Graeme Sourness | Retires from “punditry”

Fluctuation0161

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It's not beyond the realms of possibility, but that doesn't seem to be what you're peddling... You seem to be peddling that he is racist...

I don't understand the criticism of Souness to be honest, I haven't seen anyone say he's had a brilliant Manchester United career. We have numerous posters in here who believe he can't shouldn't play in the centre of midfield because he a ) loses the ball relatively often and b) doesn't track runners very well. I believe that's all Souness has ever really said about Pogba, he's not world class because World class midfielders do those things better.

Sky are obviously playing up to it and constantly ask the questions, which I know some people believe he enjoys, but it's also quite possible that it grates on him how much criticism he gets for talking about Pogba.

I believe, that if Pogba had played in a better team and higher up the pitch (as he is doing both right now), then Souness would never have had the same criticism of him.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time...

Sky Sports forced to apologise for Graeme Souness' racist comments hurled at Erik Lamela
https://www.republicworld.com/sport...ogise-for-graeme-souness-racist-comments.html
 

Tom Cato

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Ahhh the old blessed with athleticism "complement" . Classic.

It isn't looking to bring race into. You deny it is a factor, probably because you have little to no experience of subtle or even direct racism. Again, it is only one factor, but "first impressions" count.
Ok so a white man can't be a dickhead to a black man without being a racist. That's the coclusion then? Insiting on race being a factor is... It's either: Grame Souness is a racist, or he is not. Which is it?

I tried to give you a good writeup and explain why this is detrimental to the whole issue, but you're choosing to ignore everything and still insist on this strawman argument, so I'm just going to duck out of this entire discussion since you can't be reasoned with. Have a good day.
 

Fluctuation0161

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Ok so a white man can't be a dickhead to a black man without being a racist. That's the coclusion then? Insiting on race being a factor is... It's either: Grame Souness is a racist, or he is not. Which is it?

I tried to give you a good writeup and explain why this is detrimental to the whole issue, but you're choosing to ignore everything and still insist on this strawman argument, so I'm just going to duck out of this entire discussion since you can't be reasoned with. Have a good day.
Ditto.
 

Inigo Montoya

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We can't really know that can we. The only comparable options you have in real life is to compare Souness treatment of comparable players or ethnicities during commentary. You can make a real life comparison to yourself: Are you more positively inclined to athletes from your own country despite skincolor? Of course you are, we all cheer for our athletes, white, black, purple or pasta.

If his comments on players are not similar, reasonable people will judge that the reason Souness doesn't give Pogba praise, is because Souness doesn't like Paul Pogba. The only reason I'm ever entertaining this discussion is because the quetion of racism is an ever important one, but you're dilluting the issue by labeling any perceived issue between a white and a colored man as "possible racism". Graeme Souness is a man that plays favorites, because that's who he is. He's the farthest thing from a Manchester United fan that you can come, and along with it comes a lot of cognitive bias. He's Liverpool through and through.

For example, this is what he had to say after a match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2018: “Kante ran the midfield last week at Old Trafford,” Souness said on Sky Sports.

Chelsea lost 2-1. Pogba had a very good game. Even had a heel-tunnel on Kante.

Here's Souness after last weeks opener against Leeds:

Micah Richards: "Pogba had four assists"
Graeme Souness: "We expect that from a £100m man"

Or on Greenwood: "They have signed good players. For me, the star of the show was Greenwood. For a young boy, I thought he was sensational." - Greenwood, as you may have noticed, has an amazing natural tan.

There's even incidents where Souness has praised Pogba, but not without dropping some hints over why he might not actually like Paul Pogba.

''I thought he was really good. Apart from this [the penalty run-up]. This for me is 'look at me, look at me, I want to be in the spotlight'.

''I just don't get this penalty, but I think he's moved the ball quickly today, he's been uncomplicated... I think he's been really good today.''


Even more commentary in 2018 saw this praise/criticism in one:

"This boy has been blessed with the most wonderful athleticism, he's six foot four, I'm sure he can leap like a stag and run like the wind. He's got fabulous technique, he's got fabulous athleticism, but for me he just doesn't do the basics right.

