Ian Wright (and TV pundits in general)

**tetsujin1979** · 22/06/2006, 2:46 PM

Just back to Ian Wright for a second, himself, Leonardo and one of the studio pundits, think it was Adrian Chiles were having a kickabout on one of the pitches. Leonardo flicks the ball up, does a few keepy-uppy style tricks and flicks it to Chiles. He does about 2 keep-uppys and flicks it to Wright. Who promptly yells "'Ave it" and wellies the ball down the pitch. Leonardo looked like he thought Wright was nuts!

**LeixlipRed** · 22/06/2006, 6:13 PM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Just back to Ian Wright for a second, himself, Leonardo and one of the studio pundits, think it was Adrian Chiles were having a kickabout on one of the pitches. Leonardo flicks the ball up, does a few keepy-uppy style tricks and flicks it to Chiles. He does about 2 keep-uppys and ficks it to Wright. Who promptly yells "'Ave it" and wellies the ball down the pitch. Leonardo looked like he thought Wright was nuts!

The man's like that big fat kid who always just wellied the ball over the neighbours wall when you were a kid. You hated him for it too. The guy's a fool

**joeSoap** · 23/06/2006, 10:23 AM

Ok he is a fool, an idiot, and possibly the most annoying pundit of all time....BUT....You can't take away from his record on the pitch. He was one hell of a striker. A dirty c**t, but fairly lethal around the goalmouth..

**OwlsFan** · 23/06/2006, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by joeSoap

Ok he is a fool, an idiot, and possibly the most annoying pundit of all time....BUT....You can't take away from his record on the pitch. He was one hell of a striker. A dirty c**t, but fairly lethal around the goalmouth..

Drunkphy was lethal around the goalmouth (emphasis on mouth)

?

**cheifo** · 23/06/2006, 10:54 AM

I think Martin O'Neill has fallen in love with Leonardo.Think I am joking? ,watch it you'll see.

**geysir** · 23/06/2006, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

England vs Sweden is not the Premiership so why mention that game ? He said the Arg vs Hol game was the worst yet and still says it was better than the Eng vs Hol game. Contradictory nonsense and just another unnecessary slap at England.

Owls, a bit of a Gilesism creeping in there

**Dodge** · 23/06/2006, 11:07 AM

Migght as well give my tuppence worth

RTE; Giles is brilliant at analysing games as they happen. His knowledge of world football isn't great but he can see everything on the pitch. Brady and Souness are by far the best things on football TV. KNow their ball, can read the game, criticise when neccesary but not OTT IMO. Dunphy's a fool but can be entertaining. Still get the feeling he'll compare anybody to Keane, Brady, Giles or Souness. Cunningham and Irwin are OK but a bot bland. Kudos to Cunningham for saying he'd give out to one of his players if an oppuntunity came up to get a penalty and he didn't take it. Collins isn't great and I hate his midatlantic drawl. O'Herlihy is shocking. All the match commentators are brutal, Hamilton being the worst. Agree with the earlier criticisms of Alkin and his (b)latent racism.

BBC; Commentators are all good. Co-commentators range from the annoying Lawrenson to the surprisingly OK McCarthy. Mark Bright is the blandest man on TV. Apart from Lineker obviously. His attempts at comedy would put RTE 90's attempts in Seinfeld company. Hanson doesn't care, either does Strachan, either does O'Neill. At least you get the feeling that O'Neill knows something about the game. Ian Wright is a joke. Leonardo is good but totally patronised. Desailly looks lost.

ITV; David Pleat is very good. Analyses the game well and doesn't get involved in Tyldesly's hype. Peter Drury is usually OK but has been poor so far. The highlights guy (Matt something or other) is a good presenter. Everyone else shouldn't be allowed near TV, particularly McCoist and Townsend. I think Ruud Guillit is with them but I haven't seen him. He was excellent on Sky's CL coverage so unless McCoist scrambled his brain I'd expect the same. Gabby Yorath (or whatver) has aged badly. I can see make up lines and can't get past them.

My "dream panel" would be; Matt Somethingorother from ITV as presenter. Brady and Souness as pundits (nobody needs 3). Commentator would be Barry Davies (bring him in from his lesser sports hell) and Co Commentator would be David Pleat.

**OwlsFan** · 23/06/2006, 12:39 PM

Yes, despite what Pleat did to Wednesday, I think he isn't a bad co-commentator and that's what he should have stayed doing instead of attempting to run Yorkshire's finest

in to the ground . Graham Taylor is ok as well.

I think Hamilton must be close to being the worst commentator aided by the moaning Houghton giving out about the ref (these are RTE's premiere selection). Hamilton gets why the free is given wrong about 30% of the time and assumes once a team takes the lead, that's it.

ANyone hear the RTE commentator for the Croat vs Oz game (Gabriel Egan ?), first of all only on the 3rd replay picking up that Kewell's goal might be offside and then questioning whether he (the scorer

) was "interfering with play".

