Stan Collymore lays into MOTD

[GoodFella]

Stan Collymore has launched a ferocious attack on Match of the Day, calling for Gary Lineker to be replaced as anchorman and pundits Alan Shearer and Alan Hansen to go.

Collymore branded the BBC's flagship football show 'stale, cliched and smug pap' and accused 'lazy' pundits of failing to do their homework.

He unleashed his thoughts on his Twitter site during MOTD2 on Sunday after being infuriated by what he had seen on two shows over the weekend.

The former Liverpool and England striker, who has forged a media career of his own, also suggested Shearer should get out to see more games.

'I love MOTD,' said 39-year-old Collymore. 'I've watched it for 33 years but, right now, in my opinion as a football fan, it's c**p, and like dinosaur football, has to change.

'The standard of MOTD is so poor - and sorry, it is - that you may as well Sky-plus it, skip the analysis and use your own judgement.'

TV nightmare: talkSPORT presenter Collymore has hit out at 'dinosaur' MOTD

As an example, he picked out Shearer's bizarre claim that Hatem Ben Arfa had not been on the radar of big clubs, when the 23-year-old, who joined Newcastle on loan from Marseilles this summer, is in fact a France international who has long been tipped for the top and tracked for years by several Barclays Premier League clubs, including Arsenal.


Collymore said: 'During the World Cup several teams weren't prepped properly by MOTD and Shearer's "revelation" that Ben Arfa wasn't on many's radar is frankly laughable.

'We all makes mistakes in commentary and shows but just not finding out about players and teams seems par for the course on MOTD.


'Does it T me off? Damn right it does. Could I do better? I already do.'

Collymore was sacked in 2004 as a radio pundit by the BBC, who had taken him on despite his infamous 1998 physical assault on Ulrika Jonsson. He has since rebuilt a career as an analyst on talkSPORT and Five. He insists his comments are not personally motivated.

'I'm not bitter at all towards the BBC or MOTD,' he said. 'I love public service broadcasting and our national broadcaster but the truth is that in my opinion MOTD is stale, cliched, smug pap a lot of the time.


'It's a lazy show that doesn't provoke debate in our game and just says, "We've been there and done it and we don't have to do anything but sit here and dole out cliches". Shake it up someone, please.

Like for like: Collymore says Sheringham should replace Shearer and that the BBC should make the ex-England striker cover games for Radio 5Live instead


'The most important man in English football is the editor of MOTD, I was once told. But the way Sunderland's first half was made to look like a poor performance, with little service to (Darren) Bent, actually shows that the editorial merit is woeful.'


Match of the Day has been under fire from other angles this season. Wolves players are furious to be depicted as a dirty team and goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann said he did not watch it any more because it failed to show his saves.


'It seems like we're on last every week,' said Hahnemann. 'I never see any saves.'

Collymore believes new blood would be key to reviving a show first screened in 1964.

Wright stuff: Collymore believes Ian Wright would make the difference

'What would I do?' said Collymore.


'Get a presenter that just presents. Put Lineker as lead pundit, get rid of Hansen and Shearer and revolve the pundits so that Andy Cole, Zola, Di Canio, Ian Wright, Sheringham, Cantona and plenty of players with ideas, opinions and passion all get us thinking about the game.

'Lineker has the gravitas as the great ex-England striker. Revolve the names around him. Right now it's comfy, matey pap that probably spends more time talking golf rather than football. Stick Shearer on 5 Live and get him out to games, lots of games.

'If MOTD isn't a debate show and just a highlights reel, then why have pundits at all?


'I want to see Zola disagree with Sheringham, or Di Canio giving us an insight, or Klinsmann next to Cole and Wright talking about what Torres is going through and how to change.

'There are passionate players, quiet ones, shouty ones, tactical ones. Like the games being played. Let's have variety of styles on MOTD.

'MOTD just looks like a golfing clique who have a passing interest in football, and that can't be right?'

The BBC declined to comment on Monday night.



Stan went in!

Some very fair points. I think Stan's alrite but partly because he does bring Villa into every discussion on TalkSport somehow lol.

