitute the lovable scamp! Cheated on his pregnant wife the lad! ROOOOOOOONEEEEEEYYYY!!!

Collymore getting called a "monkey", "banana-chomping wog" on Twitter? Yeah probably hasn't got a leg to stand on given he allegedly hit a woman 15 years ago.

[Romford Pele]

As I said, extreme examples.

Yeah the Sun and other are idiots in how they treat Rooney and Gazza as they have also done awful things (Rooney to be fair not as bad as the other two)

Why do you keep saying allegedly? He has admitted to it.

[The Rosk]

Admitted to what? "Kicking her down the stairs"?

[The Rosk]

Stan Collymore ‏@StanCollymore 17 hrs

So Miss Jonsson perpetuates the myth in the S## Absolutely desperate. Changing her story to suit the decade and the story.

Stan Collymore ‏@StanCollymore 17 hrs

I ask again. A pro athlete, kicking and punching wildly with aggression. Why no knock out? No bleeding? No bruising? No pictures? Why?


From his Twitter in the last day apparently. There is no condoning anything that he did in any shape or form but I find it quite odd that anyone would find his point weakened by something that allegedly happened 15 years ago and was never charged for.

[Romford Pele]

He wasnt charged because she didn't press charges. As for saying no bleeding, no bruising, you can still hurt someone without those things...

If someone is going to go on a crusade against online abuse then he needs to make sure his house is in order? Is it? I'm not sure. I have a hard time sympathising who has knocked women about. That is the lowest of the low in my eyes.

[JP]

If someone is going to go on a crusade against online abuse then he needs to make sure his house is in order? Is it? I'm not sure. I have a hard time sympathising who has knocked women about. That is the lowest of the low in my eyes.

Okay, so woman beaters are lower than child rapists?

An extreme example perhaps, but that is the point I am making.

[MikeHunt]

Fucking hell. I don't think I've read anything as moronic as I have in the last couple of pages.

[The Rosk]

He's not asking for sympathy. He's asking for blatant racist threats to be punished.

[Bennedy]

I fucking hate Stan Collymore. I never listen to his punditry because I can't stand the guy, so he might talk sense.

Gary Neville is probably the best one at the moment. Alan Smith, Townsend, Lawrenson and Cascarino are at the top of my shit list.

Anybody know if Kevin Phillips is any good? I have seen him on a few times, but have never really listened to what he says as his voice bores me to tears.

[Gary J]

What actually started these threats was it just people being racist cunts or did he tweet something that made people go mental?

[The Rosk]

He's had it consistently, but he got a shitload more when he said Suarez dived against Villa.

[Peter Griffin]

What actually started these threats was it just people being racist cunts or did he tweet something that made people go mental?

He said Suarez 'dived' and 'cheated' last weekend and said 'forget contact because there wasnt enough to knock over a toddler'

[Gary J]

Fucking hell is that all.

[Gary J]

Yeah i've noticed on his twitter that he gets a fair bit of it now and again. Seems to be mainly Liverpool fans too.

[MikeHunt]

its always fucking liverpool fans. absolute scum.

[BBF]

NatureBoy clearly knows something re: collymore. Perhaps his mate told him?

[MMH]

Andy Townsend - arrrrgh cliche central. If a team starts badly then does a decent pass..."That's better". Changes view completely depending if there is a dive from a British team or a foreign one.

Robbie Savage - Just plain annoying. Tactic if someone doesn't agree with him on 6.06 - keep repeating same question louder and louder and not listen at all to the caller. Defends anything to do with footballers wages, actions no matter how deplorable.

Jamie Redknapp - Thick as shit, says really stupid things and I have never forgotten how he embarassed himself at half time at Arsenal/Spurs 2008, terrible. Souness looks like he would like to twat him sometimes.

Mark Lawrenson - Lazy, dresses like a tramp, miserable as fuck and no insightful analysis. I remember one football focus they did live from Spurs, they had Les Ferdinand. Les had made a real effort, nice pinstripe suit, buffed shoes and Lawro turns up with a shitty purple jumper. He'd probably woken up on someones sofa after being out on the lash in London the night before.

Honourable mentions - Tony Gale (clueless), Tony Cascarino (ditto), Michael Owen (boring), Garth Crooks (pompous), Stan Collymore (full of self importance), can I have Adrian Durham? Complete twat.

