Pundits having too much influence/getting too much attention

Nah, not at all. Players/coaches at this level should be able to ignore it.

Neville and Keane got pelters for backing Ole/the club during that period. Neville did that interview with ten Hag the other day and was complimentary. It's fine. And besides, who wants our ex lot to go on like Sumersbee would for City?

Andycoleno9 said:

Does it bother you? Especially regarding our club. Every day you have couple of headlines (and not just in English media) what Gary said, what Rio said, what Paul said and what Roy said. And it is not some big analysis or something clever; it is always same shitting on the club and moaning about the club. Club is shit, players are disgrace and everything is doom and gloom. Followed with "back in our days" phrase.
Even our former managers (LVG and Jose) said that our ex players made their job tougher with constant criticism. Not to mention that they are probably ones who run stories about internal stuff because they have their rats among our players (which all of them confirmed multiple times).

They are club's legend and we all loved them as a players but they are milking that now.

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Yep, I find it pretty annoying (unless it's keano on haaland!) and can see how it would definitely be distracting for certain players. The media love to create a narrative and will look for anything to make it come true, which can have a really detrimental affect on the harmony of teams and even clubs.

It bothers me. They chat a lot of shit and show tons of hypocrisy and disrespect. Managers can ignore it media and players don't.

It is easy from their position to criticise. They were part of a functioning club and under the greatest manager of all time. The club should definitely try to get this under control... as much as it shouldn't affect us it clearly does and under Brailsford it's all about marginal gains. This is definitely an arena we can gain in.

Players often have limited intelligence. Sure becoming a top level footballer is tough and require talent, dedication and attitude. However most of these qualities are non transferable in terms of football management and most players are uncapable of being more then chess pieces for the manager to move. That's clearly shown about the incredible failing rate of those who transition from players to managers. Not to forget that football move quickly. Sacchi was a visionary in his time but the last time I heard him speak about football it was cringy to say the least.

I can't understand why Sky pay millions to someone who tanked at Valencia, another one whose record include at spitting at kids and wearing shirts supporting a racist and the Wolverine from Wish. They should use the money to bring former managers who are between jobs (ex Mourinho or Conte) and pair the guys with solid football commentators who have ample experience on how to communicate, maintain a mature discussion and ask the right questions.

SirAF said:

Nah, not at all. Players/coaches at this level should be able to ignore it.

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Coaches perhaps. But these are young players and more immature than the general population it seems. I saw that Rashford was responding to a tweet from Goldbridge. No mature human being will want to respond to anything that Golbridge says but Rashford was doing it at 0200 I think. I am 100% sure the criticism affects our players especially seeing how they crumble under any adversity on the field.

Andycoleno9 said:

Absolutely this.
Btw who is Wolverine from wish ? Keane?

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Yep. I grew up watching Keane and he was tough. However as a person who is on the wrong side of the 40s myself I assure you that this tough man stand is really inappropriate and quite frankly sad. Ultimately he is a 52 old former footballer not John rambo

devilish said:

Players often have limited intelligence. Sure becoming a top level footballer is tough and require talent, dedication and attitude. However most of these qualities are non transferable in terms of football management and most players are uncapable of being more then chess pieces for the manager to move. That's clearly shown about the incredible failing rate of those who transition from players to managers. Not to forget that football move quickly. Sacchi was a visionary in his time but the last time I heard him speak about football it was cringy to say the least.

I can't understand why Sky pay millions to someone who tanked at Valencia, another one whose record include at spitting at kids and wearing shirts supporting a racist and the Wolverine from Wish. They should use the money to bring former managers who are between jobs (ex Mourinho or Conte) and pair the guys with solid football commentators who have ample experience on how to communicate, maintain a mature discussion and ask the right questions.

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This is who people want to hear from. Ex Manchester United and Liverpool players are blessed in that regard because of a big fanbase. Jenas is the one I can't understand.