Hes not a great pundit but he deffo does show alot more passion and truth than the mug Hansen and Lawrenson

[quality]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/8012152/Alan-Shearer-a-television-pundit-More-like-a-large-well-paid-child.html

Agreed with the Shearer stuff, the dictionary definition of pundit is 'expert', so the least he could do would be go on wikipedia. Every time you hear him discuss football it becomes clearer and clearer why he couldn't buy a win at Newcastle.

Hansen is pretty much a wind up merchant these days, Lawrenson is ok at points (could be worse, could be Steve Claridge). Dixon is probably the best they have.

[Michael.]

Real talk doe.

The show & it's analysis are very basic, that's why I watch Football First or Goals on Sunday on Sky Sports instead.

The pundits don't know fuck all either.

[GoodFella]

I absolutely hate Lawrenson, whenever I hear him commentate he sounds like he dont wanna be there or he cba, hes always there with a screwface and some slouched back i dont give a toss look. Hate him.


There days have gone, I do think they need some younger ones, players who have retired in the last 5-10 years who are still in touch with every aspect of the game.

Its like Hansen and Lawro read the papers on a satday morning and then just point out the obvious with little red circles.

[chris89]

I agree, I barely watch it live anymore, it's way too boring.

[Hij]

Yeah he's totally right, lets get Collymore in because he's insightful, intelligent and has a good sense of morales. I mean I personally have never seen Collymore get anything wrong in terms of being a pundit in my life so he's well outside of the glass house throwing the stones.

The points he makes re: Hansen, Lawrenson and Shearer are right though, the first two are boring bitter wankers and the final is just boring clichéd and terrible.

I do find that they do seem to try and push their own agenda's just like Sky Sports with the weird tactical analysis after games. Infact I could care less about tactical analysis after games I don't need someone to explain something to me and I don't need Hansen producing three examples of Lucas passing sideways to work out whether I think he's a good player or not- and that's just an example on something I know about. E.G I'll have been at that game and witnessed several good forward passes into space, latched onto by say Riera or Kuyt and they are just forgotten about.

I just want to watch the fucking matches.

Obviously part of this is me biased against how they report Liverpool but I've seen them do it for other teams as well. The editorial merit is shit I'll agree: and it plays a big part in peoples opinions. There is a direct correlation between peoples opinions on a Sunday and what was said on MOTD the night before.

[Rambo]

Yeah he's totally right, lets get Collymore in because he's insightful, intelligent and has a good sense of morales. I mean I personally have never seen Collymore get anything wrong in terms of being a pundit in my life so he's well outside of the glass house throwing the stones.

The points he makes re: Hansen, Lawrenson and Shearer are right though, the first two are boring bitter wankers and the final is just boring clichéd and terrible.

I do find that they do seem to try and push their own agenda's just like Sky Sports with the weird tactical analysis after games. Infact I could careless about tactical analysis after games I don't need someone to explain something to me and I don't need Hansen producing three examples of Lucas passing sideways to work out whether I think he's a good player or not.

Obviously part of this is me biased against how they report Liverpool but I've seen them do it for other teams as well. The editorial merit is shit I'll agree.


QFT

the wolves vs newcastle game really highlighted that for me, showed the fouls on barton, but not the foul barton done on one of our players which forced him off injured.. but that wouldn't equate to poor barton being kicked then

[Pristine Condition]

It's a mute ting when MOTD is on. They do chat rubbish and state the obvious. I only watch it for the goals tbh

[Quality Control]

anyone who beat the shit out of ulrika jonsson can't be too bad.

tbh i quite like lawrenson, he has a dry sense of humour and speaks his mind. lineker is cool too. hansen and shearer should be axed.

[Greeze]

i agree with whoever said Dixon's the best they got. shearers awful and just chats shit imo.

[Brisboy84]

A lot of real talk from Stan. But he's not that much better having heard him on Talksport in the past. He loves to wind people up and comes out with a lot of bullshit that leaves you shaking your head. He's said it himself he loves to wind Arsenal fans up.