"But there is a player there. I'm seen as his biggest critic but his manager is not happy with him. I've been a manager and I'm saying to myself, like Jose will be saying to himself, 'what a player this boy could be if you would just listen and learn.'

''He should be turning up every day listening to the manager, listening to the senior players and wanting to improve. I’m not sure if that is the case but I’ll come back to it, this boy could be a top, top player.''


In summary, and I'll keep it breif: Graeme Souness doesn't like Paul Pogbas personality and off field antics, and is unable to stop it from seeping into his commentary. He's not a racist, he's just a dick.

Please stop looking for reasons to bring race into discussions when there is none. Let's stop watering down a very important issue with imaginary reasons, and especially let's stop bringing speculation into what "may be the reason", it does no one any favors.
What antics?
 
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Ok so a white man can't be a dickhead to a black man without being a racist. That's the coclusion then? Insiting on race being a factor is... It's either: Grame Souness is a racist, or he is not. Which is it?

I tried to give you a good writeup and explain why this is detrimental to the whole issue, but you're choosing to ignore everything and still insist on this strawman argument, so I'm just going to duck out of this entire discussion since you can't be reasoned with. Have a good day.
It's really not about 'is he a racist or isn't he?' Saying something where race is an unconscious factor doesn't mean you should be tarred with the label of racist forever. That's not really what this is about for me. It's about why doesn't someone at Sky have a word with him and get him to think a little more before he talks about Pogba. Cos as it is Souness seems literally incapable of saying anything nice about him, even when he's putting in record breaking performances. And lots of people are reading subtle racial bias into it.

You don't need to prove beyond doubt that someone is a racist before you pull them up on uncomfortable things they say. I think it's important to listen to Black people when these conversations are happening and not force them to prove the racist intentions of a person before you challenge Souness. He's not on trial, people are just questioning why Sky keep giving him airtime to contribute to an unremittingly negative narrative about one of the best players in the league.
 

Tom Cato

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And that qualifies as antics? I thought he was knocking on old people's doors and running off or inhaling nitrous oxide canisters.
Well to him it probably does, he's a purist who thinks anyone that doesn't stay at home and think about football every second after practice is a hoodlum
 

NotThatSoph

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Ok so a white man can't be a dickhead to a black man without being a racist. That's the coclusion then? Insiting on race being a factor is... It's either: Grame Souness is a racist, or he is not. Which is it?

I tried to give you a good writeup and explain why this is detrimental to the whole issue, but you're choosing to ignore everything and still insist on this strawman argument, so I'm just going to duck out of this entire discussion since you can't be reasoned with. Have a good day.
You have been told straight up that no, that's not the conclusion.

What the feck are you doing?
 

Inigo Montoya

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It's really not about 'is he a racist or isn't he?' Saying something where race is an unconscious factor doesn't mean you should be tarred with the label of racist forever. That's not really what this is about for me. It's about why doesn't someone at Sky have a word with him and get him to think a little more before he talks about Pogba. Cos as it is Souness seems literally incapable of saying anything nice about him, even when he's putting in record breaking performances. And lots of people are reading subtle racial bias into it.

You don't need to prove beyond doubt that someone is a racist before you pull them up on uncomfortable things they say. I think it's important to listen to Black people when these conversations are happening and not force them to prove the racist intentions of a person before you challenge Souness. He's not on trial, people are just questioning why Sky keep giving him airtime to contribute to an unremittingly negative narrative about one of the best players in the league.
How do you know it's an 'unconscious factor'? Maybe as people have said, he has high expectations of Pogba which he doesn't live up to. Souness will always be a KDB fan more than a Pogba.

Sky don't need to do anything re his opinion on Pogba, and as for not saying anything nice about him, maybe you should read the post above.