When it repeat enough of times, it becomes true or people thinks its true. Its like our ex-players that are in the media circle trying so hard to be anti-bias toward United that it becomes detrimental to us fans or potential fans on social media. The likes of Neville especially, its his image to be portraid as this sensible, non-bias person that speak truth to all things United. Its tiresome really when you look at other pundits and they keep on defending thier club (the club overall).

Also, our club keep behaving softly or even muted as a whole. We behave too nice and when others see that you dont hit back they would keep on attacking, bullying you. We are red devil for f... sake but we behave nicer than a saint. Not asking to go and attack everyone all the times but the club and our manager should voice out and deny something that could hurt us or already did. You have to let others that there are cosequences if they do you wrong.

Dr. StrangeHate said:

This is who people want to hear from. Ex Manchester United and Liverpool players are blessed in that regard because of a big fanbase. Jenas is the one I can't understand.

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I think that's the result of a symbiosis between the two parties

A- recently retired players come with a solid fan base. That will decline in time if left unattended (Robson attracts less fan opinion then let's say Gaz)

B- sky allow that flame to remain strong by having them constantly on telly

Most of us have no choice on the matter either. If let's say I have to watch games on Bein then there's no way I could escape the opinion of those two insufferable dinosaurs

I believe that we could get a far superior product if the likes of sky bothered hiring top professionals who truly understand what being a manager is all about

Of course it's a problem. It has always been a problem. Used to be you could ban newspapers and go radio silent at the grounds (the SAF way), but that kind of approach isn't possible anymore.

Now you need to grease palms, so to speak. When Mansour took over at City, a huge spread was put out for the journos, and they don't spare any expense in making sure they enjoy their time there.

We're still doing cheese and crackers at best. I mean look at that Samuel Luckhurst - it's bloody obvious we've never fed that pasty ghoul of Victorian origin a proper sandwich once in his overly-long career. Is it any wonder he's always going to be write like someone who's had a promise from a liar? We've been systematically starving these guys for years!

Feed the journos
Let them know United's fine

Would you guys prefer it if there were fewer Ex-Man United players in the media?

You have Neville, Keane, Rio, Owen, Dublin, Hargreaves and now Rooney seems to be getting in on the act. Is that too many?

I quite like Neville and Keane, the rest are shite.

Reyoji-Utd said:

When it repeat enough of times, it becomes true or people thinks its true. Its like our ex-players that are in the media circle trying so hard to be anti-bias toward United that it becomes detrimental to us fans or potential fans on social media. The likes of Neville especially, its his image to be portraid as this sensible, non-bias person that speak truth to all things United. Its tiresome really when you look at other pundits and they keep on defending thier club (the club overall).

Also, our club keep behaving softly or even muted as a whole. We behave too nice and when others see that you dont hit back they would keep on attacking, bullying you. We are red devil for f... sake but we behave nicer than a saint. Not asking to go and attack everyone all the times but the club and our manager should voice out and deny something that could hurt us or already did. You have to let others that there are cosequences if they do you wrong.

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There might be more to Gaz non bias then you think.

Ask yourself why none of the iconic class of 92 work with united. We are able to find a job for Phil Jones but the class of 92 seemed barred.

Every action has a reaction

It's their job to give an opinion, It's just that nobody has to take them seriously. I think people in general give far too much weight to pundits opinions and because of that, the media benefit tremendously from it.

Andycoleno9 said:

Does it bother you? Especially regarding our club. Every day you have couple of headlines (and not just in English media) what Gary said, what Rio said, what Paul said and what Roy said. And it is not some big analysis or something clever; it is always same shitting on the club and moaning about the club. Club is shit, players are disgrace and everything is doom and gloom. Followed with "back in our days" phrase.
Even our former managers (LVG and Jose) said that our ex players made their job tougher with constant criticism. Not to mention that they are probably ones who run stories about internal stuff because they have their rats among our players (which all of them confirmed multiple times).