Them man on MOTD are just winging it. Shearer saying Ben Arfa not being on people's radar? :laugh: Nah that's not good enough. They were a joke when they showed Joey Barton (who i think is a prick) get his legs chopped to bits against Wolves and they were just sitting there laughing bout it. Wouldn't be laughing if he had his leg broken from one of them challenges. Arsenal v Bolton. The worst challenge Bolton did against us from Paul Robinson (flying in studs up against Diaby that's he's currently out for) they didn't show.. Cuz he's a good honest english lad that wouldn't hurt a fly :dozey: Yet if that was one of Arsenal's players they'd have a field day showing endless replays..

Just an example of the shit analysis/punditry they have on there. I like Linekar, Hanson, Shearer, Lawro, Dixon.. But they could do a lot better with their analysis. Even though they try to appeal to the mainstream tv audience.

I only try and watch if i can for the highlights. Not for the punditry. Think most people are like that as well.

[Tony Starks]

Hansens still a great analyst of the game hes just become a bit lazy and generally couldnt care less about having a character.

Dixon and shearer and awful though. State the fucking obvious every single week.

Of all of Collymores suggestions i'd probably only like to see Klinsman and Cantona tbh. The rest are no better

[quality]

Ultimately Hansen's most famous punditry is something he got horribly wrong. Used to like it when O'Neill did the World Cup, Leonardo was good as well. Even as a Spurs fan, Crooks makes me cringe up.

[Jay05]

I pretty much C/S everything Collymore said. Shearer is terrible he needs to go ASAP.

Fuck the pundits view too, I would rather see close to 10 minutes of every match instead of the small teams getting just the goals and watching a pundit make some dull or obvious point about a Paul Scholes being a good Passer of the ball.

Also why cant they bring in one Journo alongside a Footballer. Journalists arent as involved in the game and dont mind slating the players or managers. Also their profession is to write about football, not kick one.

[Hij]

Fuck the pundits view too, I would rather see close to 10 minutes of every match instead of the small teams getting just the goals and watching a pundit make some dull or obvious point about a Paul Scholes being a good Passer of the ball.
.

QFT

[Switch]

i agree with whoever said Dixon's the best they got. shearers awful and just chats shit imo.agreed and not because i'm a gooner, there guest sometimes offer very little iterms of insight and analysis.

Jahno shearer chats a load of hot elephant dung, when analysing the arsenal Sunderland game, he said arsenal dominated throughout the match, no we bloody didn't Sunderland were the better team easily, I'm starting to think these man just watch highlights of these matches to base their opinion.


I pretty much C/S everything Collymore said. Shearer is terrible he needs to go ASAP.

Fuck the pundits view too, I would rather see close to 10 minutes of every match instead of the small teams getting just the goals and watching a pundit make some dull or obvious point about a Paul Scholes being a good Passer of the ball.

Also why cant they bring in one Journo alongside a Footballer. Journalists arent as involved in the game and dont mind slating the players or managers. Also their profession is to write about football, not kick one.the joke thing is sometimes they don't even analyse every game, they just skip it like it didn't even happen, fucking piss take when they show like a 2 min clip of a game as well, what kind of nonsense is that all the games should be equal not unless they were truly dire.

[nortside]

tbh most english pundits are crap, when you listen to foreign ones the difference is laughable

[Jay]

Watched MOTD last Saturday, this first time since they gave us the woman commentator three years ago. Now been as it was a local derby, we had already had a good comeback to the start of our season after our drubbing to Chelsea, I was thinking maybe this would give them the chance to say West Brom really look like they could stop up this season. How wrong could I be. First of all after our 3-1 convincing win they first concentrate on blues who we had beat. "Mcliesh did a brilliant job last season, based on a great defensive record" , We had just put 3 past them!!! "They'll be fine this season, there defense will keep them safe" They just conceded 3 to the yo yo team.

Now they turned to West Brom. "Finally going to shake the yo yo tag?", the response was "odemwengie was a gamble". Not oh they play some great stuff now and they look sturdier at the back. Not mentioning us seemingly breaking our wage structure for once to get in the likes of Sharner who liverpool and arsenal were supposedly interested in last season.

