Rubbish BBC analysis

[Ruiz11]

Reading John Motson's preview of Stoke vs Crystal Palace on the BBC website, it struck me what a load of nonsense his analysis of their club is. This is relevant to Fulham because even those pundits and commentators who are paid to have an in-depth knowledge of all 20 Premier League clubs seem to know very little about teams outside the top four, like Stoke and FFC.

Firstly, Motson claims that 'The Potters faithful largely held Pulis in high regard'. What? Just surfing the Stoke fan forums last season made for unpleasant viewing, with 99% of fans so scathing in their criticism of Pulis that I almost felt sorry for him, despite being the twit that he is. By the end of his reign, there was nearly mutiny. Certainly most fans' comments about Pulis are not fit for me to write down here or anywhere else.

Secondly, Motson states that 'Without spending a fortune, he managed to establish the club in the Premier League'. Again, this is total nonsense. Before last season, Stoke had the third highest transfer outlay on players in the whole division, behind Chelski and Man City. Money was spent (and wasted) on countless players who have never been more than bit-part players, such as Maurice Edu, Cameron Jerome, Charlie Adam, Kenwynne Jones and Wilson Palacios. So, clearly there was huge financial outlay.

Thirdly, Motson insists that the 'biggest testament' to Pulis is that Hughes 'hasn't yet made too many changes' to the squad. No, it's not because Hughes believes the current squad is good enough, rather chairman Peter Coates is unwilling to part with more cash, with Pulis having failed to gain a single top flight finish since promotion in 2008, despite the money spent. Secondly, QPR have shown that giving Hughes plenty of cash to splash in the transfer market isn't such a good idea.

The moral of my rant is: don't talk uninformed BS about things you only have a passing knowledge of. And this isn't an attack on John Motson, I actually find his commentaries rather charming, but an attack on lazy analysis that pervades the BBC's football analysis (I'm looking at you Shearer, Lawrenson, Hansen and Savage).

[fulhamben]

its everyone mate, not just the bbc.

[Rhys Lightning 63]

It's an issue that goes through the whole media. I was at a recent recording of 'The Game' which is a football podcast put out by The Times (a reputable newspaper) and I was told by their CHIEF Football Correspondant, that the reason we don't get enough media coverage (and when we do, all they mention is Berbatov doing well/badly) is that we don't do too badly (ala Wigan who managed to scrape through every season) or too well (like Everton, who consistently get close to breaking into the big boys).

So until we either progress to a certain level to 'just outside the big boys', or go down a level to 'relegation scrappers', we aren't going to get anything  

[Lighthouse]

Listening to and watching the so called experts makes you realise they have no more idea than the rest of us. The days of good commentary are slowly becoming a thing of the past as well. Before people think this is just another moan I think we have to admit that football is horribly over exposed and talked and written about. There is a limit what people can say about the same teams. So they tend to say nothing at all.

I remember watching football previews as a kid and learning things. Now it is all just noise. The written previews seem to be taken from  one or two sources with little research.

Society we live in. People talk alot but no little about what they talking about.

I heard that  :kettle pot:

[Ruiz11]

It's an issue that goes through the whole media. I was at a recent recording of 'The Game' which is a football podcast put out by The Times (a reputable newspaper) and I was told by their CHIEF Football Correspondant, that the reason we don't get enough media coverage (and when we do, all they mention is Berbatov doing well/badly) is that we don't do too badly (ala Wigan who managed to scrape through every season) or too well (like Everton, who consistently get close to breaking into the big boys).

So until we either progress to a certain level to 'just outside the big boys', or go down a level to 'relegation scrappers', we aren't going to get anything  

Good point, but teams like Everton, Newcastle and West Ham do seem to get a lot of coverage considering they are neither title contenders or relegation battlers (although Newcastle do tend to flirt with disaster!)

[Bassey the warrior]

Good post. Most pundits know barely anything about any of the clubs outside the top 6.

[MasterHaynes]

Bring back Jimmy Hill

[Vermeer]

Agreed with every point made by Ruiz11. A shrewd summary. Motson is an old mate of BBC cronies, hence his continued employment

[MikeCdawg]

Bring back Jimmy Hill

...at least to the Sunday Supplement on Sky Sports

[RaySmith]

Outside the top 6, they just spout a load of cliches , without even watching the games of teams like Fulham , and displaying a complete lack of interest  outside the top guns - but they have to appear to  be interested and knowledgeable.

[Rupert]

Listening to and watching the so called experts makes you realise they have no more idea than the rest of us. The days of good commentary are slowly becoming a thing of the past as well. Before people think this is just another moan I think we have to admit that football is horribly over exposed and talked and written about. There is a limit what people can say about the same teams. So they tend to say nothing at all.

I remember watching football previews as a kid and learning things. Now it is all just noise. The written previews seem to be taken from  one or two sources with little research.

Society we live in. People talk alot but no little about what they talking about.

I heard that  :kettle pot:

Sorry, I couldn't help myself    :021:

[grandad]

BBC Sport's Mark Lawrenson

Speaking on Football Focus: "Manchester City have had the best summer in terms of transfers. They highlighted who they wanted to buy and went to get them.

Of course they can do that you moron. They have unlimited money to do it. The easiest thing in the world to do . There is no pride or self satisfaction in buying success. I feel happier in our sensible spending. Of course I would like more quality but I would prefer us to be debt free but still retaining our Prem status.

[Logicalman]

Robbie Mustoe on NBC:

In response to Khan's pre-game comments:


Its not a big club, Fulham, they don't get big crowds, they've got to be careful, they're not going to go and spend 20 milliion on one player, ... he totally understands it ... some of these players are not big fees but they still demand big salaries ... wage bill is creeping up, there, what I feel about it is I feel Fulham is an established Premier League side, making clever transfer dealings and they should be fine  in the Premier League for a few years.



Nicely said son! I've got time for this guy.