They are club's legends and we all loved them as a players but they are milking that now.

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This all started with Neville kickstarting the "sage pundit" shit. None of them have been all that successful in football so I don't think they influence actual managers, though Neville has definitely influenced United's executive decision making at times, but I think mostly they are ignored now. I thought Neville and co. were a breath of fresh air when they first came in but like everything it's all gotten a bit long in the tooth now.

devilish said:

There might be more to Gaz non bias then you think.

Ask yourself why none of the iconic class of 92 work with united. We are able to find a job for Phil Jones but the class of 92 seemed barred.

Every action has a reaction

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Neville is on the stadium planning committee now, which is probably why you don't hear as much from him these days, and why that ETH interview came across reasonably positive. I think it has had the affect of him being a bit more of a doormat for Carragher now though, which is probably why the latter now feels it's a great laugh trying to sack and retire people from a TV studio.

United get criticised because they deserve to be criticised. It’s funny some managers or players think they deserve a helping hand sometimes that defies what’s actually happening on the pitch. How could you be positive about spending all that money and being 8th in the league?

If United were actually really good, then it would be a love-in from those pundits. Take Scholes for example, his punditry is like a fan in the pub. Most of what he’s saying is no different than most disgruntled United fans watching their team lose again. If United were doing well then he’d be completely different.

I mean... We are shit?

What do we mean by too much influence? I don't think that they actually have any influence outside of maybe being an excuse for the incompetence of actual decision makers whether it is clubs executives or staff members.

Also some of the things they say or the insights they share are sometimes so flawed that I don't see how it can actually be an issue or influential unless you are a bot. When it comes to United, it's very simple nearly every people that talks about United's great years massively underrate the role of SAF, they seem to not spot the fact that he is the only constant and unfortunately SAF have had the tendency to do it himself. SAF has replaced all of them at some point and he has maintained the same level of success, that should be a pretty obvious clue but somehow it isn't.

devilish said:

I think that's the result of a symbiosis between the two parties

A- recently retired players come with a solid fan base. That will decline in time if left unattended (Robson attracts less fan opinion then let's say Gaz)

B- sky allow that flame to remain strong by having them constantly on telly

Most of us have no choice on the matter either. If let's say I have to watch games on Bein then there's no way I could escape the opinion of those two insufferable dinosaurs

I believe that we could get a far superior product if the likes of sky bothered hiring top professionals who truly understand what being a manager is all about

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But no sports broadcasting company has done that. I think it is because there is no demand for it and clickbait is the way to go in football.

Cricket I feel has excellent commentary and analysis in most cases.

Barring United v Liverpool games, I find Neville and Carragher a good pair who mostly talk sense. Carragher's insights this season on United and Ten Hag have been bang on. Just laying out some aspects where it's been positive.

• The Super League debacle. Neville and Carragher openly declared war and within a day, the clubs had to retract
• Neville is the first person in the entire Glazer reign to call them out publicly and repeatedly
• The Dele Alli interview. It was a good moment for mental heath discussions in football.

The United lot in the media certainly don't help the club during the tough times the way a lot of the Liverpool crew did during Klopp's poor years. They don't help to buy the club any time and instead put petrol on the fire at times.

Which is their prerogative of course, but it will make it even more difficult to see out any long term planning.

I personally think 'they played the game' is over-rated in what is needed from a pundit.

Even with Neville and Carragher, the game they played is very different now, their direct 'insight' grows more irrelevant with each year that passes. That especially goes for anyone who hasn't played beyond the early 00's - it's just a completely different game.

That doesn't mean I just want the latest retired player to be a pundit for a couple of years, more that the skills which I think are far more interesting and valuable from a pundit are:

• An ability to be interesting and clearly interested in the game
• An attempt to understand what is actually happening on the pitch and an ability to explain it (in an engaging way)
• Actual knowledge of what teams are trying to do, and why

There are people who analyse football who can do the above really well. Instead we get 60 year olds talking about "wanting it more".

