Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Following a fairly ‘vanilla’ start to his life as a Sky Sports pundit, Thierry Henry touched some raw nerves recently. Firstly with his dismissal of Javier Hernandez’s celebration as his late goal saw off city rivals Atlético Madrid in the Champions League quarter finals. Then he asserted his belief that Arsenal could not win the league with Olivier Giroud as their main striker. It is an opinion that has been voiced many times before but it was surprising coming from Henry due to his obvious affection for the club and the amount of time he spends in the company of the players.
One suspects that things might be awkward the next time Giroud and Henry meet and in many respects this is the big challenge of the recently retired pundit. For too long, punditry had been allowed to become stale and one paced, a collection of mumbled clichés through mealy mouths. The reluctance of recently retired pros to stick the boot into old pals was one of the main reasons for this. Gary Neville and now Jamie Carragher have elevated the game in this respect. Both maintain an obvious affection with the clubs they served for their entire careers but crucially, both are able to maintain a critical distance when analysing them.
Supporters needn’t feel sensitive about old players criticising their clubs. Fans’ criticise their clubs all the time and that is not always a bad thing. Being a fan does not always mean being a cheerleader. But there also has to be an understanding that whilst an employee of Sky Sports, a pundit’s responsibility is not to his old club but to his employers. Nevertheless, criticism can be discharged compassionately in any case. Occasionally, things can come to a head. In December, Arsene Wenger reacted angrily to some quite superficial comments from Paul Merson.
Merson’s analytical skills are not the sharpest, as evidenced by his disastrous stint as Walsall manager. However, Sky does not employ him for his analytical skills rather. His deployment is for comedic effect in which his dyslexia forces him to mangle names, sentences and basic verbs into all manner of shapes and sizes. Pundits are required to make good television and to relate to all manner of audience types and there’s nothing wrong with having a class clown to brighten things up. Plenty of ex Arsenal players have moved into the media and obviously their job is to ‘call it as they see it’ which won’t always sit comfortably with fans.
There is little need to feel any more sensitive about an ex player criticising than any other pundit or supporter. Occasionally you will agree and occasionally you won’t. In the case of Ian Wright for instance, I rarely agree with him but his enthusiasm for the club is obvious and his on-pitch feats will comfortably sustain his legacy. Alan Smith is a good football journalist and I think Lee Dixon is amongst the best of the current crop of pundits. It’s just a shame his work is so often suffocated by ITV’s need for constant ad breaks. Both have dispensed criticism towards Arsenal in the past, but do so in a measured and even handed manner.
For Thierry, things may be a little more difficult. He is very media savvy and cherishes the reputation he has with Arsenal fans. In France, he does not enjoy nearly the same level of adoration and you get the impression that Henry needs to love and be loved. He has made staunchly pro-Arsenal soundbites a stock in trade so he may feel a little compromised with criticising Arsenal, at least initially. But as fans, we needn’t feel compromised by it and in Neville and Carragher, Henry has good role models to look to.
