EARLIER this week Sky Sports announced that Jamie Carragher will join the Sky Football pundit team alongside Jamie Redknapp, Graeme Souness and Gary Neville for the 2013/14 season.
“I watch Sky Sports all the time and I’m a huge fan. I can’t wait to be part of their coverage and work with the best in the business,” said Liverpool’s No. 23.
“What Sky has done for football for over 20 years is incredible and I’m thrilled to be part of their exciting plans for next season.
“I don’t think there could be a better move for me: to retire from one of the world’s best football clubs at the end of the season and then join one of the world’s best broadcasters.”
You would think that having not won the league title for over 20 years would lead to the TV pundits at the major broadcasters to be dominated by Manchester United, rather than Liverpool, but Carra’s enrolment is just another sign of how our club is still hugely respected.
ESPN‘s main pundits include Kevin Keegan, John Barnes and Steve McManaman. The BBC is still dominated by Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson.
Carra will join former Liverpool captains Redknapp and Souness at Sky who also have Phil Thompson on their popular Soccer Saturday show. There are a host of other Liverpool faces who appear regularly on major broadcasters, such as Didi Hamann or Robbie Fowler, who aren’t anchor pundits but seem to do the rounds.
Others like Michael Robinson and John Toshack are big names in Spain, while we have many dotted around the world from the US to Australia.
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Carra has written eloquently in the newspapers for some time, including for the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail, but it was the erudition and knowledge he showed as one of the regular pundits for ITV’s much improved coverage of the Euro 2012 (where to everyone’s suprise the BBC were well below par) that would have most impressed his new bosses at Sky.
Ad hoc appearances on Soccer Saturday and Goals on Sunday would have further convinced Sky of his ability to provide succinct insight and work well with fellow pundits, production crews and cameras.
The deal announced on the Sky website is for just one season. This may be because Sky want to see how he goes, but is more likely that Jamie wants to keep his options open. Nowadays pundits seem to be filled with former players who are no longer managers (often not having been successful, e.g. Keane, Southgate, Lawrenson) and former players who may still harbour interests in coaching (e.g. Neville, Carragher).
Former players who have never had an interest in managing (a la Hansen) are increasingly rare. Journalists who haven’t played at a competitive level are relegated to sideshow panel programmes and review shows, being kept well away from actual matches.
Whatever Jamie decides to do the season after his stint at Sky, I for one am looking forward to seeing his incisive analysis again on the television set.
If only Liverpool FC could dominate the Premier League the way we dominate the realm of football punditry.
You can catch more from me on my own blog: http://taintlessred.blogspot.co.uk/
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