Who's forcing black people to anything? Giving him airtime for precisely that reason; he's not afraid to voice his opinion. Far too many on there are insipid

Weird post
 

Inigo Montoya

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Well to him it probably does, he's a purist who thinks anyone that doesn't stay at home and think about football every second after practice is a hoodlum
This is a guy who was dating a former Miss World and sold his story to The Sun...don't think he ever saw himself as a 'purist.'
 

Nickelodeon

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I think a person should only be called a racist if he’s done something or said something which is racist. Finding evidence of racism in instances bereft of context doesn’t work because correlation isn’t causality. Let’s criticise Souness wholeheartedly for his crystal clear bias against Pogba. There’s enough material there.

Please don’t kill me.
 

justsomebloke

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Premier league football is about 2 things. Top level sport and then the entertainment to promote it. He's getting people talking. Job done from Sky's point of view.



Really is mental. I don't mind him at all. Having said that, I can't stand Keown, Jenas and Neville when he's commentating on United games, so, massively hypocritical of me.
For my part I'm not particularly entertained by him. Just annoyed.
 

OL29

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I think a person should only be called a racist if he’s done something or said something which is racist. Finding evidence of racism in instances bereft of context doesn’t work because correlation isn’t causality. Let’s criticise Souness wholeheartedly for his crystal clear bias against Pogba. There’s enough material there.

Please don’t kill me.
This is the kind of attitude that allowed the likes of Tommy Robinson to be given a platform.

I don't think people in here are saying that Souness is a bona fide racist, people are just speculating if some of his criticism of Pogba is a result of a hint of racial bias. His comments on Lamela already show that he's not above stereotyping people based on their origin.
 

OL29

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People act like it's impossible for a pundit to hold any form of prejudice, when just as recently as last year we had studies demonstrating a clear bias in the way players with lighter skin are presented in comparison to those with darker skin. I'm not even saying that Souness is guilty of this, but given his attitude towards Pogba in comparison to someone like Jack Grealish for example, it's not beyond the realms of possibility, so I don't know why people are getting so upset that people are having the discussion.

In 80 televised games analysed across four European leagues, including the Premier League, players with a lighter skin tone were praised more often for their intelligence and work ethic.
Meanwhile, those with darker skin tones were "significantly" more likely to be "reduced to their physical characteristics or athletic ability", such as their pace and power.

The research, conducted by Danish firm RunRepeat in association with the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), concluded that the findings showed "bias from commentators".

"The continuous praise for players with lighter skin tone for their skill level, leadership and cognitive abilities combined with the continuous criticism for players with darker skin tone is likely to influence the perception of the soccer watching public," said the researchers.
 

NotThatSoph

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What are you doing? Either you are, or you're not.
First of all no, this is stupid. You've read the thread, you know full well that that people have been talking about how biases can influence people in subtle ways, and that this is completely different from "old school" explicit hate. No one here is accusing Souness of hating Pogba because he is black. You know this 100 %.

Secondly, you said this:

Ok so a white man can't be a dickhead to a black man without being a racist. That's the coclusion then?
You knew that this wasn't the conclusion, but you said it anyway. You made it up. This isn't the first time you've written on Redcafe on why we shouldn't bring race into stuff because it's damaging for real racism or whatever. If you're honest here, if you think stuff like that is damaging and you care about racism, then what you should do right now is to stop making up accusations of racism.
 
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How do you know it's an 'unconscious factor'? Maybe as people have said, he has high expectations of Pogba which he doesn't live up to. Souness will always be a KDB fan more than a Pogba.

Sky don't need to do anything re his opinion on Pogba, and as for not saying anything nice about him, maybe you should read the post above.

Who's forcing black people to anything? Giving him airtime for precisely that reason; he's not afraid to voice his opinion. Far too many on there are insipid

Weird post
For me this is about how you try to deal with racism in football. I don't think that you can do that just by banning fans who make monkey chants in the grounds, or who abuse black players on football, because that isn't the only form of racism there is. It would be nice if Sky could talk about how their program might be contributing to racist ideas and not have its presenters shut down any conversation where people question the sense in what they say - like in the Micah Richards example.