So I won't be watching again.

[Josh]

Football League Show >>> MOTD

[iKlozzle]

looooool

MOTD is just an entertainment show now really, same route Top Gear went

[Unknown Poster]

Football League Show >>> MOTD

Nah it ain't, that Asian presenter is a cunt, the fans text in thing is cringey as fuck and every league1 and 2 game is just the goals, fuck that, it's shit, fuckk the BBC.

[akash123]

Alan hansan is a biased prick who never has anything good to say about arsenal he needs to stop suckin on man united fukin BITCH hold tight stan collymore though

[Josh]

Nah it ain't, that Asian presenter is a cunt, the fans text in thing is cringey as fuck and every league1 and 2 game is just the goals, fuck that, it's shit, fuckk the BBC.

lol ur right in a way but both programs are shit

[-Lee-]

Both are shit yes, hence why this year I'm making more of an effort to watch all prem. league games on sky that I can.

It's unbelievable how much they cut out, they even miss out key incidents now so when you do get some action you dont know how it's come about.

[Shanger]

lineker is alright, hansen is pretty good imo dont understand the attack on him tbh.

lawrenson is annoyin but i like him bein there cos hes different if u get me.

[Mr. Jefferies]

Hansens still a great analyst of the game hes just become a bit lazy and generally couldnt care less about having a character.

Dixon and shearer and awful though. State the fucking obvious every single week.

Of all of Collymores suggestions i'd probably only like to see Klinsman and Cantona tbh. The rest are no better

.

[Pirate]

Shearer proves why he will never be a successful manager, he was a good CF with no other discernible footballing knowledge. Editing is a fucking joke, always makes the winner look deserving of it. The amount of times I've gone to see Wigan and thought, hey we lost but we did alright, managed to keep them out for 70 minutes, had a few deece chances... then MOTD shows the goal, a couple of the oppositions chances and one awful Wigan miss then chat shit about nothing significant.

The BBC aren't all bad though, Robbie Savage on 606 is a don>>>>

[Josh]

lineker is alright, hansen is pretty good imo dont understand the attack on him tbh.

lawrenson is annoyin but i like him bein there cos hes different if u get me.

Lawrensen never looks like he wants to be there but its worse when he commentates, acts like a mardy bastard and puts a downer on every event. Damn his soul.

[Entity]

Match of the day is fuckin shit. Lawro, Shearer, Hansen and Lineker are like the worst choice for pundits ever. I hate how they chat shit, and the average football fan actually takes it as expert advice and believes it

[Eric Cantona]

I don't have a problem with Lineker, he's does his job well to me, I used to not mind Hansen but has falling off alot lately, Shearer....wow that guys football knowledge is scary considering how good he was, Lawrenson i find quite funny at times, Dixon plays it safe and don't add much except when he gives us his 'detailed' full back view of the game lol

I agree Match Of The Day could do with been made a bit fresher, certain guys need to go

and I agree with Stan about the World Cup thing this year as well, the knowledge of some of the foreign teams is very poor, even the bigger ones

[quality]

I just can't accept a pundit saying "I don't know anything about him", I agree with the above about the World Cup. It's your job to know about footballers, even if you only watch the Premiership, if you know you're going to be on TV do a tiny bit of research. Fuck even use youtube.

I wonder when the likes of Shearer are saying how good Xavi is if they've ever sat down and watched a Barca game not involving an English side.

[Jay]

I await tonight's MOTD, so far we havn't been given credit for anything this season.

[Switch]

I await tonight's MOTD, so far we havn't been given credit for anything this season.i wouldn't value there opinion too tough, just treat MoTD like this forum (well the random room at least) and don't take them that seriously even though they could wind you up, west brom have been a hell of a lot better than expected and that's all that matters, don't wait for validation from them recycled motherfucker.

[Jay]

Not validation Im after really, I quite like their ignorance now. Somehow makes me even prouder of the fact we are where we are.