Sky Sports TV show "The Debate"

[RandoEFC+]

Stopped watching it to be honest. Having a daily show was quite good during the transfer window and the early phases of the season but not so much these days. They just bang on about repetitive unimportant crap most of the time. They also commit hours on end to discussing every word of stuff like Mourinho press conferences and then give like 2 minutes at the end to West Brom sacking Pulis or Newcastle potentially being taken over.

Decent discussion at times but not worth the time investment of wading through the crap bits.

[The Liquidator]

On 11/19/2017 at 8:45 PM, Cannabis said:

Gary Neville is head and shoulders above most English pundits but if anything that probably shows the state the industry is in.

I could not disagree more.

[The Liquidator]

On 11/19/2017 at 8:57 PM, ScoRoss said:

The thing is, where are the next line of pundits going to come from? That is an even more depressing thought than the pundits now.

BT Sport seems to only hire in the 'big names' of Michael Owen, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand etc. Are they going to be spending hours watching the game film picking up tendencies and things to look out for, or are they going to continue speaking in generalizations and only pick up on what happened in the last game of that team (which is where I give Neville and Carragher credit). Where are the guys who are getting reps of experience of doing it on air?

It's an elitist industry where you have to be a big name to get any sort of exposure and platform and doesn't seem like its going to change anytime soon. Even BT Sport have cut their coverage of European football to just 5 minutes before and after a game, and no studio show. I think Sky Sports also did it for their La Liga coverage? But I can't remember the last time I watched any.

 

You make some very good points ScoRoss.

I have always found the best Pundits to be ex managers who have suffered either sharp pain from almost cracking it or being one of the very few who can be called successful during the SAF & Wenger years.

I once saw David Moyes being involved on a panel answering questions with pundits during his Everton days who seemed to take delight in putting each of them right on what they had to offer.

Pardew is a bit Marmite and I accept that, but I find his points to be different to the ex players who all seem to download the basic football pundit app which allows them all to chime from the same songsheet.

Your point on it being an elitist industry is very fair, but I doubt many would call Robbie Savage an elite footballer. He has managed to find himself a couple of jobs as a pundit and gets probably more stick than any of the current ex pros doing the job.

Best I ever saw was Brian Clough on ITV being lead by Brian Moore into being more n more truthful with every sentence he offered. His assassination of Bob Mcnab lives LONG in the memory.

[The Liquidator]

On 11/20/2017 at 11:25 PM, Danny said:

Most pundits would rather say something controversial than give an insight into the game.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you Danny. It's a long time since I heard someone pinpoint something that was going to happen in the 2nd half of a game.

[The Liquidator]

On 11/20/2017 at 11:35 PM, RandoEFC said:

Stopped watching it to be honest. Having a daily show was quite good during the transfer window and the early phases of the season but not so much these days. They just bang on about repetitive unimportant crap most of the time. They also commit hours on end to discussing every word of stuff like Mourinho press conferences and then give like 2 minutes at the end to West Brom sacking Pulis or Newcastle potentially being taken over.

Decent discussion at times but not worth the time investment of wading through the crap bits.

Yes, the show has too much about Manchester United Liverpool & whatever Arsenal problem they can get their far too many ex player pundits to speak about.

As I said earlier in the thread, it has become a show to be prudent over the time you allow it into your house.