He's paid to be a pundit, which means he's meant to offer knowledge and analysis of the game. He doesn't do that, he just tells an international audience that he doesn't like Pogba every week. You can like him for that, i guess, but he's normally on with Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. You think that they're insipid and Souness is the only one being brave and opinionated? The issue I have with punditry is that most of them would rather talk about how much they like or don't like certain players than what tactically is happening in the game.
 

Fluctuation0161

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People act like it's impossible for a pundit to hold any form of prejudice, when just as recently as last year we had studies demonstrating a clear bias in the way players with lighter skin are presented in comparison to those with darker skin. I'm not even saying that Souness is guilty of this, but given his attitude towards Pogba in comparison to someone like Jack Grealish for example, it's not beyond the realms of possibility, so I don't know why people are getting so upset that people are having the discussion.
Good post.
This is exactly the point I was making earlier. But was told to "have a good day" as I clearly "cannot have a reasoned conversation".

It was a Souness-esque response.
 

OL29

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Good post.
This is exactly the point I was making earlier. But was told to "have a good day" as I clearly "cannot have a reasoned conversation".

It was a Souness-esque response.
It's funny, it's always the people who say that conversations like this detract from 'real racism' who are the quickest to shut down any attempt at conversation as soon as the issue comes up. They're so transparent.
 

golden_blunder

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And that qualifies as antics? I thought he was knocking on old people's doors and running off or inhaling nitrous oxide canisters.
People criticized lingard for beanz, beanz, beanz etc on social media. Apparently it’s distracting.
likewise Beckham used to be called a “circus” because he dared have a partner who was famous at the time.
beckham also used to get grief about his haircuts and fashion choices.
Players will always get people criticizing for the silliest reasons
 

golden_blunder

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It's funny, it's always the people who say that conversations like this detract from 'real racism' who are the quickest to shut down any attempt at conversation as soon as the issue comes up. They're so transparent.
Are you referring to me?
 

MiceOnMeth

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People act like it's impossible for a pundit to hold any form of prejudice, when just as recently as last year we had studies demonstrating a clear bias in the way players with lighter skin are presented in comparison to those with darker skin. I'm not even saying that Souness is guilty of this, but given his attitude towards Pogba in comparison to someone like Jack Grealish for example, it's not beyond the realms of possibility, so I don't know why people are getting so upset that people are having the discussion.
 

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People criticized lingard for beanz, beanz, beanz etc on social media. Apparently it’s distracting.
likewise Beckham used to be called a “circus” because he dared have a partner who was famous at the time.
beckham also used to get grief about his haircuts and fashion choices.
Players will always get people criticizing for the silliest reasons
That's disgraceful as well. Sometimes fans are utter utter morons. I know some guys who know things about football, yet thought Luke Shaw was a fat wanker who gorges on pizza because the then manager threw shades at him. No amount of evidence to the contrary will prove them otherwise.
 

FrankDrebin

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Souness should join the old has-beens on that Old-gits show Soccerball Gillette or whatever its called.

Old git.
 

Jeppers7

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What I find troubling is that the people on here that are defending Souness no matter what he says or does are the same people criticising Pogba in his performance threads no matter how he plays.

Doesn’t feel right, almost like it’s ok to abuse Pogba repeatedly at any opportunity because I don’t like him, ergo also it can’t be in any way racially motivated….because I don’t like him.
 

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He doesn't need to overly criticise other black players for race to be a factor in his excessive criticism of Pogba. This should be relatively easy to understand. I also don't think race is the ONLY possible factor which drives Souness and his criticism.

But if Pogba was a white Scotsman, with the same attitude and behaviour, would he have been so negative towards him?
I feel this fundamentally misses the point as there’s literally never been any such thing in football and most likely never will be. Pogba is unique, the combination of things he is can’t be found in any other player active, perhaps sans Neymar - it’s impossible to make hypothetical constructs based on someone else being like him.