Adrian Durham is paid to be a twat though, and to be fair to him I think he does it better than anyone.

[Fanny]

I think Collymore is a horrendously bad pundit. Most of his ideas and points are fairly sound, but the rambling and unnecessary hyperbole is so, so grating. Completely meaningless at times.

[Gary J]

Rambling and hyperbole is what Talksport want they want to provoke you into ringing up. I don't think Collymore is as bad as you are making out there saying that i don't listen to Talksport that often so he could be like the rest of them most of the time.

He was very good when he did the Europa league on 5.

[Fanny]

no, I understand that Talksport labour points over and over to try and stoke debate, but Collymore talks around his points by trying to use as many conjunctives as he possibly can, taking him off on tangents completely unrelated to the point. I very get the 'journalistic' methods of drawing people in and getting a reaction, but he's just an appalling user of the English language. I'd prefer he didn't try quite so hard to sound like something he clearly isn't. I find him embarrassing.

[Fanny]

plus I think he probably is a complete and utter fucking cock irl, but that's by the by

[RFF Champ]

Anybody know if Kevin Phillips is any good? I have seen him on a few times, but have never really listened to what he says as his voice bores me to tears.

He was lucky the penalties were all everyone was talking about last night because it meant he got off lightly for that outfit.

[Mik]

Kevin Phillips is fine. Very honest.

[Bennedy]

If we can use this thread for commentators as well, I would like to add Clarke Carlisle to that list.

Speaking about how the Chelsea full backs are not providing width, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Ashley Cole has been helping the attack all game.

[Romford Pele]

Saw Sam Matterface did the Chelsea game today for ITV. Thought he was quite good, definitely better than Tydseley.

[Simon]

I don't mind Motty that much (incidentally he is far better in an analyst role on 5 Live, the Monday Night Club is probably the best 'straight' football discussion programme going now) but it is inexplicable that he is still the mainstay of Match Of The Day while Barry Davies is currently commentating on some D-list cunts going down a dry ski slope on Channel 4.

[Romford Pele]

I love Barry D but think he is semi-retired now. I bet he records the ski commentary from a studio or even home.

Durham was on the wind up again last night. Apparently Wenger complaining about the 'rest time' his team get (he was rebutting Jose who got no criticism), was a smokescreen for the ticket prices for the Arsenal/Liverpool game in the cup. :lol:

He is obviously on the wind up as he can't seriously believe that. On the ticket prices themselves he actually has a point - a Liverpool fan shouldn't have to pay £93 to see that. The club need to sort it.

[The Rosk]

Arsenal are a fucking disgrace for that costing of their tickets. I have no idea why they seemingly hate fans so much. Such an odd club - after some of their chants I've heard they've been singing and now this, I'm not as keen for them to win the League this year as I have been previously. Unless they bring in a striker they're fucked anyway so it may be all moot.

[Romford Pele]

The biggest problem is the board - have a look at the statement of the new Puma deal, words like 'strategic value' should not be used anywhere near a football club.

They are too weak with Wenger, and are now full of 'yes men' and business man. Ken Friar has retired, David Dein left and sadly Danny Fitzman passed away. These three all were fans first and businessman second.

I'm afraid the likes of Ivan Gazidis and silent Stan only care about qualifying for the Champions League and fleecing their own fans to line their pockets.

If Wenger signs a new deal and Arsenal do their normal Feb/March collapse (very possible with the fixtures), I think a lot of fans will say enough is enough and walk away from their season tickets. Cheapest is almost £1,000 now and that only includes 7 cup games (anymore are added to the cost of the next season ticket).

Ozil papered over some cracks and a lot of dissention. If Wenger doesnt sign a forward and things go wrong again, the knives will be out.

I hope Liverpool fans who do go protest like the Man City fans did last year and embarass the board.

[MikeHunt]

Any protest really won't make a blind bit of difference.

[Simon]

Barry Glendenning on Football Weekly makes a good point about these protests - if your protest march starts at the pub you were going to go to anyway, and ends at the stadium you were going to go to anyway, is it really a protest march? The only way to stop price-rising is by not going, and people don't want to do that. The market dictates the price as always, anything else is pissing into the wind.