Though unfortunately, it's the rants and lazy assumptions that get the social media clicks so...

Most of the ex players are really shite. Especially the ex-united players.
- Evra is just there to crack jokes
- Neville is a hypocrite (Blaming Pogba for wanting out but then going to golf with Kane and asking how much he reckons Levy accepts for him so he can go win trophies).
- Rio is an absolute tool and just plain disrespectful (e.g. even if we all agree Ten Hag needs to go, openly going out on TNT sport and joking that he's spoken to Tuchel about the United job is tasteless, he would never do it to Ole).
- Keane is just there to say contraversial things, over playing his hard man tone. He's become a parody of himself.

The only time I give a shit about an ex player is when they talk about in game moments. I care about what Rio has to say when theyre analysing a goal and a defensive structure that failed. I care about Henry's view when theyre talking about an amazing finish from a player under pressure.

I don't give two fecks about their views on tactics or the general brids eye view, I don't care about them guesstimating the quality of the opposition. There are top, top panelists out there on TNT (James Horncastle, Sid Lowe, Raf Hogenstein, etc.) all spearheaded by a much better anchor in James Richardson. But they don't get near enough airtime.

VP89 said:

I don't give two fecks about their views on tactics or the general brids eye view, I don't care about them guesstimating the quality of the opposition. There are top, top panelists out there on TNT (James Horncastle, Sid Lowe, Raf Hogenstein, etc.) all spearheaded by a much better anchor in James Richardson. But they don't get near enough airtime.

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No no, you can't be talking like that. The last thing we need is people with knowledge of European teams that they have obtained by actually watching them week in and week out. What we need is more soundbites and platitudes.

Dr. StrangeHate said:

But no sports broadcasting company has done that. I think it is because there is no demand for it and clickbait is the way to go in football.

Cricket I feel has excellent commentary and analysis in most cases.

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No yet. However things will slowly but surely change

a- this sort of punditry is under attack both by fans and by former legends. For example in 2022 Roberto Baggio gave a rare interview were he said "I find it unpleasant to judge players on the pitch, that's why I don't do any TV punditry work. I see colleagues who couldn’t complete 3 dribbles condemn players on air.”

b-I think we'll soon have a clickbait fatigue. We have Sky, the United stand, the likes of MEN, the United stand, the youtube channels, the United stand, various websites, the United stand, an almost endless number of Goldbridge clones (ex Mick Ruby, Tate, Alice talk football etc), the United stand, some more professional channels who still fall into the fan media category (Stretford Paddock) and their clones (Howson, United people TV etc), the pessimist TV hosts such as Pilib De Brún and his clones (ex Kev from the United stand)....have I mentioned the United stand?

c- Former players are spreading their wings elsewhere. The overlap has 1.06m subscriptions on youtube while Rio has 1.05m subscriptions.

d- Sky used to be one small step down to BBC with the latter being the most reliable media house in the UK. These days Sky are just a step up to MEN and two steps up to Daily Star. Its only a matter of time before they realize that the 'Athletic' model is not only successful but the only way to go.

Nope I think they're saving football. I'd rather watch them people talk about the game for 10 minutes than watch the game and think about it myself. Life is too short for complicated thoughts

There was a recent moment when Scholes guessed what Antony might be saying…and then believing his own narrative to be true….added, He should never be saying that

Absolutely idiotic.

i think SJR said he’s selling his share of the club already….he shouldn’t be saying that

That cringe moment last night when Henry likened Real Madrid in the late stages of a game to a beautiful woman…dangerous

He realised he’d embarrassed himself and quickly tried to move the conversation on

just awful

You don't have to listen to them, it's quite easy to mute or not pay attention.

Gave up on it a while back, you can just watch the game and sack off the in between parts.

The fact Carragher was filmed trying to spit on someone and is a host for major channels still just sums it up really.