FLMAO and to think Keys got the sack mostly because he dug his grave on Talksport. 
-
Are we winning? -
Nigel i finks he resigned.Comment
-
That's the official line. If there were any doubts he was gonna get the sack, then his TalkSport interview was the final nail in his coffin.Originally posted by IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST View PostAre we winning?Comment
-
Nigel i finks you is correct.Comment
-
A bit late, but a good article from Brother Des last week, particularly the dig at Neville at the end.:
Des Lynam: Richard Keys and Andy Gray won't be missed by viewers of Sky Sports
There are television presenters and there are television sports presenters.
Paul O’Grady, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross are in the first category. If you watch their shows, you are left in no doubt that they are the stars.
The guests are incidental, foils to help the principals get their gags or points of view across. Whoever their guests, if you don’t like the presenter, you probably won’t watch.
Sports presenters are not the stars of their shows, however famous they may become by familiarity. They are there merely to introduce, underline and point the viewer towards the main event, that is the sport.
When I presented World Cups for the BBC, whenever we went head-to-head with ITV on a match, we usually ended up beating them in terms of audience share by about four to one. Drink was usually taken to celebrate our success.
When I transferred to ITV, there were those among my new masters who thought that my experience might help close the gap.
When we went head-to-head with the BBC during the 2002 World Cup, we were beaten in terms of audience share by about four to one. Old habits die hard and we consoled ourselves by blaming the adverts and of course drink was still taken.
We watch football and other sports on television for the games themselves, not because of the presenter or commentator but often despite them.
We all have our favourites and pet hates but even if a match we want to see were introduced by Vlad the Impaler and commentated on by ‘pedant of the year’, we would still tune in.
I had always wondered why Richard Keys had continued for 20 years to be the main presenter of football on Sky.
He was certainly competent, disdaining the use of a teleprompter and making very few mistakes, but I thought he lacked the charm and that indefinable quality of likeability that some of the other broadcasters in the Sky stable show.
He had the slightly sinister look of a man who was always party to some special knowledge he was not prepared to share. Now, of course, it has been alleged that he was one of what had become an all-powerful cartel which repelled and even undermined competition from within.
These situations can occur in the best of organisations. When I was invited to move from radio to television at the BBC in the Seventies, there definitely seemed to be one or two ‘dark forces’ who were anything but welcoming to me.
On his Soccer Saturday show last weekend, Jeff Stelling was in the middle of one of his updates when he paused. “Crikey,” he said “plenty of clichés in this link.” It was a nice line in self-deprecation which makes him so viewer-friendly.
For the time being it seems Stelling will be on a rota of live football presenters with, among others, David Jones and Ed Chamberlin, both competent broadcasters but Stelling will probably end up as the new No 1.
He certainly knows his football as he has been proving every Saturday while he steers his panellists through the minefield of the English language to bring us all the scores and stories from around the country.
Mind you, if Stelling does become Sky’s face of the Premier League, he’s unlikely to make the slightest difference to the audience figures.
Although well liked, I’m sure there are a few who can’t stand him. It won’t deter them from tuning in though. They will continue to watch simply because they want to see the match.
Replacing Andy Gray will be more difficult. Putting aside any thought about his behaviour for the moment, he certainly made a huge mark in football broadcasting.
He had the ability to irritate and inform in equal measure but he was difficult to ignore and, strangely, I will miss his “take a bow son” and “I have to say”.
There is a thought that the newly retired Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, might be offered the job.
I worked with him in the past and while he obviously knows the game and is opinionated, he has a flat monotone voice and, in his case, there might actually be a bit of a switch off on Merseyside.
The boy Vlad would be more popular there.Oh I don't know.Comment
-
Monday is going to be worth listening to.
It's valentines day isn't it? I cannae wait, they'll be getting enough abuse and on top of that i wouldn't be surprised if people phoned up to give their fake loved one a lovely keys and gray style valentines message. I think some of you should phone in
Comment
-
Des
Thanks very much for being ‘This Mornings’ Farmer’Comment
-
Originally posted by Cormack74 View Post
Loved the guy. I think he's hilarious. Clips of the week will be about 30 seconds now he's gone. I don't believe for a second he went first. Listening to Mike Parryand Mike Graham arguing every morning was ace. Obviously playing the fool but funny all the same.
I have one word to offer - honesty. I couldn't be devious if I tried. Joe Fagan.Comment
-
Thats the same as me in the morning. I listen to Moyles and Evens when there playing musicOriginally posted by Shanks View PostI think it depends where you work..
Travelling salesmen on the M6 won't listen to Radio City or Juice FM.
5Live are full of politics and I don't know of many other mid day options..
On the way to work in the morning, I switch from Moyles R1 to Brazil to Evans R2 and Back again...
On the way home I'm a Smooth Radio fan and Durham when he is positive about LFC..
and Talksport for the rest of the time.
My CD player is bust at the moment so its Radio all the time.*Except Michael, who died.Comment
-
I wouldn't blame your radio for packing it in either the way treat it.Originally posted by Alex View PostThats the same as me in the morning. I listen to Moyles and Evens when there playing music and Talksport for the rest of the time.
My CD player is bust at the moment so its Radio all the time.
Oh I don't know.Comment
-
That 'column' reads like an old man's anecdote.Originally posted by dom9 View Post
.
Suppose you have a physicist and a sociologist standing at the side of a field, observing a set of events unfolding on the field. The physicist does [describes] it using the terminology of mass and velocity and frequency of radiation and the rest. And the sociologist does it by describing it as a rugby match.
May the Lord bless this post.Comment
-
'Drink was taken'.
Oh I don't know.Comment
-
I love Des, I bet he'd have some tales to tell.Comment
-
Whilst sat on his lap, munching on Werthers Originals.
Off topic, but did Werthers ever produce any other sweets, other than the originals?Oh I don't know.Comment
Comment