Doh!

Stuart Peace on the BBC is good as well if wearing the Union Jack a bit too close to his heart.

Apropos nothing, the closest I ever saw Giles to getting emotional about Ireland was after the Ireland 1 Holland 0 game and the crowd singing the disco version of Fields of Athernry in the back ground.

**tetsujin1979** · 23/06/2006, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Apropos nothing, the closest I ever saw Giles to getting emotional about Ireland was after the Ireland 1 Holland 0 game and the crowd singing the disco version of Fields of Athernry in the back ground.

You ever see the clip of him jumping out of his seat after Robbie Keane equalised against Germany in 2002?? Now that's emotion!

**OwlsFan** · 23/06/2006, 12:45 PM

No!! He never

I saw the clip of Andy Townsend on his feet at ITV punching the air and Des Lynam (Irish apparently) sitting looking on with little emotion but never the Giles' one possibily because I was on my knees on the floor wiping all the beer stains off the new carpet before the wife came home. I watched it at home with a few friends and the bottles, tins and glasses went flying

Any link ?

**geysir** · 23/06/2006, 12:57 PM

I had a listen to the rte panel in the recent 2 days. Owl's comment about Dunphy being lost when the discussion went beyond him was spot on. The more I see him the more he looks like a spitting image puppet of himself.
The weak link is Bill, he can't chair a decent discussion. He hasn't the nous to spot someting intelligent immediately and lead the debate. I think the time delay with him is due to him having to be prompted about the relevant points on his earpiece.
A censorious Giles, Souness, Brady and the dulcet tones of co- commentater Stevens is a good balance.

**frankbrett** · 23/06/2006, 1:02 PM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

No!! He never

I saw the clip of Andy Townsend on his feet at ITV punching the air and Des Lynam (Irish apparently) sitting looking on with little emotion but never the Giles' one possibily because I was on my knees on the floor wiping all the beer stains off the new carpet before the wife came home. I watched it at home with a few friends and the bottles, tins and glasses went flying

Any link ?

Giles and Brady going mad after the equaliser was used in RTE's 2002 world cup montage (to the music of that Feeder song) I think.

**NeilMcD** · 23/06/2006, 2:06 PM

Stuart Pearce is with ITV for this World Cup.

**OwlsFan** · 23/06/2006, 2:38 PM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

Stuart Pearce is with ITV for this World Cup.

I meant ITV - humble apologies but how do you know if you never watch it

**NeilMcD** · 23/06/2006, 3:01 PM

I read in the paper the various TV lineups for the World Cup. In addition I have been in pubs during the World cup where I dont have a choice what coverage they show.

**OwlsFan** · 23/06/2006, 10:05 PM

Do you not know when your leg is being pulled

?

Very confident predictions by Drunkphy and Giles that Spain will beat France. Bearing in mind that Spain didn't win their group to get to the World Cup and had to go through the play offs and don't have a great record against France (according to Desailly), I wouldn't be that confident. On the showing so far perhaps, but as Jimmy Greaves says etc etc

Both also predicted Ecuador to beat England. If they are wrong and England win, be ready for Ecuador are a "mediocre" side.

Drunkphy also had to quote Keane in the context of France/Swiss qualifying on how far you can go if you believe and prepare. Not sure what the point was since in every previous World Cup we also got out of our group every time. Laughing Bill's stinging reposte was "Hmmmmm."

Brazil were also described as a "mediocre" team and both suggested Angola might beat them. Both Drunkphy and Giles had tipped Brazil to win the World Cup.

Let the contradictions continue. Watch this space

**DmanDmythDledge** · 23/06/2006, 10:08 PM

Did they actually predict Angola to beat Brazil or did you make a typo?

**Metrostars** · 24/06/2006, 3:39 AM

Here are some funny comments by the commentators on ESPN:

"A game that had been controlled by Argentina has turned 360 degrees."
"Portugal and Angola, neighbors..."
"That gives a whole new meaning to Bend it like Beckham, folks"
"Nakata is the Terrel Owens of this Japanese team"
"...and great disappointment for Australia."(after their first game 3-1)
"Oh Man! I thought that baby was in there!"
"Ecuador are the Denver Broncos of international soccer."
"He just has no chance to win that 50-50 ball in the air"
"In Brazil, they say soccer is like a religion... And they mean that as a compliment."
"Cambiassa, and that means change in spanish...."
"I like the Brazilian names because they're so much fun to say.......Say 'Kaka'. You're smiling, aren't you?"
"and the Serbs are ready for the free kick" (During the Croatia-Japan game)

Tommy-Smythisms:
"You don't need an umbrella when there is a hole in your shoes"
"If you are playing this game and you have two feet you have to remember to use them"
Main commentator: "Here's an interesting fact. The first oil well in the history of the world was drilled by a Pole."
Smyth: "Really? I had always heard it was drilled by a bit."
"He has more moves than Mariah Carey" on Christiano Ronaldo