[Bad Collin]

Exactly it's simple economics. Arsenal put the price that high because people will pay it.

[Romford Pele]

Yeah the protest march is a joke.

It is getting to a tipping point now though. I was rung by the club trying to sell me season tickets recently (I have silver membership) as people have handed tickets back in. The situation will just get worse if we don't win something after all the years of holding back.

People were ready to turn on the club at the end of the Villa game, now they are waiting to see what happens for the rest of the season.

[turdpower]

Didn't Arsenal do a protest march a few years ago "we want our Arsenal back". I can't even remember what that one was about.

[Romford Pele]

Yeah that was the protest match that was mentioned earlier. Was actually about 300 hundred people walking to the ground singing we want our arsenal back.

Laughably middle class and completely ineffective. Not going to games is the only way.

[Romford Pele]

It was to complain about ticket prices and lack of spending on players

[Bennedy]

Exactly it's simple economics. Arsenal put the price that high because people will pay it.

Not everybody will pay it. Over the past couple of years I have seen more and more empty grounds. Especially for the midweek night games.

[Simon]

It is getting to a tipping point now though. I was rung by the club trying to sell me season tickets recently (I have silver membership) as people have handed tickets back in. The situation will just get worse if we don't win something after all the years of holding back.

Will it get worse though? That's not a rhetorical or leading question, I don't know what attendances are like...but I would assume at a big club like Arsenal who, more than most, have an increasingly middle-class supporter base, I can't imagine them having much trouble selling tickets at heightened prices. The sad reality is that poorer supporters are being priced out of tickets, and the sadder reality is that this is completely irrelevant to the club. If you have 60,000 seats to sell every week and 100,000 people willing to pay inflated prices for the privilege, why would you sell them cheaper to appease poorer fans? Sport is notoriously a captive market - unlike every other area of business, brand loyalty is incredibly high - the fans who get priced out are unlikely to just fuck off and support a club that charges less.

If those poorer fans are gradually alienated from the club and then someday down the line the richer fans lose interest, prices will come down...but is there any reason to believe that will happen? And is there any reason for Arsenal and clubs like them not to take that risk, knowing that if prices do have to come down, it won't be for a long time and is unlikely to lead to a long-term issue where you have a huge stadium you can't fill. As things stand it's simple supply and demand, and most big clubs have a long waiting list for season tickets, so the chances of it changing any time soon are slim to none.

[Romford Pele]

A lot of people now watch from home/pub as they simply can't pay a mortgage/feed their family and go to the football.

It's interesting, I was reading another Ivan Gazidis article from a while back and he essentially said that when the new commercial deals kick in they would be lowered.

Now is the time.

[Simon]

I didn't hear it but apparently on BT Sport yesterday Michael Owen criticised De Gea's last minute tip over the bar, saying he should have used his other hand to save it :lol:

[BBF]

It wasn't quite that. He said (paraphrasing) 'some people would say he's got to use his other hand for that but it's a phenomenal save'.

A pretty useless comment and still a bit stupid but not as bad as made out.

[BBF]

Gary Neville did something similar by saying Mignolet shouldve saved jagielkas goal last week. No keeper would've touched it, it was a rocket.

The point neville was trying to make was actually a good one concerning Mignolet but by starting it off by saying he shouldve saved it made him seem a bit silly.

[Mik]

Non-goalkeeping pundits commenting on goalkeepers is one of the punditry black holes. Most of them have no clue what they are talking about in that regard. You see that when you see goalkeepers talking about playing in goal.

[Romford Pele]

gahahaha Michael Owen is worse than Robbie Savage. What a gimp.

[Gary J]

Fucking hell Owen must be bad. As I don't subscribe to BT sport I've not had the joy of listening to him.

[turdpower]

It wasn't quite that. He said (paraphrasing) 'some people would say he's got to use his other hand for that but it's a phenomenal save'.

A pretty useless comment and still a bit stupid but not as bad as made out.

It's a great point that Michael surely learnt from Neville Southall:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqOxNspUPyE

Skip to 1:30 :D

[Bad Collin]

Fucking hell Owen must be bad. As I don't subscribe to BT sport I've not had the joy of listening to him.

He's dull as well as incorrect most of time.