I’m not sure who I’d say was the most flamboyant, high profile player of Sourness’s era, but I can say with certainty that player was nothing like Pogba. Part of the problem I’d wager Souness has with Pogba specifically is his whole get up, praise and profile is alien to him - to replicate the grounds to test whether Souness’s issue is grounded in race, you’d need an equally flamboyant, white, high profile, social media star who is hailed as one of the best players in the world; given Pogba is unique, that’s not going to happen
 
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I feel this fundamentally misses the point as there’s literally never been any such thing in football and most likely never will be. Pogba is unique, the combination of things he is can’t be found in any other player active, perhaps sans Neymar - it’s impossible to make hypothetical constructs based on someone else being like him.

I’m not sure who I’d say was the most flamboyant, high profile player of Sourness’s era, but I can say with certainty that player was nothing like Pogba. Part of the problem I’d wager Souness has with Pogba specifically is his whole get up, praise and profile is alien to him - to replicate the grounds to test whether Souness’s issue is grounded in race, you’d need an equally flamboyant, white, high profile, social media star who is hailed as one of the best players in the world; given Pogba is unique, that’s not going to happen
Beckham is probably comparable to Pogba in terms of his type of uber celebrity (also accused of underachieving after a major international transfer). He got pelters at times too, but to my memory it wasn't as constant as it seems to be with Pogba. Although there was never a question about Beckham's workrate on the pitch.

We could see something like it with Grealish I reckon, City want to turn him into their Beckham. He's got that kind of arrogance on the pitch, likes to hold onto the ball, not the greatest defensive contributor, and he has a similar, if less flamboyant, style of public engagement. And he's another British record transfer. It's a reasonable comparison, at least.
 

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What I find troubling is that the people on here that are defending Souness no matter what he says or does are the same people criticising Pogba in his performance threads no matter how he plays.

Doesn’t feel right, almost like it’s ok to abuse Pogba repeatedly at any opportunity because I don’t like him, ergo also it can’t be in any way racially motivated….because I don’t like him.
I don’t think that’s a fully true statement
 

golden_blunder

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Beckham is probably comparable to Pogba in terms of his type of uber celebrity (also accused of underachieving after a major international transfer). He got pelters at times too, but to my memory it wasn't as constant as it seems to be with Pogba. Although there was never a question about Beckham's workrate on the pitch.

We could see something like it with Grealish I reckon, City want to turn him into their Beckham. He's got that kind of arrogance on the pitch, likes to hold onto the ball, not the greatest defensive contributor, and he has a similar, if less flamboyant, style of public engagement. And he's another British record transfer. It's a reasonable comparison, at least.
You might be right about grealish after joining a ‘big’ team for a big price. The stick will come if he doesn’t produce,

i think if Beckham played nowadays it would be comparable. When I think of some of the stuff he got criticised for not just by his own fans but also others; dating posh, hairstyles, fashion styles, marrying posh, having his wife called a whore, getting his effigy hung from a lamppost and so on.
 

Fluctuation0161

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I feel this fundamentally misses the point as there’s literally never been any such thing in football and most likely never will be. Pogba is unique, the combination of things he is can’t be found in any other player active, perhaps sans Neymar - it’s impossible to make hypothetical constructs based on someone else being like him.

I’m not sure who I’d say was the most flamboyant, high profile player of Sourness’s era, but I can say with certainty that player was nothing like Pogba. Part of the problem I’d wager Souness has with Pogba specifically is his whole get up, praise and profile is alien to him - to replicate the grounds to test whether Souness’s issue is grounded in race, you’d need an equally flamboyant, white, high profile, social media star who is hailed as one of the best players in the world; given Pogba is unique, that’s not going to happen
I see your point and I do think Pogbas flamboyant nature is part of what riles Souness. But what about Foden and his Gascoigne hair? Grealish is also rather flamboyant. Not a peep about them.
 

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I see your point and I do think Pogbas flamboyant nature is part of what riles Souness. But what about Foden and his Gascoigne hair? Grealish is also rather flamboyant. Not a peep about them.
Who was it that complained about Pogba getting haircuts regularly? I remember many people mentioning that the likes of Maddison and many other players continuously perfect hairdo didn't happen magically.